FromJuly 27-30, 2018, theEighth International Symposium on Ethical Literary Criticism was held in Kitakyushu International Convention Center, Japan.The conference was co-hosted by the International Society of Literary Ethical Criticism, the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of World Literature of Zhejiang University, the Center for International Literary Ethical Criticism of Central China Normal University, the Editorial Department ofForeign Literature Studiesof Central China Normal University, as well as Kyushu University, Japan.
More than 260 scholars from over 10 countries, including China, Japan, the United States, Russia, Germany, France, Canada, Spain, Denmark, Brazil, South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, etc.,convenedforthe core proposition and critical practice of literary ethical criticism theory.
The opening ceremony washostedby ProfessorTsuyshi Namigatafrom Kyushu University, Japan. Professor Su HuiofCentral China Normal University, General Secretary of the International Society of Literary Ethical Criticism and editor-in-chiefofForeign Literature Studies, read a congratulatory letter from Mr. Zhang Yingchuan, Consul General of the Consulate General of China in Fukuoka.Professor Wang Songlin of Ningbo University, Deputy Secretary-General of the International Society of Literary Ethical Criticism, read a congratulatory letter from ProfessorClaude Rawsonof Yale University, President of International Society of Literary Ethical Criticism and Dean of American Academy of Arts and Sciences.Nakano,Directorof Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Global SocietyatKyushu University, Japan, attended the opening ceremony and addressed the conference. Professor Nie Zhenzhao, Executive Vice President of the International Society of Literary Ethical Criticism, QiushiDistinguishedProfessor of the School of internationalStudies of Zhejiang University, andDirector of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies ofWorld LiteratureatZhejiang University, delivered an important speech at the opening ceremony.
Ten world-renowned professors were invited to give keynotespeeches atthe conference.
The first keynotespeechwas hosted by Professor Su Huiand reviewed byProfessorRonald SchleiferfromUniversity of Oklahoma, USA.Professor Nie Zhenzhao was the first keynote speaker of the conference. In his speech entitled “The Forming Mechanism of Brain Text and Brain Concept in Theory of Ethical Literary Criticism”, he explained the formation mechanism of brain text and brain concept.In his opinion, brain text, anestablished procedure for determining human thoughts and behaviors, not onlyexchangesand disseminatesinformation, but determinestheconsciousness, mind, judgment, choice, action, emotion, way of life and moral behavior, even the existence and the nature of human beings, enrichingthe theoretical frame of ethicalliterary criticism.Professor Wolfgang Mueller from Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena,delivered a speech entitled“What Is the Worth of Human Life? The Dilemma of Whom to Save in Emergency Situations in Philosophy and Literature”.Hedealt withethical dilemmas in critical times from philosophical and literary perspectives. By tracing the views of the ancient Greek philosopher Caneades and the Roman philosopher Cicero, he reflected on the emergence of ethical dilemmas in literary works from the eighteenth century to the end of the twentieth century, and the ethics of crisis from philosophy and literature.
Thesecond keynote speech washostedby Professor Shin In-Sop of Konkuk Universityandreviewed byProfessor Jung Byung-ho of Korea University.ProfessorTsuyshi Namigata delivered a speech entitled“Introduction to a Theory: Ethical Criticism of Literature”. Citing seven letters with Professor Nie Zhenzhao, he reviewed the whole process of his acceptance of literary ethics criticism as a Japanese scholar.In the speech entitled “The Ethical Value of Yasunari Kawabata’sThousand Origami Cranes”, Professor LiExian of Central China Normal University, byanalyzingthe process of the characters in this work from ethical confusion to ethical dilemma, and then to ethical choice, pointedout the importance of ethical consciousness and ethical choice.
