Appointment Ceremony of Senior Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences was Held

On May 12, the appointment ceremony of Professor Yu Kexun as senior professor of humanities and social sciences of Wuhan University and the 181^stLuojia Lecture were held.

Wuhan University President Dou Xiankang presented the letter of appointment to Professor Yu as the senior professor of humanities and social sciences and congratulated him. President Dou pointed out that Professor Yu is a famous literary historian and literary critic who has long enjoyed high reputation in contemporary Chinese literature circle for engaging in study of the history of Chinese contemporary literature, literary theory criticism research, literary activities and academic research. President Dou hoped that under the guidance and inspiration of scholars like Professor Yu Kexun, the humanities and social sciences of Wuhan University can score more achievements.

Professor Yu later gave a speech, saying that “there are many trees in the Luojia Hill, I am just a fruit grow on those trees, I would like to thank the soil for nurturing and nourishing me; trees in Luojia Hill have many different shape and posture, some tall, some straight and some slender, as one of the trees, I am no different from others, we are all dedicated to growth, thus decorating the beautiful campus of Wuhan University.”

At the subsequent Luojia Lecture, Professor Yu Kexun gave an academic lecture entitled "Contemporary Literature: Dilemma and Transition". In this lecture, the development dilemma and the change of contemporary literature are expounded. He pointed out that Chinese literature was confronted with many impacts and challenges during the last four decades. The first one took place in the mid-1980s when Chinese literature suffered the impact of the rise of the popular literary wave. The second was the double crisis of literature form and concept; the third was during the early 1990s, the wave of commercialism has brought great spiritual shock to the literature circle; the fourth was after entering the 21 century, the mass culture wave, represented by film and television, network and other electronic media, has brought a new round of the impact to literature.

In this situation, contemporary literature has formed three major dilemmas. First, the degree of marginalization of literature is deepened, the cultural center retreated to the edge of society; Second, the writer's values ​​and cultural ideas are confused, the literature gradually lost its value position; Third, the generalization of literary ontology.

In contemporary times, serious writers are still exploring and trying, so there have been many important changes. Professor Yu summarized three points: First, pioneer writers’ creative turn, the second is returning to tradition at a higher level, the third is to use local resources.

It is reported that in 2004, Wuhan University took the lead in setting up "humanities and social sciences senior professors" post, and the candidates were selected by referring to the academician criteria. The selection has been carried out for 7 sessions, a total of 14 humanities and social sciences professors were chosen. They are: Han Depei, Tan Chongtai, Ma Kechang, Peng Feizhang, Shi Quan, Tao Delin, Li Long, Feng Tianyu, Liu Gangji, Zong Fubang, Hu Dekun, Ma Feicheng, Zeng lingliang, Yu Kexun.