Multiple Perspectives in Modern Chinese Literature

Author: Wang Xiaochu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: This book is structured around three themes. The first theme is a macro-perspective on modern Chinese literature, including 3 articles in the first unit, with the core being the relationship between modernity and modern literature. If Wang Yao's Draft History of Modern Chinese New Literature is considered a milestone in the establishment of the discipline of modern Chinese literature, then modern Chinese literature has only just passed more than half a century. However, in this short span of over 50 years, it has experienced too many historical shocks and changes. The second theme is a historical perspective on the development and evolution of modern Chinese literature, colloquially known as literary history research, including 8 articles in the second unit. Literary history can be written in various ways, which is actually rooted in different literary historical views and different historical constructions by the authors. In the past, a period's literary movement and literary trends, plus writers and works (further divided into chapters by size), were the models that worked. Let alone whether this periodization is reasonable, just looking at this format, mechanically separating writers and works from literary trends and schools fails to truly reflect the actual process and historical appearance of modern literature. In reality, literary trends and schools are reflected through the ideological and artistic pursuits of specific writers and the artistic individuality and style of their works. Only by incorporating writers and works into the framework of literary trends and schools can their literary historical significance and status be more profoundly revealed. The third theme is a perspective on Lu Xun, or Lu Xun studies, including 6 articles in the third unit. Lu Xun is the father of modern Chinese literature and has a profound influence on the history of modern Chinese literature, modern Chinese thought, and modern Chinese culture. Especially A Madman's Diary is not only the outline of Lu Xun's novels but can also be said to be a mark of the establishment of modernity in modern Chinese literature. At the same time, the ideological and artistic heights achieved in A Madman's Diary are unprecedented. In a sense, a correct understanding of it is an effective way to enter the threshold of the discipline of modern Chinese literature. The last unit includes 2 articles that can be considered "pre (latent) horizon" research on modern Chinese literature. Although it does not directly enter the field of modern Chinese literature, this "pre (latent) horizon" that has not yet entered modern literary research often determines the breadth, depth, and intensity of academic penetration in modern literary research. Therefore, I also want to tentatively construct the "pre (latent) horizon" of my own modern literary research. These two articles are part of this effort.