2020 Vol. 3, No. 1

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Eighteenth-Century Britain and Spain: Do Their Imperial Histories Fit into a Common Grand Narrative?
Penelope J. Corfield
2020, 3(1): 9-30.
Abstract:
This essay, first presented as a 2009 conference paper on comparative British/Spanish history in the eighteenth century, was written in 2012 and has been revised/updated in 2019. Imperial histories have often been interpreted as cycles of rise and fall; or, alternatively, as linear tales of progress. Neither the British nor the Spanish experiences fitted into such neat models of historical change. The discussion explores their case histories, and considers also many other empires-some dramatically short-lived, others showing great longevity. Instead, the British and Spanish empires exemplified trends of growth/collapse, which were crosscut with the ballasting forces of continuity. They sprang from specific circumstances and global powerimbalances; and they then became operational factors in their own right, proving both long-lasting and historically influential. It is not satisfactory therefore to interpret their histories as purely framed by accident and contingency. The balance of power and resistance to power with and outside these global empires was crucial-as well as the framing context of changing social attitudes to empire and nationhood. History is not a tale of randomised chaos but one of organised complexity.
[Abstract](1223) [PDF 21180KB](370)
Elite Individuals as Representatives of Civilization in the Perspective of Qiaoyiology: Elias Canetti's and Franz Kafka's “Jewish Austria” and “Jewish China”
YE Jun
2020, 3(1): 31-51.
Abstract:
In this paper, two Austrian writers, Franz Kafka and Elias Canetti, are taken as examples to investigate the phenomenon of flow and change in the history of German literature, focusing on interactions between elite individuals within civilizations. Firstly, examining the life experiences of Kafka and Canetti in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the paper reveals the complexity of the Empire's multi-cultural integration, highlights the rich cross-cultural experience of Canetti, and analyzes the "chain" of its geographical displacement and the complex relationship between "continuity" and cultural transactions. Secondly, with the help of abstract knowledge from the author's books, this article argues that Kafka's and Canetti's styles complete the transformation and creation of the "journey of Chinese spirit," form the virtual imagination of "Jewish China," and in turn make them strive to pursue the Chinese principle of "high simplicity." Through the investigation of these two cases, we can see that the relationship between elite individuals and the Qiaoyiing process of civilizations is "the former through the latter to discipline and grow, the latter through the former to show and develop," which confirms the significance of "individual sharing" of elite individuals, and shows the complex cultural relationship formed by the spiritual roaming of elite individuals between Austria, Judea, and China.
[Abstract](748) [PDF 20429KB](458)
Queering Honglou meng: The “Lust of Mind” Mode of Male Love & Its Afterlives
WANG Ke
2020, 3(1): 52-68.
Abstract:
The great eighteenth-century novel Honglou meng《红 楼 梦 》(A Dream of Red Mansions) offers a unique vision of male love:contrasting yiyin 意 淫 (lust of mind) with pifu yinlan 皮肤淫滥 (promiscuous kind of lust), it praises the former as embodied in the male protagonist Jia Baoyu's 贾宝玉 relationships with his four bosom friends. This paper seeks to expound this extraordinary mode of male love, trace its reception and distortion in later derivative works, and draw from it inspirations that may enrich contemporary queer theory and inform LGBT movements in Chinese societies.
[Abstract](892) [PDF 19120KB](1219)
“It's Strange, Women Overseas Have Whiskers”: Observations of Women's Facial Hair in Late-Qing Foreign Travelogues and Cross-Cultural Imaginations
WANG Hongchao
2020, 3(1): 69-89.
Abstract:
In travelogues of the late Qing Dynasty, there was an "observation" made about Western women; namely, that Western women were born with facial hair. The reason why this record is worth attention is that the narrator "saw it with his own eyes," and this description is not an isolated example, which can be found in many documents, such as Zhang Zuyi's "London Zhuzhi Ci," Wang Yixuan's "Fa Jing Ji Shi," Zhang Deyi's "San Shu Qi," Yuan Zuzhi's "Ying Hai Cai Wen Ji Shi," and others. There are records of female facial hair in Western literature, which are mostly described as mysterious, abnormal, and curious. In Chinese historical records, there are many records about women's facial hair, either to describe the appearance of barbarians, to indicate the omens of disasters, to show the results of retribution, or to show the image of auspiciousness. In short, the records of female facial hair in Chinese and Western literature can be classified as "heterogeneous" culturally. Although the observation of Western women's facial hair is the narrator's personal view, the result of observation is determined by the observer's cultural position, which contains many imaginative elements. A misunderstanding described by Chaster Holcombe in The Real Chinaman is enough to prove that this kind of "on-the-spot observation" of different cultures is also fundamentally influenced by cross-cultural "imagination." The result of cultural observation is not changed by the distance of observation. The image of different cultures is essentially a kind of "social collective imagination."
[Abstract](394) [PDF 29968KB](369)
Virgil's Restatement on Rome
LOU Lin
2020, 3(1): 90-100.
Abstract:
Rome, whether as an actual political existence or an "image" in literary, religious, and philosophical expressions, is of great importance to Western thought. This article focuses on the image of Rome in Virgil's Aeneid, trying to convey Virgil's understanding of the destiny of the Roman nation, and to determine Rome's "infinite domination" through war. Eventually Rome continues to expand and accommodate all conquered areas. This is the key to our understanding of the West, and we must remain vigilant.
[Abstract](442) [PDF 12906KB](371)
“Reconstruction in Philosophy”: John Dewey's Views on “Science”
GONG Shilin
2020, 3(1): 101-114.
