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School of Chinese Scholar Book Talk

《世界的白蛇》中文新書分享會

The Global White Snake Chinese Edition Book Launch

摘要 Abstract:

充滿活力的英語白蛇譜系從十九至二十世紀之交一直延伸到二十一世紀，成為本研究的關鍵個案，顯示出白蛇現象的當代性和跨越性及其對全球文化生產日益增長的影響力。本書原稿以英文寫就，探討白蛇傳說在亞洲及全球範圍內多姿多彩的旅行。作者揀取埋藏於故紙堆中的相關歷史文本，同時更面對白蛇傳說的諸多新變種，在歷史與當下的對比和參照中，追蹤白蛇跨界旅行的意義和價值嬗變，深度解析了中、英、日、韓語種的白蛇文本，發掘了白蛇故事對複合身份與多元性向、越界之愛、反抗權威、非凡之人與物等各種激進思想的包容性。作者强調，文化即是挪用；文化產品本身就是在不斷斡旋、不斷轉型中產生出來的。文化的旅行與變形能力正是促使其生生不息的原因。正如白蛇一般，任何文化都需要不斷蛻皮重生。

The Global White Snake examines the Chinese White Snake legends and their extensive, multidirectional travels within Asia and across the globe. Such travels across linguistic and cultural boundaries have generated distinctive traditions as the White Snake has been reinvented in the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and English-speaking worlds, among others. Moreover, the inter-Asian voyages and global circulations of the White Snake legends have enabled them to become repositories of diverse and complex meanings for a great number of people, serving as reservoirs for polyphonic expressions ranging from the attempts to consolidate authoritarian power to the celebrations of minority rights and activism.
 
The Global White Snake uncovers how the White Snake legend often acts as an unsettling narrative of radical tolerance for hybrid sexualities, loving across traditional boundaries, subverting authority, and valuing the strange and the uncanny. A timely mediation and reflection on our contemporary moment of continued struggle for minority rights and social justice, The Global White Snake revives the radical anti-authoritarian spirit slithering under the tales of monsters and demons, love and lust, and reminds us of the power of the fantastic and the fabulous in inspiring and empowering personal and social transformations. 

講者簡介 About the Speaker:

羅靚  美國乔治梅森大學教授，博士生導師。哈佛大學東亞系博士。主要從事中國學及東亞文學文化研究，專長於現當代中國文學及文化研究、流行文化研究、戲劇研究、影視研究、性別研究等。曾任天津市特聘教授、天津師範大學跨文化與世界文學研究院特聘教授，美國現代語言學會現當代中國論壇主席。現任中國文學與比較文學國際學會會長，華東師範大學非遺傳承與應用研究中心特聘研究員。在國內外學術刊物發表學術論文五十餘篇，出版英文學術專著《世界的白蛇》（密西根大學出版社2021年版）、《先鋒主義與流行文化》（密西根大學出版社2014年版）等。

Liang Luo is Professor of Chinese Studies and Chair of the Department of Modern and Classical Languages at George Mason University. She currently serves as the President of the Association of Chinese and Comparative Literature. Professor Luo is the author of The Global White Snake (University of Michigan Press, 2021) and The Avant-Garde and the Popular in Modern China (University of Michigan Press, 2014), among other publications.