Professor Yang Jiangang was born in September 1978, and hails from Sanyuanxian, Shaanxi Province. In 2010, he graduated from the College of Liberal Arts of Nanjing University with a Ph.D. in Literature and Art. During his doctoral studies, he was selected as a candidate for overseas studies for the State Council’s 2008 National Joint Project for Nurturing Doctoral Candidates for the Construction of China’s Highest-Standard Universities, and as a consequence he studied at Duke University in the USA from December 2008 to December 2009. Since August 2010, he has worked in the School of Literature and Journalism and Communication of Shandong University, and has been engaged in research work at Shandong University’s Chinese Language and LiteraturePostdoctoral Rotation Station. Currently, Professor Yang is one of Shandong University’s “Young Scholars of Qilu,” and serves as aProfessor in the School of Literature, as well as in the Research Center for Literary and Artistic Aesthetics, of Shandong University. He is also a Dissertation Advisor for Ph.D students. He is primarily engaged in the teaching and research work in the fields of Literary Theory, and Aesthetics.
Over the years, Professor Yang has offered the following courses in the curriculum:
· For undergraduates: “Introduction to Literature”, and “History of Western Academic Thought”
· For Graduate students:
“Topics in Literary Theory”
“Special Topics in Formal Literary Theory and Aesthetics”
“Guided Readings in the Western Classics in Literary Theory and Aesthetics”
A list of Professor Yang’s research and writing achievements is as follows:
Authored and translated volumes
1. A History of the Relationship between Marxism and Formalism, (sole author), People's Publishing House, 2017
2. “The Evolution of the Theory of the Ontology of Literary Forms in the New Era, and the Related Controversy”, a section in Professor Tan Haozhe, editor-in-chief,The Evolution of, and Controversies Relevant to,Fundamental Theories and Concepts of Literature in the New Era, People's Publishing House, 2019
3. (Co-translator, with Li Hui,) Marxism and Aesthetics by Liu Kang, Beijing University Press, 2012
Major papers and articles
1. “The Essence of Art from the Perspective of the Theory of the Ontology of Value”, Academic Journal of Taiyuan Normal University, no. 1,2005
2. “The Revolution of Form and the Form of Revolution: A Comparison of Russian Formalism and the Formal Views of Marxism in the West”, Studies in Literary Theory, no. 6, 2007. Full-text reprinted in The People’s University’s Reprints of Newspaper and Periodical Materials, Literary Theory, no. 4, 2008
3. “Formalism and Marxism: An Analysis of the Inner Logic of Progression from Confrontation to Dialogue”, Contending Voices in Literature and Art, no. 11, 2008.Full-text reprinted in The People’s University’s Reprints of Newspaper and Periodical Materials, Literary Theory, no. 4, 2009
4. “From Author to Reader: Subjective Transformation and Paradigm Shift inLiterary Theory”, New Horizons from Tianfu, no. 1, 2008
5. “The Dialogue between Formalism and Marxism: The Position, Method, and Significance of the Academic Research on [Mikhail]Bakhtin”, Literary Review, no. 3, 2009
6. “Text and Ideology: A Critical Issue in the Dialogue between Marxism and Formalism”, Studies in Literature and Art, no. 1, 2010.Full-text reprinted in The People’s University’s Reprints of Newspaper and Periodical Materials, Literary Theory, no. 5, 2010
7. “Academic Criticism or Political Struggle: The Controversy between Marxism and Formalism, and Reflections”, Academic Journal of Northwest University, no. 2, 2012
8. “Marxism and Forms: An Interview with Professor Fredric Jameson”, Studies in Literary Theory, no. 2, 2012
9. “The Journey, and Variation, of Defamiliarization Theory”, Jianghai Academic Journal, no. 4, 2012.Full-text reprinted in The People’s University’s Reprints of Newspaper and Periodical Materials, Literary Theory, no. 10, 2012
10. “The Construction of Ecological Aesthetics in a Constructive Postmodernist Perspective, and Its Significance”, Academic Research, no. 8, 2012
11. “The Promotion and Extension of the Study of Literary Genres”, Wenyibao, May 16, 2014
12. “The Dilemma of Aesthetics, and Ecological Redemption in the Age of Consumption: Reading Professor Li Xijian's A Study of Aesthetic Issues in the Consumption Age”, Ecological Aesthetics Newsletter, no. 8, 2014
