外国语言与文化

The Writing of Double Games in “The Man Who Lived Underground”

Yue Ma    3-12

Column：Order and Transgression in Literature: Narrative Experimentation and Echoes of History

Abstract：Richard Wright’s short story “The Man Who Lived Underground,” is full of the elements of game writing, which has yet received limited studies. The paper argues that Wright employs a “duable-game writing” strategy to deeply integrate the pleasure of gameplay with critical purpose. By constructing a parodic game based on the internal logic of colonialism and a mimic game with the order of racism, Wright establishes a progressive procedure of “spatial construction—the ironic rules and rule imitations —the judgment of the ending.” This approach not only metaphorically reflects the marginalized living conditions of Black communities and exposes the historical roots of American racial issues, but also transforms the theme of race into a perceptible bodily and psychological experience, as well...

Scientific Fantasy and Historical Bearing: Plant Writing in The Time Machine and the Boom of Horticulture in Nineteenth-Century Britain

Dingying Wang    13-21

Column：Order and Transgression in Literature: Narrative Experimentation and Echoes of History

Abstract：Facing the scientific fantasy in The Time Machine, scholars have attempted to trace its intellectual roots in the nineteenth century. The correspondence between plant writing and the boom of horticulture in nineteenth-century Britain provides new evidence to support the view that the novel is rooted in the Victorian era. In the discourse of the nineteenth-century “Botanical Renaissance,” Wells draws on his botanical interests since his childhood to form an exotic botanical world in his novel. In this world, the future garden, characterized by abundant fruits, strange appearance of plants and so on, echoes the development of cultivation techniques in the nineteenth century. In the context of colonization, the backlash of the exotic plants reveals the internal tension between the “national garden” and the...

Collage and Mobility: The Visual Writing in If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things

Yingjie Duan    22-30

Column：Order and Transgression in Literature: Narrative Experimentation and Echoes of History

Abstract：In If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, the rising British novelist Jon McGregor draws on the postmodern collage to delineate the daily trifles of the anonymous residents in an unnamed urban street over the course of one day. Instead of regurgitating the motif of interpersonal alienation in modern urban space, McGregor attempts to uncover the latent visual interactions and emotional bonds between individual residents who are otherwise strangers. He employs the technique of “repetitive collage,” which allows the residents to achieve a wordless, intersubjective interaction through their fragmented yet overlapping visual observations. The movement of the gaze, aligning with the individual mobility, reinforces the unity and connectivity of “the street neighbourhood as the nearby.” The reside...

The Self-Shaping of England's Image as a Maritime Nation: Diplomatic Imagination in Queen Elizabeth I's Royal Letters to the Emperor of China

Wei Li, Wenran Hou    31-39

Column：Order and Transgression in Literature: Narrative Experimentation and Echoes of History

Abstract：As an early English textual practice that constructed national identity through rhetorical discourse, Elizabeth I’s three royal letters to the Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty employed diplomatic rhetoric to negotiate sovereign equality, while legitimizing appeals for commercial access by invoking reciprocity in trade and narratives of exploration. In so doing, they shaped an image of England as a maritime nation that was “sovereign and independent,” “venturesome in exploration,” and “secular as well as pragmatic.” Although none of the three letters ever reached China, they became a “site of memory” in the history of Sino-British relations, providing a discursive resource that could later be inherited in support of Britain’s aggression against China. It was through this imagined interaction with ...

The Ancient-Modern Debate in the Clash of Civilizations

Jiantao Ren    42-53

Column：Civilization Studies

Abstract：The clash of civilizations is a fundamental phenomenon in human history. In the modern era, this has been characterized by modern civilization’s subversion of traditional civilization. In the Western world, this dynamic is where research interests in comparative civilization studies originate. In the non-Western world, this dynamic has precipitated convoluted transitions from the “traditional” to the “modern.” China’s historical transition from the traditional to the modern is often understood solely under the binary framework of Western influence and Chinese reception. Even though Western influences on China were historically true, they were not the only sources of Chinese modernity, which was simultaneously driven by the internal dynamics of Chinese civilization. Experiencing rapid material...

