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25 November 2021, Volume 41 Issue 6 Previous Issue    Next Issue

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Issue in Focus: The Centenary of the Founding of the CPC and the Study of Literary Theory

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The Interplay between Traditional Literary Theory and Marxist Literary Criticism in the Past Hundred Years Han Wei 2021, 41 (6):  1-12.  Abstract ( 294 )   PDF (1865KB) ( 108 )   China’s mainstream literary criticism discourse since the 20th century is actually the product of the Sinicization of Marxism. Traditional Chinese literary view of “conveying truth” and Marxist literary criticism’s valorization of “practice” have promoted each other, laying the foundation for the dialogue between ancient and modern theories. The first half of the 20th century witnessed a spontaneous interplay between traditional theory and Marxist criticism in the prevailing popular discourse. The experimental understanding of traditional critical principles and terms in this period by some literary scholars has enhanced the development of literary criticism after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. In the second half of the 20th century, the discourse of power became more important; as embodiments of the principle of realistic criticism, typicality and image thinking were thus emphasized, which implicitly contributed to the continuation of traditional Chinese critical methods and terms. While traditional literary theory has been easily overlooked over the past century, its value is undeniable, and in the new era, it will become an important cornerstone for building a literary criticism system with Chinese characteristics. Related Articles | Metrics

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The CPC’s Early Popularization Theory and Practice of Literature and Art from the Perspective of Qu Qiubai’s Oral Literary Creation Cao Xiaohua 2021, 41 (6):  13-22.  Abstract ( 246 )   PDF (1867KB) ( 240 )   Qu Qiubai, an early leader of the CPC, perfected CPC’s theory of popularization of literature and art by learning, imitating, propagating and transforming oral literature when he was editing the Hot Blood Daily, presiding the Left League in Shanghai, and working in the Central Soviet Area in Jiangxi Province. Adapting folk arts and dialects, with reference to the characteristics of the revolutionary propaganda, Qu created a progressive wild tune that borrowed some features of the old genre. He intended a breakthrough by absorbing vernacular expression into the blended style to transcend the existing stylistic constraints and the ideological constraints of gentry culture. Qu Qiubai’s oral literary creation forged and tempered an authentic modern literary style that appealed to the common people. His efforts brought about a new life to the modern literary language developed from the May Fourth Movement, and his practice provided an example for and inspired the development of literature and art under the leadership of the CPC. Related Articles | Metrics

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Behind “not a single word”: On the Relationship between Lu Xun and His Grandfather Gao Junlin 2021, 41 (6):  23-30.  Abstract ( 290 )   PDF (1417KB) ( 48 )    Lu Xun wrote many reminiscences about his life, which concern all kinds of people whom he met at different life stages, including teachers, friends, disciples and family, but he wrote “not a single word” about his grandfather Zhou Fuqing. This essays holds that Lu Xun has been deliberately evading the issue of his grandfather’s imperial examination because it had led to a series of misfortunes and humiliations in Lu Xun’s early years. This essay further probes into the differences between Lu Xun and his grandfather in terms of ideological and cultural concepts, code of conduct, literary and aesthetic taste, and so on. In the end, the essay attempts to use Freud’s psychoanalysis to explore the deep psychological motivation of Lu Xun’s doing, and reveals that Lu Xun used his unique defense mechanism to realize “unconscious intentional oblivion” and bid complete farewell to the past. Related Articles | Metrics

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Poetry, Politics, and Ethics: The Relationship between the Thought of Qun in the Late Qing Dynasty and Lu Xun’s Poetics in His Early Career Sun Yaotian 2021, 41 (6):  31-42.  Abstract ( 282 )   PDF (1871KB) ( 44 )   In his early career, Lu Xun participated in the ideological trend of qun (group) in the late Qing dynasty through poetics, and expressed his new understanding of the relationship between groups and individuals within this background. Some reformers carried on the tradition of poetry education, emphasizing the inherent function of literature on transferring affection and its political significance on the construction of groups. Lu Xun also emphasized affection, but criticized the idea about regulating poetry from external political perspectives. For this reason, he reinterpreted the tradition of “poetry expresses ideal” and argued that poetry is the free expression of human will. At the same time, Lu Xun did not oppose groups despite his admiration for individualism. Inspired by the poetics of Thomas Carlyle, he emphasized the emotional connection between poets and the masses, and thus pursued the mass awakening. Starting from the perceptual noumenon of life, Lu Xun highlighted literature’s “use of the useless”, which not only liberated the subjective initiative of readers, but also attempted to fundamentally realize the reform from individuals to groups. Related Articles | Metrics