Abstract:
In the early twentieth century, John Dewey, taking up the baton from Francis Bacon, defended modernity against the hegemony of the antique and tried to extend the legitimacy of "science" to the fields of morality and social affairs. He declared that the "Reconstruction in Philosophy" would not only make the holy moment of "science" come true, but also transform the holy moment into an essential order of the secular world. "Science," as the instrument for Dewey to reconstruct philosophy, should not only announce its power in philosophy, but also infuse itself into politics. The unfinished America or the ideal America in Dewey's thought is the carrier of this "scientific spirit."
[Abstract](459) [PDF 13910KB](383)
Dan Zhu's Controversial Interpretations of the Spring and Autumn Annals and the Paradigm Shift of Confucian Hermeneutics in the Middle Tang Dynasty
LI Liqin
2020, 3(1): 115-135.
Abstract:
As a new paradigm of Confucian hermeneutics, the eighth-century "New School" of studies of the Spring and Autumn Annals, represented by Dan Zhu, Zhao Kuang, and Lu Chun, differed from previous Confucian hermeneutics in terms of interpretation style, interpretation principles, and understanding of classical form. In this sense, the New School's interpretations of the Spring and Autumn Annals marked a turning point for Confucian hermeneutics in the Middle Tang Dynasty. However, understandings of the Spring and Autumn Annals that are based on Confucian principles face the criticism of "explaining classics according to one's own understanding." Here, throughout the field of Confucian hermeneutics, the New School's exegesis of the Spring and Autumn Annals raises the question of the extent to which the interpreter expounds Confucius's ideas in writing from the special historical perspective of his own time and presupposes the problems of Confucius's intention. However, it is still influenced by the reception history of the traditional understanding of the Spring and Autumn Annals. The determination of the inevitability of the textual truth and normative authority of the Spring and Autumn Annals, as well as the limitation of interpretation based on its traditional context, may limit the arbitrariness of the New School's interpretation rather than explaining the Spring and Autumn Annals according to one's own understanding.
[Abstract](399) [PDF 23478KB](334)
Narrating the Bizarre and Preaching Christianity in China: Samuel Woodbridge's English Translation of The Mystery of the White Snake: A Legend of Thunder Peak Tower in 1896
YAO Dadui
2020, 3(1): 136-150.
Abstract:
Samuel Woodbridge, an American missionary, translated the Chinese folktale The Legend of the White Snake into English in 1896 as The Mystery of the White Snake:A Legend of Thunder Peak Tower, incorporating aspects of a novel written by a Qing writer the Master of Jade Mountain (Yushan Zhuren) into the translation. Woodbridge's work is in fact a rewriting in three ways:it reorganizes the plot, changes the narrative style, and removes content. To attract Western readers, Woodbridge adopted narrative forms of modern Western novels and incorporated Western values in his translation. Meanwhile, Woodbridge's critique of Chinese beliefs and society is also legible in his translation. Woodbridge believed that the Chinese were given to fanatical idolatry, and that the state of Chinese minds needed to be clarified through the Christian Gospel. This article critically examines how Woodbridge's translation narrates an exotic and bizarre China and criticizes China's social status quo in order to convey to the Western reader the urgent need of preaching Christianity in China.
[Abstract](428) [PDF 12904KB](333)
The Development of Aesthetics and Art from a Globalized Perspective: Interview with Curtis L. Carter
Curtis L. Carter, HAN Qingyu
2020, 3(1): 151-157.
Abstract:
As a famous contemporary aesthetician, Curtis L. Carter focuses on the field of analytic aesthetics, Asian aesthetics, and the dialogue between Eastern and Western culture. He was the president of the International Association for Aesthetics during 2010-2013. In the 21st International Congress of Aesthetics held in Belgrade, Serbia, there was a roundtable discussion on "Curtis Carter and Contemporary Aesthetics." In this interview, Dr. Carter first speaks about this conference. Then he discusses some important questions regarding analytic aesthetics, especially Arthur C. Danto and Noël Carroll. He insists that what aestheticians should be interested in is not just the language of art, but the role that art plays as a fundamental part of human experience. Curtis Carter has an open attitude toward the subject of aesthetics, believing that it is very important to understand the forms of art that have evolved in Asian culture artistically, and to move toward a globalized perspective.
[Abstract](422) [PDF 6640KB](422)
YAO Dadui. Cultural Interaction and Comparative Literature in Modern China
SUN Lingyu
2020, 3(1): 161-164.
Abstract:
[Abstract](395) [PDF 3804KB](351)
Cheung, King-Kok. Chinese American Literature without Borders: Gender, Genre, and Form
LIU Qian
2020, 3(1): 165-168.
Abstract:
[Abstract](451) [PDF 3811KB](360)
JIANG Zhe. Collected Textual Criticism and Exegetical Interpretation of English Versions of the Confucian Analects Book I
LI Xinde
2020, 3(1): 169-172.
Abstract:
[Abstract](384) [PDF 3810KB](464)
YANG Huilin (Consultant), GAO Xudong (Editor-in-Chief): The Basic Categories of Comparative Literature and Classic Literature Series
ZHAO Nan, YE Xueyi
2020, 3(1): 173-178.
Abstract:
[Abstract](407) [PDF 4665KB](376)
“Literary Ethnography” and “Anthropological Nature” of Literary Anthropology: Sidelights of the 8th Annual Conference and Symposium of Literary Anthropology
ZHAO Zhoukuan
2020, 3(1): 179-189.
Abstract:
[Abstract](436) [PDF 9691KB](470)
The Golden Age of Interdisciplinary Research in Comparative Literature Is Dawning
CHAI Jie, ZHOU Xiaoling, ZHOU Jun
2020, 3(1): 190-192.
Abstract:
[Abstract](448) [PDF 3024KB](434)
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