James Lu Image

James Lu, Ph.D.

Professor of English
Department Chair, Modern Languages and Literature

Office Phone: (951) 343-4277/343-4590
E-mail: jlu@calbaptist.edu
Office Location: W.E. James Building, Room 256
Office Hours: MWF: 2:00-3:30 pm and by Appointment.TR: 3:00p-5:00pm and by Appointment.

Degree Major Emphasis Institution Year
Ph.D. English Duke University 1992
M.A. English Duke University 1988
M.A. Literature Institute of American Literature 1985
  • Additional Education

    B.A. English Shandong University 1982

  • Courses Taught

    Undergraduate Level:

    ENG 113 - Composition
    ENG 123 - Intermediate Composition
    ENG 201 - Introduction to Literature for Majors
    ENG 233 - Survey of American Literature
    ENG 253 - Survey of World Literature I
    ENG 263 - Survey of World Literature II
    ENG 303 - Topics in World Literature
    ENG 313 - Multicultural Literature
    ENG 350 - Advanced Composition
    ENG 401 - Literary Theory and Criticism
    ENG 403 - British Novel till 1900
    ENG 433 - Major Authors
    ENG 460 - Contemporary British Literature
    ENG 473 - Creative Writing
    HUM 213 - Integrated Humanities I
    HUM 223 - Integrated Humanities II

    Graduate Level:

    ENG 520 - Narrative Theory and Criticism
    ENG 525 - Non-Western Literature
    ENG 530 - Multicultural Theory and Pedagogy
    ENG 550 - Graduate Seminar: British Literature
    ENG 570 - Graduate Seminar: World Literature
    ENG 582 - Topics in Film Studies

  • Academic Areas & Scholarly Interests

    World Literature
    Literary Theory
    Genre Studies
    Multicultural Literature

  • Teaching Experience at Institutions Other than CBU

    1993-1995: Assistant Professor, Department of Comparative Literature, Hamilton College, Clinton, New York
    1989-1992: Instructor, University Writing Program, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
    1985-1986: Lecturer, English Department, Shandong University, Jinan, China

  • Research, Presentations, & Publications

    PROFESSIONAL HONORS

    2011 Distinguished Professor of the Year, CBU
    2003 Distinguished Scholar of the Year, CBU
    1999: Fellow, National Endowments, Yale University
    1994: Fellow, National Endowments, Princeton University
    1991-1992: Junior Teaching Fellow, Association of American Colleges, Duke University
    1986-1987: Fulbright Scholar


    PUBLICATIONS

    Co-authored an article titled “Virginia Woolf’s Between the Acts: A Case Study of Trauma Theory,” The Journal of Social Sciences, 4th issue, no. 154, pp.65-73, Sept., 2022.
    The Epistemological Construction of Critical Theory and Paradigms: American Horizon and Chinese Experience, a book co-authored with Prof. Shen-peng Liu, Zhejiang University Press, forthcoming, 2023.
    "Two Tales of a City: An Ethnic and Cultural Study," Academic Prospect, USACSA Journal, Volume 15 (ISSN #: 1936-1246), 2021.
    “Save Chinatown,” with Dr. Vince Moses, The Press-Enterprise, 5 August 2008.
    "Literature and Philosophy" (book chapter, with John Towbridge and Stanley Orr), Western Literature Studies: Traditions, Trends and Topics. Renda University Press, 2007.
    “Mysterious Tenacity.” The Colors of Life: A Collection of Poetry. Ed. Howard Ely. Owings Mills, Maryland: Watermark Press, 2004. 1.
    “A Commentary.” Review of An Introduction to China, by John B. Wong. Loma Linda, California: Loma Linda U Press, 2004. 270.
    "Enacting Asian American Transformations: An Interethnic Perspective," MELUS, Winter, 1998, PP. 85-101.
    https://www.jstor.org/stable/467829?seq=1
    "Re-constructing History: the Storytellers Storytelling Tracks and Homebase," Emerging Literatures, Winter, 1996, pp.166-77.
    "The Last Emperor: A History Lesson and a Lesson in History," Biography, University of Hawai’i Press, on behalf of Center for Biographical Research, Winter 1994, pp. 56-62.
    https://www.jstor.org/stable/23539967?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
    "The Locality of the Novel: Peculiarities of Chinese and Japanese 'Small Talk'," Tamkang Review, 1990, 114-125.
    “A Photographer’s Snapshots: a poem,” World Treasure of Great Poems, Vol. 2, ed. John Campbell, Sacramento, CA: World of Poetry Press, 1988, P. 413.
    Translation into Chinese of The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton, with Der-le Ran and Rosalind Lu, Guiyang: Guizhou Press, 1986, 338 pages.
    "American Realism & Naturalism at the Turn of the Century," Studies in American Literature, Spring 1985, 25-48.
    "Reading Native Son: Going Underground," Studies in American Literature, 1984, pp. 167-191.

    CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

    Paper Presentation, “A Peculiarity in the Study of Poetics: Verse Novels vs Prose Poems.” 119th PAMLA Annual Conference, at UCLA, Los Angeles, Nov. 2022.
    Paper Presentation, “Theorizing Verses in Two Classical Novels: The Tale of Genji and Don Quixote,” 118th PAMLA Annual Conference, Las Vegas, upcoming in Nov, 2021.
    Paper, "A Distant Center: American Poet Ha Jin’s Transpacific Dialogue," the OPCA Conference (virtual), Philadelphia, May, 2020.
    Paper, “A Simple but Significant Intertextual Instance,” Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association, San Diego, November, 2019.
    Paper, "Two Tales of a City: An Epitome of Chinese American Literature, History, and Reality," Annual Conference, Chinese American Professors Association, Los Angeles, Nov.. 2019.
    Paper, “A Comparative Reading of Two Nobel Laureates, Octavia Paz and Rabindranath Tagore,” Comparative Literature Conference Hubei, June 8-11, 2018.
    Paper, “Virginia Woolf’s Between the Acts: A Trauma-Theory Case Study.” CCL Conference, at George Fox University, Eugene, Oregon, April 13-15, 2018.
    Paper, "Classroom Lecture Experiences," the US Chinese Scholars Association 2017 Conference, San Gabriel, CA November 5, 2017.
    Paper, "Tales of Colonial Ruins: The Grass Is Singing and Wide Sargasso Sea," CCL Conference, San Diego, CA, May 11-13, 2017.
    Paper, “C. S. Lewis and Ecocriticism,” the 5th International Conference on Language, Literature, and Linguistics, Singapore, May, 2016.
    Paper, “`Lyrical Stirrings of the Soul’: the Power of Poetic Prose in Fiction,” Western Regional Conference on Christianity and Literature, CA, April, 2016.
    Paper, “Two Tales of a City: Riverside’s Historic Chinatown and Mission Inn,” Symposium, hosted by Occidental College & Autry Museum, March, 2016.
    Paper, “Revisiting Roman Jakobson’s Translation Theory: from Linguistics to Cultural Contact,” PAMLA, Portland, OR, March, 2015.
    Paper, "Mo Yan’s Bizarre Novel: A Tour de Force of Multiple Dimensions," Western Regional Conference on Christianity and Literature, Seattle University, May, 2015.
    Paper, "A Natural Path for Ecocriticism: a Biblical Approach to Literary Theory," Annual Christianity and Literature Conference on Secular and Sacred Engagements in Literature
    and Theory, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA, May 2014.
    Paper, "Two Tales of a City: Riverside’s Mission Inn and Historic Chinatown," PAMLA 112 Annual Conference, Riverside Convention Center, November, 2014.
    Panel Chair, "American Literature Read through a Christian Lens," PAMLA Conference, Riverside, CA, Nov., 2014.
    Panel Chair, "Literature of the American West II," Annual Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association Conference, San Diego, Nov. 2013.
    Paper, "Local Identities and Community-based Pedagogies: How We Relate in Teaching Composition and Rhetoric," a Plenary Speech at the Southern California Second
    Symposium on Composition and Rhetoric," at UC-Irvine, CA, May, 2013.
    Paper, "Leo Tolstoy’s Negative Capability and Christian Sensitivity: A Comparative Reading of `Family Happiness,'” the CCL Conference, Los Angeles, CA, May 2013.
    Paper, “Migration, Writing, and Transnational Context: Newer Immigrants in Asian American Literature,” the 2012 PAMLA, Conference, Seattle, October, 2012.
    Panel Chair, "College Composition and Rhetoric I," 2012 Pacific Ancient and Modern Language and Literature Association Conference, Seattle, October, 2012.
    Discussant, Round Table, the First Annual Southern California Rhetoric and Composition Research Symposium, University of California-Irvine, April, 2012.
    Paper, “A Personal Reflection: On the Necessity of the Transactional Theory for Transformational and Perspective Leaders,” US – China Symposium on Educational,
    Technology and Teacher Leadership, Shanghai, China, 2012.
    Paper, “The Polemics of Christopher West’s Mystery Novel The Third Messiah,” CCL, Costa Mesa, California, April, 2011.
    Paper, “Vibrant across the Pacific Ocean: Recent Crime Stories Set in China and Their Socio-Historical Implications,” The Modern Language Association Convention, Los Angeles, January, 2011.
