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Articles 1 - 30 of 108
Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
The Illusion Of Emergency And The Future Of Cultural Studies: Thirty Years Of Cultural Studies And Cultural Criticism In Mainland China, Zhiqiang Zhou
The Illusion Of Emergency And The Future Of Cultural Studies: Thirty Years Of Cultural Studies And Cultural Criticism In Mainland China, Zhiqiang Zhou
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Since 30 years ago, cultural studies in mainland China has established its own history, theoretical characteristics and framework of inquiries thanks to the introduction of Western theory, discussions of Chinese issues, and the engagement of active dialogue with international cultural studies. Chinese cultural studies started with a critical consciousness, then activated the drives of anti-authoritarianism, and generated an illusion of emergency. Today, it has outgrown the paradigm of the 1950s, and must establish new theories and thoughts on the basis of a new sense of criticism.
The Musicality Of The Chuci Style Revisited: The Establishment Of The Music Symbol "Xi", Weihua Dai
The Musicality Of The Chuci Style Revisited: The Establishment Of The Music Symbol "Xi", Weihua Dai
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
"Xi" is the symbolic symbol of the musicality of Chuci. The construction of the "standard" for the musicality of the Chuci style is based on the translation of "the songs of Yue" and "the songs of Chu" and also on the relationship between the "song" and "words" in Yufu. 兮(xi), as a function word in text, is a vocal representation of musicality. Among all the writings belong to chuci, those containing xi means that there's attempt to capture the vocal musicality of the songs, while those that do not have xi are simply purely textual transcription. The difference between "hun …
The Play-Text Forms Of Early Zaju And Narrative Sanqu In The Jin And Yuan Dynasties, Dajun Xu
The Play-Text Forms Of Early Zaju And Narrative Sanqu In The Jin And Yuan Dynasties, Dajun Xu
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The setting of the recitative protagonist is the core of Sanqu's narrative in the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, who is a firstperson narrator undertaking responsibility for chanting the progression of story with his vision and position. Similarly, the leading singer (Zhengmo or Zhengdan) of Zaju is also a first-person protagonist who undertakes responsibility for chanting the whole librettos of a play-text, so he should be a recitative protagonist of librettos of Zaju. With a comparison of the librettos of Zaju's text attribute and the play-text forms with those of narrative Sanqu, we find that the play-texts of early Zaju have …
The Promise Of The Future: Dimensions Of Future In Walter Benjamin's Philosophy Of History, Guoping Hu
The Promise Of The Future: Dimensions Of Future In Walter Benjamin's Philosophy Of History, Guoping Hu
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
This paper presents the dimensions of future in Walter Benjamin's philosophy of history. Benjamin refused a systematized future which caused the oblivion of the failures. Benjamin puts forward a kind of philosophy of history whose future is illuminated by the unjustness of the past to the future. This philosophy of history which is loyal to the ethic of time regards the past as an incomplete one which carries the responsibility of the memory and establishes an ethical relation between the past and the future, opening to the others as widely as possible.
