Dr Letizia Fusini

Letizia taught history of Chinese theatre at Goldsmiths, University of London (2016-18) and Global Shakespeare on Film at the University of Essex (2019-20). She received academic training in Chinese language and literature at Sapienza University in Rome and at BFSU (PRC). She further specialized in Chinese and theatre studies through an MA and a PhD at SOAS. Additionally, she developed a keen interest in comparative literature and reception studies and on the work of 2000 Nobel Laureate Gao Xingjian.

Her research focuses on Sino-Western intercultural exchanges with particular reference to literature and drama. She has published articles in CLCWeb, Neohelicon, Modern Drama, Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism and Asian Theatre Journal and in edited collections, including the Routledge Handbook of Modern Chinese Literature (Ed. Gu Ming Dong). Her first monograph Dionysus on the Other Shore: Gao Xingjian’s Theatre of the Tragic (Brill, 2020) proposes a new reading of Gao Xingjian’s (mainly) post-exile dramaturgy from the perspective of tragic theory.

Currently, she is working on a new research project on the (re)invention of tragedy (beiju) in modern Chinese drama (1900-1949), which includes cross-comparisons between Chinese and non-Chinese tragedians.

Additionally, she is a contributor to the China regional section of The Theatre Times and since 2014 she has volunteered at the British Museum as a tour guide and object handling facilitator in various galleries (Japan, Asian, Islam, World of Money, Enlightenment and special exhibitions).