13. “What Marxism Assimilates and Borrows from Formalism: The Theory, Method and Practice of Fredric Jameson's Literary Criticism”, Studies in Literary Theory, no. 1, 2015. Full-text reprinted in The People’s University’s Reprints of Newspaper and Periodical Materials, Literary Theory, no. 6, 2015
14. “The Ideology of Form: The Perspective of Form in Marxism and Its Significance”, Social Sciences in Shandong, no. 3, 2015
15. “The Back-and-Forth Change in Direction of Critical Theory in the Perspective of the Changes in Directionin Linguistics”, Social Sciences in Tianjin, No. 5, 2015
16. “The Evolution of the Ontological Concept of Literary Forms in the New Era, the Related Controversy, and Reflections on the Topic”, Humanities Magazine,no. 6,2016.Full-text reprinted in The People’s University’s Reprints of Newspaper and Periodical Materials, Literary Theory, no. 10, 2016
17. “The Cultural Condition, the Mental Dilemma and the Artistic Mission of the Age of Consumption”, Hundred Schools Review, no. 3, 2017.Also published separately in The Development of Ecological Aesthetics and Ecological Criticism, Shandong University Press, 2016
18. “WhyBob Dylan?”, Hundred Schools Review, no. 1, 2017
19. “Polyphony and Symphony: A Topical Academic Conversation on Literary Aesthetics – ‘When we talk about a painting, what really are we talking about?’”, (co-authored with Ling Chenguang and Sheng Ning), Hundred Schools Review, no. 2, 2017
20. “An Overview of the 13th Annual Meeting of the Chinese Association of Literary Theory andthe Symposium on ‘A Historical Retrospective of, and Reflections on, Chinese Literature and Art Theory in the Past One Hundred Years’”, Studies in Literary Theory, no. 2, 2017
21. “Semiotic Development in Critical Theory: Semiotic Method inBaudrillard's Academic Research”, Studies in Literary Theory, no. 5, 2017.Full-text reprinted in The People’s University’s Reprints of Newspaper and Periodical Materials, Literary Theory, no. 1, 2018
22. “A Reassessment of the Value of Russian Formalism from the Perspective of Marxism”, AcademicJournal of Capital Normal University, no.6, 2017
23. “The Rise of the Althusser School and the Transformation of Western Marxist Literary Theory”, Social Sciences in Shandong, no. 1, 2018
24. “The Combining of Genetic Epistemology and Structuralism: The Theory, Method and Practice of Lucien Goldmann’s Literary Studies”, Academic Journal of Hubei University, no.1, 2018. Full-text reprinted in The People’s University’s Reprints of Newspaper and Periodical Materials, Literary Theory, no. 6, 2018
25. “Looking for the Tension and Transcendence of Marxism and Semiotics: The Position and Method of Stewart Hall's Cultural Studies”, Learning and Exploration, no. 9, 2018.Full-text reprinted in The People’s University’s Reprints of Newspaper and Periodical Materials, Literary Theory, no. 12, 2018. Key points excerpted in Chinese Social Sciences Digest,no. 1, 2019
26. “The Theorizing of the Issue of China, and the Question of Identifying with the Chinese Issue, in the West”, Contending Voices in Literature and Art, no. 6, 2019
27. “Aesthetic Education in Everyday Life and Constructing the Poetic Life”, Education inShandong (Higher Education), no. 6, 2019
28. Entries on the topics: “Literary Character,” “Defamiliarization,”“Intertextuality,”“Summoning structure,”“External research,”“Internal research,”“Round character,” and “Flat character” in the “Chinese Literature · Literary Theory” section of The Encyclopedia of China, (3rd edition)
29. Shandong Province Social Science 2012 Yearbook (“Aesthetics” section). Co-authored with Tan Haozhe
30. Shandong Province Social Science 2013 Yearbook (“Aesthetics” section). Co-authored with Tan Haozhe
31. Shandong Province Social Science 2014 Yearbook (“Aesthetics” section). Co-authored with Tan Haozhe
32. Shandong Province Social Science 2015 Yearbook (“Aesthetics” section). Co-authored with Tan Haozhe
33. Shandong Province Social Science 2016 Yearbook (“Aesthetics” section). Co-authored with Tan Haozhe
34. Shandong Province Social Science 2017 Yearbook (“Aesthetics” section). Co-authored with Tan Haozhe
Major sponsored research projects that Professor Yang has undertaken and/or supervised include the following:
1. “Research on the History of the Relationship between Marxism and Formalism”, a Young Scholar Project under the aegis of the National Foundation for the Social Sciences. (Registration no. 11CZW010). Rated “Excellent” at conclusion of project funding.