Origins, Spatiality, Conceptual Construction, and Contributions of Ancient Syrian Civilization

Xingang Wang, Wenxing Zhang    54-62

Column：Civilization Studies

Abstract：Situated at a crossroads of civilizations, Ancient Syria witnessed a distinctive civilizational process marked by the emergence of complex urban societies. Its evolution progressed through stages: from early endogenous development, through a middle period of cultural integration, to the maturation of a pluralistic yet unified structure during the Greco-Roman era. A “centrifugal” geographical structure fostered a developmental model characterized by “weak political systems but strong civilizational influence,” while the perspective of the “Other” in its territorial construction profoundly shaped its historical trajectory. The outstanding contributions of Ancient Syrian civilization in maritime exploration, alphabetic writing, and monotheistic belief systems not only underscore its core significance as ...

Reconstructing the Global Civilization Cognitive System: Theoretical Framework and Discourse Transformation from a Chinese Perspective

Meihua Cai, Meiying Jin    63-72

Column：Civilization Studies

Abstract：In the process of reconstructing the global knowledge system, the path of subjective civilization interpretation should be premised on a clear definition of what constitutes “civilization,” delving into core issues such as its development dynamics, expression mechanisms, rise and fall logic, and destiny. This path requires breaking through the long-standing framework and paradigm dominated by Western centralism in global civilizational research, as well as constructing theoretical models to analyze the tensions between civilizations and elucidating the dynamic laws of civilizational competition and cooperation. Ruan Wei, a representative expert from China’s academic community, has provided an original theoretical framework for constructing a new civilizational dialogue system and proposed...

Literary Studies from the Perspective of Civilizational Studies

Yanwei Tan    73-80

Column：Civilization Studies

Abstract：From Chinese literary studies to comparative literary studies, and then from foreign literature studies to comparative civilizational studies, literary scholars in contemporary China have increasingly exhibited an enhanced sense of cultural subjectivity in their civilizational discussions, pushing back against the dominant Western civilizational discourse in the context of modernity. However, rebuilding cultural subjectivity is not just about sifting through, integrating, or developing various discursive traditions. One of the unique values of literature lies in the fact that it is not only a reflection of civilization at the discursive level but also concerns the open-ended becoming of people in concrete contexts. Therefore, examining the creative thinking and open-ended expression of Chinese literature in...

Emotional Fragmentation and “Fragile Happiness”: The “True Self” in Maugham’s The Painted Veil

Qiang Hu    90-98

Column：Literary Ethics and Socio-Political Criticism

Abstract：This paper analyzes the metaphorical implications of “the veil” in The Painted Veil as emotional fragmentation and moral meaning. The relationship between Kitty and her lover, Charlie Townsend, reflects a distorted satisfaction of desire and emotional control. Townsend’s behavior reveals the moral decay of colonial officials and indirectly critiques the frailty of imperial values. The pathological communication between Kitty and her husband, Walter, illustrates a misaligned emotional identification and emotional stagnation. The extramarital affair and the cholera epidemic serve as two sociological “event” units. Through dual narratives, Maugham constructs a field of traumatic memory. Kitty’s self-awakening reflects the profound interaction between personal development and social change....

Discursive Evolution and Research Trends in American Working-Class Literature Studies

Jing Zhao    90-98

Column：Literary Ethics and Socio-Political Criticism

Abstract：Working-class literature studies is emerging as a new area of growth in American literary research, yet conceptual confusion poses obstacles to its development. This paper examines the evolution of class discourse in American literary studies, clarifies core concepts, and identifies current research trends, with the aim of refining conceptual frameworks and advancing scholarly dialogues. American literary studies has witnessed two concentrated waves of class-based research discourse, organized around the core concepts of “proletarian literature” and “working-class literature,” respectively. The latter has expanded upon the former in terms of temporal scope, diversity of authors, and aesthetic forms. Contemporary research on American working-class literature shows the following trends...

