TranslatedfromtheoriginalFrenchpublication,thisbookprovidesacomprehensiveanalysisoftwentieth-centuryChineseliteratureandexaminestherelationshipbetweenChineseliterarytheoryandmodernity.JinSiyansurveystheworkofleadingwritersincludingZhangAiling,BeiDao,andMuDan.SheseekstoanswersomefundamentalquestionsinthestudyofChineseliteraryhistory,suchas:HowdoescontemporaryChineseliteraturegofromhistoricalnarrativetothenarrativeoftheI,whererhythmandepicmergeintowriting,andwheretheinstinctiveloadoftherhythmsubstantiatestheepic?Whatarethestepsandtheformsofmediationthatallowsuchatransition?Isthesubjecttheonlyagentofthetransition?Whatisitsstatus?Whatistheroleofpoeticlanguagethatledtothebirthofthesubjectandwhichseparatesitfromempiricism?WhatarethedifficultiesfacedbyChinesewriterstoday?YoungChinesewriterssetoffinsearchofatotallynewwritingtorediscoversubjectivity,whichisinnowaylimitedtoliterature;italsocoversareassuchasthelaw,andtheexpressionoftheIconfrontedwithanoverpoweringwe.
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“Thisbookprovidesacomprehensiveandrigorousanalysisoftwentieth-centuryChineseliteratureandthestudyofitssubjectivity.WitharesearchbackgroundthattraversesEastandWest,JinSiyanusescross-culturallensestosurveytherelationshipbetweencontemporaryChineseliteratureandmodernismandtoshowhowsubjectivewritingispresented.Theauthoralsogivesanin-depthcriticalanalysisofcontemporaryChinesepoetryanditshistoricaltrajectories.”
―YueDaiyun,ProfessorofModernChineseLiteratureandComparativeLiterature,BeijingUniversity
“TheoutstandingworkofJinSiyandealswithwhatliesattheheartoftherevolutionincontemporaryChineseliterarycreation:theemergenceofsubjectivity…Theseanalysesofthedifferentformsthatpersonalliteraryconsciousnesstakes,amongcontemporaryChineseauthors,areasluminousastheyarenew.Theycertainlydeservetobewidelyknown.”
―LéonVandermeersch,FrenchcorrespondentofAcadémiedesInscriptionsetBelles-Lettres
