On November 1, 2017, Prof. Dennis M. Kratz, Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities and Ignacy and Celina Rockover Professor of Humanities at The University of Texas at Dallas, shared his understanding of two great western narratives The Odyssey and Don Quixote in the Lecture Hall with the faculty members of School of Foreign Languages, Southeast University.
Prof. Kratz has published three monographs about literary classics and his research emphasizes the continuation and transformation of the western “heroic” tradition from antiquity through medieval and modern literature. His research subjects range from epic poetry to translation theory.
Starting with the explanation of “collaborative enchantment”, Prof. Kratz guided his audience into the alternative reality of the fictional world. The two literary classics, as he pointed out, can be interpreted in the light of two Latin terms: “Imitatio” and “Aemultio”, the first one meaning “imitation” and the second one “rivalry”. Although the story of Odysseus and Don Quixote happened long ago in a remote land, the world of rivalry has not changed much, therefore, we contemporary readers should read intellectually and imaginatively and go beneath the surface for the truth. Before the lecture ended, Prof. Kratz also shared his philosophy with the audience. There are two lives for each of us, he said, one is the life we are living, and the other is the life we tell in our heads, that is, we live according to the story. By thinking noble, we can behave noble.
After the Q & A session, several faculty members stayed for a further discussion with Prof. Kratz. Obviously, the lecture has brought the audience closer to the deep understanding of western culture and these two enchanting fictions have produced an echo in the story lovers of SFL.
(Reported by Lanxiang Wu/ Photographed by Chen Shi)
