Novel History: Theory and Practice

Author: Chen Pingyuan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: This book is a work on the theory of historical studies. Unlike the logical deduction of theorists, it particularly emphasizes the personal feelings of historians and the operability. The book describes the "traps" that may occur in the research process, and even confesses the historians' "confusion" and "dilemma." In other words, the book is neither highly speculative theoretical statements nor empirical-colored historical monographs, but rather lies between the two—an attempt by a literary historian to take seriously the work notes of a thoughtful approach. This book is a reflection on the theoretical framework of the study of the history of fiction and the specific operational rules, based on the author's recent research and writing on the history of fiction. It is a record of reflection on the study of the history of fiction, including four main contents: the perspective of literary history, research methods of the history of fiction, the study of Chinese fiction genres, and the fiction of 20th-century China. In the practice of writing the history of fiction, the author attempts to transcend the old models of writing the history of fiction by theoretically grasping the evolution of the internal structure of the history of fiction. This book depicts the exploration track of this process and is a conscious and comprehensive breakthrough of the old literary history system. It has a broad vision and many original insights.