Study Of Chinese Literature Research Articles

Chinese Literary Studies and Post-Structuralist Positions: What Next?

By the early 1970s, the spectre of post-structuralism had begun to haunt the corridors of certain departments of English and Philosophy in a number of French, American and English tertiary institutions. The term 'deconstruction' was variously seen as provocative and essential or, conversely, as politically-charged, unintelligible and unnecessary by the many academics and critics who either flocked to embrace it or dismissed it out of hand. There were not too many people who were able to maintain neutrality in relation to the 'newspeak' of post-structuralist discourse, and the term 'deconstruction', with which this discourse was most frequently associated, came to signify a crisis of grand proportions in literary studies for its opponents and proponents alike. Deconstruction revealed through the many textual strategies adopted in its name that the discipline of literary studies was governed less by authoritative and reliable rules of analysis and interpretation than by an unhappy pluralism which masked its uncertainties through the privileging of literature, like philosophy, as language in its most authentic form. By the 1980s, battles fought in the name of poststructuralism/deconstruction had largely been won, thanks in part to the support lent by many postgraduate students in various disciplines of the Humanities who committed themselves to the task of mastering the 'newspeak' and its problematic concepts and who embarked on their

A Survey of Soviet Studies on Chinese Literature (1961-1978): Introduction and Bibliography

As in the United States, the critical study of Chinese literature in the Soviet Union blossomed and grew in the 'sixties. It was during the early part of this decade that Soviet work on Eastern literature developed its own particular approaches, and scholars began exploring what they saw as the main problems in the field. Prior to the revolution, the methodology used in the study of Chinese literature in Russia was largely philological and descriptive in nature. study of literature was not clearly differentiated in relation to the study of religion, philosophy, and other aspects of the spiritual culture, and oriental literature was not considered in the context of world literature. Several factors helped change this situation by the 'sixties. Some of these were 1) the influential studies and teaching of the scholars M. Alekseev (1881-1951), considered the founder of modem Soviet sinology, and N. I. Konrad (1891-1970), 2) Marxist thought and methodology, and 3) the greater specialization in the field of literature within oriental studies and the growth of oriental studies themselves. In the preface to his study of Ssu-k'ung T'u's poetry, Alekseev defined the aim of his work and the direction he thought the study of Chinese literature should take: The present work has in view to assist a cessation of the amateurish attitude toward the study of Chinese poetry and the replacement of it by a more scientific one. A monograph, exhausting a subject in all its complexity, is that very way by which the contemporary Sinologist must direct himself in order to incorporate the study of the poetry of China into the study, immeasurably more advanced than it, of the poetry of other countries of the East and then into the study of world poetry.' A prominent Soviet scholar of Chinese literature, N. T. Fedorenko, explaining the importance of his work, found most significant for the direction of Soviet studies of Chinese literature his ability to reveal the connection between the movement of artistic creation and social development in China, and the mutual dependence of literary history and the whole course of the material and spiritual culture of the Chinese people.2 Thus, Alekseev's work introduced into the study of Chinese literature the important tasks of incorporating Chinese literature into world literature, applying the same rigorous methods of research to it as to European literatures, and examining literature in relation to social development. N. I. Konrad is another significant figure who influenced the course of the ' M. Alekseev, Kitajskaja poema o poete. Stansy Sykun Tu (A Chinese poem about the poet. Verses of Ssuk'ung T'u), (Petersburg, 1916), p. iii. Translation by Francis Woodman Cleaves in HJAS, 10 (1947), p. 49. 2 N. T. Fedorenko, V. M. Alekseev on the Chinese Poet, Artist, and Calligrapher, Problemy issledovanija

Correction

In my article, “The Study of Chinese Literature in the West” (JAS, XXXV, 1, Nov 1975), I erroneously stated that Jean-Pierre Dieny's Aux origines de la poésie classique en Chine was concerned with the shih (p. 27). The book is in fact concerned with the yüehfu. The error was due to momentary confusion of this book with another work by the same author, Les Dix-neuf poèmes anciens, which is concerned with the shih. I regret the error and apologize to M. Diény and the readers.

THE CHIN P'ING MEI AS WISDOM LITERATURE: A METHODOLOGICAL ESSAY

AbstractAbundant untapped resources for the study of Chinese religion await a systematic mining by students of the history of religions. One of these resources is the field of Chinese literature. For its part, the study of Chinese literature has gone well beyond introductory treatments to sophisticated analyses of specialized topics. Nevertheless, this work has not yet been fruitfully appropriated in the way that it might by students of religion. Of the many possible reasons one might elicit for this, the fact that no adequate methodology has been developed by students of Chinese religion for appropriating these fruits is doubtless a major one. The intent of this essay is to propose some elements in such a methodology.

