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25 September 2014, Volume 34 Issue 5 Previous Issue    Next Issue

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Issue in Focus: Objects and Art

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Dimensions Opened through the Intermediacy between Man and Objects: On the Philosophical Foundations of Design Studies Wu Xingming 2014, 34 (5):  6-15.  Abstract ( 978 )   PDF (320KB) ( 141 )   Although design theory is still developing its system, the dimensions opened through the immediacy between man and objects can already provide us a horizon for looking at and analyzing design. The three dimensions besides the practical function include the aesthetics of objects, design ethics, and design politics. These four dimensions form the value system can be the normative foundations for examining contemporary design. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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On Steinberg's Appreciation of Jasper Johns: A Reflection on the Criticism of Avant-garde Art Qiu Xiaolin 2014, 34 (5):  16-25.  Abstract ( 738 )   PDF (366KB) ( 99 )   The stylistic difference between the avant-garde art and the traditional proves to be a big challenge even to art critics. The pressure posed by the title of art critic may propel the critics to produce a pioneering theory or an over-interpretation. Over-interpretation may be exemplified by Leo Steinberg's appreciative analysis of Jasper Johns. After a close examination, the paper claims that Steinberg had not really stepped out of the dominating shadow of formalism. The essential reason for his failure lies in the fact that Steinberg failed in grasping the essential nature of self-authorization in modern art, and the paper maintains that a new understanding of the essential nature may lead to a possible way. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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From Modern Art to Postmodern Art: A Paradigm Shift Centered round Objecthood Chen Yousong 2014, 34 (5):  26-34.  Abstract ( 1256 )   PDF (354KB) ( 261 )   A paradigm shift centered round objecthood underlies the change of art form from the modern to the postmodern. The paradigm of modern art is characterized by differentiation that excludes objecthood while the paradigm of post-modern art is dedifferentiation that includes objecthood. The paper claims that the context of contemporary Chinese art is modernism, and this context has also modernized many of the art form of the post-modern. Therefore, the paper concludes that a theoretical delineation of the context of the paradigm is necessary for understanding contemporary Chinese art. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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How to Understand Installation Art: with a Focus on Theatricality Zhang Zhengbo 2014, 34 (5):  35-40.  Abstract ( 1190 )   PDF (239KB) ( 296 )   This paper seeks to analyze the positive contribution that Arthur Danto, Greenberg, Michael Fried have made for installation art theory, while clarifying their respective misunderstanding and vision deviation. The paper will take the example of contemporary artists like Yayoi Kusama and Xu Bing and analyze the theatricality effect produced by the medium material, color, shading, texture, shape, pattern and three-dimensional space in the installation art, and the paper then tries to formulate how the sense of objects produced through installation art may function to overcome the crisis of modernity. References | Related Articles | Metrics

Interview

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Art, Theory and Social Justice: An Interview with Professor Martha Nussbaum Fan Yun, Martha C. Nussbaum 2014, 34 (5):  41-52.  Abstract ( 1570 )   PDF (398KB) ( 99 )   As an influential intellectual with academic focus on contemporary philosophy, Professor Martha C. Nussbaum is different in that she stresses on literature and brings literature into the construction of her philosophy of ethics and justice. This interview covers such topics as the value of literature, the ethic turn in literary theory, the current status of humanistic education, multiculturalism and universalism, and the intellectuals and social justice. Related Articles | Metrics

