UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Haun Saussy, University Professor at the University of Chicago, will present “Beginning Bioinformatics, or, the Translation of ‘Translation,’” at 12:15 p.m. April 23 in Room 102 of the Kern Building on the University Park campus.
Saussy teaches in a variety of departments at the University of Chicago. He received his bachelor's degree at Duke University in classics and comparative literature, then worked in Paris for the European representative of such American performing artists as Bob Wilson, Richard Foreman and Merce Cunningham, while taking classes at the Institut National des Langues et Cultures Orientales. He received his doctorate from Yale University in 1990, has been a Guggenheim Fellow, and hopes to learn a few more languages.
His books include "The Problem of a Chinese Aesthetic" (1993; Wellek Prize, ACLA), "Great Walls of Discourse and Other Adventures in Cultural China" (2001), "The Ethnography of Rhythm: Orality and its Technologies" (2016; Scaglione Prize, MLA), "Translation as Citation: Zhuangzi Inside Out "(2017; Wellek Prize, ACLA), and, as editor or co-editor, "Chinese Women Writers: An Anthology of Poetry and Criticism from Ancient Times to 1911" (with Kang-i Sun Chang, 1999), "Comparative Literature in an Age of Globalization" (2006), "Sinographies: Writing China" (with Eric Hayot and Steven Yao, 2007), Fenollosa/Pound, "The Chinese Written Character as a Medium for Poetry: A Critical Edition" (with Jonathan Stallings and Lucas Klein, 2009), "Partner to the Poor: A Paul Farmer Reader" (2010), "A Book to Burn and a Book to Keep (Hidden): Selected Writings of Li Zhi" (with Rivi Handler-Spitz and Pauline Lee, 2016), and "Texts and Transformations" (2018). His current book project is called "The Nine Relays: Outlines for an East Asian Comparative Literary History." He contributes to the collective blog "Printculture."
This event is a part of the Comparative Literature Luncheon lecture series, a weekly, informal lunchtime gathering of students, faculty and other members of the University community. This week the event begins at 12:00 p.m. with the department awards followed by the lecture at 12:30 p.m. – coffee and light lunch fare is provided. At 12:30 p.m. there will be a presentation, by a visitor or a local speaker, on a topic related to any humanities discipline. All students, faculty, colleagues and friends are welcome. For a full list of Comparative Literature lunches, visit http://complit.la.psu.edu/news-events/comp-lit-luncheon-series. This event is sponsored by the Department of Comparative Literature and the Center for Global Studies.