Author：Ottmar Ette

Abstract: Goethe’s term “Weltliteratur” (World Litrature) has served, for a long time, as a central guideline for Comparative Literature. His much-discussed statement of January 31, 1827, however, is based upon a specific temporality conceived as epochal, i.e. including a clear beginning as well as a clear end. This article discusses the ongoing rad...

Column：Comparative Literature Studies   88-94   Details

Author：Yixin Lu

Abstract: Since World WarⅡ, J. D. Salinger has incorporated elements of ancient Chinese thought into his work as a means of responding to and reflecting on the war and its postwar realities. He draws extensively on ideas conducive to spiritual exploration, with Chinese Zen Buddhism and Taoist philosophy exerting a particularly ...

Column：Comparative Literature Studies   95-106   Details

Author：Xi Xi

Abstract: Through the soul of the dead Willie Lincoln, George Saunders’ novel Lincoln in the Bardo takes readers to the Bardo—an intermediate state between life and death when the soul is not connected to a body. The novel reflects the tough state of the American Civil War in contrast to the warmth of father-son relat...

Column：British Literature Studies   107-118   Details

Author：Mengdie Xu

Abstract: Contemporary Irish writer Sebastian Barry addresses the overlooked trauma of non-nationalists during the Irish War of Independence through his writings The Steward of Christendom and The Secret Scripture, focusing on the core space of “madhouse.” According to Michel Foucault’s theory, the...

Column：British Literature Studies   119-129   Details

Author：Yufan Xin

Abstract: The writing of the war memory in the collection Futenmayo and the novel Cocktail Party by Oshiro Tatsuhiro can be regarded as a true portrayal of a side of the post-war Okinawa spiritual history. The excessive quantification of the dead in Japan triggered a rethink of war memory, and Oshiro was devoted to writing the “plural of m...

Column：Literatures of East and Southeast Asia   130-141   Details

Author：Ngô Viết Hoàn

Abstract: In the process of modern Vietnamese literary history, realist literature and the tendency toward realistic writing have played an important historical role. As a vital component of Vietnamese revolutionary literature, it not only shows the lively reality in Vietnam during the anti-colonial war, but also contributes many outstanding authors and literary theorists to its national literary scene. Using a historical and theoretical approach combined with the perspective of modern literary history, this paper systematically reviews the Vietnamese realist literary tendency through three aspects, namely, the emergence of realist literary tendencies in Vietnam, Lê Đình Kỵ’s literary ideas and the rise of the schools of realist literary creation in Vietnam, and Đỗ Đức Dục and the standardized development of Vietnamese realism. ...

Column：Literatures of East and Southeast Asia   142-156   Details

Author：Fangmu Li

Abstract: The contemporary American novelist Tim O’Brien’s novel July, July features a powerful narrative tension and insightful thematic meaning, well beyond the one-dimensional convention of Vietnam War novels. Combined with the title, the narrative structure builds itself upon an interaction between the present and past, with a cla...

Column：Studies and Chronicles in 21st-Century English Literature   002-011   Details

Author：Xuefeng Zhang

Abstract: The narrative form of fictionalized autobiography empowers Anglophone-Caribbean women writers to assert themselves as speaking subjects, telling their lived experiences and colonial memories while articulating their discursive voices. This study examines representative fictional autobiographies by Anglophone-Caribbean women during colonial and postcolonial periods to uncover their colonial memories, explore their living conditions and psychological states, and illuminate the evolution of their identity.

Column：Studies and Chronicles in 21st-Century English Literature   012-022   Details

Author：Yukun Liu

Abstract: Colm Tóibín’s literary works mainly focus on fictional narratives set in specific spatio-temporal contexts. However, the publication of The Testament of Mary and House of Names demonstrates a major shift in both his writing paradigm and cultural tactics. Both works reflect the cosmopolitan Irish writer’s in-depth contemplation of the past, present, and future of Ireland and human society, while engaging with classical traditions in Western civilization. From the theoretical perspective of adaptation, this article aims to analyze how Tóibín engages in a personal dialogue with the classical world and how these myths represent contemporary concerns ...

Column：Studies and Chronicles in 21st-Century English Literature   023-036   Details

Author：Lu Yu

Abstract: Vietnamese-Canadian writer Kim Thúy’s Mãn uses cooking and cuisine as a lens to subvert the traditional trauma-focused narrative of refugee literature. The novel reveals how culinary practices serve as a driving force and intrinsic mechanism for refugee transformation. Rather than merely reproducing diasporic culinary culture, Kim Thúy delves into the intricate interplay of Vietnamese identity, cultural fusion, and colonial history underlying these practices. By moving from the material memory to cultural synthesis, the author constructs a “culinary citizenship” within a historical framework,...

Column：Studies and Chronicles in 21st-Century English Literature   037-047   Details