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Lu Xun’s Imagery and Its Visual Representations Zhang Naiwu 2021, 41 (6):  43-54.  Abstract ( 351 )   PDF (25507KB) ( 112 )   Lu Xun’s imagery refers to the visual construction of Lu Xun. Different images of Lu Xun are constructed via visual presentations such as biography, animation and spectacle. The process of shaping Lu Xun’s images is marked by heterogeneity, and particularly by the escape of images as the most prominent feature in their dissemination. Although Lu Xun’s image and Lu Xun himself are closely related, the transition from the literary world to the verbal-pictorial world forms a unique context of image as well as image modeling. “Serenity” and “spectacle” are the two faces of Janus of the image modeling of Lu Xun. In the process of constructing a contemporary Chinese visual paradigm, these two visual forms are intricately intertwined, which leads to the enquiry of Lu Xun’s meaning to contemporary life. Related Articles | Metrics

Classical Literary Theory and Criticism

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Transforming Anecdotes into Fiction: Zeng Pu’s A Flower in a Sinful Sea and the Study of Anecdotes in the Late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China Wei Quan 2021, 41 (6):  55-65.  Abstract ( 400 )   PDF (1853KB) ( 76 )   From the perspective of New Literature after the May Fourth New Culture Movement, Liang Qichao’s “new fiction”, Lu Xun’s “satirical fiction” and old scholars’ fiction from “the School of Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies”, are all classified as old literature. Yet from the perspective of both fiction studies and feminism, Zeng Pu’s A Flower in a Sinful Sea is a new, instead of an old, novel. Its literary practice of “transforming anecdotes into fiction”, by integrating the style of the chaptered novel, note-form fiction, as well as western fiction, connects the old and new literature during the late Qing dynasty and the Republic of China. Other than historical interpretation, A Flower in a Sinful Sea’s brilliant depiction of Late Qing history and its officials and gentry contains rich life details and customs. As China’s pioneer of “academic fiction”, it links The Unofficial History of the Scholars and The Besieged City, thus making an indelible contribution to Chinese fiction. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Characteristics and Significance of Ouyang Xiu’s “Guest as Host” in His Ancient-Style Prose Xu Guang 2021, 41 (6):  66-73.  Abstract ( 316 )   PDF (1814KB) ( 79 )   Critics since the Song Dynasty, inspired by Soto Zen theory, developed the concept of “host-guest” to analyze the composition of the ancient-style prose. Ouyang Xiu’s ancient-style prose is the representative of applying the concept of “guest as host”, or “guest before host”, or “reciprocal betwen guest and host”, or “hierarchy of guest and host”. Compared with Han Yu and Su Shi, Ouyang Xiu is better at expressing rich and fine emotions with the concept of “guest-host”. In the ancient-style prose, “guest” is prioritized over host, when the prose writings need to establish turns and twists in the textual composition and emotions in the text, before the guest position merges with the host position. By way of using guest position to support the development of ideas, the writings usually have a gentle start, with suffienct space to unroll the meaning, which enriches the writings with charm and elegance, thus a new style is formed with a new state for the ancient-style prose. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Realm Aesthetics of “Quick” in Su Shi’s Poems Zhu Chunjie 2021, 41 (6):  74-82.  Abstract ( 406 )   PDF (1489KB) ( 502 )   Su Shi’s advocacy and pursuit of the “quick”(kuai) aesthetic is a phenomenon that should not be ignored in the history of poetry. By appreciating the cheerful poems, imitating the “quick” poetry by literati of previous generations, and promoting the writing of such poetry, he was an early advocate who proposed and perfected the theory of “quick” poetry. In his writings, he combined cheerful and joyful feelings with writings uninterrupted by measuring and weighing the phrases, and tried to construct a “quick” aesthetic realm of poetry. Meanwhile, he injected into this realm new elements of humor and vigor, which established a type of poetic aesthetics in theory and practice. This poetic aesthetics was rooted in Su Shi’s personality, intelligence and life experience, and was a process of transformation and sublimation from psychological pleasure to aesthetic pleasure. Related Articles | Metrics

