Western Perspective Of Chinese Literary Theory

As a sinologist, Stephen Owen is famous for his works on classical Chinese literature. This paper chooses "Chinese literary theory English translation with criticism", one of his books published in the year of 2003 in Chinese verse, as well as his relevant theses and works as the research object, to expound his explanation of ancient Chinese literary thoughts. Regarding the comparison of western and Chinese culture and literary thoughts as reference and investigating separately from the two respects of term and style according to the features of the book, on the basis of which points out his new opinions and methods of explanation.The paper is divided into five parts:The introduction part summarizes the styles of Owen's research and the characteristics of the book, describes the means by which western and Chinese scholars study Chinese literary theory to stress the originality of Owen's ideas and methods and to bring out the analytical tactics of this article.Chapter one describes Owen's elucidation of several key terms to announce the new problem, the idea of "zhi ren" and "zhi yan" hold by Confucius and Mencius and caused by the combination of western and Chinese thoughts as well as it's resonance in traditional Chinese literary thoughts, and then expounds Owen's consideration on the tradition from Confucius, the hidden problem in the ancient idea and the pleasure of poetry.Chapter two analyzes in a further way the problem of language and truth put by Owen and explores its roots in western philosophy and arts, the new qualities of Chinese literary theory arising from it and its modern significance that surmounts aesthetic.Chapter three takes Owen's comments on the books of "The Literary Mind and the Craving of Dragons", "Liu Yi Shi Hua" and "Cang Lang Shi Hua" as illustration to probe into his reexpounding to Chinese literature theory, elaborate his idea that literary thoughts are closely related to text and seek possible ways to explain Chinese literary theory on the basis of text genre and the writer's state.In the part of conclusion, the dissertation generalizes enlightenment of Owen's methods and ponders over the rereading and lasting of classical Chinese works.