Two lectures were given at the College of Foreign Languages on June 5th and 6th, 2023 by Professor Wu Fusheng, Tenure Professor of Chinese and Comparative Literature at the University of Utah, Ph.D. in Comparative Literature of Brown University and Visiting Professor of Nankai University and Sichuan University.
The first lecture was titled “Ambiance of Nature Poetry in China and UK”, introduced by Associate Professor Cui Lifang from the English Department. Professor Wu compared the depiction and focus of natural landscapes in Chinese and English nature poetry, based on the shared characteristic of viewing nature as an embodiment and symbol of certain concepts. He believed that in the Western tradition, this concept referred to the universal laws and the will of God or the divine. In contrast, in Chinese tradition, this philosophy was considered to be "integrated" and "merged" with nature itself. Therefore, Chinese nature poets pursued a state of unity between the self and the surroundings, while in English nature poetry, influenced by Western dualistic thinking, natural landscapes were often seen as mere appearances that needed to be transcended or even discarded. The contrasting philosophical beliefs in Chinese and English landscape poetry contribute to the overall style of the ambiance of Chinese and English landscape poetry.
The second lecture, titled "From Scripture to Literature: Translations of the Shijing (The Book of Poetry) by James Legge and Arthur Waley", was hosted by Professor Zhang Zhizhong, the Director of the Translation Department and the Chinese Poetry Translation Center. The lecture focused on exploring the translation art of James Legge and Arthur Waley in translating the Shijing (The Book of Poetry). It delved into the influences of the translators' respective eras, cultural backgrounds, personal experiences, and their distinct understandings of Chinese culture and literature. The lecture examined how these factors shaped the translators' ideas, purposes, and strategies in translating Chinese poetry. It pointed out that the different translation strategies adopted by the translators were a result of their specific translation goals, aiming to present different original imagery of the poems to readers and reflected the varied interpretations and approaches of non-Chinese translators towards cultural "tension". The research mainly focused on issues related to language, literature, culture, and art from the perspectives of comparative literature and comparative poetics. After the lecture, Professor Wu Fusheng gave an overall summary of the two lectures and his recent academic research, followed by a comment and summary from Professor Zhang Zhizhong. Attendees, including faculty and students, engaged in active and in-depth discussions on topics such as poetry translation and translation of classic works.
The two lectures not only brought new insights and reflections to the teachers and students on the research topics but also sparked further exploration and research in the fields of poetry translation and classic literature translation.
