"Turning Inward" And The Construction Of Literature In The New

“Inward turning” is the important keyword of the Chinese new-period literature. When this term which is borrowed from the western literary theory begins to be accepted by the Chinese contemporary literary theory and criticism, its semantic meaning and implication have been changed in the context of the new-period of China. During the introduction and the academic controversy about “Inward turning”, this term ambiguously contains two core topics: the subjectivity and the literature ontology, which means that the “Inward turning”has undertaken the dual tack of ideological enlightenment and aesthetic enlightenment in the new-period of China. From western literary theory to Chinese contemporary literary theory and criticism, the acceptance and variance of “Inward turning” are closely related to the genealogies of culture, ideology, knowledge, and literature in 1980 s. In these genealogies,the enlightenment discourse about subjectivity, literature ontology, and the pure literature are the most important ones for “Inward turning”. So, if we study “Inward turning” through putting this term into these 3 genealogies, we will have an insight into the trace of the new-period literature’s inner construction and development. At the same time, just like the construction of the new enlightenment discourse which takes the modernization as its core and the pure literature discourse which concentrates on returning literature to its aesthetic nature has its advantages and disadvantages, to the construction of the Chinese new-period literature, “Inward turning” also has its non-negligible contribution of insight and its inevitable deficiency of blind-sight. So, it is essential to reflect on the historical practice of the Chinese new-period literature through taking “Inward turning” as the entry point.