The Concept of Literature of the Republic of China in Chinese Modern Literary History Studies: A Speech at Princeton University

摘要

ABSTRACTIn the last decade, the most noteworthy phenomenon is the bringing forward of the concept of “literature of the Republic of China” and a series of relevant discussions triggered afterwards in mainland China’s modern literature research. This concept of literary history, like the concept of the twentieth-century Chinese literature advocated in the 1980s, has the goal of literary development according to its own traditional political ideology, and at the same time shows the reflection and review of the separation from the historical context of China’s reality in previous research. Through academic debate and discussion in recent years, the misunderstanding of the concept of “literature of the Republic of China” as a literary criticism method has been further clarified. The concept, showing the unique value of “the Republic of China as a method,” can not only broaden the scope of Chinese modern literature studies, but also form a better atmosphere of the conversation with other current research topics such as “Taiwan literature” and “Chinese literature.”中文摘要最近10来年，大陆中国现代文学研究最值得注意的现象就是“民国文学”概念的提出以及引发的相关讨论。这一文学史概念的提出，一方面有如1980年代的“二十世纪中国文学”一样，具有在传统政治意识形态中确立文学自身发展道路的目标，同时又对既有研究中脱离中国历史语境的现实有相当的反省和检讨。经过最近几年学界的争论和研讨，围绕“民国文学”方法的误会进一步澄清，它不仅拓宽了现代文学研究的范围，而且能够形成与当前其他研究命题如“台湾文学”、“华语语系文学”的有益对话，在一个更大的层面上昭示“作为方法的民国”的独特价值。