Saint-Petersburg State University

Faculty Member, Oriental Studies

Assistant Professor

Department of Chinese, Korean, South-Asian Philology

Thesis Title: Postmodernism in Contemporary Chinese Prose

About

    Thesis was defended in April, 2005 at the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow), it focuses on representations of imported postmodern theory in Chinese literary thought of 1980-90s, an argument is made about indigenization of postmodernism in Chinese literature. Dissertation is based on analysis of literary works of 15 contemporary Chinese writers and draws conclusions about particular new traits postmodernism has begot in China, and questions whether diverse phenomena can be overall termed as “postmodern” in a way it is done by Chinese literary critics.
    Later I published separate papers on prominent figures of modern literary scene in China - novel writers and authors of polemic essays Wang Xiaobo (王小波 1952-1997), Wang Shuo (王朔 1958-), Wang Zengqi (汪曾祺 1920-1997).

      Starting from summer 2006 I have gradually switched to a different field – popular religion in modern rural China, throughout 2007-2009 I was affiliated with Academy of Chinese Art and People’s University in Beijing, and have conducted intensive field research in two provinces of northern China in order to find out how local temples are being managed and how they interact with rural populace. The results turned out to be astonishing and part of it have been published in St.petersburg University Press in 2009.

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