Ming Gu

Ming Gu

Professor — Literature
Associate Director, Center for Asian Studies
 
972-883-2760
JO4130
Tags: HUMA LIT LANG

Professional Preparation

Ph.D. - Chinese and Comparative Literature
University of Chicago - 1999
M.A. - Chinese Literature
University of Wisconsin-Madison - 1996
M.A. - English Literature
University of Kent at Canterbury, England - 1987

Research Areas

Comparative literature
Comparative poetics
Literary theory
Comparative thought
Postcolonial studies
Psychanalytic criticism
Chinese literature
English literature
cross-cultural studies

Publications

“Mysticism of Chan/Zen Enlightenment: A Rational Understanding through Practices,” Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy, (2017), no. 2, pp. 235-251.  - publications
 “Theory of Literary Pneuma (Wenqi): Philosophical Re-conception of a Chinese Aesthetic,” in Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy(Issue 3, 2020): 443-460. - publications
Lu Xun and Modernisnr/Postmodernism. forthcoming in Modern Language Quarterly, 68.4 (2007). - publications
Fusion of Critical Horizons in Chinese and Western Language, Poetics, Aesthetics(New York and London: Palgrave Macmillan,  2021). pp.  369.  2021 - Publication
 “What Is Decoloniality? A Postcolonial Critique,” Postcolonial Studies, 23.4 (2020): 596-600. 2020 - Publication
Routledge Handbook of Modern Chinese Literature (London and New York: Routledge, 2019), pp. 768.  2019 - publications
  “Can East Meet West as Intellectual Equals? Insights from Some Western Thinkers’ Encounter with Eastern Thought,”  in Philosophy East and West, 71.2 (April 2021): 326-347 2019 - Publication
Why Traditional Chinese Philosophy Still Matters: The Relevance of Ancient Wisdom for the Global Age (Routledge Press, 2018), pp. 238.  2018 - publications

Additional Information

PERSONAL STATEMENT
 Ming Dong Gu is currently Professor of Chinese and Comparative Literature at the University of Texas at Dallas. He is the author of four monographs in English: (1)Fusion of Critical Horizons in Chinese and Western Language, Poetics, Aesthetics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021); (2) Sinologism: An Alternative to Orientalism and Post-colonialism (Routledge, 2013); (3) Chinese Theories of Reading and Writing (SUNY Press 2005), (4) Chinese Theories of Fiction (SUNY Press 2006), and 1 book in Chinese: (5) Anxiety of Originality (Nanjing University Press, 2009); editor of three English books: Translating China for Western Readers (SUNY Press, 2014), Why Traditional Chinese Philosophy Still Matters (Routledge 2018), and Routledge Handbook of Modern Chinese Literature (2019); and a co-editor of three volumes: Nobel Prize Winners on Literary Creation (Peking University Press, 1987), Collected Essays on the Critical Inquiry of Sinologism, and and Sinologism (China Social Science Press, 2017), and New Sinology: Discussions and Debates on China-West Studies (Special Issue for Contemporary Chinese Thought 2018). In addition, he has published nearly 160 articles in English and Chinese. His English articles appear in New Literary History, Poetics Today, Journal of Aesthetics and Art  Criticism, Diacritics: A Review of Contemporary Criticism, Postcolonial Studies, Narrative, Journal of Narrative Theory, Psychoanalytic Quarterly, Modern Language Quarterly, Journal of Aesthetic Education (2 articles), D. H. Lawrence Review (two articles), Interdisciplinary Literary Studies: A Journal of Criticism and Theory; Literature and Psychology, Comparative Literature, Comparative Literature Studies (two articles), Canadian Review of Comparative Literature (two articles), Yearbook of Comparative Literature,  Philosophy East & West (7 articles), Journal of Chinese Philosophy (4 articles), Asian Philosophy, Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy (2 articles), Journal of Oriental Studies, Monumenta Serica, International Communications of Chinese Culture (2 articles), Journal of Asian Studies, Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews, Translation Review, Tamkang Review (2 articles), Interdisciplinary Studies of Literature, Journal of Modern Literature, and Contemporary Chinese Thought. His Chinese articles appear in China’s major journals of humanities and some of them are reprinted in full or in excerpts in China’s major digests for more than 40 times. He has also published 23 reviews and short articles in Chinese and English.
Professional Experience
  •  Professional Services
                Special Consultant to Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism; Editorial Member of Journal of Chinese Philosophy (2011-16), Member of the Editorial Board of Translation Review, and a guest editor for Contemporary Chinese Thought.

    Evaluator of Manuscripts for 17 journals in English:
                Critical Inquiry, Poetics Today; Comparative Literature Studies, Comparatists, Philosophy East and West, Journal of Chinese Philosophy, Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews; Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy, Psychological Reports, Journal of Aesthetic Education, Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Translation Review, Journal of Modern Literature in Chinese, Mosaic: a journal for the interdisciplinary study of literature, Genre: Forms of Discourse and Culture, Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies, and Caribbean Quarterly.

