A Comparative Study of the Compilation of Classical Chinese Literary History between China and the Anglophone World

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper discusses and compares the compilation features of Chinese literary history both at home and in the Anglophone world. Throughout the one hundred-year’s long history of compilation; first, from self-exploration to the later turning to others for reference, until today’s continuous innovating has not been without failure, but the efforts towards an unrealizable “perfect literature history” have never ceased. The compilation and research of literature history generally presents a spiraling upward trend, presenting the overall characteristics of “gradual change,” or the so-called “keeping the right and showing the new” by Yuan Xingpei. Comparatively, the compilation process of the English versions of literary history displays an obvious stage-by-stage feature, making it fractured and independent from each other. Thus, both sides can learn from each other. For instance, compilation in the Anglophone world can draw on the domestic versions in order to substantiate the historical materials and promote in-depth analysis.