Prism: Theory and Modern Chinese Literature

07/04/2025

【會議預告】
《嶺南學報》學術會議之十二
「數字人文與古代文史研究」學術研討會
The 12th Lingnan Journal of Chinese Studies Symposium
"Digital Humanities and Historical Studies"

時間：4.12~13, 2025
地點：嶺南大學劉李婉嫻康樂樓3樓308室(LYH 308, Lingnan University)

08/01/2025

We are pleased to announce the publication of “Eco-Writing in an Age of (Un)Natural Crises,” a special issue of Prism (21:1), edited by Ban Wang and Haomin Gong.

Confronting environmental crises , the contributors of this special issue engage in debating key issues in eco-writing and challenge entrenched ideas about human-nonhuman relations. Deploying multidisciplinary and cross-cultural methodologies for understanding boundaries between humans, the environment, and nature, the authors critique anthropocentrism, articulate East Asian ecological wisdom, and examine ecological responses to climate change in religion, poetry, film, and speculative fiction,

Contributors to this issue include Chia-ju Chang, Haomin Gong, Melissa A. Hosek, Yuanyuan Hua, Cheng Li, Stephen Roddy, Robin Visser, Ban Wang, Huaji Xu, Qiongqiong Ye, Yunfan Zhang, Xinmin Liu, Kiu-wai Chu and Zhen Zhang.

Browse the table of contents at https://read.dukeupress.edu/prism/issue/21/1. Buy this issue at https://dukeupress.edu/eco-writing-in-an-age-of-un-natural-crises.

02/01/2025

03/07/2024

We are pleased to announce the publication of “Classicism in Digital Times: Cultural Remembrance as Reimagination in the Sinophone Cyberspace,” a special issue of Prism (20:2), edited by Zhiyi Yang and David Der-wei Wang.

Contributors to this special issue explore “Chineseness” in the digital age, presenting the many facets of the multicentered, multidimensional, and multifunctional phenomenon of “Sinophone classicism.” The authors posit that digital technology leads to intense disruption and fragmentation of geopolitical and ethno-cultural communities by building kinetic connections among atomized individuals who act as agents of cultural remembrance and imagination. The ramifications of this virtual cultural-linguistic nationalism remain to be observed in long-term academic studies, the authors argue, beginning with this special issue.

Contributors to this issue include Fangdai Chen, Yedong Sh-Chen, Tarryn Li-Min Chun, Rossella Ferrari, Chieh-Ting Hsieh, Liang Luo, Michael O’Krent, Xiaofei Tian, Laura Vermeeren, David Der-Wei Wang, Zhiyi Yang, and Michelle Yeh.

Browse the table of contents at https://read.dukeupress.edu/prism/issue/20/2. Buy this issue at https://dukeupress.edu/classicism-in-digital-times.

29/06/2024

BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT
Dear colleagues and FB friends, I am pleased to report that my first monograph on Chinese literary theory has come out at Duke UP. If you are interested in the book, you may place an order at the DUP or Amazon sites for the same price of $16. As Amazon needs to forward the order to DUP, it makes good sense to order directly from DUP unless you have free shipping from Amazon. Below are the DUP and Amazon links. Thanks, Zong-qi

https://www.dukeupress.edu/chinese-theories-of-literary-creation

https://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Theories-Literary-Creation-Introduction/dp/1478026995/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2S4HOMW50IMKM&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.soLU544rEs1LLmK2dcHzDpoH31A_OWNPslJ7cHUt2dUl86tNTcgt1ql21tRmTJRLvWcLMrVDmOtJrDv2Zy6eGeydW5pzpQqCXpWxv6w-Mje3jlfLAivv28cCx_snZWh5PO2bbpO1vlIeYeKiW-6W1av0qA6cyc2jxptWn6hqWCmKJ160WxMGbfWQfPAjcQJXKi6C_q0o0iLMzKSHGoRABGs5NXMkvu11lOEj6QalQ-c.L9xaj0U6RWVyUvBsFXAjoxcYpopTXe9BhszZB-Ef1rk&dib_tag=se&keywords=Chinese+theories+of+literary+Creation&qid=1719534923&s=books&sprefix=chinese+theories+of+literary+creation%2Cstripbooks%2C69&sr=1-1

BACK COVER Description
In this monograph, Zong-qi Cai surveys the long trajectory of Chinese thinking about literary creation, from remote antiquity to the early 20th century. By uncovering the complex connections linking key critical terms, concepts, and assertions, it debunks the common perception of Chinese literary theory as vague and elusive. Instead, Cai approaches Chinese critical pronouncements as engaged in a productive dialogue with each other. Through detailed scrutiny of 184 passages, he shows how critics from different dynasties exploited the polysemy of key terms—drawn from Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist sources as well as criticism of calligraphy and painting—to arrive at ground-breaking new perspectives on literary creation. The book concludes with a brief comparative look at Chinese and Western literary theory aimed at being mutually illuminating for both traditions. Intended for general readers as well as specialists, this monograph will be followed in the next few years by three similar studies on theories of literature, aesthetics, and interpretation.

28/05/2024

We are pleased to report that Prism: Theory and Modern Chinese Literature 21.2 has gone through the review and editing processes and is now in press. It is scheduled to come out in October 2024. Please find the TOC of this special issue below. You may also visit this https://prismjournalorg.wordpress.com/2024/05/28/prism-21-2/ for the details of the TOC.

29/02/2024

We are pleased to report that Prism: Theory and Modern Chinese Literature 21.1, a special themed issue entitled “Eco-writing in an Age of (Un)Natural Crisis” edited by Professor Ban Wang and Professor Haomin Gong, has gone through the review and editing processes and is now in press. It is scheduled to come out in April 2024. Please find the TOC of this special issue below. You may also visit this https://prismjournalorg.wordpress.com/2024/02/29/prism-21-1-eco-writing-in-an-age-of-unnatural-crisis/ for the details of the TOC.

13/01/2024

We invite you to attend the launch of “Chinese Theater Collaborative Digital resource Center /華語戲聚“ (CTC), supported by The Institute for Chinese Studies (The Ohio State University) and co-sponsored by the Advanced Institute for Global Chinese Studies (Lingnan University). Join us on Tuesday, January 16, 2024, 8 pm Eastern Standard Time (EST) / Wednesday, January 17, 2024, 9 am (HKT) by registering here:https://easc.osu.edu/events/ics-event-launching-chinese-theater-collaborative/huayuxiju

“Chinese Theater Collaborative” (https://chinesetheatercollaborative.org) features over twenty original modules that examine modern renditions of iconic Chinese plays (Orphan of Zhao, Story of the Western Wing, Mulan and Peony Pavilion and more) in multiple formats (theater, film, TV, and comics among others). These narrated and illustrated modules showcase the vibrant and diverse afterlives of traditional Chinese plays, while facilitating the integration of drama into the literature, culture, media, and language classroom.

CTC serves as a companion site to two recent books devoted to making traditional Chinese drama accessible to a broader audience: How To Read Chinese Drama: A Guided Anthology (Edited by Patricia Sieber and Regina Llamas,) How To Read Chinese Drama in Chinese: A Language Companion (Edited by Guo Yingde, Wenbo Chang, Patricia Sieber, and Xiaohui Zhang). These two books are part of the Columbia University Press book series “How to Read Chinese Literature” (series editor: Zong-qi Cai).

CTC is established and edited by Patricia Sieber (Professor, DEALL) and Julia Keblinska (Postdoctoral Fellow, EASC) of The Ohio State University.