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Articles 1 - 30 of 147
Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
The Rent Collection Courtyard: Theme Park As Politics, Nian Zhang
The Rent Collection Courtyard: Theme Park As Politics, Nian Zhang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
China's contemporary large group sculpture Rent Collection Courtyard and Cai Guoqiang's Venice's Rent Collection Courtyard were created in a different time, and the relationship between the original and Cai’s work is an issue not merely of cultural industry but more of the symbolic production of history. The original group sculpture is an example of proletarian literature and art, and the tragic derailment of fate is that the object of contestation in the work has now turned into the condition for the exhibition of the work. That is, without the capital invested into the art work, there would not have been …
Theory's Estrangement From Literature And Literature's Control Of Theory: A Survey Of The Relationship Between Theory And Literature In The Last Hundred Years, Liang Xu
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The capitalized "Theory" emerged from literary theories, but Theory's progress showed a gradual estrangement from literature. The "Theory" has entered almost every field from cultural semiotics to Foucault's school, but it apparently ignores the field of traditional literature. Some scholars of post- theories try to turn back to the pre-Theory period to change the trend while some scholars maintain that literature has controlled academics. The paper argues that the concept of "literature" and the relations between literature and theory should be reconsidered. The linguistic turn highlights the intransitivity of language, which leads to the ubiquity of literariness, and as a …
"Post-New Period" And The Structural Position Of Everyday Life, Huanjiang Qiao
"Post-New Period" And The Structural Position Of Everyday Life, Huanjiang Qiao
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The "post-new period" is a concept which the academic circle in the early 1990s gave to Chinese literature. This name, the present paper argues, is a way of expressing a value expectation more than an actual description of literature at the time. In the imaginary discourse that concerns literature’s dominant status and its autonomy, the theorization of the post-new period is departed from the essential aspects of contemporary society culture, revealing its lack of historical awareness. If the literature practice after 1990s has shown some distinctive features different from the New Period literature, the reason may not the breakup in …
A Cultural Study Of Unrelated Homonym In Internet Language, Mofan Xu
A Cultural Study Of Unrelated Homonym In Internet Language, Mofan Xu
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Unrelated homonym is a common phenomenon of language use in contemporary internet, in which the newly created homonyms have no relevance to the meaning of the original words. Unrelated homonym is not a way of making neologism, but a special usage conditioned by cyber communication techniques and it has become a kind of normalized language play. There are two purposes in using unrelated homonyms: to attract readers' attention through signifier noise, and to achieve an ironic effect through conveying the intended original content in an arbitrary phonetic form. The target of the irony reflects the group psychology of the contemporary …
A Critique Of Derrida's Deconstructive Mode Of Thinking, Bing Li
A Critique Of Derrida's Deconstructive Mode Of Thinking, Bing Li
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Despite of misunderstanding, deconstruction as a kind of way of thinking has inserted profound influence in the late 20th century. Derrida's undermining of the dualistic way of thinking may not be taken as an irrational destruction, but as a rigorously logical analysis. The heterogeneous way of thinking contains two important perspectives of time and otherness. Derrida's cross-disciplinary writing implicates a post-modern thought of dedifferentiation, which further complicates the boundaries between arts. However, the main limitation of Derrida's mode of thinking lies in its reductionist way of thought, in which language is reduced to super subject and the author's authority is …
A Synopsis Of The Symposium On "Modern Chinese Foreign Literature Studies Over Six Decades", Suzhou Liu, Jing Chen
A Synopsis Of The Symposium On "Modern Chinese Foreign Literature Studies Over Six Decades", Suzhou Liu, Jing Chen
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
No abstract provided.
