Akutagawa Ryūnosuke's uncanny travels in Republican-era China

This study focuses on Akutagawa Ryūnosuke's Shina yūki (Travels in China): an account of a four-month journey through eastern, central, and northern China in the spring and summer of 1921. Due to Akutagawa's reputation as a writer and the account's vantage point on a transitional period in Japan's expansion abroad, Travels in China has traditionally enjoyed a prominent place in the canon of twentieth-century Japanese travel writing. What has received less attention, however, is the relation of the work to the rest of Akutagawa's literary corpus. In this paper, I situate Travels in China within the larger context of Akutagawa's ongoing interest in Chinese fiction and drama. Rather than reading Travels in China as a work of journalism, as Akutagawa initially invited his readers to do, I argue that the work is an extended exploration not only of the relationship between ‘New China’ and Akutagawa's beloved traditional Chinese culture, but also of the boundaries separating journalism, fiction, and other literary genres. Ultimately, I connect Travels in China to Akutagawa's later work: texts that similarly interrogate and deconstruct the distinctions between genres and modes of narrating experience.     

‘Not Simple,Not Pure’: Revisioning of Mythical Wicked Women in the Stories of Sara Maitland

The British novelist, feminist and religious thinker Sara Maitland (b.1950) is renowned for her short stories, many of which involve the rewriting of fairy tale and classical and biblical myth. This article situates Maitland's retellings within the contemporary feminist tradition of literary revisioning, but emphasises that her retelling of old tales is distinguished by a deep—and often discomforting—engagement with questions of morality. This is rooted in Maitland's political commitment and Christian faith, and is particularly evident in her treatment of mythical female evil. Her short stories take a morally ambiguous approach, paying attention to the moral and psychological complexities of the wicked stepmothers in fairy tale, gorgons and child-killers of classical myth, and temptresses of the Hebrew Bible. Maitland's feminist revisioning of mythical wicked women does not flinch from their darkness, or impose simple ethical lessons, but at the same time she is (sometimes horribly) aware of their moral significance. This article examines the portrayal of feminist theology's concept of the ‘female sin’ of passivity in Maitland's revisioning of Delilah (in Daughter of Jerusalem, 1978) and ‘Helen of Troy's Aerobics Class’ (in On Becoming A Fairy Godmother, 2003); how the crimes of mythical wicked women are retold as being motivated by revenge against men in ‘Deborah and Jael’ (Daughter of Jerusalem), ‘Siren Song’ and ‘The Swallow and the Nightingale’ (Far North and Other Dark Tales, 2008). The latter of these raises issues of women's conflicting loyalties, which is also considered in ‘The Swans’ (2008). The taboos of incest and child abuse are explored powerfully and sensitively in ‘Jocasta’ (2003) and ‘The Wicked Stepmother's Lament’ (A Book of Spells, 1987), and resistance to simplistic moralising is encapsulated in the story of a menopausal Eve, in ‘Choosing Paradise’ (2003).     

‘Black letters’: problems and issues in the research,dissemination and reception of literature by Afro-Argentines and on Afro-Argentines

Afro-Argentines of colonial descent constitute one of the lesser known minority groups in the country. While scholarly research on this particular group is still scarce, recent studies account for the diversity of its past and current cultural practices. Aside from some exceptions, Afro-Argentine literature is virtually unknown to academia and, as it is usually the case regarding Minor Literatures, it has been excluded from the national literary canon. Towards the end of the twentieth century there was a resurgence not only of studies on Afro-Argentine literature, but also of the presence of Afro-Argentines themselves in fictional writing. This paper will chart the process of retrieval, analysis and dissemination of Afro-Argentine literature, examining some of the issues that arise both at the epistemic and editorial policy levels. We will account for the revival of a literature on Afro-Argentines, in order to explore whether they reproduce a ‘master narrative’ that, through the historical novel, relegates Afro-Argentines into oblivion and/or reduces the group to its stereotypes; or if, on the other hand, these voices can subvert Argentine historiography by positioning this group in a leading role that mirrors the vitality of their present-day social movements.     

现代宗教热的社会根源探析

现代宗教热导源于现代工业文明所引发的精神危机 ,有着深刻的社会根源 :生态危机、核威胁、城市恐怖综合症、社会分离、变式文化、物质刺激、信息化、快节奏、社会竞争以及工业文明向后进地区的推进造成了普遍的焦虑与恐惧感、孤独与寂寞感、失落感、依赖与疏外感、疲惫与紧张感及适应能力缺乏感。这些精神问题的存在一方面刺激了人们的宗教需求 ,另一方面也促使人们重新审视“和谐”对人生命的本质性意义     

春秋战国时期粮食安全思想的传承与当代战略选择

粮食是人类生存和发展的基本物质条件,是关系国家安全、政治稳定与社会和谐的重要战略性资源。粮食安全化与政治化是国际政治研究的热点问题之一。鉴于此,重新发现中国春秋战国时期已形成的粮食安全思想,从粮食对国家安全、国家权力以及国家道义层次考察彼时粮食安全思想,具有重要的现实意义。“不生粟之国亡”,粮食安全是国家安全的基础;“富国以粟”,粮食是国家富强的保证;粮食关乎人心向背和国家道义。齐桓公为建立霸业实施了粮食外交与粮食战略,开创了现代粮食战争的先河。“不生粟之国亡”是中国春秋战国时期粮食安全思想的核心和根本,也是对中国古代粮食安全思想再发现的落脚点。基于此,当代中国粮食安全战略应立足于坚持独立自主原则,保障国内粮食生产,积极开展粮食外交,实行粮食“走出去”战略,在全球化背景下确保实现国家粮食安全。这不仅是保障国家安全的重中之重,也是中华民族实现“中国梦”最重要的物质基石。     

中国对菲律宾文学研究述评

自近代以来,中国的菲律宾文学研究可分为三个时期:早期是中国有选择性地翻译、简介菲律宾文学名家名作;中期是菲律宾华文报刊与中国的报刊共同关注"菲华文学";后期是对菲律宾文学特别是菲华文学进行系统研究。研究内容包括对菲律宾文学的总体性介绍;对菲华文学的宏观论述;对菲华文学与中国文文学学关系之探究等。随着时间的迁移,研究逐步细化,取得成绩的同时也出现了问题。比如研究整体上重"华文"文学而轻"非华文"文学等。     

论“文学革命”爆发的社会时代原因

1917年爆发的“文学革命”是社会时代的产物。社会制度由帝制而共和的变迁,社会恶劣环境状况的刺激,外来思想文化的影响,本土文学改良的积淀和新文化运动的助产,构成了“文学革命”产生的四大主要社会时代因素。     

论20世纪中国女性文学的主题

中国女性文学作为20世纪中国文学的一部分,它的主题具有强烈的时代性和反叛性,从初始的女性与社会,女性与革命拓展到了对人的本质、女性的生存状态、女性自身内省和生命意义等开放性、多元化、多角度的哲学反思,其欣欣向荣的发展状态,为中国文学的发展增添了很多亮彩。     

当代青年生存无意义感的理性反思

随着现代科技的迅猛发展和由传统文化建构的意义世界的解体,不少青年人在面对瞬息万变及复杂多样的现代生活时逐渐丧失了支撑其生命活动的价值资源和意义归宿,产生了身心分离的碎片感、疲惫感、宿命感和孤独无助感。对此,德育工作必须改变过去“纯工具化”理性,赋予当代青年更多的人文关怀,如生命情感关怀、终极信仰关怀、社会责任感关怀和苦难与死亡意义的关怀等,引导他们超越自身的有限性和现实的物质纷扰,追求生命的永恒价值。