The third keynote speech washosted byProfessor Cai Zhenxing ofTamkangUniversity,Taiwanand reviewed byProfessor Luo Lianggongof Central China Normal University.Professor Igor Oleghevich Shaitanov of Russian State University for the Humanities, gave a speech entitled “World Literature as a Challenge and Ethical Problem”.Based on the concept of “historical poetics” put forward by Alexander Nikolayevich Vishevsky,Russian literary and art scientist, he quoted Moratti, Darmrosh, Goethe, etc. on the concept of world literature, andexploredthe functions and roles of ethics in the construction of world literature.Professor Shang Biwu of Shanghai Jiaotong Universitydelivered a lectureentitled “Ethical Ways of World Making”. After discussing the existing models of world construction by western scholars, he put forward the ethical mode of world construction on the basis of literary ethics.Besides, by taking Ian McEwan'sAtonementas an example, he analyzed the ethical dimensions of world construction inhisworks.ProfessorKnut BrynhildsvollfromUniversity of Oslo, Norway delivered a speechentitled “You have to change your life. A response to Peter Sloterdijk”.
He tried to examineYou have to change your life,one of the best-sellersof Peter Sloterdijk,a contemporary German philosopher,which reflected on modern civilization in the context of literary ethics criticism. It was believed that the reconstruction of immune system proposed by Sloterdijk shouldhave moreethical elements so as to enhancehumanadaptabilityto ensure the survival of mankind. Literary ethics criticism was of great significance to the fate of human beings.
The fourth keynote speech was hosted by Professor Wu Di of Zhejiang University and reviewed by Professor Youngmin Kim of Dongguk University, Korea. Professor Johannes Noerregaard Frandsen of the University of South Denmark delivered a speech entitled “Hans Christian Andersen and Ethical Literature”. He pointed out that fairy tales were written not only for children but for teenagers and adults, who can also find resonance and see the challenges and dilemmas they may face in their lives by examining the ethical choices of characters in fairy tales. The moral value of Andersen's fairy tales lay in the fact that it can guide people to think about how to be a human. Professor Maria Luisa T. Reyes of the University of St. Thomas, Philippines, spoke on the topic “The Ethical in the Aesthetic: The Aesthetic in the Ethical in Literatures from the Philippines”. She argued the ethical turn and aesthetic turn of world literature were intertwined, and proved her viewpoint with the history and examples of Philippine literature. Professor Hitoshi Oshima of Fukuoka University, Japan, by quoting Emmanuel Levinas' interpretation of “the other”, analyzed the essence of the interdisciplinary study of comparative literature from the development of comparative literature, and pointed out the historical inevitability of the integration of literature and science.
The conference,hosted bythe Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of World Literature of Zhejiang Universityled by Professor Nie Zhenzhao,attracted12 teachers from the School of International Studies and the School of Humanitieswhopresented their papers inthe sessions ofEuropean and American Literature, Interdisciplinary Study of Literature, Comparative Literature and World Literature, Children's Literature, and Drama Literature.
Professor Wu Di put forward the concept of “divine factor” in his speech “A Study of the Ethical Conflict between the Divine Factor and the Human Factor inThe Scarlet Letter”. In his opinion, Hester Prynne, the heroine in Hawthorne'sScarlet Letter, was not a typical example of penitent character. Hester's “sin”,originated from the ethical conflict between sacred and human factors, wasdue toethical choice of Puritan society. Therefore, it was inappropriate to regard Hester and Dimmesdale as two symbols of the self-salvation of the fallen soul. On the contrary, they symbolizedthe change ofmoral values fromdivinefactorsto human factors.
Professor Wang Yong, in her speech“The Primitive Characteristics in Velimir Khlebnikov's The Izbornik of Poems”,analyzed Hlebnikov'sAnthology of Handwritten Poemsfrom the form, theme, language, etc. by applying the research methods of art and linguisticsand illustratedthe primitive artistic features of thepoemanthology and his creative ideas. SheheldthatAnthology of Handwritten Poems,byresorting toprimitive artistic creation, aimed to explore theprimitivenature ofthelanguage and to construct a future“starry sky”language.
Inhisspeech “Ethical Dimension that Alerts Mind, Moral Energy that Shapes Spirit-Rereading Several Masterpieces in the Golden Age of the USSR Literature”, Professor Zhou Qichao said, “The boom or golden age of contemporary Soviet literature wasneitherin the so-called‘thawing’period as claimed in literary history textbooks, norin the‘reform’ period in themiddle and late 1980s, but betweenthese two periods, i.e.from thefourth Soviet Writers Congress (1967)to thesixth Soviet Writers Congress (1976).”
