Upon the invitation of Professor Cai Bin, deputy dean responsible for administrative work, Peter Hajdu – Professor from Humanity Research Center of Hungarian Academy of Science, and editor of SSCI periodical World Comparative Literature, gave a lecture to all teachers and students of the College of International Languages and Cultures themed “Cityscape and Literature”. Du Hui, deputy dean of the college presided this lecture.
Professor Hajdu started with the ideology conveyed by urban visage in a concise and logical way. In order to make it accessible, he took historical examples to illustrate abstract concept. After a brief introduction of the literary manifestation of cities, he also referred in a gradual and thought-provoking way the landmark masterpieces in the history of European and American literature by writers as Dickens and Joyce that are well-known among Chinese readers, the core content of these works as well as their historical significance. Professor Hajdu believed that cities, authors and literature strongly correlated with each other: cities produce authors, authors in turns record cities with literature. Afterwards, Professor Hajdu introduced the literature map, which was to some extent the epitome of urban evolution, and showed some delicate pictures of famous sculptures and memorials in the cities, presenting the perfect integration of historical culture and modern arts to all the attendants. In addition, he explained the impact literature has on urban visage. In his words, modern people may develop literature by poetry, and sculptures, while the development of literature it self is the publicity and inheritance of integrity, courage, responsibility and other virtues by people from generation to generation.
The academic lecture ended in the witty response to random questions posed by students. It is confirmed that the students will have a deeper understanding to the concept of culture and their cultural as well as artistic cultivation will be greatly improved through this interchange activity.
