In this presentation, I will consider some of the question that arise for literature and the arts in a world of fast connectivity, social media, crowdsourcing, artificial intelligence: questions that are about writing, reading and publishing, about authorship and authority, about genre, popular and ‘high’ literature, about creativity, memory and identity. While they require answers embedded in and relevant to the contemporary digital world, they also prove to be old questions which literature repeatedly returns to.

In the digital age, the relationship between human memory and media is intimate and impossible to separate. The interaction between technology and memory is transforming how we experience reality, identity, and time. As we integrate machines into our biological memory systems, we may be entering an era where the human mind is no longer bound to the brain alone. The relationship between technological objects and human memory is reshaping how we store, retrieve, and even modify memories. From AI-assisted recall to brain-computer interfaces, technology is beginning to externalize, enhance, and sometimes even replace biological memory.

Gilbert Simondon’s theory of technical objects provides a unique framework for analyzing how medical technologies interact with and transform the human biological memory system. Simondon viewed technical objects as evolving entities that mediate between humans and their environments. Through this lens, we can examine how memory-related medical technologies—from neural implants to AI-driven cognitive prosthetics—are reshaping human memory and identity. From the perspective of Simondon’s technical object, this study seeks to explore themes of biological memory, identity, and the temporal externalization of memory through two plays: Nick Payne’s Elegy and Jordan Harrison’s Marjorie Prime. These plays delve into the intersection of technology with the human condition, exploring how memory and consciousness shape our identities and how technology might alter or preserve them.

Memory is often viewed as the foundation of personal identity—it is through memory that we know ourselves, maintain continuity over time, and construct meaning from our experiences. The concept of temporal externalization of memory in Nick Payne’s Elegy can be understood as a central theme where human memory is shifted out of its natural biological boundaries and anchored in an artificial or technical system. From the perspective of Simondon’s technical object, this involves framing memory as something external, manipulatable, and possibly detachable from the self. In Elegy, the narrative explores a futuristic scenario where degenerative diseases are “cured” through a medical procedure that replaces parts of the brain responsible for memory and identity with artificial implants. In Jordan Harrison’s Marjorie Prime, the temporal externalization of memory is central to the narrative, as it examines the relationship between human memory, identity, and artificial intelligence. From the perspective of a technical object—specifically, the “Primes,” which are AI-driven holographic representations of deceased individuals—temporal externalization involves transforming memory into a collective, externalized resource that is mediated, stored, and iteratively reconstructed by the AI.

The temporal externalization of memory in Nick Payne’s Elegy and Jordan Harrison’s Marjorie Prime reflects fundamentally different approaches to how technology interacts with human memory and identity. From the perspective of a technical object, the differences lie in purpose, process, and relationship to time and humanity. In essence, Elegy views temporal externalization as a means to preserve functionality at the expense of emotional depth, while Marjorie Prime focuses on maintaining emotional resonance through collaborative reconstruction of memory. Each perspective highlights a different facet of how technical objects mediate the intersection of memory, identity, and time.

This study critically examines the formation of the Korean literary institution and the enduring legacy of settler colonialism through the lens of the university as a global affective regime. Centering on the Netflix series The Chair, the research analyzes the racialized and gendered structures embedded in the discipline of English literature and traces their colonial origins. It raises fundamental questions about the role of the university today in the era of “post- humanities” and the historical work the university has performed during the era of “humanities,”as well as the limitations and possibilities of the institution.

The Chair portrays, through the perspective of a Korean American female professor, the crisis of the English department in American academia and the affective pressures faced by racialized and gendered subjects within it. At the same time, this study turns its critical gaze toward the Korean university, arguing that it functions not merely as amimetic institution but as a settler colonial technology. As such, the Korean university continues to reconstruct the legacy of colonialism under the guise of national knowledge production, reinforcing neoliberal modes of governance through the regulation of race, gender, and citizenship.

Drawing on the framework of affective geography, this study examines the colonial and affectivefunctions of the university across the social contexts of the United States and South Korea. It contends that, rather than achieving a meaningful transition toward decolonization, both societies remain structured by the historical continuity of colonial affect―rendering them settler societies. The university operates not simply as a site of scholarship, but as a conduit for transmitting settler colonial sensibilities and power, and this affective structure continues to shape and haunt the Korean literary institution andsociety at large.

Through this analysis,the study seeks to reconfigure the flows of affect surrounding the technology of the university and to interrogate their political implications. Ultimately, it aims to move beyond the discourse of crisis in the humanities, revealing the affective mechanisms of governance performed by the university within a global settler colonial framework, and offering a critical foundation for rethinking the Korean literary institution.

Women writers in South Korea have played a crucial role in globalizing translated Korean literature, challenging the male-dominated literary field. This study examines their influence through a sociological lens, highlighting their intersection with feminism in Korean society. These writers have embodied their gendered habitus within the framework of intersectional symbolic violence imposed upon them. This habitus has shaped their literary practices, enabling them to transform “misrecognized” symbolic violence into a form of “recognition” by identifying and exposing it. Their literary strategies include disrupting conventional linguistic and literary norms, subverting traditional genres, reinterpreting and expanding female gender roles to portray women as agents of change beyond the familial sphere, and addressing social and political issues through characters who explicitly defy traditional expectations. By recognizing and exposing often-invisible symbolic violence in their work, Korean female writers engage in a meaningful act of resistance—one that not only challenges established power structures but also fosters broader societal reflection and progress.

