A Brief History of Chinese Literature

Author: Hu Lancheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: This book fully reflects Hu Lancheng's profound understanding of Chinese culture and Chinese literature. His critique of Western literature and reverence for Chinese culture hold a unique significance, both at that time and now. The book can also be seen as a fundamental presentation of Hu Lancheng's cultural thought system throughout his life. The ideas in the book influenced a large number of emerging writers in Taiwan's literary scene at that time. This book is a collection of literary research essays and some literary critiques by Hu Lancheng during the 1970s in Japan and later while serving as a professor at the Cultural College in Taiwan. This book fully reflects Hu Lancheng's profound understanding of Chinese culture and Chinese literature. His critique of Western literature and reverence for Chinese culture hold a unique significance, both at that time and now. The book can also be seen as a fundamental presentation of Hu Lancheng's cultural thought system throughout his life. The ideas in the book influenced a large number of emerging writers in Taiwan's literary scene at that time. Chinese literature is about the human world, while Western literature is about society. The human world is the sublimation of society, and society is merely "having." To understand both "having" and "not having" is to understand the human world. To understand both "not having" and "having" is to be civilized. Nature is the interplay of "having" and "not having." Western society is solely materialistic, and it cannot correspond to it, whereas the human world of Chinese civilization can correspond to it. Civilization is the ability to correspond to nature and create.