History of Ancient Chinese Literature (Complete Three Volumes)

Author: Ma Jiguang Huang Jun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-12-01
Features: Among the approximately two hundred literary histories published this century, most are organized by dynastic changes. Although for a period, the slogan "Overthrow the dynastic system" became quite popular, completely disregarding the dynastic system to redivide the stages of Chinese literary development and compile a literary history has yet to yield any recognized or influential results. The reason lies in this: The rise and fall of feudal dynasties are often the result of mutual struggles and constraints among various social contradictions, making them a necessary segment in the process of political, economic, and cultural development. They also give rise to distinct literary characteristics for each dynasty. As a literary history, on one hand, it must summarize and inherit the research achievements of predecessors, and on the other hand, it must review the development of Chinese literature over the past two thousand years from the perspective of the times—both of these are undeniable. The question lies in: How can these two aspects be unified. The authors' understanding is that applying contemporary awareness does not mean judging the ancients by the standards of modern thought and art, but rather standing at the height of the times to summarize the research achievements of predecessors. This is essentially using a historical perspective and an aesthetic perspective to give ancient writers and works a fair evaluation, aiming to determine their position in the entire history of Chinese literature.