    Paper, “The Fate of Wong Ho Leun Chinatown Site: A Look at the Past, Present, and Uncertain Future of Riverside Historic Chinatown,” The 16th Annual International Conference of the Chinese Professors of Social Sciences, Harvard University, Boston, Nov., 2010.
    Paper, “A Comparative Study of Epiphany in James Joyce’s Dubliners and Anton Chekov’s `The Lady with the Pet Dog.’” SCLA Conference, Phoenix, Arizona, October, 2009.
    Paper, “The Eclipsed and Silenced in the Third-Person Limited Omniscient Narrative: A Case Study of James Joyce’s The Dead.” Christianity and Literature Conference. Newberg, Oregon, April, 2009.
    Paper, ”From the Heroic to the Shameful: War Trash, an Untold Story of Chinese POWs,” the PAMLA Conference, Pasadena, CA, November, 2008.
    Paper, “Rich Simplicity: Unique Narrative Agents in Krzysztof Kieslowski’s A Short Film about Love.” Christianity and Literature Conference, Biola University, April, 2008.
    Panelist, “The Sense of Place.” University of California at Riverside, Sweeney Art Gallery. Riverside, CA, October, 2008.
    Paper, “From Walkman and MTV to IPod and YouTube: Allan Bloom’s Concerns Twenty Years Ago and Now.” The 2nd OPCA Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii, May, 2008.
    Paper, "Wisdom from Mark Twain' s Humor: A Response to David Kaun's Work-Leisure Theory." Oceanic Popular Culture Association Conference. May, 2007.
    Paper,, "The Roles of the Community in William Faulkner's Novel As I Lay Dying and Zhang Yimou's Film The Road Home." SCLA Conference. Georgia, September, 2006.
    Paper, "A Comparative Study of American and Chinese Animated Film Industry." International Conference on Hollywood and Chinese Cinema. Shanghai, China, June, 2006.
    Paper, "Towards a Constructive Pedagogy," International Conference on Chinese Cinema and Asian Cinema in the Context of Globalization. Beijing China, June 9-10, 2005.
    Paper, “From Michelangelo’s David to Derrida’s Difference: Problems of Value and Evaluation.” International Conference on Arts and Literature. Honolulu, January, 2004.
    Paper, “Remembering the Lost Daughters: A Comparative Reading of Literature as History.” The SCLA Conference. Austin, Texas, September, 2003.
    Paper, “Surprised by Insanity: Tolstoy’s Art of Reconciliation.” Christianity and Literature Conference on “Conflict and Reconciliation in Film and Literature.” Seattle, April, 2003.
    Paper, “Isabel Allende’s Daughter of Fortune: A Tale of Transnational Tales,” The 3rd Annual Conference on Writing in the Academy: Craft, Critique, Culture. Iowa, March, 2003.
    Paper, “Ishmael Reed’s Conversations with Shawn Wong,” Contemporary American Literature Symposium; Santa Fe, New Mexico, October, 2001.
    Paper, “Visible on the Margin?” National Conference on Asian Americans in the Higher Education, San Francisco, California, April, 2001.
    Paper, “Chinese Americans in Mass Media,” Association for Asian Studies Conference, Boston, Massachusetts, March, 1999.
    Paper, “Hollywood’s Representation of ‘Aliens’ in Cultural Terms,” MLA (Modern Language Association) Annual Convention, San Francisco, California, December, 1998.
    Paper, "Multicultural Dilemma in Chinua Achebe’s No Longer at Ease," the Third Annual Conference on Emerging Literature of the Southwest, El Paso, Texas, November, 1997.
    Paper, "Reflective Tensions: Teaching Literature in Integrated Humanities" (with Scott Key), Conference on Christianity and Literature, Seattle University, May, 1997.
    Paper, "How Are We Using CSIEC Start-Up Grants?" (with Richard Mobley), Cooperative Services International Education Consortium, Mobile, Alabama, September, 1996.
    Paper, "Many Voices in the Literatures of California" (with Stanley Orr), Visioning California Conference, Pasadena, California, September, 1996.
    Paper, "Maxine Hong Kingston's Monkey King: the Power of Transformation," MLA Annual Convention, San Diego, California, December, 1994.
    Paper, "A Commentary on Inspiration and Poetry," AAS Annual Conference, Utica, March, 1993.
    Paper, "Myth and Fantasy in Gulliver's Travels and Flowers in the Mirror," International Conference on Myth and Fantasy, Carrollton, Georgia, October, 1991.
    Paper, "Asian American Writers in the Mainstream of American Literary Studies,” Southern Humanities Council Conference, Chattanooga, Tennessee, February, 1991.

