Author：Yue Ma

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...

Column：Order and Transgression in Literature: Narrative Experimentation and Echoes of History   3-12   Details

Author：Dingying Wang

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...

Column：Order and Transgression in Literature: Narrative Experimentation and Echoes of History   13-21   Details

Author： Yingjie Duan

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...

Column：Order and Transgression in Literature: Narrative Experimentation and Echoes of History   22-30   Details

Author：Wei Li, Wenran Hou

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 ...

Column：Order and Transgression in Literature: Narrative Experimentation and Echoes of History   31-39   Details

Author：Jiantao Ren

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...

Column：Civilization Studies   42-53   Details

Author：Xingang Wang, Wenxing Zhang

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 ...

Column：Civilization Studies   54-62   Details

Author： Meihua Cai, Meiying Jin

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...

Column：Civilization Studies   63-72   Details

Author：Yanwei Tan

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...

Column：Civilization Studies   73-80   Details

Author：Qiang Hu

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....

Column：Literary Ethics and Socio-Political Criticism   90-98   Details

Author： Jing Zhao

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...

Column：Literary Ethics and Socio-Political Criticism   90-98   Details