This JCLA-KCLA Joint Session Roundtable will bring together members from the Korean Comparative Literature Association (KCLA) and the Japanese Comparative Literature Association (JCLA). The session aims to compare current trends in the field of comparative literature, discuss academic concerns, and share survival tactics for scholarly work, focusing on the following four topics:

First, "Recent Activities" will involve sharing key activities and research achievements of each association, while also exploring future directions for comparative literature research in the current academic environment. Second, "Education and Social Impact" will examine changes in comparative literature education and its influence on society, discussing ways the discipline can contribute to the community. Third, "Academic Publication" will analyze trends in scholarly publishing within comparative literature and exchange practical information on strategies for publishing in domestic and international journals and monographs. Finally, "Internationalization and the Global Anglophone" will delve into methods for expanding comparative literature research globally, including strategies for promoting exchanges with the Anglophone academic world and building international scholarly networks. This will also involve an extended discussion on comparative literary discourse possible between Anglophone comparative literature and East Asia.

This roundtable is expected to be a meaningful opportunity to vitalize academic exchange between the two associations and collectively seek solutions to the pressing challenges facing the field of comparative literature.

Members from KCLA and JCLA will compare trends in the field, discuss academic concerns, and share survival tactics around the 4 topics below.

1) Recent Activities

2) Education and Social Impact

3) Academic Publication

4) Internationalization and the Global Anglophone

This presentation critically reviews the activities of KCLA since the 2000s and examines the possibility of comparative literature in East Asia. And I would like to discuss how KCLA will respond to the phenomenon in which cognition and methodology of comparative literature is spreading in various academic fields.

Members from KCLA and JCLA will compare trends in the field, discuss academic concerns, and share survival tactics around the 4 topics below.

1) Recent Activities

2) Education and Social Impact

3) Academic Publication

4) Internationalization and the Global Anglophone

Within this context, the present author will talk about the education and social impact.

This JCLA-KCLA Joint Session Roundtable will bring together members from the Korean Comparative Literature Association (KCLA) and the Japanese Comparative Literature Association (JCLA). The session aims to compare current trends in the field of comparative literature, discuss academic concerns, and share survival tactics for scholarly work, focusing on the following four topics:

First, "Recent Activities" will involve sharing key activities and research achievements of each association, while also exploring future directions for comparative literature research in the current academic environment. Second, "Education and Social Impact" will examine changes in comparative literature education and its influence on society, discussing ways the discipline can contribute to the community. Third, "Academic Publication" will analyze trends in scholarly publishing within comparative literature and exchange practical information on strategies for publishing in domestic and international journals and monographs. Finally, "Internationalization and the Global Anglophone" will delve into methods for expanding comparative literature research globally, including strategies for promoting exchanges with the Anglophone academic world and building international scholarly networks. This will also involve an extended discussion on comparative literary discourse possible between Anglophone comparative literature and East Asia.

This roundtable is expected to be a meaningful opportunity to vitalize academic exchange between the two associations and collectively seek solutions to the pressing challenges facing the field of comparative literature.

"Comparative literature is not a 'comparison of literature'." This statement prompts us to consider what scholars in comparative literature are comparing. In the study of the Wushan literature of Japan, it has been observed that incorporating "heterogeneous factors" and "homogeneous factors" from the surveyed texts to reconstruct the communication relationships between foreign literatures may present a viable approach. When there is an interaction between literatures of different countries, its complexity often manifests in the intricate web of prolonged communication rather than in the final direct outcome.

Previous research methodologies have typically focused on establishing the starting point and endpoint, presupposing a linear route between the two points—whether from object A to object B or vice versa. To some extent, this singular path inevitably leads to a simplified understanding of the relationship. Additionally, it is crucial not to overlook the assessment, existence, and transformation of "heterogeneous factors" and "homogeneous factors" within the text.

Modern East Asian writers established a community among writers by confirming each other's cultural memories through the creation of poetry and constantly building collective memories. The exchange of culture between Qing and Joseon writers began at the end of the 18th century, and cultural exchanges between Qing and Korean writers began to show a pattern that lasted for several decades on a higher level. In particular, as Western powers invaded East Asia in the early 19th century, East Asian writers began to discuss countermeasures for new changes, and it seems that they had a broader conversation on issues such as how to respond to the West and what changes the fate of the Qing Dynasty would face in the face of this crisis, and whether they could restore neutralization, the spiritual pursuit of East Asian writers.

The sunny activities during the Chuseok, which were discussed in this paper around 1861, are known as one of the literary activities that best showed the interaction patterns between East Asian writers under this background.

First of all, the urban painting activity organized by Dongmunchang called for a sunny day in 1861 when the politics of the Qing Dynasty were in jeopardy due to the damage of the Second Opium War to Han Chinese and Joseon Chinese.

Next, the fact that this poem's sunny house has a lot of writers scrambling to sunny up compared to the sensitive issues it deals with, or talks about the emotions that the poem shares with, those writers are interested in.

Next, the first edition of this poem contains the poems of 30 writers, seven of whom were poems of Korean writers who were performed between 1861 and 1862. Whenever Dong Won-hwan received a poem from a Korean writer, he met with the Korean writers separately for several days and had a deep conversation with them. It can be seen that he is satisfied with the poetry exchange activities through the Chuhoehwachang collection, such as the fact that Dong Won-hwan received a poem from a Korean writer, and that he published this poem in Joseon.

Overall, the Chuhaehwachangjib can be seen as a process of creating collective memories by representing artistic activities between writers and reminding them of cultural memories, reaffirming each other's identities through collective memories, and establishing a new community between writers.

Therefore, I would like to discuss some of the following issues in this paper. The Korean people want to find out how they successfully decoded the hidden topic that Dong Won-hwan was trying to talk about, how they decoded the topic, how they responded to the difficult part to respond and interpreted it constructively in response to the new changes, and how they reaffirmed the collective sense of common consciousness and established a collective identity by dealing with "difference" or "change" that could break down the collective sense of common consciousness.