Aesthetic Modernity Forms Of Contemporary Taiwanese Prose Theory, Jiangzhen Cai
Aesthetic Modernity Forms Of Contemporary Taiwanese Prose Theory, Jiangzhen Cai
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The prose theory has developed for more than half a century in Taiwan, with "modernity" as the principal axis. In the process of prose theory transformation, Yu Kwang-Chung's call for "cutting off the pigtail of prose" became a symbolic slogan with far-reaching influence, and his modernist approach of "poeticizing" prose established itself as the predominant principle. In the recent three decades, however, scholars shifted their research focus to the generic essence of prose, trying to define the generic style by deconstructing the style, while at the same time advocating the imagination and fictionality in prose which challenges the conventional concept …
Clearing A Path To China: A Probe Into Hall And Ames' Methodology Of Sino-Western Cultural Comparison, Yunhua Liu
Clearing A Path To China: A Probe Into Hall And Ames' Methodology Of Sino-Western Cultural Comparison, Yunhua Liu
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
This paper focuses on the trilogy of comparative study of Sino-Western thought co-authored by David L. Hall and Roger T. Ames to make a critical survey of their methodology of cultural comparison. This paper regroups the barriers Hall and Ames find to be in urgent want of clearing and then it briefly describes and interprets the rationale behind the four groups. The paper proceeds to summarize the two scholars' neo-pragmatic concept of cultural comparison before analyzing the implications of their concept of determinants in culture and contextualized approach in relation to the two different frameworks of problematization in the two …
Continuation And Construction: On The Edition Study Of Contemporary Chinese Literature History And Its Limitation, Xiuming Wu, Tao Zhang
Continuation And Construction: On The Edition Study Of Contemporary Chinese Literature History And Its Limitation, Xiuming Wu, Tao Zhang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The study on the editions of contemporary Chinese literary history has profound significance for the compilation of literary history, academic studies of literature, and disciplinary construction as well as scholastic development. The call for "re-writing literary history" in the late 1980s in response to the paradigm shift in literary history writing is taken as the dividing line of two periods, and the paper proceeds to compare the different editions and examine the limitations in the revisions in the two periods. The paper points out that the shift from the political to aesthetic or cultural perspective is a significant breakthrough in …
Environmental Civility: Culture, Education, Enlightenment, And Wisdom, Sepänmaa Yrjö
Environmental Civility: Culture, Education, Enlightenment, And Wisdom, Sepänmaa Yrjö
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Culture and civility, enlightenment and wisdom all relate to the environment, and the environment relates to them. Environmental civility is a conscious and emotional skill or readiness, which permits a basically positive attitude and way of acting. Civility and wisdom are close to each other and nearly synonyms. Knowledge is the foundation, but it needs the partnership of an attitude that maintains and refines life. Civility is value-positive, but as such also critical. It means proper respect and appreciation of well-done work, and always seeking something better. Eco-humanism emphasizes the positive value of humankind and human work, positive footprints: we …
History And Nationalism In Images: A Review Of The MovieBack To 1942, Guo Feng, Ao Tian
History And Nationalism In Images: A Review Of The MovieBack To 1942, Guo Feng, Ao Tian
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The paper examines Feng Xiaogang's movie Back to 1942 from the perspective of history and nationalism, claiming that it has remarkable merits in exhibiting history and revealing the nationalism through images. The theories informed the analysis of the film script and audio-visual language of the movie include the new historicist "plebeian history," the cultural memory related to cultural theorists like Aleida Assmann, and Northrop Frye's "archetype theory." The paper concludes that the movie Back to 1942 challenges the traditional concept of historical narrative and enforces a retrospect of national historical memory. The story in the movie is not only a …
Modernity, The Avant-Garde And Mass Culture: A Reflection Inspired By Walter Benjamin, Yong Wang
Modernity, The Avant-Garde And Mass Culture: A Reflection Inspired By Walter Benjamin, Yong Wang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Walter Benjamin's meditation on modernity is the most significant in his theory, and his concept of aura apparently illuminates the transformation from traditional art toward modern one but essentially reveals the characteristics of popular culture as integration and formularization. His interpretation of the tragic drama, Baudelaire, Kafka, and Proust further exposes the nature of the avant-garde as a form going beyond the content. This illumination depicts two cultural patterns of modernity: discontent with reality that leads to injection of rationality into reality, and identification with reality that leads to acknowledge the random meaning from reality. These two patterns comprise the …
On The Artistic Origin Of Wen Tingyun's Music Bureau Style And Its Influence On Ci-Poetry, Qinghai Liu
On The Artistic Origin Of Wen Tingyun's Music Bureau Style And Its Influence On Ci-Poetry, Qinghai Liu
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Wen Tingyun's poetry of Music Bureau style inherits mostly from Li He but also from Li Bai and the Music Bureau poetry of the Southern Dynasties. The artistic character of Wen's Music Bureau style comprises of a suggestive way of representation and a flowery language, and the style exerts an obvious influence on Wen's ci-poetry. Wen Tingyun introduced a pompous style into the literati's ci-poetry of late ages, but the influence of Wen's style on ci-poetry can be traced back even to Han Hong in the Dali period in the Tang Dynasty.
