Forever on the Path of Spiritual Pursuit: An Interview with YUE Daiyun by LIU Yunhua

In this interview with YUE Daiyun, our featured scholar, a discussion about the outlook for comparative literature unfolds as YUE reminisces about her seventy years of accomplishments and setbacks at Peking University. YUE's academic achievements are telling testimonies to her own unyielding spiritual pursuit, as well as the unwavering support of her husband TANG Yijie (1927-2014) and father-in-law TANG Yongtong (1891-1964), a master of Chinese culture. In light of the diverse demands of modern China and Chinese intellectuals' Weltschmerz (or empathetic concerns for the country and its people), YUE articulates her vision of comparative literature as a way to orient China's native scholarly traditions to a global context and also contend with its own problems. According to YUE, a New Humanism should be the guiding value, with China's traditional literary and cultural legacies at the center of methodological foci. She also looks to widen the critical lens of comparative studies in literature to address interdisciplinary and intercultural issues, such as the fate of humans and intellectual-spiritual communities. The interview draws to a close with a discussion of the wisdom of "wishing to say nothing."