    Evaluator of Manuscripts for Academic Presses:
                Routledge Press, University of Toronto Press, Northwestern University Press, Baylor University Press, State University of New York Press, Palgrave MacMillan Press, Oxford University Press, Lexington Books, and Bloombury Academic.
     
    Invited Evaluator for Fellowship Foundations or Academic Institutions:
    (1)    Annual Evaluator for the Academic Reputation Survey of the Times Higher Education’s “World University Rankings” since 2013.
    (2)    Evaluator for QS Global Academic Survey for the World University Rankings since 2017.
    (3)    Invited nominator for the MacArthur Fellows Program, 2019.
    (4)    Evaluator for Research Grant Council, Hong Kong.
    (5)    Assessor for Confucius China Studies Program (CCSP) Ph.D. Fellowships.
    (6)    Nominator for Tang Prize in Sinology(唐奖)
Academic Leadership
1)      Conference and Panel Organizer, Chair, and Discussant            July 27, 2019 – Chair of “Six International Journal Editors Forum,” 2019 International Comparative Literature Association – Shenzhen Forum.            November 19-22, 2015 – Organizer of the International Symposium on “Why Classical Chinese Thought Matters in the Global Age,” University of Texas at Dallas.            May 18, 2012 – Chaired a session at the International Conference of ”Chinese Culture and the World,” Nanjing University, China.June 2, 2011-- Chaired an International Summit Forum “Theory and The Disappearing Future: On De Man and Benjamin,” in Yangzhou University, with distinguished speakers Prof. J. Hillis Miller from the University of California-Ervine and Prof. Tom Cohen from the State University of New York at Albany. I was also the discussant.            October 19-21, 2010 – Co-organizer for the International Symposium on “Sinologism: Theoretical Explorations,” Nanjing University, China.            May 27-30, 2010 -- One of the organizers for an International Conference on “Arts in the Age of Post-technology,” jointly sponsored by Southeast University, Shanghai University, and University of Texas at Dallas, Nanjing, China.            April 6-8, 2009 – Co-organizer of the International Symposium on “Translating China into the West,” Dallas, USA.            November 9, 2007 – Chair for the panel “Contemporary Chinese Literature and Translation,” 30th American Literary Translators Association Annual Conference, Dallas.            March 22-25, 2007 - Organizer and chair of Panel 224, “Across Invisible Divides in Chinese Fiction Studies,” the Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference in Boston.            April 6-9, 2006 - Organizer of Panel 174, “Chinese Fiction and Other Forms of Writing: Some Critical and Theoretical Considerations,” the Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, San Francisco.            June 25, 2005 –Discussant for a panel on fiction at the International Conference on “Chinese Literature: Dialogues Between Tradition and Modernity,” Nanjing, China.                    April 3, 2005 – Discussant for Panel 176, “Socialist Feminist in East Asia,” the Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, Chicago.            June 11-14, 2004 –Discussant to a plenary session for the International Conference on “Critical Inquiry: End of Theory?” in Beijing, jointly held by Tsinghua University and University of Chicago.            August 15-18, 2002 – Discussant for a panel “Cross-Cultural Dialogue: Conflict and Confusion” at the international conference, “Beginning of the New Century: Comparative Literature in a Cross-cultural Context,” Nanjing, China.            April 4-7, 2002 - Organizer of Panel 138, “Perspectives and Problematics in the Chinese Theories of Reading,” for the Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, Washington D.C.             March 22-25, 2001- Organizer of Panel 36, "Canonical Texts and Contemporary Theories: A Chinese Connection," for the Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, Chicago.             July 28- Aug. 1 2000 - Chair of two parallel sessions at the International Conference on the "Future of Literary Theory," held in Beijing, China, jointly organized by Beijing Language and Culture University and the University of California-Ervine.            March 2000 - Organizer of Panel 162, “Bridging the Gap between Traditional Scholarship and Contemporary Theories in Chinese Literary Studies” for the Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, San Diego.             March 1999 - Organizer of Panel 6, “Redology beyond the Fin-de-Siècle” at the Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, Boston.             March 1998 - Organizer of Panel 169, “Wen and Its Impact on the Development of Chinese Literary Thought” at the Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, Washington D.C.            Oct. 1992 - Chair of the panel, "Chinese Reform and Economics" at the 10th International Conference of Third World Studies, Gainesville, Florida, U.S.A.
  

News Articles

Prof Breaks New Ground in Literary Criticism Book
Dr. Ming Dong Gu, professor of Chinese and comparative literature and director of the Confucius Institute at UT Dallas, was asked by the general editor of Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism to choose the first Chinese theorist to be included in the publication.

The comprehensive anthology expanded in the newly published second edition to include theorists from Chinese, Indian and Arabic traditions.  That change represents a stark difference from the typical anthologies of literary theory that cover Western theorists exclusively.