Bulletin Number One 1982

Second Hong Kong Conference on East - West Comparative Literature It all began in the summer o f 1981 ， when Professor Harry Levin agreed to come to The Chinese University for a six-week visit. The idea o f an Irving Babbit Professor o f Comparative Literature from Harvard University coming here sparked o ff various suggestions to make the best use o f his expertise. Among other proposals, a conference was mentioned, endorsed and immediately approved. That incidentally accounted for the timing o f the conference, 1st - 4th March, 1982, which coincided w ith Professor Levin's visit. With the time and place settled, our working group, which consisted o f Yat-shing Cheung, Ying- hsiung Chou, John Deeney, Michael Holstein, Wai- leung Wong and Heh-hsiang Yuan, then got down to the participants to be invited. Professor Claudio Guillen topped the list not only as Levin's successor at Harvard but more importantly as one o f the most prominent comparatists in his own right. By inviting him, we had unintentionally brought together five generations o f comparatists: Levin, Guillen, Wai-lim Yip, Y.H. Chou and the graduate students in the Division o f English. This is not to say that the conference was lacking in diversity which is after all the basic ingredient o f a good conference. Differences inside the "fam ily" aside, we did not spare any efforts to recruit scholars o f different backgrounds and orientations, including Professor John Preston from Warwick University, Professor Anthony Tatlow and Mr. Jonathan Hall from the University o f Hong Kong as well as Dr. Sandra Holstein from Shue Yan College. From Taiwan we had the fortune o f having Professors Han-liang Chang, Chien Hou, John Hu, William Toupence and Kyn-yuen Wong as speakers. The two speakers from mainland China also sent in their papers in spite o f the last minute delay which prevented them from coming. Aside from these outside supports, our own staff also turned out in fu ll force. Wai-lim Yip, H.H. Yuan, Y.T. Luk, T. Lautz, Y.H. Chou, M. Holstein and W.L . Wong all read papers at the Conference. O f course, the Conference would not have been complete without the participation o f such able scholars as Professors Chow Tse-tsung, D.C. Lau, Liu Shu-hsien and Limin Chu, Mr. Yu Kwang-chung, Mr. John Gannon, Mr. A. Abbas and Dr. Ping-leung Chan. Support came from various offices o f the University, among which the Comparative Literature Division o f the Institute o f Chinese Studies and the Department o f English were especially worth mentioning. Thanks should also go to the United States International Communication Agency and the British Council, whose assistance enabled us to bring in participants from the United States and the United Kingdom. The Second Hong Kong Conference on 'East- West Comparative Literature reaffirmed our conviction that concerned East-West comparatists appreciate an opportunity such as this and look forward to a similar occasion in the future for further exchange o f ideas. —Y.H. Chou 18