As a representative commentary on Zuo Zhuan, Zuozhuan Jishi written by Yasui Sokken, a famous Japanese sinologist, was deeply influenced by textology of Qing Dynasty. Under the impact of great emphasis on practical learning in Qing Dynasty, Zuozhuan Jishi not only inherited the Qing Confucians' thoughts of studying classics, including criticizing Du Yu's annotations, reviving Han scholarship and applying Confucian classics to reality, but also adopted and adequately applied the annotation methods of Qing Dynasty's textology in the aspects of philological exegesis, historical research, version collation and so on. What's more, the work also extensively cited the annotation results of dozens of textology scholars in the Qing Dynasty, such as Hui Dong, Gu Yanwu, Wang Niansun, Ruan Yuan and the like, embodying the academic characteristics that focused on exegesis, empirical evidence and collation. While accepting above thoughts and methods of Qing Dynasty's textology, Zuozhuan Jishi demonstrates critical spirit by presenting unique interpretations that differ from the Qing Confucians in terms of specific points, reflecting a selective agreement with their ideas and choosing reasonable one to follow, which strictly practices the Qing Confucians' academic style that is realistic. The origin relationship between Zuozhuan Jishi and textology of Qing Dynasty is an illustration of textological characteristics of Yasui's scholarship, as well as an epitome of the localization of Chinese practical learning in Japan. It is of great benefit to understand the prevalence of Qing Dynasty's textology in Japanese sinological circles during the Edo period, and even to investigate the academic exchange and development between China and Japan.

There are four dimensions to the selection and translation of contemporary Chinese writers' works in Japan: firstly, the award-winning works of the writers; Secondly, choose more short and medium stories as the subject matter; Thirdly, literary works that tend to reflect Chinese historical events, regional customs, and cultural character in terms of content; Fourth, pay attention to the creations of female writers. In the external dissemination of contemporary Chinese literature, the works of Chinese female writers showcase unique literary charm and social insights through their unique female perspectives. Writer Zhang Jie is the first Chinese writer to win three national awards for long, medium, and short stories, and the only writer in the country to win the Mao Dun Literature Award twice. Her works have been translated into over ten languages including English, French, German, Russian, and Danish, with nearly 30 translations available. However, Japan was the first country to pay attention to and translate Zhang Jie's works. The evaluation of writer Zhang Jie by the Japanese academic community is: "As a pioneer of Chinese literature in the new era, she entered the literary world with a unique artistic style and is the most outstanding female writer in an era

The translation and introduction of works by writer Zhang Jie in Japan presents the following four characteristics.

As a concept in narratology, perspective is a special perspective and angle from which a work or a specific narrative text views the external world and inner world. It is the spiritual connection point between the author and the text. The female image presented in Zhang Jie's works is the author's insight into the external world as a female observer. Writer Zhang Jie and Professor Fudi, two women of the same age, meet in the work "Ark". The translator clearly and accurately grasps the author's creative intention and the meaning of the work. The reason why Zhang Jie's works can be successfully translated into Japan is also because the language style of Japanese is suitable for the expression of female writers, with a large number of onomatopoeic words, and female language is very suitable for the form of "inner monologue" in the works. The translation and introduction of Zhang Jie's works in Japan is rigorous, precise, and highly artistic. The author's observation of Chinese society through the protagonist's female perspective and the portrayal of resilient and ideal female images in the works are important elements in the translation and dissemination of Japanese works.

Records on Entering Shu (Ru Shu Ji) is a diary written by the Southern Song poet Lu You (1125-1210) during his journey into the Sichuan region. It consists of six volumes and is one of the longest travelogues of the Song Dynasty, also recognized as the most significant literary achievement and influential diary-style travelogue of its time. After the record was introduced to Japan, it underwent multiple editions, reprints, and annotated translations, achieving widespread dissemination and influence. In post-Meiji publications, Records on Entering Shu was used as a "comprehensive encyclopedia" referenced in various fields such as agriculture, water conservancy, history, geography, customs, and biology. It was also regarded as a "model travelogue" in the literary creations of Japanese literati and Chinese travel accounts, often being admired and imitated in terms of content, creative paradigm, usage of classical references, and travel routes.

The Annotations on the Records on Entering Shu (1881) is considered the earliest known annotated version of the work in East Asia, with its preface and annotations written in Classical Chinese. It was reprinted twelve years after its initial publication, and several Japanese editions with translations and annotations followed. These publications reflect the broad audience Records on Entering Shu found in modern Japan. To this day, academic studies on Records on Entering Shu have covered aspects such as its ideological content, its status and influence, textual studies, and landscape routes. Research on modern Japanese literati's travelogues and writings about China has also established a strong foundation from perspectives such as scholar interactions and image studies. However, there is still a lack of focused studies on the reception of Records on Entering Shu in Japan and its impact on the travel writings of modern Japanese literati about China.

Against this backdrop, this paper attempts to examine Records on Entering Shu within the social and historical context of modern Japan from both synchronic and diachronic perspectives. By analyzing contemporary publications of the time and focusing on multiple Japanese translations and annotated editions of the work, the study aims to trace the "line" that links them, providing a glimpse into the "scope" of its dissemination and reception in modern Japan. The goal is to offer a new perspective for research on modern Japanese scholars' travelogues about China and to explore the evaluation and influence of Records on Entering Shu in modern Japan, thereby contributing to the understanding of its literary, cultural and historical value.