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“History” and “Historical Materials”: How to Chronologize the Fiction Theory in the Ming and Qing Dynasties Yang Zhiping 2021, 41 (6):  83-92.  Abstract ( 454 )   PDF (1848KB) ( 106 )   The chronicle of fiction theory in the Ming and Qing Dynasties is not a one-dimensional chronicle of fiction theory itself only, but an overall chronicle of various elements involved in the development of fiction theory. It will deal with the diversity and complexity of the history of fiction theory taking consideration of its historical specificities so that different delineations of the history may be possible. Such a chronolo gization requires a new way to cover a broader theoretical and historical materials than conventionally conceived and break through the boundaries of the historical materials of fiction theory.The paper observes that the evolution of fiction theory in the Ming and Qing Dynasties is not a result of linear influence within the theory itself, but the result of a comprehensive interaction of various factors, such as literati socialization, book production and sales, fiction writing and copying, official decrees and so on. The paper concludes that the chronicle of the fiction theory of the Ming and Qing Dynasties need to examine the inter-influences of the above aspects before presenting a valid and clearer narrative of the history of the fiction theory of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Artistic Field during the Yongle-Xuande Reign the Ming Dynasty and the Writing of the Ministerial Style Yuan Xianpo 2021, 41 (6):  93-101.  Abstract ( 246 )   PDF (1832KB) ( 57 )   The ministerial style (taigeti), which emerged in the early Ming period (1403-1435), is not only a concept of writing, but also a concept of painting and calligraphy, reflecting the prevailing aesthetics of the time. Due to the promotion of palace-style painting and ministerial style calligraphy, high officials interwove a space of landscape with calligraphy and painting as carriers, through literary and artistic productions of poetry, essay, calligraphy and painting. Distinct from the political space at the imperial court, this is a space for relaxation in their leisure time, when they had freedom to enjoy the leisure interest of mountain and forest. In the inscriptions on their paintings, these officials established analogic associations between natural images and morality, in order to pursue the integrity of temperament through praising the prosperous age and natural beauty. The ministerial style embodied the harmony and unity of the nature and the imperial court, and individuals, families and the state. In this way it changed the style of mountain and forest literature that formed in the Song and Yuan dynasties, establishing a new literary style in line with the prosperous Ming period. Related Articles | Metrics

Issue in Focus: Western Marxist Literary Theory

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An Elucidation of Herbert Marcuse’s Poetic Thought of “After-Auschwitz” Shen Fumin 2021, 41 (6):  102-111.  Abstract ( 314 )   PDF (1440KB) ( 189 )   Aiming at Theodor W. Adorno’s poetic proposition of “after-Auschwitz”, Herbert Marcuse put forward his own version of the poetic thought. Marcuse analyzed from the perspective of cultural critique the art crisis resulted from the affirmative culture which had been increasingly strengthened in the Western capitalist society in the “after Auschwitz” age. Marcuse examined the different approaches to artistic creation in its response to the fascist horror represented by the Auschwitz Holocaust. On the issue of how to remember history after Auschwitz, Marcuse emphasized that literary memory might instill into the people the subject responsibility of not forgetting history and of exposing those who planned, executed and cooperated with the evil-doers in the Holocaust. Marcuse’s poetic thought of “after-Auschwitz” deepens our understanding of the relationship between art and Auschwitz. Related Articles | Metrics

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After-Poststructuralist Image Theory: Jacques Rancière’s Reconstruction of Roland Barthes’s Photography Theory Wu Tiantian 2021, 41 (6):  112-120.  Abstract ( 418 )   PDF (1437KB) ( 135 )   Roland Barthes’s photography theory is mainly manifested in his poststructuralist work Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. It is not devoted to disenchantment of images as he did in his earlier work Mythologies, but highlights the affective power of images through the proposition of punctum (as a contrast to stadium). In the view of Jacques Rancière, Barthes’s punctum theory enchants images and gives rise to fetish and the theology of incarnation. Rancière reconstructs Barthes’s photography theory based on his own understanding of the aesthetic regime and language-image relationship. This reconstruction provides insights about image theory, but also reveals some misinterpretations of Barthes’s photography theory. Related Articles | Metrics

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Can Faith Heal the Cracks in Cultural Politics? On the Theological Turn of Terry Eagleton in the New Century Wang Jian 2021, 41 (6):  121-128.  Abstract ( 314 )   PDF (1412KB) ( 90 )   With the increasing prominence of religious issues, the “theological turn” in Eagleton’s theory has gradually drawn attention of academics in China. In his theory, Eagleton constructs a god who values creativity, cares for others, and bears the responsibility of crime. Through interpretation of ideal theology, Eagleton constructs a common culture that can be jointly built and shared. This practice continues and develops the attempt of the New Left in Britain to explore the socialist goal through “cultural politics”. The theoretical innovation originates from the conundrum of practice. Compared with Raymond Williams, Eagleton needs to find the power to transform theoretical thinking into social practice in the context of the fading tide of politics, the culture of individualism and fragmentation. Theology thus has become both the resource to deal with problems and the method to conceal the practical conundrum. Related Articles | Metrics