Classical Literary Theory and Criticism

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Speech, Rituals and Chanting in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties: An Exploration into the Tradition of Chanting in Han Chinese Culture Zhang Guoan 2014, 34 (5):  53-67.  Abstract ( 790 )   PDF (556KB) ( 136 )   Based on the critical interpretation of oracle bone scripts and bronze inscriptions from the Zhou Dynasty, the paper attempts to delineate the rituals and chanting in the Shang and early Zhou Dynastes. The paper proposes that the original meaning of "word" (言 yan) in the oracle bone script was imaged from the buccal reed talk, and that the communicative function of the buccal reed was the basis for the derivation of the meaning "speech" (言语 yanyu) from the character "yan". The features of "conveying language in music" and "confirming music with language" in the buccal reed performance were the primary forms of "rhetoric in music" and "language into music" in the later tradition of "chanting as speech." The etymological paronyms of "word" (言 yan), tongue (舌 she), tell (告 gao), had already taken on different linguistic and cultural meanings in the oracle bone scripts. The paper concludes that the features in the buccal reed performance had influenced the ritual chanting in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties and helped to promote the formation and construction of the "chanting as speech" tradition in Han Chinese culture. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The "Village Opinion" Society and the Fundamental Concept of Literary Values in the Sixteen-State Period Cai Danjun 2014, 34 (5):  68-75.  Abstract ( 830 )   PDF (277KB) ( 105 )   This paper investigates the fundamental concept of literary values in the Sixteen-State Period (304-439) in the Northern area in China. Different from the situation of the southern area where scholars mainly gathered in the towns, the scholars in the Northern area mostly lived in the village of clan community. The social environment of "the village opinion" (xiang lun) had decisive impact on the formation of humanistic values. The impact manifested mainly in two aspects. On the one hand, the formation of the village opinion in the society was inseparable from the village election since the Han and Wei Dynasties. As Confucianism was the fundamental pursuit of spiritual value, the scholars were especially concerned with the social satirical function of literature. On the other hand, the society with the village opinion was conservative and tradition-abiding, and some literary tradition from the Western Jin Dynasty was preserved. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Ji Yun's Theoretical Construction in On the Tang-Dynasty Imperial Examination Poetry Peng Guozhong 2014, 34 (5):  76-87.  Abstract ( 1060 )   PDF (410KB) ( 178 )   In On the Tang-Dynasty Imperial Examination Poetry, Ji Yun's comments on the imperial examination poetry in the Tang Dynasty opened a scope wider than specific comments on specific time but became a theoretical study of the genre. For the imperial poetry, Ji Yun properly positioned its style, identifying its governing poetic rules along its unique features, while he also promoted its class and taste in terms of the poets’ personality and moral integrity as well as the sublimity of poetic language. He viewed the imperial examination poetry as an organism and made analogue between it and life by way of metaphors in hair, blood, bones, muscles, and spirit, thus constructed his theory of the genre. When commenting on the poems, Ji Yun elucidated different rules and methods of poetic composition, while also proposed non-rules, non-methods and non-style for the bad poems. However, it was his advocacy of poems with flexible use of the rules and non-rules, following nature and mastering the spirit instead of the skill that made his theorization of the imperial examination poetry worthwhile. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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On Poetry's Moral Cultivation: Style Reverence and Moral Cultivation in the Late Qing-Dynasty Ci-Poetry Chen Shuiyun 2014, 34 (5):  88-96.  Abstract ( 993 )   PDF (365KB) ( 167 )   The prevailing dictum of composing ci-poems in the late Qing Dynasty is to suggest the inner world with words pointing to the outer world. This dictum was explicated by different scholars from different perspectives, covering both its connection with traditional view of poetry's function of moral cultivation and its unique features in the historical development of Chinese poetry. The different views not only helped to promote the ci-poetry criticism and explication of issues in the composition of ci-poems but also highlighted the aesthetic and pragmatic characteristics of the ci-poetry criticism in the Late Qing Dynasty. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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On Deng Tingzhen's Ci-Poetry Yang bailing 2014, 34 (5):  97-107.  Abstract ( 1209 )   PDF (394KB) ( 123 )   Deng Tingzhen was not only a representative national hero but also an important figure in the history of Chinese ci-poetry. His philosophy of literary writing can be best summarized in his own words "I write in my own way", which was actually inheriting the late literary style of "changed elegance." He admired Su Shi for his plain diction and themes of the contemporary social political issues, and he especially stressed personal aspiration reflected in his writing, which had a unique value for both history and literature. Therefore, studies on Deng Tingzhen's ideas on poetry and his practice may help us to better understand not only his poetic achievement and his spiritual world but also the general features of the ci-poetry at that time. References | Related Articles | Metrics

