"New Poetry Collection" and the Emergence of New Chinese Poetry

Author: Jiang Tao
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-05-01
Features: "The 'New Poetry Collection' and the Emergence of Chinese New Poetry" and "The Poetic Space of Modern Chinese" were both written by the two young Ph.D. candidates Jiang Tao and Zhang Taozhou, originating from their respective doctoral dissertations. Among them, "The 'New Poetry Collection' and the Emergence of Chinese New Poetry" has been selected as one of the National Outstanding Doctoral Dissertations, earning praise from the evaluation committee for its novel perspective and robust arguments. This work explores the sociocultural implications of the "emergence and establishment of new poetry" by examining various aspects of early "new poetry collections," including their publication, dissemination, compilation, self-positioning, reception, and historical evaluation. Based on a description of the publishing, circulation, and reading conditions of early "new poetry collections," the author discusses the establishment of the "emergence space" of new poetry and the activities involved in the pursuit of its "self-sufficiency," such as the mobilization of readers, the differentiation of the poetic scene, and the shaping of reading conventions. Particularly noteworthy is the innovation in the research methodology of this book. It avoids the conventional mode of moving from idea to idea or text to text, introducing discussions on external factors—such as publication, printing, readership, collection compilation, and the construction of literary history—into the historical context of the emergence of new poetry. By incorporating "empirical research" and sociological elements into general historical and aesthetic studies, the research subjects are expanded to include not only the texts themselves but also the roles of literary activities within the literary system, such as the production, distribution, reception, and processing of texts. As Professor Wen Rumin pointed out in his preface to the book: "This work challenges the 'common-sense' historical imagination of the emergence of new poetry that has been acquired so far. This challenge enriches our understanding of the complexity of the historical process of the emergence of modern literature and may inspire us to reflect on the conventional research paradigms, opening up multiple possibilities and new perspectives for the writing of literary history." Indeed, "The 'New Poetry Collection' and the Emergence of Chinese New Poetry" reveals some signs of changes in the concepts and paradigms of new poetry research in the face of significant social and cultural shifts. In recent years, the introduction of new approaches in new poetry research has demonstrated a tendency to transcend existing paradigms, such as the examination of the relationships between new poetry schools, magazine media, and urban culture; close readings from a linguistic perspective; and the analysis and clarification of the process of the classicization of new poetry, among others. These efforts have expanded the research horizons from different angles. Therefore, how to extract new perspectives and research questions based on existing paradigms has become the key to revitalizing new poetry research. This book takes early "new poetry collections" as its research subject, focusing on examining the publishing, reception, compilation, and historical evaluation of "new poetry collections" to critically re-examine the historical proposition of "the emergence of new poetry." From an overall sociocultural perspective, it attempts to return to the original scene and present the chaotic and fragmented historical manifestations synchronically, thereby questioning the general linear historical imagination of new poetry.