座談會簡介如同文學上的“荒誕”是為了卡夫卡而存在，“迷宮”在文學上是為博爾赫斯而生成。那麼，他的小說真的是迷亂無跡的迷宮，還是有跡可尋的文學新徑？走進去，每個人都可以發現一種新美和屬於自己的新世界。這次座談會由香港科技大學人文社會科學學院人文學部，香港科技大學賽馬會高等研究院及香港科技大學圖書館聯合舉辦。名額有限，請報名留座。
 講者簡介閻連科，1958年出生於中國河南省嵩縣，1978年應徵入伍，1985年畢業於河南大學政教系、1991年畢業於解放軍藝術學院文學系。 1979年開始寫作，主要作品有長篇小說《日光流年》、《堅硬如水》、《受活》、《為人民服務》、《丁莊夢》、《風雅頌》、《四書》、《炸裂志》 、《日熄》等10餘部；中、短篇小說集《年月日》、《黃金洞》、《耙耬天歌》、《朝著東南走》等15部，散文、言論集12部；另有《閻連科文集》17卷。是中國最有影響也最受爭議的作家。曾先後獲第一、第二屆魯迅文學獎，第三屆老舍文學獎和馬來西亞第12屆世界華文文學獎；2012年入圍法國費米那文學獎短名單和英國國際布克獎短名單。 2014年獲捷克卡夫卡文學獎。 2015年《受活》獲日本“推特”文學獎，2016年再次入圍英國國際布克獎短名單，同年《日熄》獲香港紅樓夢文學獎。其作品被譯為日、韓、越、法、英、德、意大利、西班牙、以色列、荷蘭、挪威、瑞典、捷克、塞爾維亞等20幾種語言，已在20多個國家出版外文作品近百本。 2004年退出軍界，現供職於中國人民大學文學院，為教授、作家和香港科技大學冼為堅中國文化客座講授。
 About the TalkIn this talk, Prof. Yan will share his passion for literature and give us a glimpse into the alluring world of his journeys in writing.This talk is co-organized by the Division of Humanities, School of Humanities & Social Science, the HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study, and the HKUST Lee Shau Kee Library.
 About the SpeakerYan Lianke was born in a small village of Song County, Henan province in 1958. In 1978 he joined the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), in 1985 he graduated from Henan University majoring in Political Education, and in 1991 he received a degree from the Literature Department of the PLA Academy of Art. He began his writing career in 1979, and his novels include The Passing of Time, As Hard as Water, Lenin’s Kisses, Serve the People!, Dream of Ding Village, Odes and Hymns, The Four Books, and The Day the Sun Died. As one of contemporary China’s most controversial and influential authors, he has received more than twenty distinguished national and international literature prizes, including the First and Second Lu Xun Literature Prize, the Third Lao She Literature Prize, and the Hua Zhong World Chinese Literature Award. He was a finalist for the Prince of Asturias Literature Prize and the Prix Femina Literature Prize, and was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize in both 2013 and 2016. In 2014 he was awarded with the Franz Kafka Literature Prize, and in 2016 his novel The Day the Sun Died won the Dream of the Red Chamber Literary Prize from Hong Kong. His works have been translated into more than twenty languages, including Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, French, English, German, Italian, Dutch, Hebrew, Spanish, and Serbian. Many of these translations have attracted attention and critical acclaim for the novels in their respective literary markets. There has been considerable dispute over his writing in China, but he has stood as a writer with deep conscience and great passion. In 2004, he quit the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. He is currently a professor at Renmin University in Beijing, and Sin Wai Kin Visiting Professor of Chinese Culture at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

About the TalkProfessor Jao Tsung-I was delighted by the publishing of Professor Sze Yee Tui’s “Literature and God”, and thought it an impossible mission without divine inspiration. That is a question only the author can answer. The book took Prof. Sze more than a decade of researching and writing, and four years of editing. Just as the proverb goes, it takes ten years to grind a sword, so it took just as long to Prof. Sze to perfect every word in the book.Prof. Sze will take us through of how he wrote the book, and what he has learned from Prof. Yao. He will also give us a glimpse into the alluring world of his intellectual journey.本書以訪談形式，深入淺出，全面、系統地對饒宗頤學藝大世界作一概括描述。從橫的角度看，既展示饒公在史學、文學、經學乃至甲骨學、秦簡學、敦煌學諸多領域的獨特見解及建樹，又呈現饒公於詩、詞、文、賦及書法、繪畫、琴藝諸多方面的風貌及成就；從縱的角度看，則於宇宙觀、神學觀、藝術觀以及對世界萬物的認識論，作深入的探索及討論，頗多新創之見。全書正文七章，另有代序、緒論、附編以及饒宗頤學術年表。饒公其人，平易可親；饒公其學，莫測高深。為將饒公之學盡量加以淺析，力求使讀者容易理解，本書編纂，歷十度寒暑，又批閱四載，始畢其功。內容根據錄影、錄音及已刊文集，兩相校核，並依編纂者個人心得，編排、整理而成。是閱讀大師、走近大師的一部入門讀本。施教授的《文學與神明 : 饒宗頤訪談錄》(索書號: PL2264 .R36 2010) 已入館藏，可隨時借閱。 