Studies in Western Literary Theory

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The Sociology of Texts and the Institutionalisation of Literary Languages Peter·V. Zima 2014, 34 (5):  108-118.  Abstract ( 864 )   PDF (351KB) ( 103 )   This paper is divided into three parts. The first part is based on one of the basic insights of the Russian Formalists, namely that the literary text is linked to society by language, an insight that is absent from traditional sociologies of literature. The second part defines the literary text as a universal linguistic experiment that is at the same time a model of society at a particular historical moment. The third part deals with the question how literary languages are institutionalised by individual writers or groups of writers in manifestos, collective works and experimental texts. The basic aim is to show how a sociology of texts combines the key concepts of socio-linguistic situation, sociolect and intertextuality with the notion of institution. The literary text, which can be construed as a model of a particular socio-linguistic situation, aspires towards institutionalisation: it pretends to be the new or legitimate text and a universal experiment with language worth imitating. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Reflection on the Discursive Evolution of the Socialist Realism in the Soviet Union Zhou Qichao 2014, 34 (5):  119-128.  Abstract ( 775 )   PDF (359KB) ( 74 )   Literary criticism is a form of discursive practice. Socialist realism is a key concept in the process of contemporary literature both in the Soviet Union and in China. The delineation of the trajectory along which the concept evolves may help the reflection on its historical function. In terms of the effects of the discursive practice, "the open system" of socialist realism is de facto "openness in conservatism," which does promote the "spiritual liberation" in the circles of literary criticism and literary creation. The open system can also be understood as "open conservatism," and it was indeed meant to be the cultural strategy to defend the socialist realism through initiatives of self-amending. For such an important discourse in literary history, the socialist realism in the Soviet should be examined by putting it into the broader context of 20th-century intellectual and culture history. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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On the Temporality in Shklovsky's Literary Thoughts Liu Yanshun 2014, 34 (5):  129-136.  Abstract ( 934 )   PDF (320KB) ( 87 )   Shklovsky maintained that literary works are for the high-quality reading pleasure, which is embodied in the moving and spontaneous time-course. He then started with the effect of reading on the automation and the breaking of "attention," trying to distinguish between literary language, everyday language and scientific language, and proclaimed that the pleasure of reading literary works is intuitive and fresh. When reading literary language, the pleasure of reading was not only strengthened in intensity but also prolonged in duration, and reading experience was understood as a process of the internal time consciousness. In his later years, he proposed the mobile state of the existence of the meaning of literary works, which was among the first to counter the overemphasis on the form of literary works among structuralists including Jakobson. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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How Can "Appropriate Aesthetic Appreciation" Be Appropriate? Exemplified with Kendall Walton's Aesthetic Art Theory Zhao Yu 2014, 34 (5):  137-145.  Abstract ( 888 )   PDF (313KB) ( 90 )   Kendall Walton argues that it is not appropriate to practice aesthetic judgment on works of art simply by what could be perceived in the art works, and "appropriate aesthetic appreciation" should rely on (some) facts about the "correct category" and the origins of art works. The paper maintains that his theorization of "appropriate aesthetic appreciation" is actual not appropriate enough. On the one hand, the so called "correct category" has problems that prevent it from performing its critical function; on the other hand, the origins of art works may be of essential importance in art criticism, but they're not sufficient conditions. This paper contends that appropriate aesthetic judgment can be appropriate when it follows three principles. First, its first principle should be the contemporary perception and emotional experience of the art works. Second, art works should be viewed in the general framework of artists and appreciators as well as the socio-historical context they belong to. Third, the maximization of aesthetic value should be realized within the balanced value system which covers the fields of morality, recognition and religion, etc. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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On the Marginalization of Natural Beauty in the Western Aesthetics under the Context of Modernity Zhou Zedong 2014, 34 (5):  146-153.  Abstract ( 1073 )   PDF (330KB) ( 100 )   This paper aims to analyze from the perspective of modernity the causes of the marginalization of natural beauty in modern and contemporary Western aesthetics, after pointing out that aesthetic studies have been increasingly focusing on arts instead of nature as its object. The marginalization of nature in aesthetics is closely related with modernity, as the philosophical foundation of modernity is the rationalization of subject-centeredness. The highlighting of the subjecthood under the Enlightenment rationality was significant in defying God's sovereignty, but with its development and its turn to instrumental rationality, Enlightenment rationality had gradually evolved into a form of power or even violence that is exclusive and even despotic. Aesthetic modernity, on one hand, redeems rational life in the field of cognition and moral practice in social structure, and, on the other hand, being a branch of modernity project, upholds the exclusive nature of the subject rationality. When beauty-appreciation follows the representational rationality centered on the subject, nature with its rough materiality is discarded as the other of reason, which leads to the close interrelation between aesthetics and arts. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Restraining in Theory: A Review of the Debate between Derrida and Searle Feng Qing 2014, 34 (5):  154-160.  Abstract ( 1236 )   PDF (311KB) ( 130 )   The paper tries to reflect on the debate between Jacques Derrida and John R. Searle, in which Derrida tried to deconstruct Searle's speech-act theory with his usual style of approaching other theories with his preconceived ethical-political view. Searle, on the other hand, reproaches Derrida for his purposeful obscuration in his act of deconstruction and his ignorance of Anglo-American philosophy of language. The debate revealed the political intention of deconstructive criticism, but it has also brought Searle's linguistic theory to the attention of literary theorists. References | Related Articles | Metrics