    KEYNOTE SPEAKER AND PANEL CHAIR

    Keynote Speaker (bilingual), "Crossing Boundaries: Shawn Wong's Homebase and Leslie Marmon Silko's `Prayer to the Pacific'," Linyi, China, May, 2019.
    Presiding Officer and Chair, "Comparative Literature Act II," PAMLA Conference, San Diego, November, 2019.
    Session Chair, Panel on “Ecocriticism” ( Association for the Study of Literature & Environment), PAMLA 116th Annual Conference, Bellingham, WA, Nov.9-11, 2018.
    Session Chair, “Television Studies,” PAMLA Conference, Bellingham, WA, Nov. 9-11, 2018.
    Session Chair, "East-West Circulations and Economies I," PAMLA 115th Annual Conference, Chaminade University, Nov. 10-12, 2017.
    Session Chair, "East-West Circulations and Economies II," PAMLA Annual Conference, November 10-12, 2017.
    Panel Chair, “"Philosophy, Ethics, and the Human," Pacific Ancient and Modern Languages Association, November, 2016.
    Panel Chair, "Renaissance and Democracy," The 113 Pacific Ancient and Modern Languages Association Conference, Portland, OR, November, 2015.
    Discussant, 1st Southern California Rhetoric and Composition Symposium, UC-Irvine, April, 2012.
    Moderator, “Lewis’ Correspondence and the Life of Faith" and "Faith and doubt: Ethics and Aesthetics"; the C.S. Lewis Summer Institute on "The Self and the Search Meaning,"
    Oxford and Cambridge, England, July-August, 2008.
    Moderator, “Lewis’ Correspondence and the Life of Faith and Faith and Doubt," C.S. Lewis Summer Institute, Oxford and Cambridge, England, July-August, 2008
    Panel Chair, "Reflections on Cinematic Transactions between East and West," International Conference on Chinese Cinema and Asian Cinema in the Context of Globalization. Beijing China, June 6-7, 2005
    Panel Moderator, “Engaging Literary Polemics,” Conference on Christianity and Literature. March, San Diego, CA, 2004.
    Panel Chair, "Reading Texts for Voices of Change," Southern Humanities Council Conference, Jackson, Mississippi, February, 1995.
    Panel Chair, "16th-Century Literature and Social Thought," Citadel Conference on Literature, Charleston, SC, March, 1991.

  • Church Membership & Activities

    Tyler Baptist Church (SBC)

  • Community Service & Involvement

    Mission Inn Cultural Heritage Foundation Working Group

  • Interests & Hobbies

    Music
    Sports
    Travel

  • Personal Philosophy

    1. “There is plenty of heavenly music for those who are tuned in.”

    2. "...always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;"

    -1 Peter 3:15b, NASB