The major project of the National Social Science Fund of China titled “Historical and Literary Research on American Literary Geography and Disciplinary Construction” (Project Approval Number: 16ZD A197, sub-project leaders: Professor Li Li, Professor Zhang Hairong and Professor Robert Tally), undertaken by a research team led by Professor Liu Ying from the School of Foreign Studies at Nankai University, has been completed following evaluation and appraisal organized by the National Social Science Fund Office, and the appraisal grade was good.
The research team has achieved abundant, high-quality, and influential outcomes, reflecting the academic originality and depth of major research projects. Phased achievements have been published in over 70 papers across prominent academic journals and periodicals, including Foreign Literature Review, Foreign Literature Studies, Foreign Literature, Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, Foreign Literatures, and New Perspectives on World Literature. Ten of these papers were reprinted in full by Chinese Social Sciences Digest, China Social Science Excellence, Foreign Literature Studies, Literary Theory, and Social Sciences Digest. Three phased achievements received provincial awards: one first prize and two third prizes for outstanding social science research. The final achievements include three volumes of monographs: The Study of American Literature Mobility, The Study of American Literature Landscape, and The Geographical Form and Spatial Production of American Literature, along with two translated works totaling 1.2 million words. Guided by Marxist literary theory and drawing upon Marxist spatial theory while integrating Chinese literary geography, the research comprehensively examines the relationship between American geographical and spatial transformations and the evolution of American literature. It situates American literary history within the contexts of American urban development, transportation geography, geopolitics, and economic geography, tracing the dynamic trajectories of their mutual interaction and influence.
