An interview with Jonathan Culler

Professor Jonathan Culler is one of the leading literary critics in the world who made great achievements in the fields of Semiotics, Structuralism and Deconstruction, Cultural Study and Comparative Literature. He has worked at Cornell University since 1977, and served as President of American Comparative Literature Association (1999-2001) and Semiotic Society of America (1987-88) as well as other academic societies, as well as editor of some important academic journals such as New Literary History, Poetics Today, and The American Journal of Semiotics. Culler is famous for his critical works such as Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction (1997), Structuralist Poetics (1975), and On Deconstruction (1982). On behalf of Foreign Literature Studies, Dr. Zheng Li conducted an interview with Professor Culler when doing research at Cornell University as a visiting scholar during 2011-2012. Prof Culler shares his enlightening views of some hot issues both at home and abroad, such as the relations between Structuralism and Deconstruction, Classic Culture and Pop Culture, the rivalry and adjustment of Cultural Study and Literary Study, as well as the redefinition of Canon. For Culler, there is no fundamental division between Structuralism and Deconstruction. Cultural study and literary study could live relatively peacefully nowadays, despite their inescapable competition in certain fields. Pop culture isn't equal to classic culture. The criteria of Canon haven't changed much in that it must stand the test of the time. Finally, he gives sound advice to Chinese scholars as regards their academic pursuit. He insists that Chinese scholars should stick to their own heritage and make their unique contribution to Western conversation.