China's 2nd International Narratology Conference and the 4th National Narratology Conference was held in Chongqing, China on Oct. 21-24, 2009. The conference was sponsored by the China Narratology Association and hosted by Sichuan International Studies University.
Nearly two hundred scholars from China and the West attended the conference. President LI Ke Yong and Vice President LI Yanan of Sichuan International Studies University welcomed the participants. Prof. SHEN Dan (Beijing University), president of the China Narratology Association, made the opening and closing speeches.
The plenary speakers were Susan. S. Lanser (Brandeis University of Massachusetts), Wolf Schmid (University of Hamburg), Jacob Lothe (Oslo University), David H. Richter (The City University of New York), Melba Cuddy-Keane (University of Toronto), FU Xiuyan (Jiangxi Normal University), ZHAO Yiheng (Sichuan University), TAN Junqiang (Yunnan University), and XIONG Muqing (Sichuan International Studies University).
Their papers addressed such issues as the current state of narratology including the overlapping with and borrowings from various disciplines (cognition, rhetoric, aesthetics, media studies, psychology, philosophy); a vision of the future of narratology, such as the intersectional future of feminist narratology; a discussion of the narrative tradition, ranging from pre-narrative on Chinese Bronzes to Western biblical narrative.
At the plenaries, Susan. S. Lanser suggested that changing feminist narratologies require the collaborative participation of an international community working on multidimensional fronts, owing to the dramatic changes both in feminism and narratology. Wolf Schmid examined the relationship between eventfulness and context. Zhao Yiheng urgently called for the construction of a general narratology based on a discussion of the narrative turn in the human sciences in recent years.
Apart from the plenary, there were five parallel sessions, which were also very active, constructive and successful. More than 150 scholars of narrative carried on heated dialogues, covering topics of various narratological aspects and analytic approaches, especially new developments in narratology. What figured prominently at the conference was the great interest many participants showed in the study of narratives beyond the verbal medium and beyond literary discourse.
The conference is held every other year, and the next conference will be held in Changsha, Hunan, China, in late September, 2011.
(Cheng Qian, Jinan University, China)