In this seminar we will explore the legacies and resonance of dialectical and speculative thought in modern Chinese culture. We will consider the philosophical roots of dialectics in Hegel and Marx, and then consider their extensions through such figures as Lenin and Mao. We will explore a number of historical controversies, antinomies, and problematics, including: the vexed relationship between literature and life; the dialectics of particularity and universality and their relationship to nationalism/national form; the complexities of aesthetic "type" and "model"; the controversy between "One Divides into Two," "Two Unite as One," and the politics of scission; the PRC aesthetic debates in the 1950s and 1960s; and the antinomies of 1970s-1980s so-called "Marxist humanism." We will also consider Hegelian Marxist explorations in the Soviet Union and the PRC that ran parallel to the development of "Western Marxism." We will also consider cultural texts (film, literature) that engaged these problematics. Requirements: Graduate level standing; reading knowledge of modern Chinese; familiarity with and/or interest in learning critical theory is highly desirable