A History of Contemporary Chinese Literature

by Hong, Zicheng

• ISBN13: 9789004173668
• ISBN10: 9004173668
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-01-30
• Publisher: Brill Academic Pub

Summary

This groundbreaking book by the eminent Peking University professor Hong Zicheng covers the literary scene in China during the 1949-1999 period, primarily focusing on fiction, poetry, drama, and prose writing. Reprinted sixteen times since its publication in the PRC in 1999, it is now available in English translation at last.

Author Biography

Hong Zicheng has been a professor of contemporary Chinese literature in the Chinese Department at Peking University since 1961. His most recent monograph is a revised edition of The History of Contemporary Poetry in China (1993, 2005), and he is also the director of the Contemporary Chinese Literature Institute at Peking University.

Table of Contents

Translator's Note	p. xi
Foreword	p. xiii
Literature of the 1950s-1970s
The `Transition' in Literature	p. 3
The Literary Scene in the 1940s	p. 3
The `Choice' of the Left-Wing Literary World	p. 8
The Literary Thought of Mao Zedong	p. 12
The Establishment of a `New Direction for Literature'	p. 17
Literary Norms and the Literary Environment	p. 21
The Literary Environment of the 1950s-1970s	p. 21
Periodicals and Literary Groups	p. 27
Literary Criticism and Campaigns of Criticism	p. 30
The Change in the Overall Nature of Writers	p. 33
The Cultural Dispositions of `Core Writers'	p. 36
Contradictions and Conflicts	p. 41
Frequent Campaigns of Criticism	p. 41
The Continuation of Internal Contradictions Within Left-Wing Literature	p. 47
Querying the Norms	p. 51
The Nature of Divergence	p. 56
Hidden Poets and Poetry Groupings	p. 64
The Choice of Paths for Poetry	p. 64
A Universal Artistic Predicament	p. 67
The Fate of the `Nine Leaves' Poets	p. 72
The Lot of the `July Group' Poets	p. 73
The Forms of Poetry	p. 76
The `Realist' Tendency and the Narrative Poetry Tide	p. 76
The Artistic Path of Young Poets	p. 81
Political Lyricism	p. 85
Themes and Forms of Fiction	p. 90
The Division of Fiction Writers	p. 90
The Systemization and Classification of Themes	p. 93
The State of Typology in Fiction	p. 96
The Trend Toward Unity in Form	p. 100
Rural Area Fiction	p. 104
The Contemporary Forms of Rural Area Fiction	p. 104
Zhao Shuli and the Shanxi Writers	p. 108
The `History of the Critical Value' of Zhao Shuli	p. 112
Liu Qing's History of Pioneering Work	p. 115
The Narration of History	p. 120
Revolutionary Historical Fiction	p. 120
The Pursuit of `Epic Character'	p. 122
Red Crag's Mode of Composition	p. 127
Another Type of Memory	p. 130
The Song of Youth and the Discussion Surrounding It	p. 135
The Historical Novel Li Zicheng	p. 140
The Plight of Other Forms of Fiction	p. 143
Inhibited Fiction	p. 143
In Search of New Substitutes	p. 146
`Urban Fiction' and `Fiction of Industrial Themes'	p. 150
Three Family Lane and the Discussion Surrounding It	p. 153
Beyond the Mainstream	p. 156
`Non-Mainstream Literature'	p. 156
The First `Heterodoxy'	p. 157
`Hundred Flowers Literature'	p. 160
Symbolic Narration	p. 165
Permutations of Positions	p. 169
Prose	p. 171
The Concept of Contemporary Prose	p. 171
The `Renaissance' of Prose	p. 173
Prose Writers and Their Creative Patterns	p. 177
The Fate of the Miscellaneous Essay	p. 180
Memoirs and Historical Biography	p. 183
The Theater	p. 186
A Survey of Dramatic Art	p. 186
Lao She's Teahouse	p. 190
Historical Drama and Related Discussion	p. 193
The `High Tide' of Drama	p. 200
Towards `Cultural Revolution Literature'	p. 203
The Literary Campaign of 1958	p. 203
The Radical Ideological Trend in Literature and	p. 208
Literature's Modes of Existence	p. 212
Characteristics of `Revolutionary Literature'	p. 218
The Re-Construction of `Classics'	p. 222
The Experiment in the Creation of `Models'	p. 222
`Revolutionary Model Opera'	p. 226
The Fiction of Hao Ran and Others	p. 230
Difficulties in the Creation of `Models'	p. 234
A Divided Literary World	p. 236
The Public World of Poetry	p. 236
Fiction Writing	p. 239
The Last Poems of Mu Dan	p. 242
The `Baiyang Marshes Poetry Grouping'	p. 245
Hand-Copied Fiction	p. 249
The Poetry of Tian'anmen	p. 253
Literature Since 1976
The Literary Environment During the 1980s	p. 257
The Thought Liberation Tide	p. 257
Outside Influences During the Open Period	p. 261
Division and Regrouping Among Writers	p. 267
Literature and the `Market Economy'	p. 271
A Survey of 1980s Literature	p. 275
Process: The First Half of the 1980s	p. 275
Process: The Second Half of the 1980s	p. 279
A Variety of Literary Forms	p. 285
Overall Styles and Stances of Writers	p. 290
Fiction During the First Half of the 1980s	p. 293
A Few Concepts of the Fiction Tide	p. 293
The Formation and Characteristics of the Tide	p. 297
Memory of the Wounds of History	p. 300
`Educated Youth Fiction' in the Reconsideration of History	p. 309
1980s Poetry	p. 315
Poetry Circles After the `Cultural Revolution'	p. 315
The Poetry of the `Returnees' (A)	p. 319
The Poetry of the `Returnees' (B)	p. 328
The New Poetry Tide	p. 335
`Misty Poetry' and the Related Polemic	p. 335
Major Writers of `Misty Poetry'	p. 341
The `Newborn Generation' of the New Poetry Tide	p. 349
Other Major Poets	p. 356
Fiction of the Second Half of the 1980s (A)	p. 366
`Root-Seeking' in Literature	p. 366
`Root-Seeking' and the Artistic Forms of Fiction	p. 370
Fiction of the Marketplace and Native Soil	p. 373
Outside Groupings and Schools	p. 379
Fiction of the Second Half of the 1980s (B)	p. 382
Literary Exploration and `Avant-Garde Fiction'	p. 382
A Description of `New Realism'	p. 387
Writers of `Avant-Garde Fiction'	p. 390
Writers of `New Realism' in Fiction	p. 395
Other Major Writers of Fiction	p. 398
The Art of Woman Writers	p. 404
The Upsurge of Woman Writers	p. 404
The Fiction of Woman Writers (A)	p. 408
Concepts of `Women's Literature'	p. 413
The Fiction of Woman Writers (B)	p. 416
The Art of Prose	p. 420
A Survey of the Art of Prose	p. 420
Memory of `History'	p. 424
Lyric Prose	p. 428
Scholarly Prose and Informal Essays	p. 431
The Situation of Literature in the 1990s	p. 437
Changes in the Literary Environment	p. 437
Important Literary Phenomena	p. 441
The Overall Situation of Literature in the 1990s	p. 444
A Chronology of Contemporary Literature in China	p. 451
Postscript	p. 505
Glossary of Terms, Organizations, and Periodicals	p. 507
Bibliography	p. 551
Titles of Works Cited	p. 573
Index	p. 619
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