A Review of Shanghai’s Literary Theory Development in the Last 35 Years

Lu Yang, Wu Jiabao

English Abstracts

A Review of Shanghai’s Literary Theory Development in the Last 35 Years

Lu Yang, Wu Jiabao

A review of Shanghai’s literary theory development from 1978 to 2013 would be helpful to comprehend by analogy. It demonstrates the good tradition of seeking truth while avoiding falseness by starting from a discussion on imaginal thinking, to the clearing up of all the confusions, the demarcation of literary criticism and the regeneratoin of aesthetics, and to the great achievements in classic literary theory of Marxism, western literary theory and aesthetics. Recent years, cultural studies introduced into Shanghai as an open and cross discipline is firstly given to its birth from literary theory studies.

Criticism on Belief

Yan Xianglin

Abstract: In the evolution of social history and history of thought, belief has already developed into a false and naive ideology and then further transformed as a prior form of absolute standard for general values and practice, thereby affecting the history development and dominating countless subjective spiritual activity and life behavior. While providing life with active significance, belief also causes historic tragedy and life disaster. Belief can be divided logically into religious belief, political belief, ethic belief, and so on. Although it has different extensions, its denotation is essentially identical in ontological sense, which ensures an absolute domination of subjectivity through an assumption of concepts. As for its function and value form, only with ethic belief and aesthetic belief can the reconstruction of belief be consistent with the purpose of rationality and aesthetics, and provide human being a possible bright future as well.

The Situation, Problems and Solution of the Art Market in Shanghai

Tang Yunbing

Abstract: Recent years the art exhibition in Shanghai has boosted in its number and quality. Art Biennale, ART021 Expo, West Bund Art and Desigh Expo are all sung high praise in 2016. Meanwhile, new artistic spaces spring up all over Shanghai. The development of culture, economy and artistic accomplishment are regarded as the most crucial factors for this flourish of Shanghai art market. How to expand the art market depends on a sound set of market principles and marketing mechanism, the establishment of artistic evaluating system, an enforment of creativity and a full use of the priority provided by the Free-Trade Area.

A Brief History of Shanghai Art Districts over the Last Ten Years

Sun Ruili

Abstract: As an important carrier of art and related industries, art districts usually cluster participants of artistic industry such as artists, galleries, art centers, bookstores, etc., directly reflecting changes of regional artistic and cultural industries. At the same time, the art district is usually the cultural landmark of the region, which also affects the agglomeration and development of related industries. This paper, taking time as the clue, observes the development of Shanghai’s main art districts including M50, Red Town, No. 800 Wujiaochang, No. 696 Weihai Road and the West Bank, in order to get a glimpse of the artistic ecological changes in Shanghai over the last ten years and to envision the development trend of Shanghai’s art industry.

Politics and Letters: The “Soviet Literary Controversy” in Britain

Ben Harker (Trans by Qiang Donghong)

Abstract: In the course of the so-called Soviet Literary Controversy of 1946, “decadent” writers were expelled from the Writers’ Union and cosmopolitan literary journals were closed down. The Controversy was widely reported in the British media and provoked extensive debate across literary periodicals. This article revisits this moment, paying particular attention to responses from John Lewis, J. B. Priestley, Cyril Connolly and the young Raymond Williams. Recovering the Controversy yields a new level of detail about the politico-cultural realignments of the mid 1940s by challenging the sometimes hindering period frames—the thirties, the forties, the war, the Cold War, the Old Left, the New Left—through which mid-century cultural history is most usually mapped and viewed.

Read for Life

Martha Nussbaum (Trans by Fan Yun)

Abstract: In the first half of the article, she not only introduces the main contents and arguments of the book part by part, but also makes a positive evaluation on his contribution to the relocation ethical criticism. In the other half of the book, she makes reflections and focuses on three topics such as the boundaries of the literary, the metaphor of friendship, and analysis of practical reasoning in terms of “coduction” and “pluralism”, which definitely widens and deepens the discussion of ethical criticism.

