On Zhenduo Literary History

Zheng Zhenduo, a master of literature and history in contemporary academic history, has reached remarkable achievements in many aspects of academic field. He wrote many books during his lifetime, among which the Outline of Literature , the Illustrated Edition of Chinese Literature history and History of Popular (folk) Literature exerted a widespread and profound influence. However, the recent study on Zheng Zhenduo's attainment is inadequate. His theories of literature history are not paid much attention, moreover, the studies on his theories of literarature history is confined to the partial description of the content. Brief generalization is only offered when referring to the fields of Dunhuang, popular(folk) literature, opera and so on. The research doesn't take his theories as a whole and ignores the life of his view in the history. It can be concluded that the study of Zheng zhenduo's conception of literature history is a weak link that should be improved. Furthermore, to discuss the relation between the literature history and the conception of literature history through studying Zheng Zhenduo's theory fosters our discovery of the significance of his views to contemporary history of literature and academic research, and enlightens us to think of the literature history.This essay aims to giving a comprehensive and systematical illustration of Zheng Zhenduo's viewpoint of literature history and enriching the content of his research. The body of the essay falls into three parts. The first part offers the analysis on the structure of Zheng Zhenduo's viewpoints and sketches the core content mainly consisting of "the Theory of Evolution", "Theory of Bi-dynamic" and "Initial Historical Materialism". In the second part, his research methods are analysed, especially "the Scientific Method of Authentic Proof, "the Method of Comparison" and "Criticism of Society and History" which are influential and frequently used by Zheng Zhenduo, to clarify the relation between the research methods and the view of literature history. The third part emphasizes on Zheng Zhenduo's practice under the guidance of his theories and the relationship between the two. Close attention is paid to his resolution to the problems of dividing the literature history into stages and selecting historical materials. Moreover, the contradiction and its origin between his theory and practice are pursued. The introduction of the essay draws a full picture of Zheng Zhenduo's lifetime. In the conclusion, the writer stresses the significance of making use of Zheng Zhenduo's conception of literature history.