Papers by Kejun Xu
Kejun Xu, 2025
With the rapid and irresistible progress of globalization, Chinese writers have begun to make the... more With the rapid and irresistible progress of globalization, Chinese writers have begun to make their names in the world literary arena and have gradually caught the attention of Western readers, with Mo Yan winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2012. However, there are still a large number of contemporary Chinese writers whose names are only seldom noticed, not to mention being recognized by the Western world, among whom Yang Kuangman, the Chinese contemporary poet who has won many literary prizes in China, is one of the unnoticed ones. As a translator of Mr. Yang Kuangman's three recently published long poems-"I Grow Old in Metro," "Flights Delayed" and "Return to the Plains," I attempt to elaborate on the recurrent and universal themes of death and rebirth of the self in Kuangman's poetry by adopting a comparative methodology. My thesis involves not only the condition of how contemporary Chinese poets are received at home but also how Western poetry marks indelible imprints on their works. As for Kuangman's works, the influence of T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, Walt Whitman's Song of Myself, and Alexander Pushkin's Eugene Onegin all contribute to the technique and themes of Mr. Yang's three poems. I believe a comparative approach will provide the readers with more clues on the interplay between Chinese and Western literature in the highly globalizedtwenty-first century. Since literature is about humanity, while humanity is something that transcends the boundary of nation and race, it has a universal value.
徐可君, 2018
《宋家客厅——从钱锺书到张爱玲》（花城出版社，2015年）是宋淇之子宋以朗围绕其父及其文人好友间生平交往的趣闻轶事，将信件作为史料，整理写成的一部传记体回忆录。身为中国早期现代戏剧理论家... more 《宋家客厅——从钱锺书到张爱玲》（花城出版社，2015年）是宋淇之子宋以朗围绕其父及其文人好友间生平交往的趣闻轶事，将信件作为史料，整理写成的一部传记体回忆录。身为中国早期现代戏剧理论家、藏书家宋春舫之子，作者宋以朗的父亲宋淇（笔名林以亮等）是个名副其实的文学“多面手”。宋淇笔耕不辍，涉猎甚广，一生致力于各种文艺事业，为人低调慷慨，他一生结交挚友无数，其中包括最耀眼的文坛巨擘，如钱锺书、杨绛夫妇、傅雷一家、诗人吴兴华，以及不得不提的上海“天才”女作家张爱玲。本书呈现了特定时代背景下文人自身的选择，以及他们各自难以预测的命运走向，文字风格平淡而近自然，尽可能客观、公正地还原了上世纪三十年代至八十年代中国文坛一幅幅文人交往的生动画卷，时而博人一笑，时而引人唏嘘。
徐可君, 2025
Shi Tuo’s short story cycle Records from the Orchard Town (1946) depicts the love and hate of... more Shi Tuo’s short story cycle Records from the Orchard Town (1946) depicts the love and hate of ordinary people in a small town in China, aiming to unravel the good and evil in humanity as well as its external manifestations. The author eulogizes the humble and enduring women in the countryside who fight against the injustices and atrocities in their lives with stubborn and even stupid ways. He also criticizes the local despots and villains who bully ordinary people and thus digging their own graves, which suggests the inevitabilities and causality loops in one’s life. Shi Tuo expresses his sorrows towards the fact that all good things come to an end. Besides, the author adopts the second-person narratives to strike conversations with the readers. Records from the Orchard Town demonstrates a modern stance and a gesture of rebellion against the feudal cultural tradition. Zbigniew Slupski reckons that Shi Tuo’s fiction contains a “departure from narrow literary Realism,” which is right to the point. Therefore, Anti-Romanticism is not an accurate phrase to conclude Shi Tuo’s fiction since Realistic Romanticism is the defining feature of Records from the Orchard Town.
Keywords: Shi Tuo; Modernity; Intertextuality; Allegory; Romanticism
当人类不再是宇宙的中心——从《西部世界》《失控玩家》中的后人类境况谈起
徐可君, 2024
看完《西部世界》与《失控玩家》之后，我不禁思考：在人工智能时代，虚拟的情感体验给人带来的安全隐患究竟有多大？NPC也有人权吗？
徐可君, 2024
The essay attempts to analyze and summarize the rhetorical techniques as well as the stylistic ch... more The essay attempts to analyze and summarize the rhetorical techniques as well as the stylistic characteristics of Eileen Chang’s fiction in the 1940s in which Psychological Realism finds its expression, adding a touch of unique Modernist aesthetics to the literary texts. Eileen Chang consciously adopted stream of consciousness and internal monologues to enrich the connotations of her works of fiction, which serve as a perfect paradigm of combining classical Chinese aesthetics with Western Modernism. The “discovery of the Interiority,” a defining feature of modern Japanese literature according to Kojin Karatani, was achieved by mild or stark contrast in Eileen Chang’s fiction in the 1940s.