With the wide dissemination of The Song of Everlasting regret in Japan, Yang Guifei has also become the subject of much writing by Japanese literati. The image of Yang Guifei in Japanese literature is naturally coupled with the image of "Kiritsubo Consort" in The Tale of Genji by Zi Shibu; in the Noh play by Jinchun Zenbake, she becomes a "resurrected" fairy; in the historical novel The Legend of Yang Guifei by Inoue Yasushi, she shares the same tragic fate as herself;and in folklore, there are two kinds of encounters: "the double theory" and "the resurrection theory". The variation of the image of Yang Guifei in Japanese literature is mainly reflected in the change from "beauty in trouble" to "national god", and in the subject matter of Yang Guifei's literary works, from "feelings of family and country" to "beautiful love".The reasons for the Japanization and variation of Yang Guifei's image are found to lie in the "depoliticization" of Japanese literature, the aesthetic tradition of "mono no aware", the cultural filter and the "exoticization" of literature.

The present paper explores the mechanisms of linguistic hybridity by drawing on (self)translations in/from French across Romanian novels of the 19th century. Albeit the focus of such a study may seem extremely limiting, it actually reveals a rather abundant corpus, as shown by the data extracted from the Digital Museum of the Romanian Novel (a nearly comprehensive corpus comprising 1,227 Romanian novels published between 1845 and 1947: https://revistatransilvania.ro/mdrr/). This owes to the fact that, especially in the latter half of the 19th century, Romanian elites went through a very noticeable “self-colonization” process, which made French essentially become their second mother tongue. On the other hand, from a strictly theoretical standpoint, we show that the discursive co-occurrence of texts written in different languages, thus triggering the process of linguistic hybridization, can open up a fertile avenue for a more in-depth study and reflection on the phenomenon.

Building on these considerations, our paper is divided into three parts: the first part analyzes the phenomenon of (mono-)hybridity in the mentioned corpus, classifying it according to the direction of translation (FR to RO, in the case of Boileau or Alfred de Musset; RO to FR, in the case of Ion Heliade Rădulescu) and the functions of this approach (accounting for a wide range of factors, from the authenticity of the characters’ speech to the legitimization of the authors’ works); the second part focuses on a process we dub double hybridity, i.e., the instances where both the French and the Romanian texts are signed by the same author, which are then “translated” from one language into another (thereby revealing a mutual contamination of the two linguistic codes); the third and final part pursues the process of (auto)translation within novels from a historical perspective, drawing comparisons between the “hybrids” that were ultimately assimilated by the standardized speech practices by the end of the century and those that were not only rejected, but also ridiculed (for example, in Ion Luca Caragiale’s short stories and dramas), thus fueling literary creativity. The findings of our study highlight the functional pluralism of linguistic hybridization, which brings together numerous linguistic, psychological, social, literary, and cultural roles.

La dialectique entre le nationalisme et le cosmopolitisme littéraire trouva sa première expression en Europe au tournant de 1800. À cette époque, le français jouissait d’une universalité incontestée, un fétichisme encore renforcé par les politiques unilinguistiques instaurées après la Révolution. Cependant, face à l’expansion du Premier Empire, les nations voisines ressentirent l’urgence de redéfinir leur identité propre, plaçant la langue au cœur de cette communauté imaginée. L’exemple de l’espace germanique est ici particulièrement significatif.

Paradoxalement, c’est dans ce contexte de montée des nationalismes qu’émergea le premier élan vers une littérature véritablement européenne, dont Germaine de Staël fut l'une des pionniers. Exilée dans le monde germanophone à la suite de son bannissement par Napoléon, Staël trouva, grâce à ses échanges avec des intellectuels d’outre-Rhin tels que Wilhelm von Humboldt et August Wilhelm Schlegel, une source inédite d’imagination littéraire. Elle intégra cette richesse germanique dans son idéal multilingue, concrétisé dans son roman Corinne ou l’Italie.

L’engagement de Staël ne se limita pas au domaine littéraire : il s’étendit également au champ idéologique. Ainsi, l’auteure de De l'Allemagne fit de la traduction une arme conceptuelle contre la logique de domination culturelle, s’appuyant sur le groupe de Coppet. Ce dernier, rassemblé autour de Staël, représenta le premier véritable salon européen et constitua un creuset pour une vision renouvelée de la littérature européenne, tout en jetant les bases de la discipline émergente de la littérature comparée. Dans ce cadre, non seulement la langue allemande, mais aussi toutes les langues modernes européennes bénéficièrent pour la première fois d’une attention affranchie de toute hiérarchie.

Dans ce contexte, notre étude s’articulera autour d’une série de questions concrètes. Tout d’abord, comment Germaine de Staël, étrangère à la langue allemande, parvient-elle à surmonter les barrières linguistiques pour puiser son inspiration littéraire dans l’univers teutonique ? Ensuite, comment interpréter la figure multilingue de Corinne, qu’elle façonne dans une œuvre presque exclusivement écrite en français ? Par ailleurs, comment Staël, qui ne maîtrisait pas elle-même plusieurs langues de manière exceptionnelle et n’a fait qu’imaginer une muse multilingue, défend-elle cet idéal au sein du groupe de Coppet, un cercle imprégné de polyglottisme et animé par des traducteurs renommés ? Enfin, dans le contexte nationaliste du début du XIXᵉ siècle, comment Staël, ainsi que d’autres membres du groupe de Coppet, construisent-ils leur propre identité ? Subissent-ils une crise identitaire engendrée par un double exil ? Chassés de leur patrie d’un côté et non intégrés aux terres culturelles qu’ils ont choisies de l’autre, deviennent-ils les figures archétypales d’une littérature en exil, privée à la fois d’ancrage et d’accueil ?

