ChineseLiterary Theoryinthe USA

Building on the philosophical horizon, the intercultural communication in the modern sense regards culture as an individual or the specific representation of a group, attaching great importance to the dynamic conception appearing in the intercultural exchange, roles played by the communication act as well as the relationship between culture and people. The intercultural communication on the part of the literary and artistic work, generally speaking, is shared by people living either in the same group or the different one. From the perspective of Raymond, there are four contributors who are affiliated with the social rule as one part of the society. They are creative artist, performer, journalist and critic. The more successful a work is means the more smooth its communication would be. Literary communication, in particular, the process of intercultural literary communication is tightly associated with the literary canonization, and it is also a way for constructing aesthetic value and cultural capital. As a memorial way of culture preservation, it plays an active role in the circulation among the works of public area as well as the literary communication, which enables readers and writers to be together. The classical text is a repository covering literary and cultural value. As a collection act, the classical text impels the mutual blending among various sorts of values, by which all the values establish a dynamic integration, and consequently flesh out the significance of works'existence as well as promote its further communication.The ultimate aim for the intercultural communication is supposed to be a process of image reconstruction within the alien cultural context based on a couple of major elements that include translation, literary anthology, literary history, literary reference, academic review and so on, owing to which we realize that they happen to constitute the process of classical construction. These elements, first of all, provide the channel for Chinese literary theory stepping into the American academic context and setting up public image, which is due to the extreme deficiency of the relevant language and background knowledge for the larger group of common readers when it comes to the Chinese literary theory compared with those few in quantity but more professional experts in American Sinological circle. To a great extent, the establishment of the classic depends on the selection and outlook contributed by translator, contributor and editor of the anthology and reference book as well as critic, and the corresponding publication could reveal the reception and recognition on the part of the readers within the target culture. Since the reproduction of the text actually has become a part of classics' formation, a piece of work has already entered the category of canonization long before approaching readers, which means first publication and translation, then book review and criticism, finally the textbook, anthology and encyclopedia. In the meantime, readers'reading response and involvement in turn boost the works'purport. All in all, the process of canonization is by no means an individual behavior that the works rely totally on themselves to conduct, but a self-centered process which radiates with a netlike trail, which correlates one work with another to achieve the status of association between each other.For those who want to acquaint themselves with the images exhibited by Chinese literary theory in the target culture, the briefest way is to examine literary anthology, literary history and literary encyclopedia, the latter two plays the same role as literary anthology does, which could be considered as the transmutation of it. These publications mainly consist of three types, the first one is the literary history that is completed on the basis of the reorganization of the historical venation, carrying over the order of Chinese literature's historicizing, in which readers could find the selected works and their translation with academic introduction and criticism. The second type is the specialized literary encyclopedia; it may single out the important figures, works and thoughts, treating them as individual items with detailed and generalized elaboration, aimingat providing the western readers with a Chinese literary reference book which is effective to solve doubts with ease.The third type is the combination of several papers or articles concerning Chinese literature into one book, which either come from certain academic conference or are contributed by some scholars. These reference books such as literary anthology,literary history and literary encyclopedia presented a screening, which could indirectly demonstrate the Sinological circle's stand and attitudes, in other words, the selected representative works not only possess their own importance, but also occupy a leading position from the angle of readers, translators and critics in the target culture. American Sinological circle is of cardinal significance among the English-speaking countries, these reference books contribute to a material accumulation for their native language's literature and the world literature, deemed as the acceptance of the original culture given by the target culture.Duringthe process of the intercultural communication on the part of Chinese literary theory in America, language issue is always the biggest obstacle. With regard to the American college students majoring in Chinese language, the experts specializing in sinology as well as the common people showing interest in Chinese language, the essential and urgent task is to get over the language gulf. How to ravel out language issue, or whether is possible to clear it away? Despite being considered from the philosophical level, language and translation showcase themselves at an unreachable and perfect state of divinity, and thus those already presented translation works could not avoid various sorts of charge, innocently taking on the bad reputation as betrayer, subverter and blasphemer, however, viewed as a communication tool or a bridge for classical construction, translation, as long as being faithful to the original words, being coherent in style and being accurate in meaning, should be encouraged to develop a broad dissemination. In light of the strong expertise and highly academic difficult, Chinese literary theory as compared with other literary styles has a limited area of acceptance, and thus fewer amounts of translation works. As to the translation work of Chinese literary theory, almost all the translators are the experts in the specific fields, who inherited the rigorous scholarship and conscientious attitude of translation within the context of American Sinological circle. In these translations, no matter notes and exegesis, origin of allusions or format and style, everything is all orchestrated under great scrutiny, which endows these excellent translation works with a pleasing quality of enhancing mutual intercourse, through which not only the American readers can realize their appreciation but also the Chinese scholars or related readers could in return add or even correct their original understandings. Literary critic is a reproduction manner of the original text, on one hand, literary works are the object of the review and appreciation shown by the critics, and on the other hand, it isowing to critics'involvement and interpretation that deepen its self-construction and sublimation. None of the literary works can be interpreted as an abstract kernel, and its meaning can only be acquired on the premise of being read. The main purpose of literary critic is to set up a bridge between common readers and literary works, which entails the academic critics to complete. Meanwhile, the absence of the critical introduction of certain literary phenomenon and work could impliedly let readers be aware of some information, which shows that this piece of work may not be of high level of value in terms of aesthetics and appreciation. Some American scholars think that the research on Chinese literary theory by means of western literary theory frame is in a position to give American readers an easier way to understand Chinese literary thoughts, which is based on a comparative examination of the thinking under two kinds of cultural backgrounds. On top of that, American scholars express a special interest in some key literary terms concerning Chinese literary theory, typically adopting the manner of textual reading with detail, by which each term gets its specific meaning come across in its corresponding context. This way of research called "interpreting the East by the West" presents a second narration about the subjects and thoughts conveyed by Chinese literary theorists in their writings, manifesting the compromise and collision existing between Chinese literary theory and its western counterpart, which consequently touches off readers' active share in the reading process and finally realize the common view of intercultural thoughts, assisted by the theoretical tools and mind background with which they are familiar. In addition, some scholars are fond of placing Chinese literary theory and western literary theory at an equal and coexistent platform in order to carry out comparative research. If the former method, to some extent, places emphasis on the outstanding position of western literary theory in the field of world literature, this method in question overthrows this narrow-minded prejudice, withholding a more impartial attitude towards the theoretical fountain constructed in two disparate cultural backgrounds. There are still some American scholars unfold a profile study based on some representative works concerning Chinese Literary theory with a comprehensive strategy indicate the purport,introduce writers'life stories, depict the historical environment of the time, explain writers' outlook of criticism and basic literary terms. In one word, this method focuses on the intensive study on the original text aided by rigorous attitude of narration, produces a solid and foundation for an easy approach and further acceptance on the part of American as well as all English-speaking readers involving into the horizon of western academia.