Fiction Monthly In The Reception Perspective

Fiction Monthly, starting from July 1910 and ending in 1932 because of the battle, is an important journal in Chinese modern literature history. This magazine is a vivid case to review the development of Chinese modern literature due to its 22 years history. Many achievements have been obtained about Fiction Monthly, which are mainly about the analysis and value assessment on its quality, status, effect and modernity. However, the study from the reception perspective has not been paid much attention to. In effect, readers are literally the start point and end result of a journal. As the customers of the journals, readers'acceptance to the journals plays a very important role in the journal's survival and development. The value and meaning of journals can only be embodied in the reception dimension. Therefore, this paper, instructed by the reception-aesthetic theory, explores Fiction Monthly from the readers'reception perspective. The reader's acceptance reaction will have an influence on the edition idea as well as the publication strategy.The first chapter uncovers the relations between readers'reception and literature journal and explores the journal's value and meaning. Reception-aesthetic theory is a theory system centered about readers, which focuses on the readers'influence on the works and sees readers as the key factor to realize the works'meaning. Readers, as the customers, are regarded as the foundation to survive as well by the literature journals in the process of literature marketization. Literature journal's meaning is reading by the readers, there is no life for the journals without readers. Reception-aesthetic theory and literature journals can be connected because of the mutual concerns towards the readers. If we want to study literature journals in the field of reception-aesthetic theory, we have to illustrate the readers'important influence on the literature journals, explore the readers'reactions from the relations between customers and producers as well as discuss literature journal's developing directions in readers'reactions.The second chapter mainly discusses the reception situation of Fiction Monthly in the early period (1910-1920) and points out that during this period readers'variation from passive reception to positive construction. Cultural transmission played a very important role in the development of Chinese modern literature in the language context during the end of the 19th century and the early 20th century. Meanwhile, the readers were appeared and developed. Fiction Monthly's creation met the reader's requirements at that time, gained widespread popularity by the readers and had a great influence on improving reader's literacy. Fiction Monthly's readers started to get rid of the role of passive reception and constructed the literature in their expectation horizon positively on the basis of the sufficient references to review the reader's expectations and discoveries.The third chapter chiefly analyzes the reception situation of Fiction Monthly in the later period (1921-1932) and uncovers the influence on the journal's development by reader's multi-pursuit. The change of literature context took place and Fiction Monthly was reformed when the May Fourth Movement had started. We could sense that the intended readers were changing secretly through the reading for information to Fiction Monthly's correspondence column as well as the historical materials from some of the literal celebrities. Still, readers'expectation horizon, being different for individuals and developing because of the different times, is not unchanged. Therefore, reader's expectation horizon should be taking into consideration when the writer was creating the literal works. The readers had different reception reactions in the different periods after reform. Reader's expectation horizon is affecting journal's development continuously and even the development of Chinese modern literature from"mentor"to"duomaqiuzhang".