My Universities

The University of Tulsa, USA

Yale University, USA

The University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany

Peking University, China

Huiwen (Helen) Zhang

张慧文

Wellspring Assistant Professor of Chinese & Comparative Literature

Department of Languages

The University of Tulsa

Faculty Homepage

Academia Homepage

·    2008-2009 Postdoctoral Associate, Council on East Asian Studies and Comparative Literature Department, Yale University, USA

·    2008 Ph.D. (Summa Cum Laude) Chinese Studies, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany

·    2001 M.A. Modern Chinese Literature, Peking University, China

·    1998 B.A. (With Distinction) Chinese Literature, Peking University, China

Courses Taught at Yale & Tulsa

• Four Faces of the Wanderer: An Exploration of Modern Chinese Literature

• Nietzsche’s Superman and Taoist Philosophy

•  The Treasure of Sorrow: China’s Lost Generation

• Blessed in Translation

• Chinese through Literature I: Modern Poetry

• Chinese through Literature II: Contemporary Novel

• Act it Out!                     Chinese through Film

• Chinese Microblogging: Literature Online

Professional Affiliations

·         American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA)

·        European Association for Chinese Studies (EACS)

Awards & Recognition

·         2005-2008 DFG (German Research Foundation) Scholarship, Germany

·         2003-2005 Grant for Graduate Students from the State of Bavaria, Germany

·         2002-2003 DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Fellowship, Germany

·         1994-1996 Selection to Experimental Humanities Program in Philosophy, History, and Literature; Peking University, China

Works in Progress

Book Projects

·         Kulturtransfer über Epochen und Kontinente: Feng Zhis Roman Wu Zixu als Begegnung von Antike und Moderne, China und Europa (in German), submitted

·         Lu Xun’s Germanized Vision of Modern China (in English)

·         Four Faces of the Wanderer: Modern Chinese Intellectual History through Literature (in English)

Book Translations

·         Haun Saussy: Comparative and Chinese Literature (English -> Chinese)

Feng Zhi: Wu Zixu (Novel; Chinese -> German) -- Meditation Sounds!

Feng Zhi: Sonnets (Poetry Anthology; Chinese -> English)

Lu Xun: Wild Grass (Prose Poetry Anthology; Chinese -> English)

Collaborative Projects

·         “Lu Xun’s Private Foreign Library”: a joint project of the Lu Xun Museum (Beijing), Columbia University (New York), and Tsinghua University (Beijing), aiming to produce an innovative and insightful bibliography on Lu Xun’s foreign language book collection

·         “Freud in Chinese”: a joint project initiated by the Sigmund-Freud-Institut (Frankfurt), aiming to provide the first ever complete translation of Freud from German into Chinese

·         Chinese Literature Today: A biannual journal of Chinese literature and culture based at the University of Oklahoma

Blog (in English & German): Wanderschaft in Wind und Wetter