On the morning of October 7, 2023, Professor Wu Xiaodu from the University of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences was invited to give a lecture entitled "The Familiar Unfamiliar ------A Dialogue between Belinsky and Shklovsky across Time and Space" at the School of Foreign Languages of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

The lecture was presided over by Professor Peng Qinglong of the SFL. Professor Shang Biwu, vice dean of the SFL, delivered the welcome speech. Based on Belinsky's major theoretical achievements, Professor Wu Xiaodu expounded on the influence of Belinsky's "thinking image theory" and "typical theory" on Shkolovsky's exploration and revision of formalist theory, thus forming a dialogue across time and space between two important literary scholars.While evaluating and criticizing Belinsky's literary theory, Shklovsky constantly placed it in the background of world literature theory for examination and comparison, gradually accepted and inherited the wisdom of predecessors to return to the law of literature itself, and revised the early views on literary form and the concept of "defamiliarization". Professor Wu Xiaodu further pointed out that the dialogue and contention between the two scholars explained the dialectical relationship between the old and the new in literature and art theory, that was, new laws cannot emerge by negating but by inheriting and reflecting on the old laws, and by conductinig a dialogue with the predecessors' thoughts. Thus, a vibrant langscape of "carrying on the fine old tradition while facing the future" will appear. This development law of literary theory not only explained the transition and alternation of Russian literary theory from realism to formalism, but also helped us to think about how modern literary theory innovation can draw useful inspiration from classical literary thought. At the end of the lecture, Professor Wu Xiaodu strategically extended this cross-time dialogue to the field of Chinese literature research. By introducing Qian Zhongshu, Zhu Guangqian, Feng Zhi and other scholars' evaluation and inheritance of Belinsky's theory, he explained the influence of "image thinking", "typical image" and "reproduction of reality" on the authenticity, popularity and literary and art view of China's literary and art theory. Taking the academic development path of Belinsky and many predecessors as examples, he pointed out the important principle of the dialectical relationship between nationality and world in the innovation of literary theory, and encouraged everyone to apply this thinking to their own research.

Professor Wu Xiaodu's extensive and solid knowledge, rigorous logic and humorous language greatly benefited teachers and students in this lecture. In the subsequent question-and-answer session, he fully communicated and interacted with the teachers and students at home and abroad, and talked about his profound friendship with the SFL.