On June 2, 2026, the 56th session of the lecture series organized by the Interdisciplinary Narrative Research Center of the School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, was successfully held as scheduled.

The session welcomed Professor Vladimir Biti, Emeritus Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Vienna, as its keynote speaker. Entitled From Literary History to Literary Theory: Moving from National to Global Perspectives, his presentation probed into the historical evolution of theories concerning national and world literature. The event was moderated by Zou Li, Tenure-Track Associate Professor at the School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Centering on the genesis of German national literature, Professor Biti systematically reviewed influential literary thoughts spanning Herder’s theories, early German Romanticism to Russian Formalism. Set against the historical backdrop of the collapse of major Eastern European empires and the emergence of fledgling nation-states in the aftermath of World War I, the speaker unpacked the underlying logic behind the formation of European national literary histories. The lecture further pinpointed the formative drivers of modern literary theories. Geopolitical turbulences across Europe triggered the large-scale exile of Jewish intellectuals, which greatly catalyzed the advancement of contemporary literary studies. Opposing the nationalization of literary creation and research, Russian Formalists coined the core concept of “literariness”, contending that literature boasts inherent aesthetic values that transcend geographical and national boundaries. Additionally, Professor Biti mapped the cross-border dissemination trajectory of Formalist doctrines: the school originated in Soviet Russia, flourished in Prague, and later gained widespread traction in Paris. Based on this paradigm, he illustrated the itinerant characteristics and cosmopolitan roots embedded in modern literary theories. Beyond that, the lecture also touched upon Hegel’s proposition of “the end of art”, Kafka’s literary philosophies, as well as contemporary post-theory movements. In particular, the professor analyzed a pivotal academic shift within post-theory thought, namely a return to truth-oriented literary research and a critical rethinking of modern theories’ overreliance on fictionality.

During the post-lecture Q&A session, participating faculty members and students actively engaged in in-depth discussions over cutting-edge academic issues. The topics covered the intrinsic correlation between literature and cosmopolitanism, latent nihilistic risks inherent in post-theory ideology, as well as the disparities in cosmopolitan notions among French, German and Chinese academic traditions. Drawing upon abundant cases from European literary history, Professor Biti provided elaborate and targeted responses to all questions, enabling attendees to develop a more nuanced understanding of the dynamic interplay between national literature and global literary theories.

The 56th special lecture concluded with great success. The event has broadened participants’ research horizons in comparative literature, facilitated a globalized re-examination of the dialectical interplay between national and world literature, and bolstered high-level academic exchanges and disciplinary development in the field of Sino-Western comparative literature within the School of Foreign Languages.