Rediscoveries Of Chinese Literature

The Columbia History of Chinese Literature,edited by Victor H.Mair of the University of Pennsylvania,and The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature,edited by Kang-i Sun Chang and Stephen Owen,are among the most important theoretical achievements of Sinology in North America,which is vital to the study of Chinese literature.The two literary works rewrote the history of Chinese literature in the context of poetics of culture and with Chinese literature as the center,reflecting their broad vision,novel perspectives and unique research methods.At present,the academic researches on the two literary histories mostly focus on the artistic characteristics of their writing,but the content of their writing is seldom involved.This paper with the history of Chinese literature in Ming and Qing Dynasties in the two books as the main research object and the domestic mainstream literature history of the same period as the reference,excavates the “rediscoveries” of Chinese literature in the two books,and explores the reasons behind them.It should be pointed out that both books adopt a method of narration by genre.(for example,the writing of“oral literature” does not take historical stages as narrative clues,but focuses on the whole dynamic development process),so the discussion in this paper is not limited to the Ming and Qing dynasties.The first chapter is the introduction part,which is an overview of the research on The History of Chinese Literature in Columbia and The History of Chinese Literature in Cambridge,including the current situation of the history of Chinese literature in Europe and America,the research status at home and abroad of the two works,as well as the research purpose and significance of this paper.The second chapter is the specific explanation of the re-discoveries of Chinese literature in the two books.Through the analysis and demonstration of “the real reconstruction of the history of female literature”,“the revaluation of the value of popular literature” and “Urban Narration: the discovery of space”,this chapter presents the innovation of the writing content of the two literary works by electing representative literary histories of various periods in China for reference.The third chapter is the analysis of the reasons for how they rediscover Chinese literature.Inspired by Foucault’s power of discourse,the writing of literary history as a discourse is also governed by a certain kind of power,and that’s why the "power of literary history" dominates the writing of literary history.On this basis,this chapter,according to the "editors" and "writers" of the two literary histories,explores the specific ways in which the "power of literary history" operates from such perspectives as the "cultural studies" approach,reader awareness,the involvement of women scholars and material culture,historical staging,and personal creativity.The conclusion attempts to objectively evaluate the value and deficiency of The Columbia History of Chinese Literature and The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature,and explore their enlightenment to the study of literature history at home and abroad.