Cross-border Pursuit: Interpretation and Criticism of World Chinese Literature

Author: Zhu Wenbin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: The term "pursuit" highlights the fact that research on world Chinese literature has just begun. It will need to continue pursuing in the future; in fact, the path of criticism is indeed an endless pursuit. The Pursuit Across Borders is Zhu Wenbin's collection of essays, including three parts: "Research on Chinese Poetry," "Research on the Study of Chinese Literature," and "Research on Chinese Writers." It basically covers the research scope of the past few years and also showcases his achievements in research over the same period. The mutual influence between literatures of different countries within the same language is entirely different from the cultural hegemony imposed by the colonial powers on former colonies, leveraging their political, economic, and cultural advantages. In the 18th century, when the British moved beyond the British Isles and established themselves in America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, British literature had a profound influence on the emerging literatures of these countries. Now, it is American literature that is influencing British literature in reverse. As long as the same language is used as a tool for expression, the mutual influence between different national literatures has existed in the past, exists now, and will forever exist in the future. Any attempt at "de-Britishness" (if such a term ever existed) or "de-Chineseness" would be futile. The second part of this book is "Research on the Study of Chinese Literature," which has not existed in the field of overseas Chinese literature research before, thus holding the significance of filling a gap. The five articles included in this part are focused on the Asian region. The author has collected a relatively comprehensive range of works by scholars over the past few decades on Chinese literature in Asia, clearly demonstrating considerable effort. What is even more remarkable is that while explaining the content of these works, the author also adds his own critiques, summarizing their experiences and lessons, with the hope of elevating future research to a higher level, which is highly commendable.