International Comparative Literature in the Post-Pandemic Age: 

the Path and Ethics of Dialogue 

An ICL Young Scholar Forum

2021 Series: Panel No. 1

Conference Time/Venue: Sep 3, 2021; a virtual conference

Deadline for Abstract Submission: May 30, 2021. 

Deadline for Full Paper Submission: July 31, 2021.

Contact Person: Tsaiyi Wu, tsaiwu@shnu.edu.cn

Organizer: The Editorial Office of International Comparative Literature

Sponsor: The Innovative Team at the Research Center for Comparative Literature and World Literature, Shanghai Normal University (SHNU) 

Host: The Department of Chinese Language and Literature, SHNU.

Since the year 2020, we humans have been mired in a dire situation that calls for new understanding, new responsibilities, and new approaches. First, the global ecological system has become exponentially more fragile and volatile: the climate is changing and the weather extreme, with rampant forest fires in California and Australia, floods in Southeast Asia, locust swarms in East Africa, and Arctic ocean oil spills to name a few. Second, the world economy is precarious, not only as it is devastated by the pandemic, but also as the stimulus packages invoke further inflation fears. Third, the U.S.-China competition makes sincere cross-culture conversation even more difficult, just as it is most pivotal. Fourth, the crisis of reason as symptomized by Trump’s rhetoric style: in the age of “fake news” people are losing touch with reality. People then more easily engage in political opinions rather than sincere solutions. Comparative Literature, which collects interdisciplinary efforts to reflect upon the human conditions, at this point is compelled to rethink how humans can get along with Nature, converse with Others, and get beyond anthropocentric fantasy in order to face a harsh reality that remains obscure. The conference calls for young scholars from China and international academia to discuss the path and ethics of dialogue in light of the global predicament. Topics may include but are not limited to: 

1. Comparative Poetics: the purpose, path, ethics, and common mistakes of cross-cultural dialogues 

2. Ethics in the Age of “Fake News”: how can reality be accessible, and communication be possible?

3. Ecocriticism: the human-nature relation after the pandemic 

4. The Anthropocene and De-anthropocentrism: in search of post-pandemic ethics 

5. Object-oriented Ontology and New Materialisms: virus, masks, vaccines, and death

* Paper selected and presented at our conference will received special consideration to be published in our journal International Comparative Literature (ICL) (Fudan University Press) (ISSN 2096-4897//CN 31-2148/I). ICL is a quarterly, bilingual (Chinese and English), and international academic journal edited by the Research Center for Comparative Literature and World Literature at SHNU.