On The Anthropology Perspective Of Literature Studies And Its Limitations In Chinese Context

This thesis attempts to reflect on the development of the anthropological paradigm in literature studies in Chinese context. It centers round the methodology of the anthropological perspective in literature studies.Besides introduction and conclusion, the whole thesis consists of six chapters.Chapter One and Chapter Two analyzes the anthropological perspective in the study of the myth and folk songs at the early stage of the 20th century. As the common field of literature studies and anthropological researches, myth is the starting point of Chinese literature anthropology studies. The reason why the literary study of myth develops lies in the application of the method of anthropology research. The comparative paradigms used by Chinese scholars in myth studies in the early 20th century develop into different research methods so that the experiences and methods of the myth studies in anthropological perspective contribute to the construction of literary ideas. Chapter One discusses methods in myth studies of such scholars as Zhou-Zuoren , Lu-Xun , Mao- Dun and Wen-Yiduo from the anthropological perspective. Chapter Two analyzes the anthropological perspective of folk songs studies and its influence on literature studies, centering on the campaign of folk songs in Peking University in the early 20th century. The researchers in the field of folk songs introduce the comparative methods of anthropology to China and combine them with Chinese traditional study methods of Guoxue. creating a comparative paradigm in literature studies with Chinese characteristic. In the vision of comparative study, the specific research methods. such as tracing the Motif of the stories and describing history evolution,.have set examples for the research method in folk songs and legends. The special experience forming the aesthetic nature is neglected when the similarity of the comparative paradigm is tracked down in the study of myths and folk songs. The method of proving the theoretical assumption in the material sense continues to be used in the literature anthropology in the new period.Chapter Three to Chapter Six attempts to study critically the anthropological perspective in the literature studies in the new period. It discusses the following four issues: the theoretical implication of literature anthropology in western context and the linguistic environment of literature anthropology in the new period, the theoretical construction and its problems of literature anthropology in the new period, the reconstruction of Archetypal criticism in China and the sheltering of its aesthetic dimension, the practice of the method of multiple evidence and its tendency without time and space. The theoretical construction of literature anthropology in the new period depends on the common understanding about mankind in the disciplines of literature and anthropology, but it does not give enough attention to the survival experiences of mankind. This lack of attention also exists in the practice of Archetypal criticism, the method of multiple evidences, and the methodology construction. Seeking the Archetype is the main task of prototype criticisms. The theoretical limitation of prototype criticism lies in mixing the literary images and the cultural images and tracing the Archetypes in anthropological sense. The aesthetic dimension of literature studies is sheltered by the limitations both in the theory and the practice of p Archetypal criticism. The method of multiple evidences is based on materials, aiming to rebuild Chinese scholarship with Western resources in the comparative vision. The materials of Chinese and Western without time and space affect the method of multiple evidences. The key to the development of literature anthropology lies in that individual experience is concerned and aesthetic dimension is highlighted in the practice and theory construction of literature anthropology.