Chinese Literature Aesthetics (Volumes 1, 2, and 3)

Author: Wu Gongzheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-09-01
Features: The author of this extensive work of over 800,000 words is Professor Wu Gongzheng, a renowned scholar in our province. Professor Wu Gongzheng is a well-known aesthetician in China, long engaged in the study of literature and the history of aesthetics. His previously published works, such as Aesthetics of Fiction, Aesthetic History of the Six Dynasties, Aesthetic History of the Tang Dynasty, Aesthetic History of the Song Dynasty, and Aesthetic History of Chinese Garden Art, have all attracted attention from the aesthetic circles both domestically and internationally. The newly published Aesthetic of Chinese Literature is Professor Wu Gongzheng's (a work of painstaking effort) after 30 years of dedication, and it is also the first systematic and comprehensive monograph in China dedicated to the study of literary aesthetics. This work possesses unique characteristics compared to general aesthetic texts: the current history of Chinese aesthetics (including artistic forms other than literature) and the history of Chinese literature both lack something that needs to be addressed—literary history appears as a history of works (sensory works), while the history of aesthetics is an abstract history of theory. However, in the history of Chinese literary aesthetics, writers are often both writers and aestheticians. The theoretical declarations of writers may align with their creative practices, but many writers do not correspond to their actual aesthetic practices, with frequent occurrences of disconnection and misalignment. Leveraging decades of his own research in traditional Chinese literature, history, and aesthetics, Professor Wu has constructed a unique research and theoretical system, making this work stand out with its distinctive perspective compared to other publications.