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Chinese literary criticism in 2013: tradition and innovation

Author  :       Source  :    Chinese Social Sciences Today     2014-03-04

Chinese literary academia, broadly continued to diversify discussions and research during 2013, as it has for the past several years. Marxist literary criticism and cultural study remained active fields of discussion; new media and Internet literature continued to be an area of focus for literary theorists . At the same time, scholars integrated the spirit of Chinese Dream into literary study, opening up a whole new sphere for the study of contemporary Chinese literature.

Marxist literary criticism as a major theme

Discussions revolving around Mao Zedong’s Talks at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art (hereafter the Talks ) continued to develop themes and ideas from 2012, but did not betray any attenuation of the discussants’ enthusiasm. Several provinces like Jiangsu and Shaanxi held symposiums to commemorate the 71th anniversary of the Talks, further exploring relevant issues regarding cultural construction in the New Era. The publication of research papers on the Talks also remained active, with Wang Yu’s “Delving into the Talks” published in the periodical Studies on Modern Chinese Literature and Chen Jinwu’s “The Contemporary Significance of Mao Zedong’s Talks at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art” printed in Chinese Social Sciences Today particularly worthy of mention. The Talks acts as a beacon for Chinese literary scholarship, ensuring that, through in-depth study and extensive discussion, it adheres to the guidance of Marxism.

Beyond discussion and publication on Mao’s Talks , there was no shortage of noteworthy works, papers and conferences on Marxism in the field of literary criticism during 2013. On Marxism and Literature by Zhang Jiong, and Marxism and Humanism edited by Wang Jie and Robert Spencer, are among the main achievements of Chinese literary scholarship in the past year. “The 30th Annual Meeting of the National Marxist Literary Criticism Research Council and Symposium to Commemorate the 130th Anniversary of the Death of Marx” held at Shantou University and “The Second International Academic Seminar of Marxist Literary Criticism” held at Central China Normal University were just two of the conferences that thoroughly investigated how some of the pressing research problems in Marxist literary criticism are perceived and reflected on the inherent value-orientation of the field. Far too many excellent papers were published during the past year to list here, but an issue of Literary Review themed “Marxist literary criticism in contemporary global vision”, including Hu Yamin’s “The People’s View of Chinese Marxist Literary Criticism”, Zhao Yong’s “Walter Benjamin’s Speech and Mao Zedong’s Talks”, Tan Haozhe’s “The Problematic Nature of Marxism and the Theoretical Innovation of Literature and Art”, and Fan Yugang’s “The Genesis of Consumer Aesthetic Discourse and Its Criticism from a Marxist Perspective”, bears mention, as does as a series of feature articles published in the journal Literary criticism, including Ding Guoqi’s “Translated, Introduced and Reflected Upon—The Fate of Western Marxism in China” and Ma Jianhui’s “Several Issues in the Study of Western Marxism”. The many academic achievements of 2013 show Marxist literary criticism is continuing to strengthen its sense of “being at the forefront of awareness”, the spirit of Mao Zedong’s Talks , and the concept of Chinese Dream.

Interest in “new media” surges

2013 was also a bountiful year for research and publication in Chinese cultural studies. Featuring articles on “New Media and Youth Subculture” and “Urban Culture”, the Spring issue of Cultural Studies focused on presenting key research achievements in this area, such as Chen Lin’s “On the Value Orientation of Youth Subculture” in the context of New Media Technology and Xu Miaomiao’s “The Spatial Significance of Office Buildings”, among others. In the national academic seminar “New Vision, New Issues and New Methodologies in Cultural Studies in the New Century” that took place in Lhasa, Tibet in May, Jin Huimin, Liu Fangxi, Zhang Jing, Luo Aijun and other scholars shared their unique insights into the ongoing trends in cultural studies.