Professor Fang Fan chaired the panel presentations and gave a speech entitled “Ethical Selection of Memory in William Gass'sMiddle C”, in which she discussed the ethical choices of theprotagonist’smemory narration in William Garth's novelMiddleC.She maintainedthat memory as a historical narrative was often influenced by the memory subject. Even if for the narration of the same historical event, different ethical identitiesof subjectswill lead to different narrative styles.
Ms.Ma Xiaoli, in herspeech, “The Ethical Choice and Use of Power inLady Audley's Secret”, depicted and compared the heroine Mrs. Audley's external image of “Family Angel” with a series of demonic ethical choices behind her, such as bigamy, murder, arson,revealing class and gender inequality in Victorian transitional period and aiming to spread the moral values and teachings in the novel.
Ms.Su Chen, in herspeech, “Ethical Identity of Clones in Kazuo Ishiguro'sNever Let Me Go”, discussed the ethical dilemma encountered by clones in Ishihiro's novelDon't Let Me Go, as well as the applicability of traditional ethical norms and the new ethical demands in post-human society.
Ms.Sun Yanping, in her speech,“Ethical Choices in Margaret Drabble'sThe Red Queen”,reexamined the ethical scenes and the ethical choices of the characters in Drabble's novelPrincess Red.
From the four key words “shame”, “collapse”, “aberration” and “trial”,Ms.Shou Sichen discussed Rushdie's worksShamefrom four ethical dimensions inherspeech “An Interpretation of the Ethical-related Key Words inShamefrom the Perspective of Ethical Literary Criticism”. These four keywords,originated from the confusion of ethical identity, ended in the bondage of ethical dilemma, andwerefinallyjudged byethical value.
Focusing on the neo-realism of contemporary Russian problems,Ms.Xue Ranran, in herspeech, “The Problems of Ethical Choices in Novels of New Realism”, analyzed the ethical confusion in literary works brought about by the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the social transformation, thus showing the deep mechanism of literature formation and development.
Ms.Zhao Jia, in herspeech, “Ethical Discourses in the Novel Adapted from Social News: A Case Study ofThe AdversarybyCarrère”, discussed the main issues inThe Adversaryby Carrère, a French writer,such as judicial ethics, journalistic ethics, Christian ethics and literary ethics, etc., arguing that different ethical discourse described and defined the connotation of“evil”from various aspects.
Ms.Shi Yeting, in herspeech, “An Almodovarian Reading of the Gender Ethics in Antigone”, analyzed the dramaAntigonein 2014 from two aspects: the subversion of gender ethics and the trend of gender ethics, and put forward some urgent problems, such as how to examine sexual minority, marriage system, gender relationship, and how to reconstruct gender ethics in contemporary society.
Beydoun Zaki's speech, “Metaphors in Ethical Discourses Examples of Nietzsche, Freud and Wittgenstein” pointed out that all ethical discourse was in fact metaphorical literary genre, and on this basis the works of Nietzsche, Freud and Wittgensteinwere analyzed.
The closing ceremony was presided over by Professor Wang Songlin, and theconcludingreports were made by ProfessorTsuyshi Namigata, Professor LiExian, Professor Wolfgang Muller and Professor Shang Biwurespectively. The reportsreadthat thisconference will have far-reachingimpacton further cooperation of scholars and worldwide dissemination and the development of literary ethics criticism. It was declared that the Ninth International Symposium on Ethical Literary Criticism would be held at Zhejiang University in2019 atthe conference.
During theconference, Professor Nie Zhenzhao held tripartite talks by inviting more than a dozen experts and scholars from China, Japan and South Koreaon theissues related to strengthening academic exchanges and cooperation among scholars from various countries. In addition, several teachers of the preparatoryteamof“Ninth International Symposium on Ethical Literary Criticism”were convenedfora preliminary plan on severalmajorissues.
International Society of Literary Ethical Criticism
Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of World Literature, Zhejiang University
Written by Ren Jie, Xiong Hui, Su Chen
8 August 2018
Translated by Zhan Bingbing, Li Qian
Edited by Xu Xueying