The Research Life of Tong Qingbing

Wu Zilin

Abstract: As a key figure of “Chinese Aesthetics School”, Tong Qingbing contributes many works on literary theory and aesthetics. He is well versed in western and Chinese literary theories, and develops a new theory system with innovative academic ideas. His creativity and originality in his literary thoughts have a profound effect on Chinese literary and aesthetic studies in China.

The Contact between Zheng Zhenduo and Ding Ling

Chen Fukang

Abstract: The biographies of and studies on Ding Ling, with some information even not mentioned by Ding Ling and Zheng Zhenduo, ignore the contact between Ding Ling and Zheng Zhenduo. Zheng Zhenduo was once Ding Ling’s teacher, offering great help to her while she first entered into the literary world and sparing no effort in securing her after her arrest by Kuomintang authorities. After the foundation of New China, both of them went for meetings abroad and Zheng Zhenduo stood besides Ding Ling in her work in the Central Literature Institute. Moreover, Zheng Zhenduo attended and left precious notes on several meetings criticizing Ding Ling held by the Communist Party of China Writers Association. All these historical facts should be paid special attention to instead of being ignored.

The Basic Difference between Nietzsche and Modern Aestheticism

Zhang Hong

Abstract: Nietzsche’s theoretic standpoint is different in principle from Modern Aestheticism, though both are similar in the general direction affirming the remedy effect of art and aesthetic activity to the modernity perplex. For example, Nietzsche attacks contemporary arts in thereal life while eulogizing his ideal art that has a transcendental function. He also keeps aware intensely of anthropocentrism in modern thoughts on beauty and art, reveals the fault of the subjective aesthetics, etc. All of them are the quarrels with Modern Aestheticism. Nietzsche’s theory is grounded on his philosophy of art, i.e., tragedy-philosophy, inspired by ancient Greek tragedy and pre-Socrates thoughts, which emphasizes becoming-changing and acclaims the eternal being of the mortal existences in the phenomenon. So it is a mistake to subordinate Nietzsche to Modern Aestheticism in the study of aesthetic modernity.

Nietzsche: As an Educator

Zhu Shengjian

Abstract: As a young philologist, Nietzsche, taking the historiography as an example, criticizes social science studies of his day, in order to reveal the diseases of the time. He opposes to the abuse of history that degenerates ordinary life and damages national culture. He stresses that the historiography should serve life. And his ultimate aim, also his task as an educator, is to unify German spirit and life. He rests the hope of the future on the younger generation.

The Thoughts of Dai Zhen and the Modern Transformation of Chinese Aesthetics

Yang Ning

Abstract: The studies on the thoughts of Dai Zhen has always focused on his significance in enlightenment from the perspective of either philosophy or history of thoughts, while an aesthetic analysis of his thoughts is rare in the studies for the reason that theoretic presupposition always dominates the research concept and methods of the studies on aesthetic history, which excludes the thoughts outside of the discipline frame from aesthetic history, so that the overview of aesthetic history is unable to reveal its inner formation mechanism. The solution depends on a paradigm transformation of aesthetic studies, focusing instead on the formation elements of aesthetic relations and the diachronic changes of the elements so as to explore the formation mechanism of the historical evolution of aesthetics. It is in this sense that the aesthetic significance of Dai Zhen’s thoughts should be highlighted, and his reconstruction of humanity ontology would lay a theoretic foundation for the modern transformation of Chinese aesthetics.

Exploring Aesthetic Qualia of Chinese Traditional Poetry with CBT: A Case Study on Du Fu’s Poem

Deng Qi, Wang Ting

Abstract: The paper explores the aesthetic qualia of Du Fu’s poem, combining Conceptual Blending theory (CBT) with aesthetic psychology and traditional aesthetics. The case study aims to examine the aesthetic qualia in the form and image of Chinese traditional poetry, which may shed new light on the underlying connections and aesthetic mechanism beneath the formal representations. The parallelism in form integrates with the imagery symbolism into the blended beauty in artistic conception. The emergent structure of CBT sets up the platform for the creativity in poetry, while optimality principle restrains the poetry construal and appreciation.