The readers’ and critics’ reactions to a text can depend on their identity-making personal, historical and linguistic backgrounds and their personal perspectives on historical events. This can be demonstrated with the Latvian diaspora author Ilze Berzins’ autobiographical novel “Happy Girl”. The novel describes the author’s return to her birthplace after fifty years of living abroad. When she returns in 1995, Latvia has gone through Soviet occupation, massive social, political and demographic changes, which comes as a shock to the author when her image of the dreamland home-country clashes with reality.

This story of return and search for the land of origin can be seen from a variety of perspectives. One perspective provided by the Latvian critic Aija Priedīte in her article entitled “No Place for Dreams” (Sapņiem te nebija vietas) (2021) stresses the role of the author in creating the text and her lack of knowledge about the reality of Latvia. Another perspective on the same text is offered in the Lithuanian researcher Milda Danyte’s “Narratives of “Going Back”: a Comparative Analysis of Recent Literary Texts by Canadians of East European Origin” (2005), where the same text by Berzins is seen in a wider context of the need of human beings to revisit and return to the place of origin, starting with Homer’s Odyssey and mentioning a plethora of other similar examples. Another perspective is provided by the author herself. In a video interview the author imagines that the original readers in English had the perspective of putting themselves in the shoes of an expat returning home, while the Latvian readers of the translation see this is as an unwelcome foreigner stepping on their home ground.

The book was first published in 1997 in English, then translated into Latvian in 2019. This research will examine both the original and the translation, as well as the perspectives of the critics and readers of both publications and the underlying reasons for these perspectives.

The authenticity of life narratives is questioned from time and again. Life narratives of historical figures and revolutionaries are considered many at times as documents through which history can be traced, since they often contain first-hand information about these personalities’ life period. The documentation of history by these accounts are done mostly by these personalities’ experiences alone. The limiting factor of considering a life narrative as an historical document is that the narratives tend to be emotive, one-sided and biased due to this reason. This limits the possibility of considering life narratives as the only authentic source of history. On the other hand, these accounts can be crucial since the personal accounts might provide undocumented side of the mainstream history. Through this proposal, I am planning to look into the possibilities and limitations of considering a life narrative as a historical document.

The concept of “teaching through non-teaching”（不教之教） is a significant idea in Chinese and West, tracing its origins back to two intellectual giants of the Axial Age. Mencius explicitly proposed the notion of teaching through non-teaching, while Socrates defended his approach of non-teaching in Apology. “Teaching through non-teaching” shares an intrinsic commonality in its ultimate value orientation. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the profound and far-reaching educational wisdom of Mencius and Socrates’ concept of “teaching through non-teaching” from two perspectives: identifying differences and emphasizing similarities.

The differences in cultural origins directly lead to significant contrasts in the “teaching through non-teaching” educational philosophies of them. Mencius inherited Confucius’ notion of “Ren” (仁，benevolence) and proposed the idea that human nature is inherently good. He believed that individuals possess four innate virtues — Ren, “Yi” (义，righteousness), “Li” (礼，ritual propriety), and “Zhi” (智，wisdom) — which are inherent to human nature and cannot be externally imposed. Hence, Mencius placed greater emphasis on introspective examination of inner virtue, projecting it outward in the cultivation of external moral conduct and interpersonal relations, with Li as its manifestation. Consequently, virtue becomes the core of Confucianism. Socrates, on the other hand, advocated the idea that virtue is knowledge, focusing more on the exploration of intellect and the cultivation of reason and critical thinking.

This Confucianism perspective grounded in virtue, imparts a doubt-free spirit to its educational methods, where caution becomes an important pathway for moral cultivation. Through non-teaching, Mencius encourages learners to exercise caution in their speech and actions, ultimately leading them to reflect inwardly and be sincere. This concept of education exemplifies the passive nature of Confucianism. In contrast, Socrates' non-teaching represents an active midwifery approach, rooted in the Western cultural tradition that places a high value on intellectual pursuit and the spirit of doubt. For Socrates, "inquiry" becomes the crucial pathway to intellectual development. Starting from ignorance, Socrates' method of non-teaching stimulates self-criticism and reflection through the midwifery technique, helping individuals gain truth through rational inquiry and dialectical reasoning.

The commonality in the ideas of "teaching through non-teaching" between Mencius and Socrates lies in two main aspects: both emphasize the subjectivity of the learner in the pursuit of value, and view education as a reciprocal, interactive process in which teaching and learning form a community of teaching and learning. Their educational philosophies provide relevant perspectives for addressing the challenges brought by the globalization and technologization of education today, while also offering intellectual support for achieving the long-term goals.

This paper explores Patrick Colm Hogan's theory of affective narrative, which bridges cognition, narrative, and emotion through the establishment of universal narrative prototypes and minor genres. Hogan's framework posits that emotional systems, rooted in universal human experiences, shape narrative structures across cultures and historical periods. By analyzing East Asian and Western texts, this study demonstrates how emotional dynamics, particularly in parent-child relationships and revenge plots, transcend cultural and historical boundaries, offering a new lens for understanding cross-cultural textual practices.

Hogan's affective narrative theory emphasizes the role of universal narrative prototypes, such as sacrifice, heroism, and romantic love, alongside minor genres like attachment and revenge narratives. These minor genres, though less structurally defined, are deeply tied to human emotional traits and often appear as subordinate elements within broader narrative frameworks. The paper examines how these emotional systems influence narrative development, focusing on texts such as *Yoroboshi* (Japan), *The Story of the Circle of Chalk* (China), and *King Lear* (Western) for attachment narratives, and *The Drum of the Waves of Horikawa* (Japan), *The Injustice Done to Tou Ngo* (China), and *Hamlet* (Western) for revenge narratives.

