Reception of A. Varlamov's Creativity in Chinese Literary Studies and Criticism

The work of I. Turgenev was translated into Chinese in the first half of the twentieth century and later spread widely in China, having a great influence on the new generation of Chinese writers. At the same time, more and more literary critics began to study the works of Turgenev. Extensive research and analysis, as well as the study of works from different angles, contributed to a better understanding of Turgenev and Russian literature by Chinese readers. The article discusses the publications of Chinese litterateurs and critics from the second half of the 20th to beginning of the 21st century, the work of Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev, notes the enduring interest of the Chinese audience to the work of Russian prose writer, in particular, to the novel “Rudin”. Special attention is paid to the prose writer's “path” to the novel; it is proved that the high interest of scientists to Dmitry Rudin, the protagonist of this novel, caused by Chinese specifics and the relevance of many problems associated with this image. The article explains the evolution of the attitude of the Chinese to Rudin: from agreement with Russian researchers considering him as a superfl person to disagreement with them. At the same time, Rudin is compared with typically similar images in Chinese literature. An analysis of Turgenev's works by Chinese literary critics will provide detailed information for future studies in international literary circles, and can also lay the foundation for finding differences between Chinese and Russian literary criticism.

The relevance of the work is determined by the trends of Russian-Chinese intercultural communication, as well as by the interest in studying the peculiarities of perception of the work of modern Russian writers in Chinese literary criticism. The object of the research is critical materials in Chinese devoted to the study of V. Tokareva's work and her story “To Tell or Not Tell”. The subject of the study is the peculiarities of perception and comprehension of the writer's story by Chinese literary criticism. The purpose of the study is to determine the peculiarities of perception of V. Tokareva's story “To Tell or Not Tell” in Chinese literary criticism. To achieve the above research goal, we must solve the following tasks: 1) to systematize translations of V. Tokareva's works published to date, especially translations of the work “To Tell or Not Tell”; 2) to analyze the features of the study of V. Tokareva's work by Chinese scientists and the trend in the development of the study of the story “To Tell or Not Tell”; 3) to study and summarize the reasons for scientists' attention to the story and deepening the analysis this story is in Chinese literary studies. To solve these problems, the following methods are used: the typological method, which allowed us to consider common characteristic features in the perception of V. Tokareva's work by Chinese criticism in different periods; the method of holistic analysis, which made it possible to study the problematic and thematic content of critical articles by Chinese Russian scholars. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that in this work, for the first time, a systematic analysis of the perception of “To Tell or Not Tell” by V. Tokareva in China is carried out. The article provides a comparative analysis of the study of the story in different periods, analyzes the reasons for the deepening of research in this area. As a result, it was found that the perception of V. Tokareva's work is associated with the dynamic nature of the comprehension of literary works. It is noted that the analysis of the author's work focuses on three main aspects: research on topics; research on linguistic features; research from the point of view of reflecting feminist ideas in the work of V. Tokareva. It is proved that due to the constant improvement of the quality of translation, the process of developing critical statements is obvious, from general information about the author and the work to a multilateral analysis of the creative style of the writer.

Is “literary criticism” a foreign concept? What is the impact of the reception of literary criticism on the modern studies of Chinese literature? Zhu Ziqing's 朱自清 (1898–1948) conception of the function of literary criticism is illustrative of these questions. Zhu developed an interest in Western literary criticism before entering Tsinghua University, where he absorbed more ideas about Western literature. With the support of department head Yang Zhensheng 楊振聲 (1890–1956), he planned a new curriculum in 1928, in an attempt to make literature in his concept a subject as important as classical exegetical studies. From Zhu's curriculum planning, his research orientation, and how he tried to put his ideas into practice, we can observe the oppositional tension between the modern concept of literary criticism and the traditional philological approach of Chinese study. Through an examination of Zhu's academic role, this article explores the emergence of the concept of literary criticism in modern China. It will be compared and contrasted with the situation in the West, with an aim of giving a detailed analysis of the way literary criticism has become an essential part of modern Chinese literary study.

