Guo Moruo's early psychological poetics

Author: Wu Shizhao
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-08-01
Features: This book draws on research achievements from China and abroad in the 1920s, especially from the 1980s onwards, to explore the relationship between Guo Moruo's early poetic theory and traditional Chinese culture, Western literary trends, and creative practice as a whole. On this basis, it strives to restore the original form of Guo Moruo's early poetic theory; to provide a realistic and objective characterization and historical positioning of the subject rather than by applying existing Western theoretical frameworks; and to take Guo Moruo's early poetic theory as a case study to examine some regular phenomena in the production and construction of poetic discourse, offering insights for the theoretical research of the "May Fourth" New Literature and contributing to the development of contemporary Chinese literary theory. In today's environment where people often exaggerate the discourse power of literary theory but lack solid case studies, and as the topic of researching Guo Moruo (including his poetic theory) declines due to discussions on the personality issues of intellectuals, this book selects Guo Moruo's early poetic theory during the historical turning point of the "May Fourth" period as its research theme, and its significance is self-evident. The main issues this book aims to explore and solve are: 1. Romanticism, Aesthetic-Impressionism, Life Aesthetics, and Emotional Realism are all insufficient to summarize Guo Moruo's early poetic theory. This book provides a reasonable modern poetic theory characterization of the subject based on objectivity rather than by applying existing Western theoretical frameworks. 2. Guo Moruo's early poetic theory of the mind is the result of the interaction between the needs of the era, Chinese and Western culture (poetics), and creative practice. This interaction determines its unique form, differing from similar poetic theory concepts in the West and traditional China. This book uses comparative poetics and cultural interpretation methods to approach the truth of the construction of Guo Moruo's early poetic theory, providing a perspective for future research on Guo Moruo's early poetic theory and the entire "May Fourth" New Literature theory. 3. The production and acquisition of any literary theory discourse, if it deviates from the needs of the era, breaks away from the inheritance of cultural traditions, and ignores the reference of foreign culture (poetics) or creative practice, is unimaginable. This book takes Guo Moruo's early poetic theory of the mind as a case study to explore some regular phenomena in the production and construction of poetic discourse from its emergence and formation, offering insights for the construction of contemporary Chinese poetics. The book is divided into three parts. Part (Chapters) proposes a new perspective on "modern poetic theory of the mind" based on the actual construction of Guo Moruo's early poetic theory. Building on this, it focuses on the core of emotion to discuss the representative poetic discourse of Guo Moruo's early works and their internal relationships, while also briefly clarifying some complex or controversial issues in his early poetic theory. The second part (Chapters 2, 3, and 4) is the main body of the paper. This section uses comparative poetics and Sino-Western cultural interpretation methods to concentrate on discussing the complex relationships between Guo Moruo's early poetic theory of the mind, traditional Chinese culture, Western literary trends, and his own creative practice. It argues that Guo Moruo's early poetic theory of the mind is the result of the convergence, collision, dissolution, and synthesis of the above factors under the constraint of the needs of the era, thus possessing a unique form distinct from similar poetic theory concepts in the West and traditional China. The third part (Chapter 5) places the subject within the context of the development of modern Chinese poetics, exploring its theoretical contributions and insights for the construction of contemporary poetic discourse, while objectively pointing out the limitations of Guo Moruo's early poetic theory of the mind.