On Monday, May 4 at 11 a.m. in the Patrick Ma Digital Scholarship Lab at the Rockefeller Library, Dr. Li Wang will give a talk entitled, “Trends in Chinese Literature Today and the Pamphlets for Allied Information Services in WWII.” A lunch will follow the talk.
Attendees must RSVP to attend the talk.
Please respond to Cherrie_Guerzon@brown.edu by April 30.
Li Wang, Curator of the East Asian Collection, recently discovered some remarkable bibliographic information on over a dozen rare English pamphlets for allied information services in China during kangzhan/WWII. The pamphlets were part of a series of “China and Things Chinese” published by the War Area Service Corps (1937-1946), National Military Council. Among these pamphlets, there are five pertaining to “academic interest,” including topics on history, philosophy, media, taxation, and literature of China, all written by renowned scholars. The Brown Library has acquired two important titles: China’s Philosophy and Philosophers and Trends in Chinese Literature Today.
In his investigation Li Wang was pleasantly surprised to find that Trends in Chinese Literature Today was written by his late father, Professor Wang Zuoliang (Wang Tso-Liang, 王佐良). A graduate scholar from Tsinghua and Oxford University, Professor Wang was former Vice-President of the Beijing Foreign Studies University. As a leading scholar in English and American literature and comparative literature in China, Professor Wang contributed nearly forty books to these fields (Brown Library holds twelve titles). Moreover, Li Wang has also found an article on a Chinese poet and three translated poems written by Professor Wang in 1947 in Life and Letters and the London Mercury, which is housed in the Special Collections in the John Hay Library.
Wang Zuoliang, 1949. He received a Master of Letters degree from Merton College, University of Oxford. His thesis, The Literary Reputation of John Webster to 1830, was later published by Salzburg University. Brown University Library holds a copy of the book.
Li Wang has been working on a project involving a compilation of the English text of Trends in Chinese Literature Today, a Chinese translation of the pamphlet, a research paper about the background, content, and significance of this literature, and other projected publications and presentations. This project will result in the Trends, along with over forty of his other early works recently found, being added to Wang Zuoliang’s collected edition. Li Wang is glad to share his finding with interested faculty, staff, and scholars in the Brown community.
Trends summarizes twenty five years of the development of Chinese literature since the May 4th Movement in 1919, which is a valuable contribution to the field with distinctive ideas, approach, and style at that time. As an American sinologist professor remarks, “This is so impressive, what a compelling writing style! This essay puts early 20th century Chinese literature in political and aesthetic perspective, he really could summarize a complex field of literary efforts. It is fascinating….”
This lecture is co-sponsored by the East Asian Colloquium and Brown University Library.
Date: Monday, May 4, 2015
Time: 11 a.m.
Location: Patrick Ma Digital Scholarship Lab, Rockefeller Library, 10 Prospect Street, Providence