The Development of Modern Chinese Literature Studies in the West

The serious study of modem Chinese literature by Westem scholars has developed considerably over the last 20 years or so, to the point where it now can be properly termed a fileld. It is no longer simply a substratum of sinology; it has emerged from that peculiar blend of philology, history, archaeology, literary study, and other China-related scholarship not quite appropriate to any of the traditional academic disciplines. A variety of approaches to the new field have been taken by diverse groups of China specialists-historians, social scientists, and literary scholars alike. To be sure, the field is populated by proportionally fewer literary critics than is the case with most other literatures, but, nonetheless, scholars more heavily inclined toward literary analysis are gradually beginning to enter the field. Being relatively new, the field is continually expanding and developing, and in the process it is embracing a diversity of attitudes, approaches, and methods. A central issue in the development of the field is the type of approach which is taken: the political, cultural, and aesthetic

The Study of Chinese Literature in the West: Recent Developments, Current Trends, Future Prospects

To make a global survey of the study of Chinese literature today would hardly be possible within the space of a single article; apart from the sheer amount of material to be covered and the linguistic competence required, it would be very difficult to discuss—in the same breath—works carried out in radically different social and cultural environments and under radically different assumptions about the nature and purpose of literary scholarship. This survey, therefore, will be limited to the study of Chinese literature in the Western world, which, however, is not to be understood in a strictly geographical sense but rather in a cultural-linguistic one. Thus, works written in or translated into a Western language, and with a predominantly “Western” orientation, may be included irrespective of the author's nationality or the place of publication—whereas works by Chinese, Japanese, Soviet, and Eastern European scholars in their own languages will not be discussed. It should also be made clear—obvious though it may be—that this survey, not being a bibliography, cannot be exhaustive; it can only concentrate on works that appear to represent significant trends. Failure to mention a work, therefore, does not necessarily imply lack of esteem, nor does mention of a work necessarily imply unreserved agreement. Chronologically, this survey will cover works completed since i960, as well as a few works in progress and planned works. Finally, we may venture to take a glance at future possibilities and problems.

The Study of Chinese Literature in the West: Recent Developments, Current Trends, Future Prospects

To make a global survey of the study of Chinese literature today would hardly be possible within the space of a single article; apart from the sheer amount of material to be covered and the linguistic competence required, it would be very difficult to discuss—in the same breath—works carried out in radically different social and cultural environments and under radically different assumptions about the nature and purpose of literary scholarship. This survey, therefore, will be limited to the study of Chinese literature in the Western world, which, however, is not to be understood in a strictly geographical sense but rather in a cultural-linguistic one. Thus, works written in or translated into a Western language, and with a predominantly “Western” orientation, may be included irrespective of the author's nationality or the place of publication—whereas works by Chinese, Japanese, Soviet, and Eastern European scholars in their own languages will not be discussed. It should also be made clear—obvious though it may be—that this survey, not being a bibliography, cannot be exhaustive; it can only concentrate on works that appear to represent significant trends. Failure to mention a work, therefore, does not necessarily imply lack of esteem, nor does mention of a work necessarily imply unreserved agreement. Chronologically, this survey will cover works completed since i960, as well as a few works in progress and planned works. Finally, we may venture to take a glance at future possibilities and problems.

A History of Modern Chinese Fiction

The great virtue of this book is that it provides a practical acquaintance with the writing itself by means of copious passages of translation from representative novels. - New York Times Book Review. T. Hsia's book is by now an acknowledged classic. It truly opened up a new field and prepared the way for generations of American scholars to do research. We are all in his debt. - Leo Lee. Thirty-eight years after it was published, C. T. Hsia's, A History of Modern Chinese Fiction remains unsurpassed in its field. No book in any language has done more to shape our fundamental conceptions of modern Chinese literary art. Hsia's astute insights and graceful writing make the book enjoyable as well as deeply edifying. - Perry Link. First published in 1961, and reissued in new editions several times, A History of Modern Chinese Fiction is the pioneering, classic study of twentieth-century Chinese fiction. It covers some sixty years, from the Literary Revolution of 1917 through the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76. C. T. Hsia examines the major writers from Lu Hsun to Eileen Chang and selected works of representative importance since 1949 from both mainland China and Taiwan. Professor David T. Roy hailed the book in the Christian Science Monitor when it was first published, and his comments are as relevant today as they were then: The publication of C. T. Hsia's book is an event of the first importance. It has the distinction of being the first serious study of modern Chinese fiction in English. It also has the rarer distinction of being the best study of its subject available in any language. No more ambitious attempt to apply the principles of modern Western literary criticism to the study of Chinese literature has ever been made. Not only the specialist, but every reader who is interested in China or in literature will find it of interest...