Literature controlled by history

Author: Li Luming, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-07-01
Features: The "Experimental Art Series" focuses on the spirit of exploration, experimentation, and innovation that has been prevalent in world art since the 20th century (especially after 1960). Through the publication of works, essays, reviews, biographies, interviews, and more, it showcases experimental achievements in various fields such as fine arts, literature, film, theater, music, architecture, and photography, while also presenting the social and cultural contexts that gave rise to these achievements. The series has been published intermittently since 1992, aiming to provide textual references and theoretical research opportunities for contemporary Chinese art workers. The young French scholar Simon Nora spent over a decade researching the history of the (Midnight Press), ultimately grasping its character: to be duty-bound to non-conformity. If the half-century publishing history of Midnight Press embodies all the elements of avant-garde literature—being criticized, banned, and then achieving the highest honor, then ultimately, it is all "controlled by history." Simon Nora's report unexpectedly reveals another side of Midnight Press beyond the "new novel" of "literature in writing": the "intervention literature" that exposed the French army's use of torture in Algeria. Two seemingly unrelated parallel lines intersected and merged during the "121 Declaration" incident, giving Midnight Press and the new novel a moral dimension. Anne Moeglin (born 1963), graduated from the Paris Institute of Political Studies in 1985. In 1986, she received the "Advanced Diploma in 20th Century History Research" for her thesis "Midnight Press: 1947–1948, the Origins of a Literary Publisher." In 1993, she obtained her doctorate. She has published other works on Midnight Press, including "Midnight Press: 1942–1955, Duty-Bound to Non-Conformity" (1994, 528 pages), and "Midnight Press and Seuil Press: Two Publishing Strategies in the Face of the Algerian War" (1991).