The Returning Dream-Seeking Trip: The Narrative Of America In Chinese Popular Culture Since The 1990s, Guozhan Chen
The Returning Dream-Seeking Trip: The Narrative Of America In Chinese Popular Culture Since The 1990s, Guozhan Chen
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
This paper finds an obvious change in Chinese popular culture through analyzing the stories of going abroad since the 1990s: the leading character spares no effort to seek American Dream during the early 1990s, but turns back since 2008. It has become a significant narrative mode, and clearly demonstrated the changes of the image of America. From seeking American Dream to realizing Chinese Dream, it narrates a changed China via leading character's return; and it is also a story about how Chinese Dream replaces American Dream. However, such a narrative mode reveals some problems: many of its judgments are accompanied …
The Semiotical Expansion Of Critical Theory: The Semiotical Methods In Baudrilard's Academic Research, Jian'gang Yang
The Semiotical Expansion Of Critical Theory: The Semiotical Methods In Baudrilard's Academic Research, Jian'gang Yang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Jean Baudrilard made great contributions to the dialogue between Marxism and Semiotics. Although he changed from a Marxist to a Post-Marxist, semiotics has always been his methodology throughout his academic career. This intrinsic tension between breakage and connection is primarily caused by the usage of semiotics. By introducing semiotics into Marxism, he began to analyze and criticize the object system, fashion, auction of work of arts and the consumer ideology of consumer society, and formulated his unique critical theory of the political economy of the sign. As a result, he enriched and developed the critical theory of classical Marxism and …
The Tendency Of Restoring Ancient Ideas In Tang Xianzu's Literary Theory Of Love: A Case Study Of The Peony Pavilion, Zhimei Sheng
The Tendency Of Restoring Ancient Ideas In Tang Xianzu's Literary Theory Of Love: A Case Study Of The Peony Pavilion, Zhimei Sheng
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
For a long time, in the study of Tang Xianzu, most scholars believe that "countering Confucian ethical codes with emotion" is core to his idea of love, and Du Liniang is his spokesperson. In The Peony Pavilion, before her death, Du Liniang's image is an awakening young person, which is from the original material that Tang Xianzu adapts. From her death to resurrection, she gradually steps towards tradition and returns to the ethical codes. Du Liniang's journey from a human being to a ghost and from a ghost to a human being starts from love and ends in ethical codes, …
The Socializing Function Of Chinese Characters And The Worship Of Character Power Among Intellectuals In Jiangnan In The Qing Dynasty, Shijin Luo
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
During the Qing Dynasty, intellectuals in Jiangnan communicated with each other through literature, which could be analyzed in three aspects: talking about literature while drinking, taking writing as a profession, and achieving great success in writing. These three aspects embody the overall condition that the intellectuals take writing as a channel, a profession and a tool, reflecting their cognition of the social effects and cultural functions of "character-literature" in different levels. Socializing through writing is not a phenomenon in Jiangnan alone during the Qing Dynasty, but a shared practice among all intellectuals in ancient China to some extent. However, the …
The Style Of Xin Qiji's 24 Ci Poems To The Tune Of Lin Jiang Xian And Its Significance For Studies Of The Tunes Of Ci Poems, Huiguo Zhu
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Xin Qiji wrote 24 Ci poems to the tune of Lin Jiang Xian. These Ci poems' conservation makes him own the largest quantity of Ci poems to the tune of Lin Jiang Xian in the northern and southern Song dynasties. Thus, he possesses a significant place in writing Ci poems to the tune of Lin Jiang Xian and its phylogeny. Xin Qiji's 24 Ci poems are all chosen the basic double tonal patterns and rhyme schemes of Ci poems with 60 characters, and its rhyme is strictly managed. Moreover, the arrangement of level and oblique tones in these Ci poems …
The Translation And Writing Of Modern Chinese Poetry: A Case Study Of Xu Zhimo, Liming Chen
The Translation And Writing Of Modern Chinese Poetry: A Case Study Of Xu Zhimo, Liming Chen
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Since the publication of Wellek's "The Crisis of Comparative Literature" (1959), the study of literary influence has been legion, either focusing on (un) intentional misreading or misunderstanding. The perspective of influence is vital to clarifying the mechanism of Chinese new poetry's production. This article aims to illustrate, through a detailed survey of the intrinsic relation between Xu Zhimo's translation and poetic writing, how he creatively transformed modern western poetry, which not only brought vernacular Chinese poetry prosperity, but interrupted the predominant unpoetic trends by giving new poetry aesthetic temperament, though not yet so satisfactorily. The "anxiety of influence" became motivation …
"Totality" And "Fracture": The External Context And Internal Opportunity In The Generation Of Literary Experience, Yan Wang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
As a basic theory of literary research, literary experience has been a hot topic in the field of literary theory once again in the recent decade, but nowadays the understanding and use of this concept is ambiguous and random. The Western modern experience theory provides the basis for studying literary experience, which is an aesthetic presentation of human experience in the fictional world interwoven by discourses, and thus the human experience is born in the collision of perception and fiction. The world of experience is the external context for the generation of literary experience, which requires cultural memory to provide …
A New Investigation Of The Ideas "Fu Ji" And "Fu Xin", Hui Tao
A New Investigation Of The Ideas "Fu Ji" And "Fu Xin", Hui Tao
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The theory of "Fu Ji" and "Fu Xin" in Xijing Miscellanea has always been considered by scholars as an important material about Sima Xiangru and aesthetic criticism of the ode in the Western Han Dynasty. However, this theory was proposed by someone else in Wei-Jin Periods rather than Sima Xiangru. It had great significance not only because of its precise description of the ode in the Han Dynasty, but also because it revealed how the literary ideas and metaphysics in Wei-Jin Periods affected contemporary people's unique insights in terms of the noumenon and the creation of the ode.