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History, Trauma, and Literature: Dominick LaCapra’s Theory of “Writing Trauma” and Its Ethical Significance Zhang Peng 2021, 41 (6):  129-138.  Abstract ( 1691 )   PDF (1454KB) ( 634 )   Due to the crisis of historical representation in the field of historiography in the mid-to-late twentieth century, Dominick LaCapra, an important thinker of “trauma theory”, puts the traditional methodology in historiography into question and reconstructs possibilities in historical writing by proposing to break traditional disciplinary boundaries and promote dialogues between history and psychoanalysis, literature, philosophy as well as ethics. From an interdisciplinary perspective, LaCapra explores the aesthetics of “negative sublime” and types of trauma in extreme events, and proposes the theory of “writing trauma” through combining speech act theory and ethics. As a kind of acting-out of the historical trauma, “writing trauma” speaks to and negotiates with the repressed historical consciousness through performative language. It is a poetic “speech act” that serves to work through the historical trauma. Setting aside the objective standard of “representing reality” in historical writing, “writing trauma” integrates historical and literary elements on the ethical level, thus becoming a cultural practice with social ethical significance. LaCapra’s thoughts on history, trauma and literature are of great significance for the study of relevant topics in contemporary literary theory. Related Articles | Metrics

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“Levi’s Paradox” and Its Solution： Giorgio Agamben’s Poetics of Witnessing Zhou Yiqun 2021, 41 (6):  139-147.  Abstract ( 413 )   PDF (1826KB) ( 251 )    Witnessing Auschwitz is confronted with “Levi’s paradox”： The speechless as a thorough witness cannot testify because of their death; and the survivor as an exception of Auschwitz， to some extent， is only a pseudo-witness. Agamben argues that neither the speechless nor the survivor can bear witness alone， and the witness should be seen as a threshold constructed by the mutual “exclusive inclusion” of the speechless and the survivor， that is， a fractured construction of “unity-difference.” As a result， the impossibility and possibility of witnessing constitute each other. The survivor who bears witness to the speechless’s impossibility of witnessing is the witness; the witness is the one who can bear the responsibility of witnessing through bearing witness to the impossibility of witnessing. In the same way， testimony also presents itself as a fractured construct， which comes from language that bears witness and responds to the non-language. Testimony is the non-language testified by language. For Agamben， this means that the language of testimony no longer signifies， because the non-language testified by language is the Voice/dead language， which is “no-longer” a voice and “not-yet” any meaning. The essence of testimony is Voice/dead language. It is also the testimony as Voice/dead language that establishes the foundation for the possibility of literature. If literature wants to justify its existence after Auschwitz， its language must be Voice/dead language. Related Articles | Metrics

Issue in Focus: Literary Aesthetics

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The Paradigm, Features and Limitations of “New World Literature” Hao Lan 2021, 41 (6):  148-157.  Abstract ( 353 )   PDF (1468KB) ( 72 )   The beginning of the 1990s saw a fundamental change in ontology, epistemology and methodology in the theory of new world literature. It is no longer stable and essentialist, but turns into a relationship, a network and a process of occurrence. Its epistemology is no longer dualistic, but pluralistic, transcending the boundaries of nationality and language to emphasize the translated text as a phenomenological ontology. Due to “the bankruptcy of philology” in the study of humanities and the increased complication of world literature, researchers advocate cooperation and the use of interdisciplinary methods. Digital humanities, in particular, emerge in the age of big data in order to solve the methodological problems in their study. Although the theory of new world literature risks relativism, it has promoted a new research community within comparative literature that highlights the humanistic value of the discipline. Related Articles | Metrics

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On the Core Scope and Self-Consistency of Media Art and Literature Yan Qing 2021, 41 (6):  158-170.  Abstract ( 263 )   PDF (1484KB) ( 260 )   Media art and literature has formed a new set of rules for textual production and symbolic control out of the logic of communication. With an inherent structure of significance and dimension of temporality, media art and literature not only provide a new form of development for art, but also offer more possibilities for artistic imagination to engage in social life. According to the process of communication, the communication of literature and art via media involves three domains:“media” at the level of production, “story” at the level of content, and “senses” at the level of aesthetics. Due to the interconnection and interaction between these three domains, the inherent “communicative attributes” of media art and literature intensify the tension between literary and artistic autonomy and heteronomy. The artistic identification of media art and literature and their anxiety need to be self-consistent in the reconstruction of artistic knowledge, discursive negotiations, and games. Related Articles | Metrics