Power, Representation And The Advocating Of Modern Chinese Literature: With A Study On Totalistic Anti-Tradition In The May Fourth Era, Qinghua Cao
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The paper maintains that the slogan of "Literature Revolution" in the May Fourth Era calls actually for a revolution of representation, and at the foremost of the revolution is the transformation of the means and manner of representation. The discursive construction in the content of "new literature" focuses on the discipline and description of the represented objects, the position of the representation and the relationship between representation and the represented objects, but the essential concern is on how to empower the representation. The totalistic anti-tradition in the May Fourth Era can then be understood as the totalistic anti-representation which opposes …
The Aesthetic Ideas In The Taichi Diagram And Chinese Calligraphy Art, Lei Wei
The Aesthetic Ideas In The Taichi Diagram And Chinese Calligraphy Art, Lei Wei
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
As the fruit of Chinese ancient philosophy and the vivid expression of Chinese culture, Taichi diagram is a concrete and intuitive summarization of The Book of Change. The endless flowing curve of the S-shape in the Taichi diagram represents the ideal of harmony in the binary opposition of "Yin and Yang," implying the coexistence of Emptiness and Fullness, as well as the combination of the hard and the soft. This supreme realm of harmonious integration becomes the fundamental basis of the art of Chinese calligraphy. The expression of meaning through imagery in Taichi diagram conveys ancient Chinese philosophy and aesthetic …
The Body Prescribed, The Subject Of Desire, And The Discourse Of Body In Literary Criticism, Xuezhi Niu
The Body Prescribed, The Subject Of Desire, And The Discourse Of Body In Literary Criticism, Xuezhi Niu
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Literary criticism as an intellectual act about literature has caused quite some contradiction, and the most direct reason may be related to the pan-axiology of criticism. The discourse of body is a value choice of criticism focusing on the body narrative in literature. It concerns how body is conditioned by culture, how it is restrained as object of desire, and where the discourse of body as a mode of criticism functions when the body narrative goes out of control, etc. only by avoiding the contradiction of pan-axiology can this mode of criticism be so examined as to activate the dormant …
The Art Form, National Image And Culture Discount In Korean Movies: An Empirical Study Based On The North American Market, Linxia Chen, Ying Du
The Art Form, National Image And Culture Discount In Korean Movies: An Empirical Study Based On The North American Market, Linxia Chen, Ying Du
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Korean movie industry's quick rise in the late 1990s becomes an example of successful economic transformation among Asian countries in the global industrial upgrading. Korean movie industry tried to promote its commercial success through extreme narrative, which entails a kind of culture discount in the intercultural communication, leading to an overseas market share far less than Korean TV drama, music and other popular cultural products. In the North American market, the largest market with the most intense competition, Korean movies' box office is just passable, because the movies generally have strong political and nationalistic agendas, trying to create a favorable …
The Dao Shown In Skills Or Integrated Into Skills: An Examination Of Zhuangzi's Aesthetics On Skills, Huoqing Chen
The Dao Shown In Skills Or Integrated Into Skills: An Examination Of Zhuangzi's Aesthetics On Skills, Huoqing Chen
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
In Zhuangzi's relationship between Dao and skill, the prevailing understanding is that Dao can be shown in skills. This understanding, the paper argues, may not be internal to Zhuangzi's thought but derivative from later theorists and scholars on the basis of their understanding of artistic and aesthetic practice. The later theorization may also result from the integration of Confucian and Daoist thoughts. The within-heart epiphany and the experience of "sitting and forgetting" do not correspond to the spirit of arts or aesthetics but to the spirit of morality. The pursuit of the fantastic skills instead of the practical skills in …
The Evolution Of The Concept "Emulating Pre-Tang Regulated Verses" In Ancient Chinese Poetics, Zhanzhao Liu
The Evolution Of The Concept "Emulating Pre-Tang Regulated Verses" In Ancient Chinese Poetics, Zhanzhao Liu
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