Modern and Contemporary Literary Theory and Criticism

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The Paradigm Shift of Literary Theory and Its Discourse Renovation Yao Wenfang 2014, 34 (5):  161-170.  Abstract ( 1262 )   PDF (347KB) ( 106 )   The literary theory discourse has undergone extensive innovation in recent decades in two main ways: using the existent concepts and inventing new concepts. When inventing new concepts, two methods are seen to be reinvesting existent concepts with new meaning and changing the meaning of the existent concepts. These transformation mechanisms are corresponding to Kuhn's theorization of paradigm and Foucault's theorization of discourse. The discourse innovation is required for the paradigm shift in literary theory, and it embodies the prescriptive features of the literary theory paradigm such as the age, society, economy, geography, and language, giving new content and form to the discourse of literary theory. One of the representative studies may be Raymond Williams' work in Keywords, in which he adopted the historical semantic method to affirm the constant evolution of word meaning as the essence of language and to investigate the determining function of the socio-historical context of and power relation behind the evolution. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The System of the Press and the Emergence of Chinese Contemporary Literature Zhang Jun 2014, 34 (5):  171-179.  Abstract ( 937 )   PDF (304KB) ( 155 )   The way the system of the press intervenes in the emergence and development of Chinese contemporary literature (1949-1976) requires convincing research from the academic circle. In fact, the system of the press affects the existence of contemporary literature in the three progressive aspects. Initially, the socialist ownership of the press turns the old-new and left-right dichotomies into the imbalanced state dominated by "the literature for the new people." Then, the agency dilemma of the press leads to the competition between the different literary discourses and interests in the internal integration of contemporary literature. Finally, the operation principles of the sectionalist press system favor the modes of mainstream ideology and nullify the internal competitions. These effects eventually accumulate and lead to the gradual fossilization and decline of contemporary literature. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Ethical Interpretation of Narrative Perspective in Novels Jiang Shouyi 2014, 34 (5):  180-188.  Abstract ( 895 )   PDF (313KB) ( 322 )   As a formal technique, narrative perspective in novels also has ethical meaning. Different perspectives in narration produce different ethical effects, and a change of perspective results in different ethical effect. In terms of the rhetorical effects of narrative perspective, both the decorative and the persuasive natures of rhetoric point eventually to ethics, while in terms of the value in narrative perspective, the communication between the reader and the author based on psychological exchange is also an ethical communication. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The Literariness of Theory: A New Perspective on Writing Textbooks of Literary Theory Liu Yang 2014, 34 (5):  189-197.  