This article is devoted to the cause of semantic ambiguity of Chinese gender terminology by the example of the most controversial concepts, such as "feminism", "gender", "feminist literature", "women's literature", "women's writing". The author pays attention to the socio-historical context, perception of Western feminist theories and actualization of traditional Chinese Philosophic Doctrines, as well as the unique phenomenon of "figurative terminology" creation. In this research, the author used cultural-historical and typological methods, as well as the method of semantic and contextual analysis. The development of a feminist (and later gender) trend in Chinese literary criticism began in the early 1980s. This process took place under the influence of three factors: 1) communist ideology and "state feminism"; 2) the spread of Western theories of feminism; 3) traditional Chinese concepts of gender relations. Chinese researchers were borrowing terms by translating them from English or other European languages. However, the process of semantic adaptation of new concepts was quite complex and had its own features. In particular, Chinese scholars sought to avoid a radical opposition of "the masculine and feminine principles" in the semantics of new terms. Instead they were trying to implement the Chinese philosophical concept of complementing the categories of Yin and Yang, which reflects the "situational worldview" of the Chinese people. One of the special phenomena of Chinese gender literary criticism is the development of "figurative concepts." Such concepts are vivid images of Western literature and literary criticism, which are gaining new meaning in the Chinese cultural environment. In particular, the concept of "The Blank Page", suggested by S. Gubar to denote female identity in a patriarchal society, is associated by Chinese scholars with the activity of Tang Empress Wu Zetian and her "Wordless Tomb Stele". The author concluded that the process of the gender terminology development in Chinese literary criticism is not complete, it balances between the new Western and traditional Chinese concepts of gender relations.

Indo-Iranian Journal (IIJ), founded in 1957, focuses on the ancient and medieval languages and cultures of South Asia and of pre-Islamic Iran.It publishes articles on Indo-Iranian languages (linguistics and literatures), such as Sanskrit, Avestan, Middle Iranian and Middle & New Indo-Aryan.It publishes specialized research on ancient Iranian religion and the Indian religions, such as the Veda, Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism (including Tibetan).The journal welcomes epigraphical studies as well as general contributions to the understanding of the (pre-modern) history and culture of South Asia.Illustrations are accepted.A substantial part of the Indo-Iranian Journal is reserved for reviews of new research.Twice a year it contains a detailed bibliography of all publications received.

The article presents an analytical review of translations and researches of V. Rasputin's works and Russian rural prose in China. The author notes that Russian “rural prose” and the work of the major writer of this genre, Rasputin, have outstanding artistic characteristics and have an important influence on Chinese modern and contemporary literature. This article discusses in detail the main stages of studying Rasputin's work and “rural prose” in Chinese literary criticism, as well as outlines and comments on the various scientific points of view of Chinese scholars. The article identifies three stages in studying this phenomenon of Russian literature: the first stage - 1980s-1990s, when Chinese literary scholars focused on ethical issues and issues of national character, seeing in the rural prose an attempt at spiritual salvation and the revival of national consciousness. The second stage is from the 1990s to the first decade of XXI century, in the period of “reform and opening up” in China when contradictions between urban and rural areas were intensified, and many modern Chinese writers expressed in their works a call to protect national culture, which caused their natural interest in V. Rasputin's works, depicting the fierce clash of national culture and Western civilization in the period of social transformations. Finally, the third stage is the beginning of the 21st century, when Chinese studies of Russian rural prose gain many new directions and perspectives (comparativist and narratological studies).

