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Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology

Volume 18, Issue 1, 2021
Examples of Formations and Variations of World Literatures

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Displaying: 1-9 of 9 documents


1. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 18 > Issue: 1
Chao Wang

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In "Comparative Literature, Variation Theory, and a New Construction of World Literature(s)" Wang Chao discusses Shunqing Cao's "variation theory" as a framework in the discipline of comparative literature and its applicability for a new construction of world literature(s). Wang argues that Goethe's concept of world literature can be expanded and developed for a new construction of the idea of world literature(s). Wang's principal argument is that comparative literature in today's heterogeneity and cross-cultural variabilities can be revived with the notions of variation and its connecting aspect of world literature. Both variation theory and perspectives of the concept of "new world literature" are based in recent insights in comparative literature, on variations of literary exchange, on interpretation in cross-civilization literary circulation, translation, and production. Wang proposes that these views broaden and adjust the boundary of comparability, thus injecting much-needed vitality into comparative literature and world literature research.

2. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 18 > Issue: 1
Peina Zhuang

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In "On Variations of Classical Chinese Literary Theory for a Framework of Global Literary History" Peina Zhuang discusses texts of classical Chinese literary theory as a reservoir for philosophical reflections on literary art. The aesthetics of Chinese literature originate in Confucianism and Taoism and hence represent an important background for any discussion of ancient, modern, or contemporary Chinese literature and literary history. Zhuang analyzes texts of classical Chinese literary theory within such a framework of a literary history and aims at furthering Chinese literature to become an integral part of world literatures. Further, Zhuang argues that "history" and "literary history" present a different picture of works on classical Chinese literary theory owing to the variation caused in representing their literary and aesthetic features. Zhuang also posits that the translation of Chinese literary texts to Western languages, while relevant and important, is not enough to advance Chinese literature from a peripheral status to a status of recognition hence the importance of scholarship with regard to literary history specifically.

3. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 18 > Issue: 1
Yina Cao

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In "Cross-cultural Communication and Cultural Variation" Yina Cao discusses the concept of "cultural variation" (Cao Shunqing) as an extension of the discipline of comparative literature. She argues that the concept of cultural variation explains many problems in the field of cross-cultural communication while it can also provide a unique research perspective for the phenomenon of cultural integration. By summarizing and sorting out the problems which need to be solved in "cultural variation" and the core cases of cultural variation (e.g., "journey to the West"), Cao discusses the phenomenon of aphasia in the process of cultural foreignization, cultural transmission, and cultural variation and attempts to imagine a new approach in scholarship in order to explore new theoretical tools for the future of the discipline of comparative literature with the use of Cao's variation theory.

4. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 18 > Issue: 1
Shunqing Cao, Orcid-ID Xin Chen

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In "Formations of World Literature(s) and Shaw's The Man of Destiny in Chinese and Japanese Translation" Shunqing Cao and Xin Chen expand Franco Moretti's dictum that "world literature is not an object, it's a problem" to elaborate that the concept of world literature(s) is in some sense a problematic one, which is itself under a process of problematization. Cao and Chen discuss how variation and heterogeneity contribute to a more in-depth understanding of formations of world literature(s). Taking the Bernar Shaw's The Man of Destiny they discuss the writer's presence in world literature from a bi-lateral perspective: Shaw's work in the English-speaking West and Shaw in Asia. For the former, Shaw stands in a specific place in recent postcolonial Irish Studies and thus raise problems for their research paradigm. For the latter, Cao and Chen present an analytical comparison between a Chinese and a Japanese translation of The Man of Destiny. Cao and Chen argue that by such a bilateral approach we may recognize the importance of heterogeneity so as to obtain further reflections on present discussions of world literature(s).

5. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 18 > Issue: 1
Yi Li, Qian Xiaoyu

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In "The Xueheng School (学衡派), Babbitt's New Humanism, and the May Fourth Movement (五四新文学运动)" Li Yi discusses modern Chinese literary history. On the one hand, it is known that scholars have been discussing key figures of the May Fourth Movement by positioning the Xueheng School to the opposite side of the former. Hence in scholarship and criticism the location of the Xueheng School as a restoration group of feudalism resulted in understanding the School as hindering the development of modern culture. However, since the 1990s the Xueheng School inspired interest in the concept of restoring ancient Chinese thought. Some scholars even repeat the ideas of the Xueheng School and regard the efforts of Xueheng scholars as overall and profound cultural pursuits which would diminish some of the extreme ideas of the May Fourth Movement. Li argues that neither of the two views on the Xueheng School are accurate and discusses the Xueheng School's achievements in view of Irving Babbitt's idea of "New Humanism."

6. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 18 > Issue: 1
Weidong Zhou

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In "Cultural Variation and Cultural Creation in Chinese Biographical Writing and Carnegie's Work" Weidong Zhou discusses the impact on Chinese biographical writing via biographies written in Chinese and translated from English about Andrew Carnegie's life and work. The interpretation of Carnegie's philanthropy includes Chinese traditional cultural concepts such as "righteousness," "cause and effect," and "self-cultivation" which constitute the unique understanding of "philanthropy" in modern Chinese literature. From a "moral model" to "successful person" the overall images following Carnegie can reflect the processes of acceptance of Western "individualism." Zhu argues that Carnegie's example was shaped as a "Youth Idol" in the May Fourth Movement from which the unique route of modernization in Chinese literature and culture can be traced.

7. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 18 > Issue: 1
Yiping Wang Orcid-ID

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In "World Literature, Industrialization, and the Two Faces of Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction" Yiping Wang discusses contemporary Chinese science fiction against the backdrop of the influence of world literature and the development of industrialization in China. Wang argues that two sides represented respectively by Liu Cixin and Han Song constitute the feature of contemporary Chinese science fiction. The side characterized by the works of Liu Cixin is the close connection with world science fiction and the positive attitude and consistency with technological innovation and industrialization in China while the other side has Han Song as its representative, whose works, with similarities to high literature of world canons and the mainstream Chinese literature, reflect on the development of technology and industrialization focusing on individuals and disasters in the shadow of modernization. These two sides join together in the illustration of the basic image of science fiction in contemporary Chinese literature. By absorbing the essence of world literature and echoing the concerns of the nation, contemporary Chinese science fiction surmounts the hierarchy of literary genres and make its way into the active center of world literature

8. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 18 > Issue: 1
Miaomiao Wang

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In "Worlding World Literatures and Coetzee's Disgrace" Miaomiao Wang explores the concept of world literature(s) as world-making activity, which gains in elliptical refraction, translation, and mode of reading. With the example of J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace, Wang illustrates cultural variations between the original English text and the Chinese translation of Disgrace through cultural filtering and literary misreading. Further, Wang analyzes images of "otherness" in Coetzee's text with regard to East Asia, especially in China, through the assimilation of the cultural rules of national literature and its literary discourse thus making it part of world literature. Wang argues that cultural variation and the images of otherness can be attributed global importance as an emerging world literary canon and its aesthetic ideology.

9. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 18 > Issue: 1
Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek Orcid-ID

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In "Peripheralities: 'Minor' Literatures, Women's Literature, and Adrienne Orosz de Csicser's Novels" Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek discusses events surrounding Adrienne Orosz de Csicser's (1878-1934) work. For the contextualization of the events Tötösy de Zepetnek employs his own framework of "comparative cultural studies" here applied to "minor literatures" (i.e., peripheral) and women's literature and Shunqing Cao's "variation theory." While Orosz's novels are not considered exceptional, the author achieved notoriety after locked up in a mental institution. In addition to three published novels, in an unpublished novel (excerpts of which she read at various literary and social gatherings) Orosz narrates her love affair with a Roman Catholic bishop. Knowledge about her novel's contents resulted in the bishop orchestrating Orosz's commitment to a mental hospital. The context in which Orosz's texts are located in is the socio-political situation in Hungarian society prior to and shortly after the First World War.