For Tropical People: Language of Ice—Literary Culture of Our Time

Author: Guo Yuangbao
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: The marginalization of literature is a significant cultural phenomenon in contemporary China, but its meaning has not been fully and clearly articulated. This book, composed of eight academic lectures, attempts to explore various common issues in modern and contemporary Chinese culture and intellectuals from the perspective of literary problems, touching on numerous topics but always centered around the concept of literature. Guo Yuangbao is one of the most outstanding scholars in the field of modern and contemporary Chinese literature. This book is his meticulously crafted "Eight Lectures" on the path of literature, following his highly influential work "Six Lectures on Lu Xun."
How does the split between the literary and non-literary wisdom of modern Chinese intellectuals internally constrain the development of literature? What is the relationship between modern Chinese literature and academia, and what are the differences in their cultural roles? Why did the overall failure of contemporary literature in the 1990s lead to a certain "flourishing" of academia? How has our long-standing literary education skillfully emptied the specific reading experience of literary readers through the authority of literary history and literary theory? How can we resist this non-literary discipline of literary reading? In the history of Chinese literature, is there a resource that can be excavated to help us reclaim a literary consciousness—at least to help us re-establish the basic stance of literary scholars?