Concise Reader Of Chinese Literature History

This book includes the history of Chinese literature before 1949. It firstly outlines the development process of Chinese literature and basic features and then discusses them according to the literary genre, for the literature of each era. This book gathers established scholars in the field and presents their latest research in the Chinese literature history studies. Moreover, it has included the literature history of different nationalities in the history of China and the records of folk literature history, reflecting literature from different classes. In the limited space of this book, the writers who have been loved by the Chinese people for three thousand years are discussed, such as Qu Yuan, Tao Yuanming, Li Bai, Du Fu, Su Shi, Xin Qiji, Yuan Haowen, Nalan Xingde, and so on. Careful elaborations are made on each writer together with quotations and analysis of their work.

Adopting new theoretical perspectives and using updated research, this book by a leading Chinese scholar seeks to provide a coherent, panoramic description of the development of premodern Chinese literature and its major characteristics.

Adopting new theoretical perspectives and using updated research, this book by a leading Chinese scholar seeks to provide a coherent, panoramic description of the development of premodern Chinese literature and its major characteristics.

Adopting new theoretical perspectives and using updated research, this book by a leading Chinese scholar seeks to provide a coherent, panoramic description of the development of premodern Chinese literature and its major characteristics.

This book uses the mutual interactions between Chinese and Western culture as a point of departure in order to concisely introduce the origins and evolution of Chinese culture at the aspects of constitution, thinking, values and atheistic. This book also analyzes utensil culture, constitution culture and ideology culture, which were perfected by absorbing classic arguments from academia. As such, the book offers an essential guide to understanding the development, civilization and key ideologies in Chinese history, and will thus help to promote Chinese culture and increase cultural awareness.

"This book provides a concise introduction to the intellectual trends in contemporary Chinese literature from the 1950s to the 1990s and the influence of overseas Sinology. The turbulent period of the second half of the 20th century in China witnessed a significant societal shift from a revolutionary to an economic focus. This transformation introduced and stimulated various ideas, reshaping public thought and reconstructing the historical landscape of contemporary Chinese literature. This book explores the response and self-exploration of domestic literary studies of the period, which were heavily influenced by the Western academic tradition and overseas Sinology studies. It examines critical phenomena, figures and events in this context. The author's narrative vividly illustrates the interplay and dialogue of factors such as revolution, reform and opening up, and the rise of literature in the 1980s and 1990s. Combining the methodologies of literary and social history, and integrating personal historical experience with rigorous academic methods, this book provides a unique research framework for revisiting the cultural scene of the period. The title will appeal to scholars and students of contemporary Chinese literature and history. It will also attract general readers interested in Chinese culture and society in the 1980s and 1990s"--

Lu Hsun, pioneer and standard-bearer of modern Chinese literature, wrote this book during the early twenties. It is a study of the historical development of Chinese fiction from early myths and legends down to well-developed long novels written at the end of the Ching Dynasty.The characteristics of various forms of fiction through the centuries, the development of these forms and their influence on each other are lucidly presented, while such major works as the novels Hung Lou Meng (A Dream of Red Mansions) and Shue Hu Chuan (Water Margin) are reviewed in detail.Chinese fiction had its roots in story telling, and the feudal ruling class despised folk literature of this kind. The May 4th Movement of 1919 dealt a mortal blow to the feudal forces in Chinese culture. Then the study of this form of literature began to make headway, Lu Hsun being one of the first to carry out research in this field.This book, the earliest systematic study of the history of Chinese fiction by a Chinese writer, still exercises a great influence among Chinese scholars.This English translation is illustrated with reproductions of early Chinese woodcuts.

"Since it focuses on the "development" of modern Chinese literature, it shall be open-ended and ever extending, and nobody has the right to put an end to it. Written as a single-volume literary history, and with illustrations added, the space is quite limited. And since scholars have already expanded the literary history of this period into a much broader one, the author must find some key points that may best represent each period. In this book, he consciously cut down narratives about authors and tried not to cover all their literary works, but give a detailed analysis of typical representative works, in which process the lack and neglect of some major authors and works are unavoidable. Maybe this is a writing method worth trying, and this book may provide both positive and negative experience for future scholars who try to write ever more concise and focused literary histories"--