New media and internet literature has generated a flurry of academic research during the past fourteen years. A search for “internet literature”, or “new media” (for which there are two terms in Chinese) in the database China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) turns up tens of thousands of papers published in 2013 alone. Academic interest in this area largely extends to how the quality of internet literature might be improved and how criticism can steer the direction or introduce changes into internet literature. The panorama of the development of contemporary internet literature reflected through some key phrases: massive works, genre-based writing, Film and TV adaptations, interactive communication, ‘all rights’ (reserved), anti-piracy, ‘going grassroots’, internet criticism, leader board and internet slang.”

A brand-new “Chinese vision” emerges

Another highly visible phenomenon in Chinese literary studies during 2013 was the frequent appearance of compounds with the word “Chinese”, for example, “Chinese experience”, “Chinese moment”, “Chinese issues”, “Chinese consciousness” and “Chinese story”, all of which are in response to the theme of the Chinese Dream—the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

Since October 2012, discussions of Mo Yan’s receipt of the Nobel Prize and “Mo Yan Study” have become major focal points of Chinese literary scholarship. If, in 2012, “Mo Yan Study” was fueled by a distinctive sense of “newsworthiness”, in 2013 it evolved into much more specialized and systematic subfield. Wen Rumin’s analysis of the reasons why Mo Yan won the Nobel Prize in his “Popular Legends and Coarseness in Mo Yan’s Historical Narratives” and Chen Si’s interpretation of Mo Yan’s Speech “The Storyteller” are indicative of this transition to more robust and refined scholarship.

Mo Yan’s meteoric rise to the global spotlight painted world literature with a heavy stroke of “Chinese color”, and also created sound external conditions for the development of a global perspective within Chinese literary scholarship. “Mo Yan Study” has been the theme of many conferences in the past year, including “The Nobel Prize in Literature and China: from Lu Xun to Mo Yan” held in Beijing, the international academic conference “From Tagore to Mo Yan: the Global Significance of Onehundred Years of Oriental Culture” held in Shanghai, the summit “Mo Yan, the Nobel Prize and Modern Chinese Literature” held in Xiamen, and the academic workshop “the Countryside Complex of Mo Yan’s Works” held in Gaomi. In an interview with China Reading Weekly , a well-known literary critic and director of China Contemporary Literature Research Academy Bai Hua mentioned, “We already ran into several key phenomena to sort out and priorities we wanted to stress in editing this year’s Chinese Literary Chronicle. The exploration of the Chinese experience in literature, spurred by Mo Yan’s award, really deserves our attention.”

Throughout 2013, the Chinese Dream, a concept full of literary character, has been elevated into an idea fundamental to the Chinese Spirit. A host of academic articles on the Chinese Dream and Chinese characteristics have helped to elucidate and solidify the concept. A number of articles in the Literary Post have been in the limelight within the scholarly community, including “The Chinese Dream and Cultural Power in Nation Building”, “The Chinese Dream and the Rise of Science-fiction”, and “Using Literary Criticism to Advance the Chinese Dream”. The “Chinese Story”, “Chinese characteristics”, the “Chinese Spirit” and the “Chinese experience” also continued to be central topics of discussion last year. Another new concept that gained traction in academic debate and publication is “Chinese Literary Geography”. Originally proposed and developed by Mei Xinlin, a literary scholar and President of Zhenjiang Normal University, literary geography and its interpretation have been the focus of a number of academic theses recently, especially in 2013. This was just one of many similar new concepts and interpretive methods that came to the fore last year, testifying to the persistence of the rigorous disciplinary acumen and strong initiative spirit of Chinese literary scholarship.

Chinese literary scholarship, though seldom swept with spotlight issues or theoretical transformations in 2013, continued to forge ahead and consolidate its achievements. Under the guidance of the Chinese Dream, Chinese literary study is erecting a brand-new “Chinese vision” that is already providing valuable experience from which to draw upon in the future.

 

 

The authors are from the Institute of Literature of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

 

 

The Chinese version appeared in Chinese Social Sciences Today, No.542, 27th December, 2013.

Chinese link: http://www.csstoday.net/xueshuzixun/guoneixinwen/86917.html

 

 

  Translated by Bai Le

  Revised by Charles Horne

Editor: Chen Meina

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