2. “Marxism and Formalism”, a Research Project sponsored by the Chinese Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Group 49). (Registration no. 20110491610).
3. “Research on the History of the Relationship between Marxism and Formalism”, a Special-FundProject sponsored by the Chinese Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Group 5). (Registration no. 2012T50602).
4. Participant in “The Evolution of, and Controversies Relevant to, Fundamental Theories and Concepts of Literature in the New Era”,a Project sponsored by the National Foundation for the Social Sciences supervised by Professor Tan Haozhe, (Registration no. 10BZW011).
5. “The Evolution of, and Problems in,Contemporary Literary Values”, a 2017 General Project sponsored by the Shandong Province Social SciencesPlanning Office, Supervisor. (Registration no. 17CZWJ03).
6. As the sub-project leader, he participated in the major project of the Ministry of Education under the auspices of Professor Tan Haozhe, “Marxist Literary Theory and the Study of Chinese Contemporary Literary Values Construction” (17JJD720011).
Professor Yang has received major prizes and awards for the following:
1. “From Confrontation to Dialogue: A Study of the History of the Relationship between Marxism and Formalism.” Ph.D. Dissertation. Jiangsu ProvinceMost Outstanding Doctoral Dissertations Award, 2011
2. “From Confrontation to Dialogue: A Study of the History of the Relationship between Marxism and Formalism.” Ph.D. Dissertation. Most Outstanding Doctoral Dissertations Award, Nanjing University, 2011
3. “Formalism and Marxism”, Level-2 Prize for Most Outstanding Papers, 2008 Jiangsu Province Doctoral Candidates Forum
4. “The Dialogue between Formalism and Marxism: The Position, Method, and Significance of the Academic Research on [Mikhail] Bakhtin”, Level-3Prize, the 25th Outstanding Achievement in the Social SciencesAward, Shandong Province, 2011
5. “Text and Ideology: A Critical Issue in the Dialogue between Marxism and Formalism”, Level-3 Prize, the 26th Outstanding Achievement in the Social Sciences Award, Shandong Province, 2012
6. “What Marxism Assimilates and Borrows from Formalism”, Level-2 Prize for Outstanding University Scientific Research Achievement, Shandong Province, 2016
7. “What Marxism Assimilates and Borrows from Formalism”,Level-3Prize, the 31st Outstanding Achievement in the Social Sciences Award, Shandong Province, 2017
8. “The Evolution of the Ontological Concept of Literary Forms in the New Era, the Related Controversy, and Reflections on the Topic”, Level-2 Prize for Outstanding University Scientific Research Achievement, Shandong Province, 2017
9. A History of the Relationship between Marxism and Formalism. Level-1 Prize for Outstanding University Scientific Research Achievement, Shandong Province, 2018
10. The 2015 Outstanding Teacher Award for Curriculum Quality, Shandong University.