record 328 scholars and specialists attended the Fifth International Conference on English and American literature, “The Presentations of History and Culture in Literature,” held at Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) from April 24 to 25.

SISU president Cao Deming said during the conference’s opening ceremony that literature should be interpreted and explained the meanings given the times, as well as introducing the development of SISU’s distinguished discipline of English language and literature.

In the first session on the afternoon of April 24, Professor Bruce Robbins from Columbia University, Professor Kyoo Lee from City University of New York and Professor Zhang Chong from Fudan University presented a group of papers on “Interpreting Violence in Literature”, “Chuang-Tzu and Literary Imagination of Contemporary Pioneering Poets” and “Reflecting Fractals in Gerald Vizenor’s Blue Ravens”, respectively.

In the second session, Professor Attila Kiss from University of Szeged in Hungary and Professor Zhang Dingquan from SISU made presentations respectively on “Shakespeare’s Tragedy Consciousness and Postmodern Adaptations” and “History, Democracy and Literary Imagination in Charles Brockden Brown's Wieland”,

On that day’s afternoon, foreign and Chinese scholars were divided into 13 and 12 groups respectively. Historical content in literature written by Pearl S. Buck, Virginia Woolf, Alice Monroe and John Milton were among the topics discussed by the foreign groups. The Chinese groups discussed literature in wider dimensions, which have included nationality, gender, ethnicity, narrative style and literary form.

On the morning of April 25, Professor Kenneth Surin from Duke University, Professor Gabriel N. Finder from the University of Virginia, Professor Yin Piping from Hangzhou Normal University, Professor Jace Weaver from the University of Georgia, Professor Zeng Yanyu from Hunan University of Science and Technology, and Professor Steve J. Kulich from SISU presented on topics including “The Application of the Theory of Criticism in American Literary Studies” and “History and Culture in American Literature”, “The Deep Community under the Pen of William Wordsworth” and “The Crazy World of Massacre Survivors in Isaac Singer’s Meshugah”.

Attendees also included Dean of SISU’s School of English Studies Professor Zha Mingjian, Director Ren Jing of Academic Department of Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, Professor Qiao Guoqiang of SISU’s Research Center for English and American Literature and Professor Li Weiping of Academic Council of SISU’s English Discipline, who introduced the their departments and recent research on English and American literature, respectively.

As one of the most significant events in China’s academia of foreign literature, the biennial conference was co-hosted by SISU’s School of English Studies and the Institute of Literary Studies, organized by the Research Center for English and American Literature and the Editorial Council of British and American Literature Review, and supported by Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.