As an important poetic concept, the trend of "emulating pre-Tang regulated verses" arose in mid-Tang Dynasty. After its finalization of the pattern, the metrical verses were criticized by those scholars believing that the regulated verses are inferior to the pre-Tang poems, as they were believed to lack the pre-Tang's esthetic characters like Fenggu (air), Xingji (message), simplicity and naturalness. Thus, some scholars proposed the concept of "emulating pre-Tang regulated verses" to learn from pre-Tang poems' rhetoric technique, text structure, style function and writing spirit. Tang poetry advocated Bixing (two metaphorical and rhetorical qualities from The Book of Songs) in the …
The Falsity Of Life And The Truth Of Existence: A Thematic Exploration Into Ingmar Bergman's Works, Ru Pan
The Falsity Of Life And The Truth Of Existence: A Thematic Exploration Into Ingmar Bergman's Works, Ru Pan
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Human existence is one essential theme in the modern art. As a representative of the modern film art, Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman probed into the depth of despair and danger, exposing, through cinematic means, all the disguises of language, revealing the true circumstances of human existence. Bergman's representative works of different periods such as Persona, Autumn Sonata and The Life of Puppets reflected his artistic aspiration, which may be summarized as to unravel the pompous disguise of language, pierce through the frantic illusions of sexuality under the duress of power, and reveal the raging violence underlying close human ties.
The Historical Origin And Changing Connotation Of Recording "The Extraordinary" In Chinese Ancient Novels, Yueling He
The Historical Origin And Changing Connotation Of Recording "The Extraordinary" In Chinese Ancient Novels, Yueling He
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Recording "the Extraordinary (Qi)" is an essential character of Chinese ancient novels, and both its attributes and connotations have been deeply connected with Chinese ancient historical biographical writing. Chinese ancient novels and Shi (historical biography) are closely linked but not similar, as the narrative of historical biography is based on the principles of collecting the extraordinary for the purpose of instructing the sacred way and expressing the justice (Yi) through rhetorical working (Wen). The orthodox concept in "Confucius not talking about the strange and uncanny" and the general exclusion of the extraordinary in the historical biography and the restriction of …
Where Is Literary Theory Going?: A Synopsis Of The Symposium On "The Future Of Literary Theory", Liangcong Zhang, Yuyun Feng
Where Is Literary Theory Going?: A Synopsis Of The Symposium On "The Future Of Literary Theory", Liangcong Zhang, Yuyun Feng
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The context of the symposium is the contemporary theoretical reflection on literary theories. Scholastic discussions in the symposium have focused on the crisis of theory and the possible way-out of the crisis, as well as some specific problems in the research and context of Chinese and Western literary theory. In a new context, the symposium with its focus on the possible prospect of literary theory has undeniable significance in reconstructing contemporary theoretical discourse.
Benjamin In Love: A Re-Interpretation OfMoscow Diary, Shicong Sun
Benjamin In Love: A Re-Interpretation OfMoscow Diary, Shicong Sun
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Benjamin's Moscow Diary records the complex relationship between the life and the thought, and it also penetrated with his self-projection. Neither is Benjamin in love a symbol of the "Benjamin industry" carnival, nor is the bodiless Benjamin a feminist metaphor for the aura of his thoughts. Asja Lacis, the protagonist in Moscow Diary, represents one immanent origin of philosophical critique of modernity in the era of overflowing total alienation and pseudo-experience. Individual's authentic experience has been viewed by Benjamin as the last resort to transcendence and redemption of modernity, and underlying Moscow Diary is Benjamin's philosophy of experience.
The Enigma Of Visibility: Merleau-Ponty's Philosophical Reflection On Painting In Eye And Mind, Yaojun Zhang
The Enigma Of Visibility: Merleau-Ponty's Philosophical Reflection On Painting In Eye And Mind, Yaojun Zhang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Merleau-Ponty's Eye and Mind focuses on painting, but underlying the discussion in the book is the relationship between man and existence, as visuality is the sinew for the relationship. This paper proceeds from the discussion in Eye and Mind and investigates the basic characteristics of visuality before continues to analyze the reversible relationship between man and objects which the paper defines as the relationship between the visible and the invisible. The paper maintains that it is possible to approach existence by way of painting.
