21st Century Chinese Literature Series - Children's Literature 2002

Author: Chen Sihe, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-04-01
Features: In recent years, I have been focusing on the theoretical innovation of modern literary history. Spanning the literary history of the 20th century in China's hundred years, at the transition between the end of one century and the arrival of another, we become aware of its penetration into our spiritual life today, and we can temporarily confirm a period concept through the passage of time. Many historical enigmas may be grasped and elaborated from a complete perspective, and they may also inspire today's creative works. We need a new academic category to re-recognize and interpret the literary phenomena within it, making it a discipline closely related to contemporary life and full of inspirational significance.
Regarding the exploration of how the art of the essay can break through, I have had a similar interest in recent years. I believe that the concept of the "essay" is somewhat similar to that of poetry—it is both a very difficult genre to define and a very difficult genre to regulate in rhetorical terms. For example, when we read some novels, poems, or even dramas that are not formally standardized in artistic expression, we may call them "essayistic," such as "essayistic novels," "essayistic poems," and so on. This shows that the essay has a very broad scope—it can permeate various genres and play a role in subverting already solidified artistic forms. As a result, strict formal norms may give rise to new artistic vitality when they are diluted, dissolved, and subverted.
So, is there a kind of essay that can be called "essayistic"?