American Sinologist Stephen H. West’s Study Of Classical Chinese Literature

Stephen H.West,a famous American sinologist,has written and translated numerous works on Chinese literature,including poetry,opera,and the study of Northern Song civic literature and culture,among which he has written extensively on Yuan Zaju.Stephen H.West’s literary studies are dedicated to cultural perspectives,adhering to the method of close reading of texts while inevitably bringing in the perspective of others,and his research methods and perspectives can provide new ideas for related studies in China.His translations strive to provide Western readers with works that are faithful to the original based on rigorous examination and promote the overseas dissemination of Chinese literature.The domestic academic community has focused most of its attention on Stephen H.West’s studies in the field of opera,but little has been done on the study of urban literature of the Northern Song Dynasty,and no attention has been paid to the study of Stephen H.West ’s poetry and literature,and a holistic study is lacking.Based on this,this paper will take a comprehensive look at Stephen H.West’s achievements in classical Chinese literature to demonstrate the characteristics and contributions of Stephen H.West’s sinology research.The paper is divided into five parts.The introductory section introduces Stephen H.West’s academic background and research works,the current status of Stephen H.West’s research at home and abroad and composes the research materials of previous scholars so as to provide a holistic grasp of Stephen H.West ’s research and then clarify the research value of this paper.Chapter one explores Stephen H.West’s study of poetry and literature.This chapter will use Yuan Haowen’s poems on mourning,various editions of Du Fu’s poems in the Jin dynasty,and Ouyang Xiu’s "Fu on Autumn’s Sounds" as the basic documentary sources to review Stephen H.West’s poetry and literature in detail and compare them with related Chinese poetry and literature studies to explore the similarities and lessons to be learned from both.Chapter two reviews Stephen H.West’s opera studies.This chapter will take Stephen H.West’s opera research articles and opera translations as the object of study,and specifically discuss Stephen H.West’s basic views on the origin,flourishing,and editions of opera.Stephen H.West’s opera research places emphasis on the work of verifying the versions of opera,creating historical contexts in his research,and translating faithfully from the original texts,which provides a useful supplement to the study of opera in the Western world.Some of the ideas that Stephen H.West produced in his opera studies with the influence of the Western context can also shed new light on our opera studies.Chapter three analyzes Stephen H.West’s study of Northern Song civic literature and culture.Stephen H.West’s research on Northern Song civic literature and culture covers a wide range of topics,including food,land,and commerce and trade.Stephen H.West pays special attention to the Dongjing meng Hua lu,a city notebook that accounts for a large proportion of his studies of citizen literature.Stephen H.West’s study of Northern Song citizen literature focuses on specific objects and conducts cross-disciplinary and multifaceted research,which provides a perspective and methodology for the study of citizen literature in the Chinese academy to draw on.Chapter four analyzes the overall characteristics of Stephen H.West ’s study of Chinese classical literature.This chapter focuses on three aspects of the study:comparative study,writing characteristics and revelation.Stephen H.West’s research is characterized by cultural studies in the field of literature,based on literature and rational thinking,and his research methods are both similar to East Asian and European sinology and have their own characteristics.The otherness of Stephen H.West’s research,as well as some novel and unique research methods and theories,can provide excellent supplementary materials for the study of ancient Chinese literature and are worthy of study and attention.