Reexamining Ecological Consciousness and Ethical Consideration in Richard Powers’ The Echo Maker

Yiwei Liu, Jingyu Chen    99-108

Column：Literary Ethics and Socio-Political Criticism

Abstract：Known as “an ecological elegy,” The Echo Maker demonstrates an intention to examine numerous ethical issues such as the relationships between humans and their own rationality, between human and nature, and between human and time through an ecological lens. Its ethical concerns far exceed what current scholarship commonly frames as ecological ethics. Centering on two core images—the sandhill crane and the Capgras syndrome, the novel reveals the significance of irrational factors such as emotions in maintaining the wholeness of rationality, revisits the tension between nature and modern civilization, and underscores the need to overcome synchronic and diachronic fractures of modernity so as to reconstitute historical continuity. In doing so, it opens the possibility of restoring modern...

The Codes of Gangster Power: Deconstruction of the Illegality Narrative in The Great Gatsby

Jingbo Zhang, Yue Lu,    107-114

Column：Literary Ethics and Socio-Political Criticism

Abstract：Through its narrative of gangster illegality, The Great Gatsby reveals the symbiotic interplay of legal and criminal orders in America during the Jazz Age. The novel demonstrates this through a triple mechanism of “space-character-violence”: the parties and cars create “extralegal spaces” that blur the line between legality and illegality; the power triangle between Gatsby, Tom, and Daisy reflects the deep texture of class stratification and capital collusion; and Gatsby’s tragic death as a “scapegoat” reveals the underlying logic by which the capital system secures legitimacy through violence. In this approach, the novel engages in a thorough critique of the ideological illusion that underpins the American Dream. Fitzgerald’s sophisticated literary writing transforms the logic of gangster capitalism into...

An Ethical Critique of Drone Warfare in the Female War Narrative of Grounded

Tian Liu    115-123

Column：Literary Ethics and Socio-Political Criticism

Abstract：George Brant’s political drama Grounded centers on the wartime experience of a female drone operator, revealing the complex entanglement of technological rationality, gender order, and state power in the post-9/11 context. By rendering warfare remote and interface-mediated, drone operations erode the situational foundations of traditional war ethics, transforming violence from embodied confrontation into a decontextualized technological procedure. Within this system, technological rationality operates in tandem with patriarchal discipline to suppress women’s bodily experience and affective perception, leaving the ethical subject in a state of suspension. The play’s feminized imagery—most notably the “Gorgon Eyes”—exposes the aesthetic mechanisms that mask technological violence while

Aesthetic Dilemma and Judicial Conundrum: On the Aesthetics of Mediation in E. T. A. Hoffmann’s Das Fräulein von Scuderi

Minyue Shi, Lijuan Zhu,    124-132

Column：Literary Aesthetics and Cultural Representation

Abstract：In E. T. A. Hoffmann’s novella Das Fräulein von Scuderi, the conflict between art and reality, alongside the opposition between the court of reason and the court of morality, constitutes the central theme of the Aesthetics of Mediation. Through the story of the 17th-century French writer Mademoiselle de Scudéri, Hoffmann dramatizes the dilemma arising from the binary opposition between art and morality, as well as the complexities inherent in judicial judgment. Ultimately, he achieves a limited reconciliation between art and reality through the Aesthetics of Mediation. The novella’s engagement with the contemporary tension between artists and society reflects Hoffmann’s profound concern with aesthetic predicaments. Furthermore, his practical application of Aesthetics of Mediation, coupled ...

Food Writing and the Construction of Southern Community in The Golden Christmas

Jiexin Yi, Shuqi Tian,    133-142

Column：Literary Aesthetics and Cultural Representation

Abstract：In The Golden Christmas, set against the backdrop of antebellum Southern plantations, Simms’s food writing serves as a key to decoding his ideology of community. Food choices and preferences of the main characters reflect the cultural exclusivity in the early phase of the construction of Southern nationalism, constituting a literary reproduction of provincialism and posing significant obstacles to community building. Meanwhile, food sharing at Christmas feasts evokes a sense of community and fosters reconciliation through concrete enjoyment. In the context of 19th-century racial politics, food is also intertwined with Simms’s ideas of slavery, alienated into an ideological tool to whitewash the exploitative order of the plantation and maintain the racial hierarchy of the Southern community.

