Human turned overnight into a cockroach, monster coming to life, animals morphing into humans — tales of transformation are ubiquitous in the popular imagination. What concerns are dramatized through the physical shift, and how is metamorphosis used to make moral and socioeconomic-political critique? How does metamorphosis relate to philosophical visions of the universe? This course explores dimensions of metamorphosis on both the human and cosmological planes. 

Through a range of literary and philosophical texts from East and West, we shall examine metamorphosis as a cross-cultural trope used to express a range of topics: the duality of human nature, the mixed consequences of progress and science, the modern human condition, the dynamic of the universe etc. Past tales of transformation speak to us today with renewed urgency, in our environmental and humanistic crises in the AI age, in our continuing struggle for justice and equality amid deepening alienation. We will thus also explore the critical potential of storytelling and imagination in equipping us to deal with the challenges of micro and macro transformations in the world.

 

 

1. Analyze the idea of metamorphosis through a number of literary and media manifestations from different times and cultures. 
2. Produce critical analyses of written texts and situate them in a larger historical and social framework. 
3. Demonstrate an understanding of the ideological and cultural nature of storytelling and textual/media adaptation. 
4. Demonstrate how the interconnectedness of people across time through their creative thoughts and artistic products. 
5. Relate stories of transformation to situations of cultural and social conflict and change.  

 

 

1.	Tutorial participation	20%
2.	Response essay	40%
3.	In-class test	40%

 

1. Ovid’s Metamorphoses	Cosmic Vision of Flux and the Nature-Humanity Dynamic  Issue of Fem
2. Zhuangzi’s Butterfly Dream	Cosmic Transformation and Daoist Critique of Humanity
3. Mary Shelley, Frankenstein	Hubris of Over-ambition; Ethics of Scientific and Technological Innovation
4.“Miss Ren” & Journey to the West	Animals as Allegory in Chinese Fiction
5.Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde	Duality of Humanity Nature; Pressure of Victorian Respectability
6. Kafka, Metamorphosis	Absurdity and the Modern Human Condition