CFP: Virtual Workshop “Lu Xun and World Literature” (2-3 July 2021)
Call for Papers: “Lu Xun and World Literature” Virtual Workshop
Time: 2-3 July 2021
Venue: Online Zoom
Hosted by: The Division of Humanities, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Keynote speaker: Carlos Rojas (Duke University)
2021 marks the 140th anniversary of Lu Xun’s (1881–1936) birth. The last decade witnessed the adoption of Lu Xun in world literature curriculum that calls for diversity and inclusivity in the twenty-first century, as well as the reconceptualization of Asia as a dynamic formation and interaction spanning East Asia (Northeast and Southeast), South Asian sub-continent, Central Asia, and Western Asia (non-African Middle East), complicating territorial fixation and East-West binaries. It is timely to re-evaluate the multifaceted role of Lu Xun as a writer, translator, and reader in the global circulation and translation of texts and ideas in the early twentieth century and interwar period.
This workshop welcomes essays that provide new perspectives on the following topics as they relate to Lu Xun:
- Lu Xun’s translation and reading of foreign literature through intermediary language(s)
- Lu Xun’s anticolonial ideas with regard to China’s semi-colonial modernity
- Lu Xun’s interactions with cinema and various Republican era media
- Canonization, worldliness, and literariness of literature
- Translating and marketing Lu Xun
- Gender and the translator’s invisibility
- Close reading and distant reading
The workshop organizers invite contributions from scholars (including advanced graduate students) around the world. Please send your abstract (under 300 English words) along with a short author bio (under 100 English words) to luxunworkshop@gmail.com by 20 February, 2021. Please direct any questions or inquiries to this email as well. Successful applicants will be notified by 5 March 2021. Workshop participants will be invited to submit position papers (10 pages/2000–3000 words) for pre-circulation by 15 April 2021.