DETAILS
Wednesday 12th August 2026 at 4:30pm (AEST)
Prof Wu Qingjun, China Foreign Affairs University, Beijing
Diasporic Reconstruction of Narrative Traditions in James Joyce and Lin Yutang
ABSTRACT
Diasporic literature comprises works composed away from authors’ homelands. Many such texts grapple with identity negotiation, cultural hybridity, nostalgia and alienation; other diasporic writers centre indigenous cultural heritage to reach international readers. James Joyce (1882–1942) represents the former tendency, while Lin Yutang (1895–1976) exemplifies the latter. Both spent decades living abroad and produced major works in English, drawing core motifs from their respective national storytelling traditions. However, their aesthetic strategies diverge drastically: Joyce subverts Irish narrative forms including the aisling to lay bare colonial cultural wounds, crafting a vision of Ireland defined by “scrupulous meanness”. By contrast, Lin revitalizes classical Chinese historiographic commentary within English prose to convey authentic “Chineseness” to Anglophone audiences, as demonstrated in Moment in Peking. This paper compares their narrative constructions of national traditions and analyses how their distinct stylistic modes shape cross-cultural reception.
SPEAKER
Wu Qingjun, professor of literature at the Department of English, China Foreign Affairs University. His research focuses mainly on Irish literature and British novels. His latest research focuses on overseas Chinese writings, translation of Chinese literature, and comparative studies of Irish diasporic literature. As a visiting scholar, he has visited Cambridge University (UK), Zurich James Joyce Foundation (Switzerland), Leeds University (UK), Tulsa University (USA), and Trinity College Dublin (Ireland). His publised writings include: Writing Cities: Spaces in English Novels.Beijing: Tsinghua University Press, 2024. National Identity in Irish Literature.Beijing: People’s Publishing House,2023. Spatial Writing in Modern English Novels. Tianjin: Nankai University Press, 2016. Ulysses: A Study of Its Narrative Art. Beijing: Beijing Institute of Technology Press,2006.
LOCATION (In-Person and online)
Jabiru Room, Academic Centre, Newman College, University of Melbourne.