Chung-jen Chen (陳重仁, CJ Chen)
editChung-jen Chen (陳重仁, born November 30, 1974) is associate professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at National Taiwan University. He is currently a visiting scholar with the fellowship of the Taiwan-United States Sister Relations Alliance (TUSA) at the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations (EALC), Harvard University. He holds a Ph.D. degree in English from National Taiwan Normal University. He was the recipient of Award for Innovative Research for Young Scholars from the Foundation for the Advancement of Outstanding Scholarship (2015) and several awards for teaching performance. His book on the interdisciplinary studies of medicine and literature is awarded the title for excellent publication of the year of Golden Tripod Award by the Ministry of Culture in 2014. Two books of his translation have been nominated as the best translation of the year in Taiwan. He served as the Secretary General of the Comparative Literature Association of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2013 to 2015 and is currently a board member. His research interests include literary theory, cultural studies, nineteenth-century British Novels, contemporary British fiction, Asian American and British Literature, and interdisciplinary studies in medicine and literature. He is author of Empire, Medicine and 19th Century English Literature (2013) and journal articles in Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies, Chung-Wai Literary Quarterly, Router: A Journal of Cultural Studies, Tamkang Review, NTU Studies in Language and Literature, Wenshan Review and 19th Century Literature in English.
Chung-jen Chen will be a visiting scholar in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences from 2017 to 2018. He comes to Harvard from National Taiwan University, where he is a member of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. While at EALC, Chung-jen will be working on his project “Narratives of Contagion, Ethics of Sanitation.”
Research Interests: Literary theory, cultural studies, nineteenth-century British Novels, contemporary British fiction, Asian American and British Literature, and interdisciplinary studies in medicine and literature
Personal life and education
editChung-jen Chen was born and raised in Peng-hu County until he pursued education in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. He was educated in Kaohsiung Senior High School and later at the Department of English at National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan. As a fervent player of baseball and dedicated photographer and ardent lover of classic music, he developed strong and life-long interest along with his development of professional career. He attended the MA program at the Graduate Institute at Foreign Languages and Literatures, National Taiwan University, where he currently teaches as associate professor. He holds a Ph.D. degree in English from National Taiwan Normal University. He was the recipient of the First-Prize Award for Graduate Students Academic Paper (PhD), Comparative Literature Association of the Republic of China, Taiwan, in 2007.
During his training at the Ph.D. program, he received various traveling grants from National Science Council, the Ministry of Education and the Advancement of Outstanding Scholarship that generously support him for international conferences and exchanges. With the kind support from National Taiwan Normal University, he was sent to Leiden University, the Netherlands, for international exchange in 2006.
Career at Taipei Medical University
editChung-jen Chen was lecturer, assistant professor and associate professor at The General Education Center and The Graduate Institute of Medical Humanities of Taipei Medical University, Taiwan, from 2001 to 2013. During his service at Taipei Medical University, he developed his interest in interdisciplinary research in medicine and literature. His courses, such as "Literature, Empire and Medical Fascination," "Literature and Medicine," "Narratives of Disease and Illness," "Cloning in Contemporary English Fiction and Culture," "Medicine and Culture: Seminar on Foucault," "Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes," just to name a few, were liked by his students. He was recipient of multiple teaching projects granted by the Ministry of Education and multiple teaching awards from departments. He was recipient of the Award for Teaching Excellence at the College Level, Taipei Medical University in 2011.