Approaching Modernity In Literary Theory (1928-1936)

This dissertation focuses on the literary theories between 1928 and 1936 in China, trying to dig out, by way of integrating literary history into argument on the basis of relevant issues as well as of comparing them with those occurring in ancient China and some other literary theories in modern China, the most striking characteristic of the Chinese literary theories during this period in their process of approaching modernity.The main structure of the dissertation runs as follows: first, the introduction. In this part, in the first place, the goal of this research is advanced, followed by the explanation why this period is chosen, and a general survey of the researches made by others on "modernity" and "the modernity of literary theory" during this period. In terms of the above, the controlling idea of this dissertation is manifest itself : in accordance with the progressiveness, openness and criticism in the modernity during this period, the most striking characteristic of the modernity of the literary theories lies in their autonomy, scientificity and pluralism.Chapter one focuses on the interpretations about the strong sense of criticism the literary critics have at that time, including their intense criticism on the cultural revolution brought about by "the May 4^th Movement of 1919" , accompanied by their self-reflections on their own.Chapter two deals with the issue that, with people's more and more insight into the study of literary theories, literature has been categorized as the subjects, by turn, of natural sciences, social sciences as well as humanities.The main point of chapter three lies in the great effects of the literary theories from the Western countries on the formation of the Chinese literary theory as a subject by means of making it independent from its appendage to other subjects.In chapter four, some literary problems arising in the hot arguments on the issue of "popularization" of the literature have been explored, such as the "discourse of the common people" in literature, the new experiments on new styles, and the emphasis on the education of the public etc.Chapter five details the increasing alliance of literary theory and modern mass media, analyzing the long-term effects the newspaper and magazines' being politicize, commercialized and pluralized on the prevalence and development of the literary theory.In conclusion, some unhealthy tendencies are pointed out in the progress of approaching modernity in literary theory at that time, providing some valuable revelation on the contemporary Chinese literary theory.