Key words: Eileen Chang; Interiority; stylistic characteristics; Western Modernity; Psychological Realism
Kejun Xu, 2023
This article provides the readers with vivid examples and detailed analysis of how “decadent” aes... more This article provides the readers with vivid examples and detailed analysis of how “decadent” aesthetics find expressions in fiction written by Eileen Chang and Qian Zhongshu in occupied Shanghai during the War of Resistance against Japan (1937–1945). The main purpose of this article is to dig into the works of fiction by these two writers to examine the representations and variations of the aesthetics of “decadence”. Through detailed textual and intertextual analysis, the aesthetical characteristic of “decadence” can be found in fiction written during the War of Resistance against Japan, which proves that the style of “decadence” was not just confined to the European continent, but was also an international literary movement that had already been spread to Mainland China. Shrouded in the sinister shadow of the war, which annihilated thousands of lives and resulted in the collapse of the existing social values of that time, fiction writing demonstrated a style of “decadence,” effusing ennui and desperation, in which the depiction of the mundane urban life was tinged with an annoying atmosphere of the doomsday. Meanwhile, fiction writing had become a means of escape for writers to assuage the anxieties of living and to dispel the melancholies deep down in their hearts. The deficiency of material life as well as spiritual life together constituted a grotesque atmosphere in which the style of “decadence” could thrive through literary works. Eileen Chang and Qian Zhongshu in occupied Shanghai during the War of Resistance against Japan embraced the advocacy of “art for art’s sake” proclaimed by the decadent aesthetes, attaching more subtleties and complexities to their works of fiction with a belief that the literature could correlate to the social atmosphere to which they belonged. Modernism and Realism were miraculously combined together; idealism had been questioned and even discarded, while nihilism and hedonism reared up their ugly heads.
Kejun Xu, 2021
In Japanese-occupied regions during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), writers were under ... more In Japanese-occupied regions during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), writers were under the severe pressure of political censorship. Any form of overt criticism of the Japanese invasion of China in literature was prohibited, and any attempt to explicitly defy the Japanese colonial rule in occupied regions was futile. Writers had to figure out a distinctive way to voice their political stances under such harsh condition. Therefore, some writers in occupied regions adopted unconventional ways of storytelling—namely, by writing political allegories that implicitly and subtly convey anti-Japanese messages. The short stories by Yuan Xi (1920-1979) and Tang Tao (1913-1992) written in occupied Beijing and Shanghai are some vivid examples of how fiction could be utilized as a means to awaken nationalist emotions during wartime. Yuan Xi’s story “Solitude of the Forest” demonstrates a kind of alternative modernity through his depiction of failure as metaphor against imperialism, whereas Tang Tao’s story “The Sea and Her Offspring” combines Romanticism with Realism to express the stifled freedom of speech in occupied regions. Meanwhile, other texts use sophisticated connotations that require delicate interpretations, among which Jue Qing’s (1917-1962) short story “The Fragrant Concubine” (Xiangfei) is enigmatically tricky and somehow reflects his ambivalent attitude toward cultural identification, his unique understanding of the nature and function of literature, as well as the relationship between art and life.
The essay attempts to analyze the short stories by the above-mentioned writers from the perspective of literary ideologies. Writing is a “socially-symbolic” act, as Fredric Jameson asserts in his book The Political Unconscious (1982), and only by “always historicizing” a given text and processing literary narratives within a larger structure of culture and ideology can we distill their essence. Therefore, it is of crucial importance to examine these Chinese works of fiction under both subjective and objective frameworks. This investigation of wartime literature puts much emphasis on cultural identification as well as the political concerns of writers in Japanese-occupied regions. By appreciating the various mindsets and circumstances of these writers we can arrive at a better understanding of the diversity of literary ideologies during the war.
Books by Kejun Xu
Aesthetics in Cultures, Materials, and Philosophies
Intech Open, 2025
Interpretations of aesthetics are explored to gain new insights into cultures, materials, and phi... more Interpretations of aesthetics are explored to gain new insights into cultures, materials, and philosophies that address the theories and applications of the arts across various contexts. Established and emerging perspectives on aesthetics in individual and group dynamics will be considered for presenting discussions, analyses, and evaluations of the roles and implications of aesthetics in everyday life. From individual cognition to public interpretation of fine art and the use of textiles and architecture, this book presents ways to consider aesthetics as both past, present, and future lived experiences across social interaction and material cultures. From the artistry of the written word to the creativity of the decorative and fine arts, as well as the performing arts, this book presents diverse perspectives on aesthetics. Interdisciplinary approaches are featured to examine complexities across genres and generate new ideas on the influence of aesthetics on meaning-making, communication, cultural continuity and change, identity expression, and the design of living spaces.
