Shih-hsiang Chen's Theory on Chinese Lyrical Tradition and Its Limitation

Abstract

Abstract: Shih-hsiang Chen, deeply affected by the revolution of modern Chinese literature, conceived a theory on Chinese lyrical tradition, which took as its standard the ideal of Western Romantic literature and rendered ancient Chinese literature to be monistic. At the present vantage position, the method Shih-hsiang Chen's adopted to study comparative literature was to use Western principles in Chinese literature, which, due to its dominant monistic discourse, concealed the complexity of Chinese literature. While his study might have promoted the academic interest in the West, it was basically an early effort to establish the discipline of comparative literature in China. Therefore, it should be generalized to be a comprehensive system that subjugates the interpretation of all the individual literary phenomena into this interpretative framework. Otherwise, the literary history would lose some sight while seeing, and this has been a trap the Sinological school of Chinese lyrical tradition has fallen into.

Key words: Shih-hsiang Chen, lyrical tradition, comparative literature, overseas Chinese, Sinology

Xu Cheng. Shih-hsiang Chen's Theory on Chinese Lyrical Tradition and Its Limitation[J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2014, 34(4): 116-124.

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