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Performing the Melancholy of City: Body, Death, and Photography Cai Xiao 2021, 41 (6):  171-184.  Abstract ( 284 )   PDF (5458KB) ( 188 )   Roland Barthes makes it clear in Camera Lucida that the relationship between theatre and photography is the fetish of “loss” and “death”. This extends the essence of photography to the temporal trauma of flow and stillness. As stillness in time is captured by the camera, every shot contains a double death. However, photographers’ bodily intervention not only brings movement in the photo, but also imprints “ruins” on it. As dying things, the intertextuality between the body and the ruins registers the imperceptible process of slow declination of every urban locale in time. Such is a new reflection on space in post-urban photography. Taking Miru Kim’s photography as an example, this article explores how the body becomes the synecdoche for the relationship between photography and death, and rewrites the spatial laws of urban photography since the 20th century; in other words, it has documented the process of loss and declination of the city, forcing buildings to break away from time to question the production of space. Related Articles | Metrics

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A Comparison between Bakhtin’s and Levinas’ Ethics of the Other and Its Aesthetic Significance Bi Xiao 2021, 41 (6):  185-193.  Abstract ( 310 )   PDF (1439KB) ( 133 )   Mikhail Bakhtin inaugurates a kind of ethics of responsibility in his first book Toward a Philosophy of the Act. It is informed by Husserl’s phenomenological propositions, and it engages a hidden dialogue with Levinas’ theory. It may be argued that Bakhtin and Levinas combined to present a comprehensive articulation of the ethics of the Other. Bakhtin rewrites the ethics of the Other and constructs an aesthetics marked by ethical issues through such approaches as transforming the ethical relation of “I-Other” into the aesthetic relation of “author-hero”. Such ethical aesthetics is intertextually connected to Levinas’ theory about literature and art, which further promotes the communication between Bakhtin’s and Levinas’ literary aesthetics. By referring to the communication between their theories about ethics and the aestheticization of ethics, readers become aware of the dual engagement of ethicality and aestheticality in literary and artistic works. It helps people understand comprehensively the ethics and aesthetics in literary and artistic works. Moreover, it enables the ethical and aesthetic value to fulfil their social functions so that people can reflect upon the two trends in humans’ social life. Related Articles | Metrics

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Reversion and Subversion: The Internal Logic and Cultural Dynamics of the Historical Transformation of Luxury Consumption Jiang Shiping 2021, 41 (6):  194-201.  Abstract ( 285 )   PDF (1448KB) ( 117 )   In the history of consumption, luxury consumption is always the marked, and the cultural dynamics of its development is in the markedness of its text and name. Luxury consumption has experienced two waves of popularization, and the markedness of luxury text also changes with the two updates in the form and connotation of luxury. In the era of material consumption, the markedness of luxury is one of symbols. The first popularization of luxury not only turns symbols into the mainstream of consumer culture, but also subverts traditional luxury. With the second popularization of luxury consumption in the era of symbolic consumption, the style of luxury text is weakening, and luxury, originally the marked, is reversing. While the bad reputation of luxury determines its reference as the marked and stigmatization runs through its whole history, currently luxury tends to be described as “good”, which means that luxury will subvert itself more thoroughly. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Influence of Emanuel Swedenborg’s Mysticism on William Blake’s Poetics Zhang Pengfeng, Zhan Shukui 2021, 41 (6):  202-210.  Abstract ( 295 )   PDF (1818KB) ( 554 )   Mysticism is regarded as a poetic worldview and methodology, which has a wide connection with Western cultures and literary works. The mystical thoughts of Emanuel Swedenborg, a prominent Swedish scientist, theologian and mystic, had a huge impact on William Blake’s poetics. He integrated Swedenborg’s mystical thought into his poems and, through rich imagination, formed his own religious mystical poetics using symbolism and myths. Blake’s poetics exerts tremendous and far-reaching influence on later English poets as well. Related Articles | Metrics

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The New Trend of Literary Research in the “Age of Images”: A Summary of the 2020 Conference of the Chinese Association for Literature and Art “Language and Image” Yang Haibo, Xu Keyu 2021, 41 (6):  211-213.  Abstract ( 280 )   PDF (1339KB) ( 215 )   Related Articles | Metrics

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TSLA Vol.41 Issues 234-239 Nos.1-6, 2021 2021, 41 (6):  214-216.  Abstract ( 284 )   PDF (1389KB) ( 93 )   Related Articles | Metrics