China's greatest novel, The Story of the Stone (also known as The Dream of the Red Chamber) was written in the mid-eighteenth century, when China was the largest and richest state in the world. Achieving breadth and nuance only found in the Western tradition a century later, this novel offers what seems to be a realistic description of a wealthy extended family-with all its generational, gender, and class conflicts, power struggles, love stories, and economic and entertainment activities. Yet the novel also challenges the relationship between truth and fiction, reality and illusion, for the stone is magical, given life by a Buddhist and a Daoist priest. We will read the novel through the perspectives of literary studies, cultural studies, and social history, drawing upon secondary sources in these fields to understand not only the story that most Chinese know but also a substantial amount about traditional Chinese culture and society. Format: discussion with some informal lecture. Evaluation will be based upon classroom performance, a few short writing assignments, and one longer one. No prerequisites. All readings and discussions will be in English. Enrollment limit: 18.