Written at the Edge of Contemporary Literature

Author: Xin Nian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-01
Features: Literature is increasingly becoming a trivial and unappealing form of recreational leisure. What is the significance of literature today? This has become a matter that troubles many literary workers. This kind of confusion surrounding literature and the humanities does not only occur in China. At a lecture on the U.S. Constitution's bicentennial hosted by the Miller Center, Kenneth mentioned an important debate that took place at the Rockefeller Foundation. Scientists and biologists often say to social scientists and humanists: "We constantly invent things: new drugs, new treatments, new grains and cereals, yet what have you social scientists done besides merely repeating the past?" Therefore, the history that is told is always a story and always has a legendary nature. We can only approach history through storytelling. "History can only approach us in textual form, in other words, we can only approach history through pre-existing (re)textualization." The history of literature is also a story, or it needs a story. The question is, who tells the story? Who has the power to tell the story? This book consists of eleven academic lectures, always centered around literature, attempting to explain the various confusions surrounding literature and the humanities from aspects such as culture, life, and human nature.