Theoretical Features Of Comments On Zhuangzi'S Prose In Qing Dynasty And Their Artistic Value, Bo Li
Theoretical Features Of Comments On Zhuangzi'S Prose In Qing Dynasty And Their Artistic Value, Bo Li
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The annotated commentaries on the prose in Zhuangzi's prose in the Qing Dynasty inherit and develop the traditional theory of literary criticism, and establish a discursive system of modern literary criticism. In particular, the interpretative studies on the narrative theory, appreciation and literary Dao have expanded the scope of Zhuangzi's aesthetics and have significant influence on theoretical development.
Trends Of Literary Theory In The Post-Theoretical Era: Towards Posthumanism, Ning Wang
Trends Of Literary Theory In The Post-Theoretical Era: Towards Posthumanism, Ning Wang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
In response to the pessimistic opinions in the circles of literary theory in the East and West, the paper holds that the passing of the golden era of literary and cultural theory does not mean the death of theory. In the present post-theoretical era, the function of theory is no longer forceful and ubiquitous as before, but rather it is to a certain extent restricted. The rise of the so-called posthumanist trend in the West in the past decade indicates that man in the present era is nothing but one of the species in nature, whose existence and development also …
The Gestation, Evolution And Cultural Implication Of The Concept Of "Author" In Ancient China, Chunqing Li
The Gestation, Evolution And Cultural Implication Of The Concept Of "Author" In Ancient China, Chunqing Li
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The paper examines the development of the concept of "author" in ancient China from the pre-Qin to the Han-Wei Period. The trajectory can be found from Confucius's "explicating without writing down" to the claim that "the authors are too holy to be named" in The Book of Rites, and down to Cao Pi's "Jiayi could be named as a real author [on the basis that] his 'On the Qin's Governance' evaluated Zhou and Qin's merits and demerits, explicated the uninterpreted phenomena, exemplified with the mores from the past three dynasties and illuminated with the sages' teaching." This process, from the …
A Further Reflection On The References Of Verbal Signs And Images, Jingpeng Zhao
A Further Reflection On The References Of Verbal Signs And Images, Jingpeng Zhao
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Language and writing are two different systems. Language as a system of sound symbols has the unique feature of containing "image" (verbal icon) in the sounds, and while writing, compared with the other images, are images that can be pronounced. A further reflection leads to the observation that the resemblance between the verbal icon and the referent can only decide the relation between the meaning and the referent but cannot undermine the arbitrary relationship between the pronunciation and the verbal icon or between the signifier and the signified. In other words, it cannot change the nature of the linguistic sign …
Aesthetic Anthropology Should Focus On The Aesthetic Connotation Of Ethnic Culture, Zheng Wang
Aesthetic Anthropology Should Focus On The Aesthetic Connotation Of Ethnic Culture, Zheng Wang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
This paper argues that aesthetic anthropological research should be directed at aesthetic ideas and their external forms of ethnic culture, as well as the general principles of the gestation, change and development of these ideas and forms. When the aesthetic contents of ethnic cultures are contaminated by industrial civilization and popular culture, with their unique core value increasingly undermined, aesthetic anthropology will lose ground of its academic focus. Aesthetic anthropology should aim to reveal the aesthetic connotation of ethnic cultures and maintain the positivist unique quality of anthropology.
Cleanth Brooks's Theory Of Fiction And His Critical Practice, Feiliang Fu, Shunqing Cao
Cleanth Brooks's Theory Of Fiction And His Critical Practice, Feiliang Fu, Shunqing Cao
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Cleanth Brooks' critical study on fiction, especially on William Faulkner's, is a remarkable achievement. Brooks claimed that there is no essential difference between fiction criticism, poetry criticism and drama criticism. In fiction criticism, Brooks' emphases remain on textual skills such as irony, paradox and symbol, taking fiction as an organism that should be independent of the social life and political propaganda, and opposing Romantic sentimentalism. Nevertheless, Brooks also lay great weight to the historical context and geographical environment of an author, emphasizing the influence of an author's life experience and entire body of works on a particular fiction, and attaching …