Through comparative analysis, the paper highlights the interpretative power of affective genres in transcending cultural and historical contexts. It argues that Hogan's theory provides a robust framework for understanding how emotional systems drive narrative structures, enabling a deeper appreciation of cross-cultural textual practices. The study also suggests that future research could further explore how cultural specificities shape emotional systems in narrative genres and how Hogan's theory can be applied to contemporary texts in the context of globalized media.

In the early stage of the sinicization of Buddhism, the implicit process of mutual integration between the Book of Songs and Buddhist learning was submerged in the upsurge of metaphysics in the Wei and Jin dynasties. This integration is manifested not only in famous Buddhist monks such as Kang Senghui and Huiyuan borrowing the Book of Songs to explain Buddhist doctrines, but also in the traditional practice of scholars and literati like He Chengtian and Dai Kui using the Book of Songs to oppose Buddhism. This diversely demonstrates the different cultural and psychological factors of the two major groups, namely scholars and monks. From the perspective of the interpretive history of the Book of Songs, this duality is mainly reflected in, on the one hand, the interpretive principle with Confucian classics as the foundation during the eastward spread of Buddhism, and on the other hand, the contradictory core of having to abide by the principle of seeking meaning based on the text. By analyzing the two - way interaction between the Book of Songs and Buddhism, and exploring the process in which the Book of Songs played a role in the confluence of Confucianism and Buddhism, it is conducive to tracing the interpretive history of the doctrinal aspects of early Buddhism, and enriching our understanding of the ideological basis and generation mechanism of the sinicization of Buddhism. This is of great significance for studying the deconstruction of the classical status of the Book of Songs, the new development of its doctrines, and its influence at the level of the history of dissemination.

This paper utilizes Russian formalist theorist Bakhtin's theories of polyphony and dialogicity as a foundation for the analysis of Wang Wenxing's modernist novel The Family Catastrophe.Firstly, it analyzes Bakhtin's theory of polyphony and compares it with his theories of miniature dialogues and large-scale dialogues. Then, it analyzes the dialogicity within the text of the novel from the aspects of the dual structure of polyphony, miniature dialogues in the monologue, and the paralleling of plot. The text of The Family Catastrophe is found to form a structure of entanglement of previous and subsequent texts and their reversal and inversion, in the pattern of the double dialogues of the characters and the plot. It is evident that the text is structured in a manner that intertwines and reverses preceding and subsequent texts. This structural arrangement not only achieves the artistic effect of irony but also reflects a sense of fatalism and the structure of a cyclic narrative. Additionally, Bakhtin's theory of polyphony is examined to ascertain a more profound meaning.

Stephen Owen, a leading American sinologist, has profoundly influenced both Western and Chinese scholarship on Tang poetry. By blending Chinese and Western literary theories, he reinterprets Tang poetry’s texts and historical contexts, offering a fresh methodological framework.

Owen’s literary historiography marks a paradigm shift. He argues that literary history should focus on "evolving literary practices" rather than merely chronicling "master poets" or dynasties. He avoids defining eras through dominant figures like Li Bai and Du Fu, instead tracing poetic evolution to reveal its intrinsic logic. For example, he shows that Early Tang court poetry, often seen as a prelude to the High Tang, had its own aesthetic value and rules.

His methodology, rooted in New Criticism, emphasizes close reading and historical contextualization. He analyzes tensions within poetic structures and decodes polysemous language, as seen in his "three-part structure" model for Early Tang court poetry. Through comparative studies, he highlights Tang poetry’s "fragmentary" nature and autobiographical impulses, stressing its multiple interpretations.

Owen reinterprets Tang poetic periods:

Early Tang: Dominated by court poetry, it adhered to rigid norms but was challenged by poets like Chen Zi’ang, paving the way for High Tang creativity.

High Tang: Owen critiques reducing this era to Li Bai and Du Fu, emphasizing the diversity of "capital poetry" (e.g., Wang Wei) and non-metropolitan poets (e.g., Meng Haoran). He attributes its brilliance to a balance between shared standards and individual freedom.

Mid/Late Tang: Owen explores how poetry reflected cultural shifts, such as secularism, and reinterpreted earlier traditions.

Despite its innovation, Owen’s work sparks debate. Critics argue his reliance on Western frameworks risks misreading Confucian ethics and overlooks Chinese poetics’ holistic nature.

Owen’s research has reshaped Tang scholarship, challenging traditional "historical context + author-centric" models. His cross-cultural approach has broadened Tang poetry’s global reception and advanced methods for translating Chinese classics.

The evolution of women’s writing in East Asia has not only been shaped by but also contributed significantly to global literature in the 21st century. This paper explores a comparative analysis of Can Xue’s The Last Lover (2005) and Han Kang’s The Vegetarian (2007), examining their innovative representations of violence within a global framework. Both novels experimentally depict the sensations and deformations of the female body, illuminating the oppression and resistance women face within stifling familial relationships and rigid social structures. By examining the body as a sensory medium, a distorted image, and an embodied allegory, Can Xue and Han Kang collectively redefine and reflect on women’s traumatic experiences—historically marginalized within male-centered artistic and intellectual traditions. This study argues that the modernist reconfiguration of corporeality, femininity, and marginality in these works transforms the portrayal of violence, both historical and gendered, in contemporary fiction, advancing the empowerment of women’s writing in global literature. This interdisciplinary study further highlights how female authors challenge patriarchal literary traditions, bridging East Asian cultural transformations with global socio-historical modernization and offering valuable insights into the cultural and intellectual shifts explored in comparative literature.

