The "Witty Words and Elegant Books" series lectures on world literature and cross-culture was held at 19: 00 on December 5, 2016 in X1405 of Xipu Campus. The theme was "Never say Goodbye: Re-recognize Russian Literature". Wang Jianzhao, professor from Beijing Foreign Studies University and expert of European literature gave a keynote speech. With gentle and calm language, Professor Wang led the audience into the magnificent world of Russian literature.

Professor Wang first briefly introduced the three stages of Russian literature entering China and shared his poem " Lonely Tonia". Then he pointed out that Russian literature has a great influence on contemporary Chinese literature. Through the discussion of three Russian poems, he showed the audience the differences between Russian poetry and Chinese poetry in structure, form and literary expression. In addition, Professor Wang shared his experience in Russia and stressed that Russian respect poetry and literature very much, and they also respect literature lovers.In order to let the audience to have a further understanding of Russian poetry, Professor Wang appreciated poems such as " We are Building Communism", " If by Life You Were Deceived", " РОДИНА (The Motherland)" and " Moonlight". Novel is another highlight in Russian literature. Through a brief talk on "Salt", "May Night", "War and Peace" and "The Forest and the Steppe", the audience has a basic understanding of Russian novels.

Later, Professor Wang and Professor Wu Deli of School of Humanities of SWJTU held talks and discussions on "understanding of Russian literature and the relationship between literature and religion.". Professor Wu believed that Russian literature is a symbolic memory of the 1950s and had a profound impact on Chinese literary creation at that time and even now. Professor Wang agreed with that and pointed out that the influence of Russian literature on Chinese literature is imperceptible. As for the relationship between literature and religion, Professor Wang stressed that in Russia, literature and religion are closely connected while lead to different ends: religion leads to "goodness" and literature leads to "beauty".

At the end of the lecture, Professor Wang gave answers to the audience's questions such as " Whether it is a trend that less and less attention was paid on rural subjects in Russian literatures?", " how to avoid assimilation of national literature" and " foreignization and domestication of literature".

By 9 p.m., the lecture was successfully concluded. This lecture deepened the audience's understanding of Russian literature and achieved great success.

Photo: Jiang Guowei

Article: Jiao Min

Editor:Lu Xiaofei