A Study Of Yangtze Literature And Arts,1949—1956

How do we understand the formation of the contemporary Chinese literature system in the 1940 s and 1950 s,and was this historical turnaround a top-down process?What is the significance of "local" in the formation of the literature system? Previous studies have mostly examined the formation of contemporary literature system from the theoretical framework of "national literature",focusing on central literature policies and national literature journals,thus understanding the formation of contemporary literature system as the circulation and strengthening of a compulsory norm within the nation system.Taking the local literary journal Yangtze Literature and Arts(1949—1956)as the object of study,this paper examines the formation of the contemporary literature system at the local level,using journal communication,journal editing,and journal reading as the research content,and generally adopting a social-historical perspective.The study finds that in terms of journal communication,with the reconstruction of the communication space in Hubei at the beginning of the founding of the New China,the circulation of Yangtze Literature and Arts gradually expanded in both scope and quantity,transforming from a journal distributed mainly in the central and southern regions to a literary journal with national circulation.After1955,Yangtze Literature and Arts began to change to a national journal.In terms of journal editors,the early editors of Yangtze Literature and Arts were roughly of two types: "southern cadres" and "literary newcomers".The former were literary workers with revolutionary experience,while the latter were young people who received literary education in schools in liberated areas or in the New China.Under the editorial system of the New China,they led the literary trend of the time through their dynamic editorial practices,and to a certain extent,shaped the literary landscape.In terms of journal reading,from the founding of the New China in 1949 to the end of1952,the reading order of Yangtze Literature and Arts was in a state of constant strengthening.At this time,literary criticism attempted to establish a form of literature and art that appealed to "peoplehood",the interpretation of literary works also pays special attention to the aspect of "peoplehood".After 1953,the reading order of Yangtze Literature and Arts was adjusted,and some elitist tendencies began to appear in the reviews of specific works.The above study leads to the conclusion that the formation of contemporary literature system from the perspective of "local" is a more exploratory research path;however,in general,due to the limited autonomy of localities after the founding of the New China,the formation of contemporary literature system was mainly top-down.A review of the search and development path of local literary journals during this period may provide experience and inspiration for today’s literary journals in the emerging network medium.