Ae-ran Kim is a well-known South Korean writer, but her work has rarely been studied in Chinese academia. Her short story collection, How Was Your Summer? focuses on depicting the life experiences of urban marginal groups in the context of consumerism and liquid modernity. It is a reflection of the individual identity anxiety of the South Korean “post-80s” generation in the wave of compressed modernity. In the story “There Is Night There, and Songs Here,” Long Da, the protagonist, due to the dual constraints of family and social relationships, chooses to exile himself and run away to rebuild his subjectivity. This paper, attempting to interpret the work from the perspective of existentialism, will approach from three subject-object interaction forms: “gaze,” “disregard,” and “mutual gaze,” to explore the realistic connotations of the work and investigate the possibility of creating spaces for individuals to converse with others in the complex modern society.

In 1877, the Chinese classics studies academy “Nishogakusha” was opened by Mishima Chushu, a famous scholar of the end of the Meiji Era, in his own house in Kojimachi, Tokyo. Among the many prestigious private schools of Chinese studies at that time, the Nishogakusha was undoubtedly the largest and most influential one. Since the establishment of the school, the ancient Chinese book “Wen Zhang Gui Fan” has been the textbook of Chinese literature used in the Nishogakusha. The book “Wen Zhang Gui Fan” is a collection of essays compiled by Xie Bingde, a famous literary scholar at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty. In this book, sixty-nine essays by famous writers from the Three Kingdoms to the Tang and Song dynasties are collected, with genres ranging from prose to poetic essay, and the essays are classified into two disciplines of “Fearless (Da Dan) ” and “Caution (Xiao Xin) ” according to the psychological process at the beginning of learning how to write, and suggests the method of composing chapters and sentences with detailed annotations. Therefore, “Wen Zhang Gui Fan” is an important book for those students who are ambition to take the exams in the Imperial Examination.

Kato Fukusai, formerly known as Kato Shintaro, came from Rikuzen, and his date of death is not known. Kato Fukusai went to Kyoto to study at Nishogakusha around the 24th year of the Meiji Era (1891), and was promoted to the position of dormitory manager and Teaching Assistant in charge of the Composition Course in November 1895. In 1902, Kato Fukusai, who had started out as a normal student, was appointed to the principal of Nishogakusha. It is undeniable that the ten years that Kato Fukusai went through in Nishogakusha are important enough to make him a witness to the history of Nishogakusha, and his notes of the lectures have a high documentary value in terms of representativeness and authenticity.

According to Nishogakusha-University The Institute for East Asian Studies, the collections of Kato Fukusai from Nishogakusha University are about 360 pieces of materials. These old collections span a wide range of time, covering notebooks from the 1920s to the 1930s of the Meiji Era, and most of them bear traces of having been used or even annotated by Kato Fukusai, making them excellent materials for understanding the teaching content of Chinese classics studies in the Nishogakusha during the Meiji Era, also for studying the reception of specific Chinese book in modern Japan. These lecture notes provide us with a practicable research perspective, and based on the contents of Kato Fukusai's notes, we are able to restore as much as possible the teaching environment at that time, and then reasonably deduce the characteristics of the teaching of the “Wen Zhang Gui Fan” in the private school of the Futamatsu Gakusha in the 1920s and 1930s of the Meiji Era and the acceptance of the students, as represented by Kato Fukusai.

The discussion of world literature began with Schleicher in 1773 and has lasted for nearly two hundred years. Since 1891, when the term “world literature” was first introduced in Japan, a rich and unique understanding of world literature has been accumulated. Yappari sekai wa bungaku de dekite iru, published in 2012, invited a number of Japanese experts on Japanese, Russian, French, and American literature, as well as poets and novelists who have won various literary awards, to engage in dialogues on a variety of topics related to world literature. This is an important window into the discussion of “world literature” in Japan, as it brings together the current state-of-the-art understanding of “world literature” in Japan. This paper takes Yappari sekai wa bungaku de dekite iru as the main object of study, and combines the discussion contents of the interviewees, the interpretation of classics, and the criteria for the selection of works of world literature in order to further demonstrate the development and change of the concept of world literature in the Japanese academic circles today. This change is mainly manifested in the following: the gradual process of “World Literature” from Western-centeredness to East-West dichotomy to “East-centeredness” since its birth; the creative experience of multilingual authors coinciding with the connotation of World Literature; the re-interpretation of classics; and the rise of popular literature reflecting the development of World Literature in Japan. The reinterpretation of classic works and the rise of popular literature reflect the development of the connotation of “literature” and further impact the connotation of world literature. Yappari sekai wa bungaku de dekite iru brings together twenty-six scholars and writers engaged in literary research or creative writing to discuss key issues in the discussion of world literature from a variety of perspectives, and provides a clear picture of the understanding of world literature in contemporary Japanese literary studies.

“Madame Butterfly,” a story published by American author John Luther Long in 1898 in The Century Magazine, was adapted into a play by David Belasco in 1900, and then into an opera by Puccini in 1904. As David Henry Huang criticized the portrayal of the Japanese woman in “Madame Butterfly” as a representation of Western Orientalism in his play M. Butterfly (1986), the image of Madame Butterfly, a submissive Japanese woman who was willing to take her life for the white man she loved, had dominated Western narratives of Japanese women in the 20th century. The “Madame Butterfly”-style romance between a Caucasian and an Asian woman became popular as Geisha movies among American Hollywood film offerings following the second world war.

