A delegation of the Biography Society of Aix-Marseille University (AMU) goes to China from 20 to 27 December 2018 to meet their counterparts at the Center for Life Writing (CLW) of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU).
At the invitation of distinguished Pr. Yang Zhengrun, Director of the CLW, & Pr. Liu Jialin, Deputy Director of Center for Life Writing & Vice Dean of School of Humanities at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, & of Pr. Sun Yongbin, Dean of School of Foreign Languages at Nanjing University of Finance and Economies, Pr. Joanny Moulin (IUF, LERMA), Dr. Francesca Manzari (CIELAM) and Mr. Zhou Yinan (doctoral student, IrASIA) will participate to a workshop entitled “A Dialogue between the Biographer, the Scholar and the Reader” at the SJTU-CLW Center in Nanjing on 22 & 23 December, giving conferences on “Biography in Contemporary France” & “Reading an Always Already Written Life: Jacques Derrida’s Biography”.
On 24 December they will participate to a symposium at the Nanjing University of Information, Science & Technology, at the invitation of Pr. Li Jianbo, Master of the College of Liberal Arts, giving conferences on English Studies & Translation Studies in French universities.
On 26 December in Shanghai, they will visit Shanghai Jiao Tong University & discuss the terms of a project of research partnership with the directors of the Center for Life Writing at the School of Humanities.
Workshop:
A Dialogue Between the Biographer, the Scholar and the Reader
22-23 December 2018, Nanjing
Organizers:
Shanghai Jiao Tong University Center for Life Writing
College of Foreign Languages at Nanjing University of Finance and Economics
Workshop Description:
SJTU Center for Life Writing is to launch the life writing workshop for the purpose of promoting life writing culture and stimulating life writing practice and research. The prosperity of life writing depends on the concerted efforts of biographers, scholars and readers. Throughout the history of life writing, most of the eminent life-writing theorists are outstanding biographers concurrently. Life-writing theories are practical, while the practice of life writing is in need of theoretical guidance and readers’ response and support. Our workshop will thus extend invitation to biographers, scholars and readers in this field to exchange information, publicize research results, elicit research topics, recommend excellent works, discuss projects and coordinate writing schemes. The workshop takes the form of discussion on issues of common concern emerging in the writing, researching or reading of biography. It is open-ended in nature and we welcome scholars, biographers and readers as well as organizations and societies in the field home and and abroad to participate, give advice and make comments. Any sponsorship to our workshop is warmly welcome. For further information, please contact our center.
Speakers:
Han Shishan (former Vice President of Writer’s Association at Shanxi Province, biographer), “The Selection of the Subject and the Exploration of the Materials.”
Li Hui (former journalist on People’s Daily, Lu Xun Prize[①] winner, biographer), “Those Respectable People in Ba Jin’s Random Reflections.”[②]
Liu Jialin (Associate Master of College of Humanities, SJTU; Professor of Comparative Literature; Deputy Director of SJTUCLW), “Trans-Cultural Biography: Similarities and Dissimilarities.”
Manzari, Francesca (senior lecturer in comparative literature at AMU). “Reading an Always Already Written Life: Jacques Derrida’s Biography.”
Moulin, Joanny (Senior Professor of the Institut Universitaire de France, President of Biography Society, Professor of English Studies as AMU, biographer). “Biography in Contemporary France.”
Sun Yongbin (Master of College of Foreign Language Studies at Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, Professor of English). “The Modernity of Life of Johnson: What Do We Learn from James Boswell?”
Tang Xiumin (Fellow of SJTUCLW, Professor of English). “Life Writing, Life of Objects, and Life of the Disabled/Illness: ‘New’ Forms in Western Biography.”
Zhang Xinying (Professor of Chinese Literature at Fudan University, the Changjiang Scholar[③], biographer). “The Second Half of Shen Congwen’s Life and Biography of Shen Congwen.”[④]
Registration Fee: RMB 800
Contact:
Email：ncdswyylt@163.com
Tel：+86-25-86718376
Dr. Cheng Yanqiu 13451823924
Prof. Sun Yongbin 13913936562
[①] Lu Xun Literary Prize, established in 1986 and named after China’s most respected writer Lu Xun, is one of the four prestigious awards in Chinese literature.
[②] Ba Jin (1904-2005), a renowned Chinese novelist. Random Reflections, published after the widely known Cultural Revolution, is an in-depth confession which explores the author’s own inner world and expresses his profound sorrow for what he did during that period. Ba Jin is hence regarded as “the conscience” of the twentieth-century Chinese Literature.
[③] The Changjiang Scholar Program: the highest academic award issued to an individual in higher education by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China.
[④] Shen Congwen (1902-1988), a singular Chinese novelist. He was highly acclaimed as a novelist before 1949, the year when PRC was founded, and became a researcher on ancient costumes for the rest of his life, a dropout from Chinese literature ever since. He is attractive to scholars of literature studies both in and outside China.