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 Scot-
tish 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 com-
munication of Burns’ poems, promote cultural exchange and realize mutual learning

between world civilizations.