A Cultural Ambassador East and West: J. Hillis Miller’s <i>Lectures in China</i>

This article attempts to analyze and give a general idea about the main approaches to the study of “Quiet Flows the Don” in China from 1949 to the 2000s, which is essential for the reconstruction and the description of the international reception of Mikhail Sholokhov’s creativity in general, and also allows to see the dynamics of the perception process of the individual specific cultural dialogue between Russia and China in the XX century, due to the political, historical, aesthetic and linguistic factors. The development of “Quiet Flows the Don” in Chinese literary criticism has two main stages: 1949-1985s (one-sided interpretation of “Quiet Flows the Don” in the context of political culture) and the 1985-2000s (a scientific approach in the context of a non-political culture). Each of these stages considers separate periods marking the specifics of the study related to the specific feature of China’s historical and cultural situation, analyzes the most interesting point of view of Chinese researchers. Great attention is given to the issues that were discussed in the Chinese literary criticism and topical issues that reflect the experience of revolution and civil war, the question about the main character of the epic novel and the origins of the tragedy and artistic skill of Sholokhov. Key words: reception, art world, paradigm of socio-cultural factors, ideological and artistic humanism, concept of the character.

This article analyses the digital literary criticism, which got rid of the obsession of academic Babylon in the field of literary criticism in the 1980s and revealed a more diverse field of voice, inspiring endless possibilities of variation in the transformative stage of criticism. The advent of the Internet has created a participatory field for literary criticism and a platform to weaken the distinction between identity and power. Equality disrupts the validity of authority and the structure of the knowledge circle, which is also the reason why digital literary criticism has a certain degree of carnivalesque traits. The authors believe that literary criticism in a digital context is no longer obsessed with the confusion of history and the uncertainty of time. While capturing the pulse of globalisation, it at the same time ardently embraces the value of desire endowed by consumer culture. The article points out that Chinese literary criticism in the new era is a product of the construction of multidimensional relations in a digital context, which sheds the shackles of historical context and rushes into the age of digitalisation. With the rapid flow of consumption, a very open, inclusive, and complex space of media discourse has emerged. The results of the study show that a group of numerous critics belonging to the postmodernist perspective is forming in the digital world. The authors conclude that in the confrontation between tradition and modernity, in the complex interweaving of elitist consciousness and mass consumption, in the struggle for discursive position between media and literature, digital literary criticism differs from traditional in terms of aesthetic standards, criticism style, criticism language and media platform, creating the macro future development of Chinese literary criticism with its independent attitude, revolutionary impulse and irresistible courage.

This paper aims to trace the cumulative trajectory of the 'Cultural Fever' that started in the early 1980s in China and to offer a cogent, broad analysis of it as a transitional phase of development into a new period of Chinese cultural history. Translation of massive writings of Western critical theories played a pivotal role in prompting the Great Cultural Discussion in China at the time. By and large, Chinese intellectuals were overwhelmingly responsive to Western critical theories, which seriously challenged the Chinese 'traditional' mode of creating and writing about literature, namely realism, or its variations: socialist realism and critical realism. Many literary critics and practitioners alike were eager to explore new approaches to literature in a bid to effect a radical cultural repositioning as well as to revitalize Chinese literary discourse. Nonetheless, the author questions the prevailing characterization of Chinese literary scholars and critics as submissive to this 'cultural invasion'. The borrowings are of a selective and eclectic nature and systematic introduction is rare, thereby leaving little chance of serious cultural colonization. This study brings together hitherto fairly fragmentary evidence of not only epistemological resistance but also of political resistance to Western critical theories, while conducing a careful investigation into the various forms and patterns of resistance that were motivated in substantially different ways. It can also be argued that resistance need not be viewed negatively, because it may mean critical acceptance and rational rejection of Western ideas. Meanwhile, resistance has undergone a traumatic but also exciting stage of development from nativity to maturity, from prejudice to rationalism. No reconstruction is possible unless it is based on some degree of resistance rather than indiscriminate acceptance.

The article is devoted to studying the long-term dissemination and perception of Viktor Shklovsky's works and ideas in China from the 1930s to 2010s, while providing a brief overview of the scientific articles of Chinese Russianists, who played a key role in studying the heritage of Shklovsky conceptual apparatus in Chinese literary criticism. Particular attention is paid to the category of estrangement, firmly included in Chinese literary studies and widely used in the analysis of works of Chinese literature and cinema, have been considered such concepts of Russian formalism as literary character, reception, since the early 80s of the 20th century adopted by the science of China. The article emphasizes that the history of the perception of the theoretical views of V. Shklovsky in China includes several stages, while a true study of his works, like Russian formalism in general, begins only in the 1980s of the 20th century. The artworks of Shklovsky in China began to pay attention only to the XXI century.

