Welcome to Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art,

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art ›› 2016, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (4): 15-26.

• Conference Highlights: Reflections on Literary Theory: Retrospect and Prospect • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The Origin and Evolvement of Aesthetic Poetics from the Perspective of Genealogy

Xing Jianchang, Zhang Hao   

  1. Hebei Normal University (Shijiazhuang 050024, China)
  • Online:2016-07-25 Published:2017-09-29
  • About author:Xing Jianchang, Ph.D., is a professor at Hebei Normal University (Shijiazhuang 050024, China). His major research areas cover aesthetics, literature and art aesthetics, basic literary theories and contemporary cultural criticism. Zhang Hao is a Master candidate in literature and art at Hebei Normal University.

Abstract: This article is a genealogical investigation of the origin and evolvement of aesthetic poetics in China since the 1980s. Its prelude originated from the "imagistic thinking Debate" in the 1950s and 1960s, which was revived at the end of the 1970s. The outcome of this debate was a common recognition that the image, rather than concepts, features literature and art. The evolvement from image epistemology to affectionism paved the way to an aestheticism-based theory. However, the emphasis on the functions of aestheticism to appeal, to educate, to save, and to liberate indicates that the aesthetic poetics was a utilitarian literary paradigm. Out of key with the time in the 1990s, the value system of aestheticism fell short of addressing the new cultural reality. The origin, development, and evolvement of this aesthetic poetics have proved that any essentialist poetics is just an interpretation of literature under certain circumstances. Though dominant in one period, it will be replaced and surpassed. The purpose of literary study is to comprehend literature's richness, intricacy, and significance to life, rather than attaching to it an essence.

Key words: image thinking, aesthetic poetics, utilitarian discourse, anti-essentialism