Contents

Na Hai discussed the interplay between cognition and medical empiricism in Charlotte Brontë’s Villette, analyzing how knowledge and experience shape the narrative. Niu Zimu explored the symbolism of the sea in contemporary Arab women writers’ literary imagination, highlighting its multifaceted meanings. Zhai Kang examined Milton’s Paradise Lost as a rewriting of the creation narrative found in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, emphasizing the poem’s theological and literary tensions. Ren Na focused on the critique of capitalist realism through themes of love, friendship, and religion in Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You. Zhang Jieying introduced Nāzik al-Malāʾika’s poetics of listening, uncovering auditory aesthetics in her poetry. Dai Weina researched life intertextuality in confessional poetry, particularly in Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton. Zhou Xiaoyi reinterpreted literariness within the context of instrumentalism, discussing contemporary theoretical frameworks. Liu Wenjin presented boredom as a “fold” of moods through a phenomenological dialogue between Heidegger and Levinas. Xiu Limei investigated theatre-fiction as a critical theory keyword, unpacking its hybrid narrative forms. Gui Xuejiao analyzed pity as a key concept in critical theory, addressing its ethical and emotional dimensions. Sandro Jung studied Laurence Sterne’s A Sentimental Journey alongside the material-visual remediation of Maria of Moulines. Chen Haoran examined the “East” through Eunice Tietjens’s cross-cultural poetic practice in Profiles from China. Liu Ying discussed mourning and ruin writing in Shuggie Bain, focusing on Glasgow’s post-industrial landscape. Dan Hansong considered the impact of large language models on the future of literary studies and their interpretive potential. Rui Xiaohe traced the digital humanities turn in literary prestige studies, moving from symbolic capital to cultural data. Jin Taidong reviewed Scripting Empire, emphasizing broadcasting, the BBC, and Black Atlantic cultural exchanges.