About the AuthorProfessor Emeritus Dr. Yee Tui Sze’s ancestral home was in Changhua County, the Granary of Taiwan. He is a professor and researcher in Chinese literature at the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at the University of Macau, where he has been teaching classical literature and Chinese poetry (Ci) for more than two decades. He is the winner of several teaching awards, and served as the Associate Dean at the Faculty of Chinese of the University. Prior to the University of Macau, Prof. Sze was the Editor-in-Chief of Hong Kong New Asia Publishing, an Associate Researcher at the Institute of Literature, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). Prof. Sze graduated from the Department of Chinese, Fujian Normal University, and went on in pursuit of his postgraduate research at the Centre for Language and Literature Studies of Hangzhou University, obtaining both of his MPhil and PhD in Chinese Literature from the Graduate School of CASS in Beijing. His two great mentors were Prof. Xia Chengtao and Prof. Wu Shichang, both were the leading authorities in Chinese literature. Prof. Sze’s doctoral thesis, Study on the Relationship Between the Lyric and Music, has been regarded by the fellow scholars as the most integrated thesis on Ci for the century, one of the most-highly cited theses of his field. Prof. Sze has further established the theory of Constructive Analysis of Ci based on the foundation laid by Prof. Wu Shichang.Prof. Sze is a prolific researcher whose publications include more than 20 sole-authored books, in addition to numerous articles and papers.施議對, 台灣彰化人。澳門大學榮休教授、中國社會科學院比較文學硏究中心學術顧問、河南大學兼職教授。中國社會科學院文學硏究所原副硏究員、香港新亞洲出版社原總編輯、澳門大學原中文學院副院長、社會科學及人文學院中文系教授。福建師範學院中文系畢業，杭州大學語言文學硏究室硏究生結業。中國社會科學院文學碩士、文學博士。曾師事夏承燾、吳世昌，專攻詞學，頗得真傳。所撰博士論文《詞與音樂關係硏究》，學界譽為近百年來詞學集成之作；並依吳世昌結構分析法，倡為詞體結構論，以示門徑。主要著作有：《詞與音樂關係硏究》《宋詞正體》（《施議對詞學論集》第一卷）、《今詞達變》（《施議對詞學論集》第二卷）、《詞法解賞》（《施議對詞學論集》第三卷）、《人間詞話譯注》《李清照全閱讀》《胡適詞點評》以及《當代詞綜》（四冊）等近二十種。For enquiries, please contact Edwin Leung at 2358-6708. 

About the TalkDavid Mole, HKUSTs Associate Provost (Teaching and Learning) spoke about some histories that he has enjoyed, and his reflections on them. The thread of his discussion was a quote from Francis Bacons The Advancement of Learning on why people seek knowledge:"For men have entered into a desire of learning and knowledge, 
Sometimes upon a natural curiosity and inquisitive appetite;
Sometimes to entertain their minds with variety and delight; 
Sometimes for ornament and reputation;
And sometimes to enable them to victory of wit and contradiction;
And most times for lucre and profession;
And seldom sincerely to give a true account of their gift of reason to the benefit and use of men: 
As if there were sought in knowledge a couch whereupon to rest a searching and restless spirit;
Or a terrace for a wandering and variable mind to walk up and down with a fair prospect; 
Or a tower of state, for a proud mind to raise itself upon; 
Or a fort or commanding ground, for strife and contention; 
Or a shop, for profit or sale; 
And not a rich storehouse for the glory of the Creator and the relief of mans estate."Admitting to the vice of often seeking "a couch" or a "terrace"; and trying to attain the virtue of a "rich storehouse" to the delight and enjoyment of the audience, he spoke about and read from a number of books, the library copies listed below.            Video of the talk: Reading history: some virtues and vices 
(D16.2 .M65 2013)Return to Dragon Mountain: Memories of a Late Ming Man / by Jonathan SpenceReformation: Europes House Divided / Diarmaid MacCullochAfter Tamerlane : the global history of empire since 1405 / by John DarwinThe corruption of angels : the great inquisition of 1245-1246 / Mark Gregory PeggThe Reformation / Diarmaid MacCullochWaterloo : Napoleons last gamble/ Andrew RobertsThe coming of the Third Reich / Richard J. EvansOther books recommended are:The Third Reich in power, 1933-1939 / Richard J. EvansThe Third Reich at war / Richard J. EvansA history of histories : epics, chronicles, romances and inquiries from Herodotus and Thucydides to the twentieth century / John Burrow  About the SpeakerDr. David Mole received his BA from Cambridge University before moving to Canada for Post-graduate study. There, he earned a Masters degree from the University of British Columbia and a PhD at the University of Toronto.After teaching at a number of universities in Canada and working as an economist for the Ontario government, he moved to Hong Kong in 1989.David joined HKUST in 2005, where his main role has been to support the development of undergraduate education, especially the implementation of the four-year degree. In addition to a keen interest in sport and physical fitness, David has a life-long addiction to the pleasures and rewards of reading.For enquiry, please contact Victoria Caplan at 2358-6756.