The aim of the study is to determine the features of interpretation of Olenka’s image in Chinese literary criticism from 1907 to the present day. The article shows the dynamics of perception of Chekhov’s heroine image in various socio-historical conditions in China. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that the article is the first systematic analysis of the reception of Olenka’s image in China and provides new material in this regard; the opposite points of view of the Chinese critics on the image of the woman depicted by A. P. Chekhov are indicated; parallels are drawn between the interpretations of the image of the heroine from the story “The Darling” by the Russian and Chinese literary critics and writers, in particular, common points in critical perceptions of Olenka between the Chinese researchers and contemporaries of A. P. Chekhov (L. N. Tolstoy, M. Gorky) are determined. As a result, it is proved that the image of the considered heroine of Chekhov’s work has been and is currently being severely criticized in China in connection with the peculiarities of the Chinese society development and the process of female emancipation, but there are also positive opinions about the heroine, emphasizing her virtue, ability to exalted feelings, devotion love.

In their article "A Survey of Twentieth-century Literary Theory and Criticism in Chinese" Xiaoming Chen and Anfeng Sheng survey Chinese-language scholarship that for the reason of the East-West divide is less known in the West. Although heavily influenced by both Western and Soviet Marxist thought, twentieth-century Chinese literary theorization and criticism produced much incisive scholarship based on the vast knowledge existing in Chinese culture and literary scholarship. Chen and Sheng survey pioneering works by numerous Chinese literary theorists and critics who have been influential in their own time and exerted persistent modeling influences until today and the article is meant to adjust the anonymous position of Chinese literary theorization in the West and thus to contribute to the diversity of literary studies.

The Pre-Qin is the origin of Chinese ancient literary criticism. The study of literary criticism in the Pre-Qin period is along with the study of the subject of Chinese literary criticism. We will have a good knowledge of the Pre-Qin of literature criticism through placing this period’s study in the three phases of the whole Chinese literary criticism.

The purpose of this paper is to comparatively study the differences and commonalities between Chinese literature and Western literature. First of all, the characteristics of the two are compared from three aspects, namely, presentation methods, thematic contents and literary forms. Chinese literature focuses on mood, ambiguity, and emphasizes the natural flow of emotions; while Western literature attaches importance to structure, logic, and pursues innovation in form. In terms of thematic content, Chinese literature tends to express personal emotions and expresses the harmony between human beings and nature and society; while Western literature focuses on the conflict between individuals and society and emphasizes freedom, equality and human rights. In terms of literary forms, Chinese literature coexists in various forms such as poetry, prose and novels, while Western literature takes novels, dramas and poems as its main forms. Secondly, this study explores the reasons for the differences between the two in terms of cultural background, writers' creative concepts and readers' acceptance. Chinese literature is deeply influenced by traditional cultural ideas such as Confucianism and Taoism, emphasizing moral education and philosophy of life; while Western literature is influenced by ancient Greek and Roman myths as well as religious beliefs such as Christianity, focusing on the inner world of man and exploring human nature. In terms of writers' creative concepts, Chinese writers tend to focus on social harmony from the perspective of traditional morality and ethics, while Western writers advocate the liberation of individuality and the pursuit of the realization of personal values. In terms of readers' acceptance, Chinese literature focuses on aesthetic experience and emotional resonance, while Western literature pays more attention to logical reasoning and thinking. The comparative study of Chinese literature and Western literature can help us better understand the diversity of world literature and enrich our concepts of literary aesthetics and creation. At the same time, by learning from the excellent achievements of Western literature, we can promote the innovation and development of Chinese literature.