Vilnius University Confucius Institute invites all those who are interested in Chinese and Western crime fiction to attend a public lecture delivered by Dr. Honggeng Yuan.
Dr. Honggeng Yuan is a professor at the School of Foreign Languages and Literatures in Lanzhou University, China. Professor Yuan teaches the courses of Anglo-American literature, Chinese-English translation among others. He is the author of over 40 articles in the fields of Anglo-American literature and comparative literature.
Comparative Analysis of Chinese Court-Case Fiction and Western Detective Fiction (by Dr. Honggeng Yuan):
Chinese court-case fiction (gong-an-xiao-shuo) and Western detective fiction share the commonality in the plot of unveiling mysteries and thus are categorized as identical type of fiction, trigger seemingly reasonable comparative studies based on illusory impressions. Dr. Yuan revisits the history of crime literature in general especially the origin of the court-case fiction. Drawing on the basic facts and cultural and literary backgrounds in which the two genres were grounded, he will reflect on the terminology and the development of court-case fiction and detective fiction. Through a comprehensive yet detailed examination of court-case fiction and detective fiction, he delves in to the comparability of these two genres of fiction and shares the insights into their uniqueness and common misunderstandings in this area.
Specifically, he will provide a discussion as to how the two genres, embodying nuanced themes and morals, are unique, in spite of the similarities in the construction of lurid and complicated plot, and intuitive and/or logical methods applied in the process of detection that eventually leads to a convincing solution of the case in question. He also notes that in this postmodern age, detective fiction is rapidly merging with other genres, including the vanished court-case fiction.
Place: Vilnius University, J. Kovalevskio classroom, Universiteto str. 3
Time: September 17th, 1:00-2:30 PM