Chinese Literature

Abstract

This article attempts a wide ranging survey of Chinese literature. It begins this survey with the Book of Odes or Songs and brings the story of the Chinese literature to nearly contemporary times. It leaves out the rich tradition of writing on aesthetics and literary criticism. The article concerns itself primarily with the genres of creative literature as we have come to know them in modern times. The article rasies some questions about the categories of historical analysis of literary concepts and indeed the very notion of history of literature. The basic concern of this survey is to examine if the ideas generated by the Greek and the Hegelian traditions are adequate or indeed relevant in the understanding and theorisation of the history of classical Chinese, or Indian for that matter, literary traditions. The article also briefly discusses some typical translations of classical Chinese poetry.