This book provides a concise introduction to the intellectual trends in contemporary Chinese literature from the 1950s to the 1990s and the influence of overseas Sinology.
The turbulent period of the second half of the 20th century in China witnessed a significant societal shift from a revolutionary to an economic focus. This transformation introduced and stimulated various ideas, reshaping public thought and reconstructing the historical landscape of contemporary Chinese literature. This book explores the response and self-exploration of domestic literary studies of the period, which were heavily influenced by the Western academic tradition and overseas Sinology studies. It examines critical phenomena, figures and events in this context. The author's narrative vividly illustrates the interplay and dialogue of factors such as revolution, reform and opening up, and the rise of literature in the 1980s and 1990s. Combining the methodologies of literary and social history, and integrating personal historical experience with rigorous academic methods, this book provides a unique research framework for revisiting the cultural scene of the period.
The title will appeal to scholars and students of contemporary Chinese literature and history. It will also attract general readers interested in Chinese culture and society in the 1980s and 1990s.
Part I The Philosophy of Chinese Literary History 1. Historical Retrospection, Literary Imagination, and the Identity of “Participants”: Examining the Understanding of the 1980s through Reading Zha Jianying’s Interviews in the 1980s 2. How Do We Organize History: Problems Implicit in the Study of “Seventeen Years Literature” over the Past Decade 3. The Origin of New-Period Literature 4. Revisiting the May Fourth Movement in the 1980s: Supplementary Discussion on the Issue of “Contemporaneity” in the Study of Modern Chinese Literature Part II The Sociology of Chinese Literary History 5. The “Literary Sociology” of Chinese Literary Research in the 1980s 6. The Issue of “Referentiality” in Chinese Literary Research Part III The Produced Chinese Literary History 7. A History of Modern Chinese Fiction and the Study of Modern Literature in the 1980s 8. Theory of Literature and Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature 9. From the Hsia Brothers to Leo Ou-fan Lee and David Der-wei Wang: A Study on Modern Chinese Literature in the United States and Modern and Contemporary Literature 10. The “Reinterpretation” Trend and Historical Transformation: Discussing Tang Xiaobing’s Reinterpretation: Popular Art and Ideology and Other Works 11. Literature, History and Methodology: An Interview with Cheng Guangwei
Biography
Cheng Guangwei is Distinguished Scholar and Chair Professor at the School of Literature, Renmin University of China, and the vice president of the Chinese Contemporary Literature Research Society. He is a leading scholar in literary criticism and the history of contemporary Chinese literature.
