Volume 7, No. 1

As a criticism of criticism, metacritical analysis is inseparable from critical theory and practice, which constitutes a distinctive feature of all the essays in this column. In correspondence with Wang Ning’s academic contributions, the approaches that those essays undertake can be mainly categorized into the following three, namely, historical-contextual, intercultural, post-theoretical and post-critical, which are also representative of major modes of criticism in literary studies in recent decades. It needs to be emphasized that the three approaches are not conflicting but rather complementary and supplementary both within individual essays and in general terms. It argues that a relatively thorough and comprehensive analysis of the literary studies by such Chinese scholars as Wang Ning can hardly be accomplished without deep reflections on the status quo of literary criticism and its future directions.

The essay takes the Special Issue of Chinese Encounters with Western Theories of Modern Language Quarterly as a case study, reviewing the essays of three Chinese authors Wang Ning, Zhang Jiang, and Zhu Liyuan and commentaries by Theo D’haen, Hillis Miller and myself. The essay offers a metacommentary of the essays and commentaries with respect to issues of the academic contexts in which the dialogue in this special issue is conducted, Chinese scholars’ anxiety of influence over western theories, the problem of “Dao (principles)” and “Shu (techniques),” and universalism vis-à-vis exceptionalism. This essay argues that the historical facts of modern China, especially the history of reform and opening up of the last four decades, show that China is in the world and the world is in China, and that the relationship of universalism and exceptionalism cannot be viewed as binary oppositions and mutual exclusions. Rather, it is overdetermined by multiple factors of integration and complementarity.

As one of the most influential comparatists in China, Wang Ning has taken the lead in updating the world on new advances in literary studies in China and initiating equal conversations with Western comparative literature scholars from a global perspective. More importantly, Wang, from the vantage point of being a Chinese scholar, has brought about a new notion of world literature under the aegis of cultural globalization that challenges Eurocentrism on multiple fronts. Two questions are central to his notion of world literature: first, how we reconstruct the western centric notion of world literature; and, second, how we remap the landscape to encompass marginalized national literatures. Translation, as a medium for literary exchanges, emerges as the key to Wang’s reconstruction of world literature. He advocates that we use cultural translation as a means of deconstructing the prevailing Ecocentrism to carve up legitimate places for disadvantaged national literatures, so that they can be readily accounted as an important part of world literature. His theory showcases a strong national stance and a deconstructionist attitude. Taking Chinese literature as an example, he argues that good translation necessarily contributes to better cultural images, which in turn can upend the current hierarchy of literatures, consequently help position national literatures in world literary system. In this light, translation, the bedrock of Wang’s theories, sheds light on how national literatures can be a significant part of world literature.

Professor Wang Ning is a visionary Chinese literary theorist and comparatist who has played a prominent role in both Chinese and international academic debates about the construction of world literature and global humanities. This article revisits his evolving theories on world literature, discusses his emphasis on the necessity of a tripartite translation strategy in the formation of a more democratic world literary system from a Chinese perspective, scrutinises his historical approach to understanding Chinese literature in relation to the Nobel Prize in Literature, and the importance of literary film adaptation after the world’s turn to the visual. As a world-class literary theorist, Prof. Wang Ning has had a profound influence on Chinese humanities scholars who write in both Chinese and English, compelling us to ponder over how to practice his cosmopolitan spirit and join him in advancing China’s scholarship in the age of globalisation.

The past two decades have witnessed the renaissance of debates about “world literature” in both the East and West. Wang Ning is one of the most important and productive scholars in this international debate. This article compares Wang’s world literature studies with that of another important critic, David Damrosch, focusing on Wang’s deconstruction of the western-centrism in Damrosch’s world literature studies. It argues that Damrosch’s construction of world literature demonstrates traces of “enlightened conservatism” to reduce the appeal of the radical cultural movement of Third World countries after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and maintains the running of the traditional Euro-American world system; Wang’s world literature studies deconstructed Damrosch’s world literature framework by first revealing the referential crisis in Damrosch’s theory and then re-establishing the referential connection by reconsidering the ordering principles, interpretation framework, and agencies of world literature according to newly emerging world structures. These anlyses show that Damrosch’s notion of world literature is, actually, an expanded version of the previous Euro-American centred world literature outlook; Wang’s world literature studies, at the beginning, were inspired and influenced by Damrosch, but he later went beyond Damrosch’s framework by bringing forth a more balanced notion of world literature which takes into account literatures of all countries and regions and at the same emphasizes the quality and world influence of certain literary texts.

