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Prof. Zhao Baisheng Speaks at Harvard
PKU NEWS 2009--04—01
http://ennews.pku.edu.cn/news.php?s=239094491
Harvard University, Mar. 26 to 29, 2009: Over two thousand speakers from all five
continents gathered at Harvard for the 2009 American Comparative Literature
Association (ACLA) annual meeting. According to David Damrosh, chairman of the
meeting, the turnout of this year‘s conference was unprecedented. Professor Zhao
Baisheng, director of the Global Language Research Institute from School of Foreign
Languages at Peking University was invited to speak at this year‘s meeting. The
audience was very interested and responded enthusiastically. After his talk, scholars
from all over the world asked for further discussion and possible collaboration in the
future. This year‘s theme for ACLA was ―Global Languages, Local Cultures‖, 222
parallel sessions were held. Topics were diverse, covering all areas in Comparative
Literature Research. Amongst the many topics, ―World Literature‖ research was
undoubtedly the meeting‘s spot light. Multiple parallel sessions were delegated to
this topic. Of those topics, the seminar ―Comparing World Literatures‖ lasted for
three days, each meeting having a full house turnout. Scholars from different
continents explained, based on their individual cultures and academic traditions, the
meaning and context of world literature in Asia, Africa, Latin America, North America
and Europe.
Prof. Zhao Baisheng, Director of the Global Language Research Institute from SFL
speaking at Harvard. China‘s Research on ―World Literature‖ was the center of
attention in this year‘s ACLA conference. On the afternoon of March 28th, Professor
Zhao spoke at Harvard‘s Sanders Theatre, his topic ―World Literature at PKU‖;
Harvard‘s special-grade Professor Stephen Owen hosted the meeting. Professor
Zhao Baisheng opened his speech with two H‘s, saying Chinese TV series had
compared New York to heaven and hell, however he thought this comparison was
not accurate. In fact he felt Harvard was closer to being heaven and hell. How was
one supposed to listen to two thousand seminars in a mere three days? Harvard was
just like hell in that sense, however being surrounded by all these wonderful
discussions made Harvard a living heaven. The choice in itself was torture, but this
was a sweet torture, said Zhao. This brought laughter throughout the hall, bringing
the speech to a great start. At the end of his talk, Zhao emphasized that the true
model for world literature research should be the ―Five Ring Model‖. In the coming
decade, PKU‘s World Literature Research Institute will focus on trying this new
model. For this, Zhao proposed to hold a ―World Literature Meeting‖ in 2011 at PKU
and to establish a World Literature Association (WLA) to build a global stage for
world literature. The theatre was filled with applause after this motion was
suggested.
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