A History of Chinese Literary and Art Theory in the 20th Century (Volume 1)

Author: Qian Jing / Wang Biao
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-03-01
Features: This book is a key project of the National Social Sciences Fund's 9th Five-Year Plan and a key project of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. It is a part of The Academic History of Chinese Literature in the 20th Century, more accurately, the prehistory of The Academic History of Chinese Literature and Arts in the 20th Century. The scope of discussion generally covers the 18th and 19th centuries. In terms of dynasties, it belongs to the middle and later periods of the Qing Dynasty; according to the currently prevailing socio-historical era classification, it also falls under the late ancient and early modern periods. However, as the first part of The Academic History of Chinese Literature in the 20th Century, this book differs from The History of Qing Dynasty Literary Theory and Criticism or The History of Modern Literary Theory and Criticism. Our research objectives and focus are not to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the literary and artistic theories of various schools and factions during this historical period, but rather to examine the poetry and prose studies of these two centuries within the broader context of their contemporaneous intellectual, academic, and cultural transformations. We aim to grasp the fundamental framework and historical trajectory of literary and artistic theory as a whole, explore the historical inevitability, process, approaches, and trajectories of the transition from ancient literary and artistic theory to modern literary studies, analyze the contradictions faced by writers and thinkers during the transition between historical eras and cultural changes, the questions they raised, the choices they made, and the historical preparations they laid for the birth of 20th-century modern literary studies. We also examine the unresolved issues they left behind for modern literary studies, how their choices constrained the development and certain characteristics of 20th-century literary theory, and so on.