On the other hand, other “Madame Butterfly”-style romances were produced and performed in Japanese theaters at the beginning of the 20th century. Exemplifying this trend is the “Morgan O-Yuki” story based on the life of Yuki Kato, a geisha who married George Mogan, a nephew of J.P. Morgan, in 1904. The first “Morgan O-Yuki” novel was published in 1902 under the title Morgan O-Yuki 40,000 Yen in which an American man, desperately in love with O-Yuki, attempts to kill himself for her. Thereafter, many writers wrote on this topic and described the sensational relationship between O-Yuki and Morgan. Most importantly, the “Morgan O-Yuki” performed by Fubuki Koshiji appeared as the first Japanese musical at the Japanese Imperial Theater in 1951, functioning as iconic of the new Japanese woman at a time when Japan was under the occupation of the United States. In this presentation, I will examine how the interracial romance of an American man and a geisha was presented differently in the United States and Japan and utilized for differing purposes. This comparison will shed light on cultural norms and barriers of the time as well as the ideological complexities embedded in such interracial love stories. Throughout the discussion, I wish to present “Morgan O-Yuki” stories as Japanese counter-narratives of “Madame Butterfly.”

Manga versions of Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama have been published in over 80 countries and the total number of volumes sold is over 260 million as of 2024. The animated versions have been broadcast in over 80 countries. In this presentation, the influences of many countries on Dragon Ball and the modifications of the English animated version will be examined.

Originally, the setting of Dragon Ball (Weekly Shonen Jump, 1984-1995) was in China. According to an interview with Akira Toriyama, the origin of Dragon Ball was The Journey to the West, an old Chinese story, and the main character’s name is Son Goku after the original main character of The Journey to the West. Other characters’ names are Oolong, Yamcha, and Tenshinhan, which are Chinese food and drinks’ names. The dragon who possessed the dragon balls is called Shenron. The title Dragon Ball is named after the Hong Kong film Enter the Dragon (1973) featuring Bruce Lee.

On the other hand, in Dragon Ball, it is revealed that when one collects seven dragon balls, one’s wish can come true, which was inspired by the old Japanese story Nansou Satomi Hakkenden, in which one’s wish can come true when one collects eight balls.

Thus, in the first place, Dragon Ball was based on old Chinese and Japanese stories. After that, however, as the story goes on, many characters appear whose names are vegetables such as Nappa[leaf vegetable], Vegita[vegetable], Cacarrot[carrot], and musical instruments such as Piccolo, Tambourine, and colours such as Blue and Purple. Furthermore, not only earthlings but also Gods in heaven, a hermit, a hermit cat and many extraterrestrials, such as Saiyans and Namecks, appear.

The world and the narrative space of the story grows wider and wider as it proceeds. The first theme itself, in which Goku wants to collect seven dragon balls, changes into other themes of battling, friendships and family love. Thus, the initial Chinese influence in Dragon Ball weakens as the story unfolds, and the work expands in the dimensions of space, narrative, and character naming.

Turning now to the anime version based on the original manga, the English version of the anime aired in the United States has several modifications to the original story. First, for example, in the original, Goku trains in kung fu, but in the American animated version, he trains in karate. The scenery is Chinese in nature, which seems strange to a Japanese viewer, but in the U.S. they wanted to emphasize Japaneseness. Several other alterations were made, including the addition of a chair to cover Goku's front in the scene where he bathes naked, and the cutting of the scene where Goku reveals to Bulma his age of 14 years, and the unnatural cutting of the scene where the pig Oolong transforms into Bulma and tricks Kame-Sen'nin (Turtle hermit).

This presentation will examine the influences and worldviews of Dragon Ball, starting in China and expanding not only to Japan but also to other countries, the universe, and the heavens. Besides, to examine the changes and modifications conducted to the animated version shown in the U.S., the background of Dragon Ball and the acceptance of this work in the world, especially in the U.S. will be revealed. We can know how pop culture of one country can cross borders in a specific way.

Comparative literature traditionally refers to the academic study of literary works written in different languages, often comparing works in native and non-native languages. The criteria for such comparisons are as diverse as those found in general literary studies.

The concept of tojisha-hihyo (patient criticism) may be unfamiliar to many. This emerging field embodies an aspect of comparative literature. Tojisha-hihyo is a term coined by the Japanese psychiatrist Saito Tamaki to describe the presenter's academic work. To grasp the essence of tojisha-hihyo, one must first understand pathography.

Pathography is an academic discipline where psychiatrists analyze the literary and artistic works, as well as the life histories of their creators, to identify the source of genius within their mental health conditions. The term "pathos" means "disease" in Greek. In recent years, a new subfield called "salutography" has developed within Japanese pathography. Salutography examines how brilliant individuals, despite tendencies toward mental illness, achieve "salutogenesis" through their creative endeavors. "Saluto" means "health" in Greek. This modern perspective has indeed enriched pathography.

The presenter’s practice of tojisha-hihyo is based on salutography. While psychiatrists have historically offered their interpretations of literature and art with reference to mental health, the presenter—as a person with autism spectrum disorder—expressed his views by drawing upon knowledge about mental health. This approach incorporates comparative literary methods, examining works in various languages. Through this exploration, new possibilities for comparative literature are revealed.

The presenter’s approach to tojisha-hihyo can be divided into three types. The first is "comprehensive tojisha-hihyo," which comprehensively expresses the presenter's worldview as someone with autism spectrum disorder through literature and art. The second is "individual research tojisha-hihyo," which employs traditional literary research methods to examine autism spectrum traits in the works and life stories of various creators. The third is "dialogical tojisha-hihyo," which interviews other individuals with autism spectrum disorder to understand their interpretations of literature and art, thereby analyzing the aesthetics of their reception.