Students will:
1. Survey a wide range of materials illustrating the literary representation of collectors and collecting in English literature and some selected French and German texts.
2.. Acquire a good understanding of an emerging field of study which combines comparative literary studies, material culture studies, and literary theory.
3. Achieve proficiency in the conventions of scholarship and bibliographic procedures and develop the ability to write well and do substantial scholarly and critical work in a specialized field.
4. Relate Western cultures of collecting to local, i.e. Taiwanese/East Asian cultures of collecting.

Students will:
1. Survey a wide range of materials illustrating the literature representation of collectors and collecting in English literature and some selected French and German texts.
2.. Acquire a good understanding of an emerging field of study which combines comparative literature studies, material culture studies, and literature theory.
3. Achieve proficiency in the traditions of scholarship and bibliographic procedures and develop the ability to write well and do substantial scholarly and critical work in a specialized field.
4. Relate Western cultures of collecting to local, i.e. Taiwanese/East Asian cultures of collecting.

William Gibson, the pioneer of cyberpunk fiction, observed that the idea of the Collectible is everywhere today. (On Collecting, 1999) Following up on this reflection, this course examines collecting in modern literature from the romantics to the twenty-first century. Students reflect critically on the history and functions of collecting and the complex interrelationship between collecting and commerce, fashion, science, and technology. They also work with essential critical terms in the field of cultural studies and are encouraged to connect their study of collecting in Western literature and culture with examples of collecting and collectability in contemporary Taiwanese culture

William Gibson, the pilot of cyberpunk fiction, observed that the idea of ​​the Collectible is everywhere today. (On Collecting, 1999) Following up on this reflection, this course exams collecting in modern literature from the romantics to the twenty-first century. Students reflect critically on the history and functions of collecting and the complex interrelationship between collecting and commerce, fashion, science, and technology. They also work with essential critical terms in the field of cultural studies and are encouraged to connect their study of collecting in Western literature and culture with examples of collecting and collectability in contemporary Taiwanese culture

Text selections will be drawn from:

Horace Walpole’s Strawberry Hill and William Beckford’s Fonthill Abbey
Walter Scott: The Antiquary (1816; novel, extract only)
Charles Lamb: “Old China” (essay)
Dickens: The Old Curiosity Shop (1841; extract only)
Honore de Balzac: Cousin Pons (1847; novel)
J.-K. Huysmans: Against Nature (1884; novel, extract only)
Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890; novel, extract only)
Walter Benjamin: “Unpacking My Library: A Talk on Book Collecting” (essay)
George Orwell: “Just Junk—But Who Can Resist it?” (essay)
John Fowles: The Collector (1963; novel)
Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose (1980; novel, extract only)
Bruce Chatwin: Utz (1988; novel)
William Gibson: “On Collecting” (essay)
Orhan Pamuk: The Museum of Innocence (2008; novel)
Film: The Best Offer (Giuseppe Tornatore, 2013)
Jean Baudrillard, The System of Collecting (1968)
John Berger: Ways of Seeing (1972)
John Elsner and Roger Cardinal: The Cultures of Collecting (1994)
Paula Findlen: Possessing Nature: Museums, Collecting, and Scientific Culture in
Early Modern Italy (1994);
Pamela H. Smith and Paula Findlen: Merchants and Marvels: Commerce, Science,
and Art in Early Modern Europe (2002).

Text selections will be drawn from:

Horace Walpole’s Strawberry Hill and William Beckford’s Fonthill Abbey
Walter Scott: The Antiquary (1816; novel, extract only)
Charles Lamb: “Old China” (essay)
Dickens: The Old Curiosity Shop (1841; extract only)
Honore de Balzac: Cousin Pons (1847; novel)
J.-K. Huysmans: Against Nature (1884; novel, extract only)
Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890; novel, extract only)
Walter Benjamin: “Unpacking My Library: A Talk on Book Collecting” (essay)
George Orwell: “Just Junk—But Who Can Resist it?” (essay)
John Fowles: The Collector (1963; novel)
Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose (1980; novel, extract only)
Bruce Chatwin: Utz (1988; novel)
William Gibson: “On Collecting” (essay)
Orhan Pamuk: The Museum of Innocence (2008; novel)
Film: The Best Offer (Giuseppe Tornatore, 2013)
Jean Baudrillard, The System of Collecting (1968)
John Berger: Ways of Seeing (1972)
John Elsner and Roger Cardinal: The Cultures of Collecting (1994)
Paula Findlen: Possessing Nature: Museums, Collecting, and Scientific Culture in
Early Modern Italy (1994);
Pamela H. Smith and Paula Findlen: Merchants and Marvels: Commerce, Science,
and Art in Early Modern Europe (2002).