CCS Seminars(Vol.34 No.2)

Prof. Christopher Lupke of the Dept. of Foreign Languages at Washington State University, delivered a paper on “Jokes and Their Relation to the (Political) Unconsciousness: Reading Wang Zhenhe’s Local Humor and Global Anxiety,” at a seminar sponsored by the Center for Chinese Studies. The seminar, held at the NCL on Aug. 7, was presided by Prof. Liao Hsien-hao (廖咸浩), dean of the Foreign Language Dept. at National Taiwan University. From the perspectives of Freud and Marxist critic Fredric Jameson, Prof. Lupke analyzed Wang Zhenhe’s use of satire in the novel Rose, Rose I love You (1984) to convey a deeper political message. He also looked at the social, environmental, and religious dimensions of this novel, as well as its statements on the impact of globalization on local character and public consciousness.