In Defence of Quietism: “Inside the Whale” and Orwell’s Literary View

Shouyi Luo    143-152

Column：Literary Aesthetics and Cultural Representation

Abstract：In “Inside the Whale,” George Orwell highly regarded Henry Miller’s controversial novel Tropic of Cancer as a non-political and non-moral endorsement of quietism. The essay therefore was widely accepted as a proof of Orwell’s depression and despair. However, this acceptance was over-simplistic and clouded Orwell’s literary view elucidated in the text. He appreciated Miller’s courage to identify with the common man, and despite misinterpretations, the faith of the common man remained the foundation of all Orwell’s literary emotions and attitudes. Amid the torrent of leftist propaganda, Miller swung the pendulum of art in the opposite direction. This non-political stance formed a counterbalance, functioning as a pivotal weight for Orwell to uphold a middle-ground position when the...

A Landmark in the Study of Cutting-edge Topics in Foreign Literature: Review of Approaching the Features of Urbanization in 21st-Century American Fiction

Qingfen Meng    153-156

Column：Book Review

Abstract：Urban writing is a cutting-edge topic in foreign literature research. Professor Yang Jincai’s Approaching the Features of Urbanization in 21st-Century American Fiction is the first monograph in China to systematically and deeply explore urban writing in American fiction of this century. This work centers on the representation of urbanization, examining urban spaces, social landscapes, and cultural scenery in the works of important American writers, exploring the development and evolution of towns and cities, as well as the multiple crises and possible way out of urban residents, and looking forward to the future of human civilization. The book is ambitious in its conception, broad in its vision, rigorous in its chapters, and full of original ideas, forming a research paradigm that integrates grand...

The “Planetary Turn” in Literary Studies: Conceptual Framework and Critical Practices

Ying Liu, Yangyang Wang    3-14

Column：Research on Literary Geography and Ecology from the Perspective of the "Planetary Turn"

Abstract：Planetarity, planetary scale, and planetary thinking have emerged in recent years as new paradigms in literary studies. The “planetary turn” in literary studies challenges both Western-centrism and anthropocentrism. It entails an expanded spatial awareness, an engagement with deep time, and a renewed attention to the earth’s material and ecological entanglements. The value and significance of the planetary turn in literary studies are reflected in three major aspects: (1) rethinking the framework of modernization studies from a planetary perspective, thereby recovering diverse modernities and literary modernism historically marginalized by Euro-American narratives and contributing to the richness of world literature;...

Hyperspace, Hypertext, Political Unconsciousness: The Cognitive Mapping Strategy in 19th-century American Travelogues on Cuba

Jie Hou    15-27

Column：Research on Literary Geography and Ecology from the Perspective of the "Planetary Turn"

Abstract：Nineteenth-century American travelogues on Cuba possess the hypertextual characteristics of transversality and multilinearity, and the Cuban architecture represented in them exhibit distinct hyperspace features. As an epistemological strategy to address hyperspace, Jameson’s theory of cognitive mapping pursues a totality perspective, adheres to Marxist cultural and political strategies, and advocates continuously approaching the totality of history through textual interpretation. By drawing on Jameson’s theory of cognitive mapping to conduct cognitive mapping of the hyperspace in nineteenth-century American writers’ travelogues on Cuba, this paper reveals the political unconscious embedded within them—the international proletarian consciousness repressed by the capitalist ideology (reification)—and constructs a path that transcends the limitations of capitalism.

The Protection of “Ecological Roots”: Sandra Steingraber’s View of River Ecology

Li Li, Yuxi Zhang    28-38

Column：Research on Literary Geography and Ecology from the Perspective of the "Planetary Turn"

Abstract：Starting from the ecological crises along the downstream reaches of Illinois River in the United States and grounded in both scientific knowledge and personal experience, the American ecologist and writer Sandra Steingraber employs a precautionary narrative style in her work Living Downstream to raise public awareness and inspire actions against toxic environments. In this way, she interprets the river crisis as an ecological issue concerning the fate of all humankind. She places children at the center of environmental justice, emphasizing the global tenet that “to protect children is to protect the future.” She calls on humankind to shoulder ecological responsibility, uphold environmental justice, ...