Chinese Fragmentary Literary History—Prose Volume

Author: Zhao Yishan, edited by Li Xiusheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-07-01
Features: Since the 20th century, the writing of literary history has developed alongside the modernization of classical literature research. Its evolution is closely linked to changes in the fundamental concepts, theories, and methods of classical literature research, and largely aligns with the state of literary history teaching in higher education. In the past two decades, academic thought has been particularly active, producing more works that gradually reflect an intention to embody a literary-centered perspective and the national characteristics of Chinese literature. However, people remain largely dissatisfied with existing literary history works, feeling that their overall structure has not changed significantly. At least in two aspects, the basic framework remains largely unchanged: first, the general framework of dividing the narrative into several sections roughly following the chronological order of dynasties remains largely unchanged; second, within each section, the selection of the main narrative subject based on the guiding principle of "each era has its own literature" remains largely unchanged. Due to these two points, one can see the main features of literature in a particular historical period from a comprehensive literary history, but it is difficult to observe the entire process of the rise and fall of a specific literary genre. One can see the influence of social culture on literature and the reflection of literature on social culture, but it is less common to see the artistic composition of literature itself. In the end, it is not truly grounded in a literary-centered perspective but rather unintentionally stands on a historical-centered perspective; it is historical-centered rather than literary-centered. Striving to break through the historical-centered perspective and return to a literary-centered perspective is the fundamental starting point for writing this book.