"modern" Magazine Study

Xiandai is one of the most important magazines in the history of modern Chinese literature, especially in the early and middle 1930's. In the past, because of some factors such as politics, little research has been done on it. Since 1980's, more attention began to be given it and remarkable achievements have been made. However, the research on Xiandai is mostly limited to the discussions of genre. This dissertation, unlike the former thesis, tries to put emphasis on the text research of the magazine, rectify deflection of past research and grasp the whole intent of the magazine. Therefore, this makes the nature of it lay bare.The discussion develops mainly from the following three perspectives: Firstly, commercial mechanism is the activator of appearance of the magazine. But since the day of starting publication, Xiandai had tried to get rid of earthliness and even philistinism. Under the influence and restraint of many factors, the magazine made great efforts to search a middle-of-the-road between popular literature and elite literature. And this made the features of the magazine obscure.Secondly, with Xiandai's avant-garde as its distinctive characteristic, it showed the more interest in the West. But this interest cast away the classical literature of nineteenth century of the West and more concern to the fad and pioneer. In one word: the modem. This accelerated the development of modernism literature of 1930's in China.Thirdly, Xiandai strived to show position of liberalism and enlightenment politically, in the mean time, the position of "left wing". This obscurity and hesitation in politics made it difficult to have been impartially appraised for many years.With an all-inclusive creed, Xiandai transcended the sectarianism and the disputes, and attracted the literati of different kinds. It spared no efforts to introduce various literature, with an attempt to create a liberal, and all-embracing environment for literature.