Scott Slovic, University Distinguished Professor of Environmental Humanities at the University of Idaho in the United States, was the founding president of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE) from 1992 to 1995, and he edited ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, the major journal in the field of ecocriticism, from 1995-2020. He is currently the co-editor of two book series: Routledge Series in World Literatures and the Environment (2017-present) and Routledge Environmental Humanities (2018-present). Professor Slovic has written, edited, or co-edited thirty books in the field of ecocriticism. This interview focuses on the latest ecocritical developments, as well as key issues in the environmental humanities, in the Age of COVID and more broadly, the context of the Anthropocene. It stresses mainly three aspects: new ideas and directions in ecocriticism, the clarification of some key concepts in the environmental humanities, and studies of ecocriticism relevant with China. Professor Slovic expounds the “fourth wave” and “fifth wave” of ecocriticism, scrutinizes various terms, such as Anthropocene ecocriticism, climate fiction criticism, material ecocriticism, affective ecocriticism, empirical ecocriticism, critical animal studies, critical plant studies, etc., and crystallizes the connections and differences between ecocriticism, the environmental humanities and the medical-environmental humanities. He also explores the impacts of COVID-19 on ecocriticism studies, reveals the concerns of establishing “TCM ecocriticism,” sheds light on the new possibilities for ecocriticism in the future, and offers constructive suggestions for Chinese scholars.

Metaphors of diseases and deformities abound in Julius Caesar, one of William Shakespeare’s Roman historical plays. In this tragedy, which is adapted from Plutarch’s Lives of the Caesars, Shakespeare portrays Caesar, an awe-inspiring general and dictator, as suffering from several diseases and deformities, such as deafness on the left ear, epilepsy and possible sterility. As the diseases and deformities are not recorded in Plutarch’s Lives of the Caesars, Shakespeare’s such adaptation touches the issue of ethics of historical literature writing, particularly the ethics in writing historical figures. In our view, although the bard may be not correct ethically in adapting Plutarch’s historical work, the diseases and deformities from which Shakespeare portrays Caesar to suffer nevertheless reflect the historical brain text of the English people in the 16th and 17th centuries, which are metaphor of body politic and demythologization of Caesar, and they represent Shakespeare’s own ethical politics, namely, his support of republicanism and attack against despotism.

The brain text, which is mainly relative to material texts such as literary texts and visual texts, is an immaterial text and a crucial step in the formation of literary classics. This paper takes Book of the Dead, the earliest written literary work, as an example to explore the presentation of brain text in the generation of classics. The first part of the paper argues that the concept of “animism” is based on the perception of the brain text, which reflects the earliest religious consciousness of human beings and adapts to the needs of ethical choices. The second part of the paper argues that the brain text of Book of the Dead, while relying on oral transmission, also strives for textual transformation, of which papyrus and hieroglyphics are two elements. The third part of the paper, on the other hand, focuses on the ethical needs and didactic functions in the process of the generation of classics. As a literary classic, the ethical teaching function of Book of the Dead fully illustrates that there is no classic without ethics, and the role of ethical choices, including the meaning of the brain text, in the process of the formation of classics is extremely important.

Robert Burns’ ethical thoughts are embodied incisively and vividly in his poems. His ethical identities are reflected in his poems and the figures in his poems become his spokesmen. As a Scot, person in love and farmer, he displayed the Scottish national choice, Scots choice of love, Scottish people’s ideal of sticking to their land. The study of Burns’ ethical identities and ethical choices reflected in his poems from the perspective of ethical literary criticism can facilitate the international communication of Burns’ poems, promote cultural exchange and realize mutual learning between world civilizations.