关键词:

文以载道, 心性说, 为人生而艺术, 为艺术而艺术

Abstract:

Since the modern times, the discourse of “writings are for conveying truth,” notwithstanding its profound influence on the history of Chinese literature, has been widely criticized. Xu Fuguan reflected on this issue from the cultural standpoint of a Neo-Confucian scholar and explored the modern value of this proposition. Based on the theory of “nature of mind,” he potentially transformed the doctrine of “writings are for conveying truth” into that of “writings are for conveying the mind,” which established connections between the ancient and the modern as well as between Chinese and Western scholarship. “Seeking change through the universal” became his fundamental attitude towards and interpretation of “writings are for conveying truth.” On the one hand, Xu delineated the historical image of “writings are for conveying truth.” On the other, he conversed with such ideas as “art for life’s sake” and “art for art’s sake.” In other words, Xu Fuguan engaged with the two dominant concepts of modern literature through the lens of traditional thoughts. He enabled the proposition of “writings are for conveying truth” to be involved in the modern literary criticism, which remains significant for us today as we learn from the classical resources of Chinese literary theory.

Key words:

writings are for conveying truth, theory of “nature of mind”, art for life’s sake; art for art’s sake