Abstract ( 1106 )   PDF (300KB) ( 141 )   Toward the second decade of the 21st century, literary theory textbooks should absorb the recent developments in literary theory around the world. In contrast to the two existent measures of aniti-theory and the politicization of theory, "the literariness of theory" may be more instructive in the writing of college literary theory textbooks. Literariness has gradually entered the academic field of humanities and liberal arts, and it has helped to form a legitimate discourse for the discipline of literary theory. This discourse is mediated through situations which have the contents such as narrative, fiction, imagination, metaphor, language, dialogue, suspense, anecdotes and biography, and the perspectives point to a positive outlook for transformation. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The Concept of Image in Zhu Guangqian's Early Aesthetic Thoughts Wang Huaiyi 2014, 34 (5):  198-204.  Abstract ( 742 )   PDF (256KB) ( 322 )   In such early works as Psychology of Literature and Arts and On Poetry, Zhu Guangqian constructed his transcendental aesthetic theory centered round the concept of image, putting forwards his theory of imagery structure and his critique of the concept of jingjie (the poetic state) in Chinese poetics. Although Zhu's theory is centered around imagery, and it is realized on the basis of the unity of the poetic state, his criticism on Wang Guowei's concept of the poetic state and on the concept in ancient Chinese poetics in general appear to have missed the point, due to his preconceived ideas that were resulted from Croce's and Nietzsche's influence. The paper concludes that Zhu's different uses of the concept of imagery (Imagery) may be the cause of the misreading of Wang Guowei, but his endeavors to bridge Chinese and Western?aesthetics are worth critical examination. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Beyond the "Adaptation Paradigm": The "Spreadable Literature" and Its Contemporary Characteristics Zhou Lulu 2014, 34 (5):  205-211.  Abstract ( 1264 )   PDF (274KB) ( 212 )   In the era of fast changing multimedia environment, the problem of the literariness and its formats of existence and communication require new theoretical approaches. On the basis of empirical observations of some concrete cases in mainland China and abroad, this paper proposes the concept of "spreadable literature" to expand the theoretical vision of the mainstreamed "adaptation paradigm." The "adaptation paradigm" focuses on the studies of film and televisual screen adaptations of literary works and follows the linear communication logic, which not only eschews the strong tradition of the spreadability of ancient folk literature but also fails to help us understand the complex transmedia narrative structure termed as "spreadable literature" in this paper. In terms of literary forms, "spreadable literature" aims to construct an alternative world that may provide a space for multiple characters and stories to be developed and rewritten. In terms of circulation conditions, "spreadable literature" may displace the centered status of the fiction, giving way to the game industry for its increasingly pivotal role in the creative process of story development. While "spreadable literature" is not and could not be the only form of the existence and communication of literariness, the netted holistic mode of thinking it provides can be a new theoretical approach. References | Related Articles | Metrics

Symposium Highlights

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A Synopsis of "The Symposium on Contemporary Western Literary Theory and Construction of Chinese Literary Theory" Zhang Yonggang 2014, 34 (5):  212-214.  Abstract ( 629 )   PDF (117KB) ( 165 )   Related Articles | Metrics

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A Synopsis of "The Symposium of Construction of and Reflection on Literary Theory in the New Century" Yin Chuanlan 2014, 34 (5):  215-216.  Abstract ( 563 )   PDF (95KB) ( 104 )   Related Articles | Metrics