Thesis Chapters by Kejun Xu
Intech Open, 2025
With the rapid and irresistible progress of globalization, Chinese writers have begun to make the... more With the rapid and irresistible progress of globalization, Chinese writers have begun to make their names in the world literary arena and have gradually caught the attention of Western readers, with Mo Yan winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2012. However, there are still a large number of contemporary Chinese writers whose names are only seldom noticed, not to mention being recognized by the Western world, among whom Yang Kuangman, the Chinese contemporary poet who has won many literary prizes in China, is one of the unnoticed ones. As a translator of Mr. Yang Kuangman's three recently published long poems-"I Grow Old in Metro," "Flights Delayed" and "Return to the Plains," I attempt to elaborate on the recurrent and universal themes of death and rebirth of the self in Kuangman's poetry by adopting a comparative methodology. My thesis involves not only the condition of how contemporary Chinese poets are received at home but also how Western poetry marks indelible imprints on their works. As for Kuangman's works, the influence of T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, Walt Whitman's Song of Myself, and Alexander Pushkin's Eugene Onegin all contribute to the technique and themes of Mr. Yang's three poems. I believe a comparative approach will provide the readers with more clues on the interplay between Chinese and Western literature in the highly globalizedtwenty-first century. Since literature is about humanity, while humanity is something that transcends the boundary of nation and race, it has a universal value.
Conference Presentations by Kejun Xu
中国文学与比较文学2024年双年会议（ACCL 2024 at HKUST）
徐可君, 2024
分论坛主题：现当代文学研究的物转向与主体性危机——关于“人的文学”的再探讨
Panel Topic: Reexamining Humancentric Literature: The Nonhu... more 分论坛主题：现当代文学研究的物转向与主体性危机——关于“人的文学”的再探讨
Panel Topic: Reexamining Humancentric Literature: The Nonhuman Turn and the Crisis of Subjectivity in Modern and Contemporary Literary Studies
(Kejun Xu is the organizer of the above-mentioned panel.)
“Decadent” Aesthetics, Irony and Parody: Eileen Chang and Qian Zhongshu’s Fiction in Occupied Shanghai (1937–1945) (MSIA, 2024)
Kejun Xu, 2024
This article provides the readers with vivid examples and detailed analysis of how “decadent” aes... more This article provides the readers with vivid examples and detailed analysis of how “decadent” aesthetics find expressions in fiction written by Eileen Chang and Qian Zhongshu in occupied Shanghai during the War of Resistance against Japan (1937–1945). The main purpose of this article is to dig into the works of fiction by these two writers to examine the representations and variations of the aesthetics of “decadence”. Through detailed textual and intertextual analysis, the aesthetical characteristic of “decadence” can be found in fiction written during the War of Resistance against Japan, which proves that the style of “decadence” was not just confined to the European continent, but was also an international literary movement that had already been spread to Mainland China. Shrouded in the sinister shadow of the war, which annihilated thousands of lives and resulted in the collapse of the existing social values of that time, fiction writing demonstrated a style of “decadence,” effusing ennui and desperation, in which the depiction of the mundane urban life was tinged with an annoying atmosphere of the doomsday. Meanwhile, fiction writing had become a means of escape for writers to assuage the anxieties of living and to dispel the melancholies deep down in their hearts. The deficiency of material life as well as spiritual life together constituted a grotesque atmosphere in which the style of “decadence” could thrive through literary works. Eileen Chang and Qian Zhongshu in occupied Shanghai during the War of Resistance against Japan embraced the advocacy of “art for art’s sake” proclaimed by the decadent aesthetes, attaching more subtleties and complexities to their works of fiction with a belief that the literature could correlate to the social atmosphere to which they belonged. Modernism and Realism were miraculously combined together; idealism had been questioned and even discarded, while nihilism and hedonism reared up their ugly heads.
Crossing the Borders Between the Self and the Other (ICLA Congress in Seoul, 2025)
Kejun Xu et al., 2025
Kejun Xu is the orgnaizer and panel chair of the 2025 ICLA Congress in Seoul (KINTEX, Goyang City... more Kejun Xu is the orgnaizer and panel chair of the 2025 ICLA Congress in Seoul (KINTEX, Goyang City / Dongguk University Seoul, Republic of Korea 28th July - 1st August, 2025).
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Papers by Kejun Xu
Keywords: Shi Tuo; Modernity; Intertextuality; Allegory; Romanticism
Key words: Eileen Chang; Interiority; stylistic characteristics; Western Modernity; Psychological Realism
The essay attempts to analyze the short stories by the above-mentioned writers from the perspective of literary ideologies. Writing is a “socially-symbolic” act, as Fredric Jameson asserts in his book The Political Unconscious (1982), and only by “always historicizing” a given text and processing literary narratives within a larger structure of culture and ideology can we distill their essence. Therefore, it is of crucial importance to examine these Chinese works of fiction under both subjective and objective frameworks. This investigation of wartime literature puts much emphasis on cultural identification as well as the political concerns of writers in Japanese-occupied regions. By appreciating the various mindsets and circumstances of these writers we can arrive at a better understanding of the diversity of literary ideologies during the war.
Books by Kejun Xu
Thesis Chapters by Kejun Xu
Conference Presentations by Kejun Xu
Panel Topic: Reexamining Humancentric Literature: The Nonhuman Turn and the Crisis of Subjectivity in Modern and Contemporary Literary Studies
(Kejun Xu is the organizer of the above-mentioned panel.)