A Return To Gramsci: The Theoretical Origin Of Cultural Politics And The Gramsci Shift Of In Cultural Studies, Yanfeng Li
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Since the 20th century, the Western Marxism underwent an important discourse transformation from the emphasis on economic foundation and the material structure to the superstructure and cultural ideology, from class politics to cultural politics, and ultimately established the discourse paradigm of cultural politics. The theory and practice of cultural politics come from Gramsci, whose dialectical thinking on the economic basis and superstructure, as well as interpretation of culture, politics, ideology and hegemony, directly affected cultural politics of western Marxism and promoted the Gramsci shift of cultural studies in the post-Gramsci era. Based on the analysis of Gramsci's cultural and political …
A Veritable Memoir Of The Leavisian Scrutiny Group, Ruiqing Zhang
A Veritable Memoir Of The Leavisian Scrutiny Group, Ruiqing Zhang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
This paper focuses on the literary and cultural criticism of F.R. Leavis and the Scrutiny group he represents. Scrutiny (1932-1953) was an academic journal started and run by the Leavises in the 20th century, which not only profoundly influenced the 20th-century cultural life of Britain, but also drew attention of the Chinese literary community, especially in the first decade of the 21st century. But it is obvious that most scholars tend to generalize the academic contributions of Leavis and Scrutiny Group as "Leavisian theory", "Leavisian group", "Leavisianism", or simply "Leavis", by taking him as "a lone hero", disregarding the important …
Adorno's Critique Of "Spontaneity" Of The Avant-Garde Art, Peijie Chang
Adorno's Critique Of "Spontaneity" Of The Avant-Garde Art, Peijie Chang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Adorno staunchly supports modernist art. From the concept of "art autonomy," he criticizes the avant-garde's artistic ideas, which centers on the concept of "spontaneity." As he argues, the so-called "spontaneous ideas" and "immediate consciousness" are the "reified consciousnesses" which are constantly unexamined. Avant-garde's skills of creating art works, including "autonomous writing," "collage" and "montage," not only put the autonomous arts in danger, but also harm art itself. The artistic form of avant-garde is inorganic, which hampers itself to engage in reality and the critique of the capitalist system. Moreover, this situation would also be contaminated by the "cultural industry" insomuch …
Affirmative Action And Identification: A Rethinking Of The "Seventeen Years" Minority Film, Chun Liu
Affirmative Action And Identification: A Rethinking Of The "Seventeen Years" Minority Film, Chun Liu
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The tension between ethnic group and the nation state, as well as the nation state and the international order, is the core conflict of globalization. From the aspect of visual identification, the article reviews the "Seventeen years" minority film (1949-1966) when China was not involved in globalization in a modern sense. Through a comparison with the U. S. affirmative action which has been commonly adopted by ethnic studies, this article creates a new explanation frame, arguing that such policies in the 1950 s as nationality identification, ethnic equality and ethnic autonomy were a part of the Socialist affirmative action. Based …
Art's Border Crossings, Crisis Or Rebirth Of Aesthetics: A Study Of Rancière's Critique Of Lyotard, Haochen Zhang
Art's Border Crossings, Crisis Or Rebirth Of Aesthetics: A Study Of Rancière's Critique Of Lyotard, Haochen Zhang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Following the Utopian tradition characterized by the interaction between aesthetic autonomy and aesthetic criticism, many Western scholars have critical attitudes towards art's border crossings and therefore are pessimistic about the trend of aesthetics. Rancière, through reflections on Lyotard and the whole postmodern "ethical turn" that he represents, tries to activate the political potential within border crossings of art and thereby reconstructs aesthetics' critical dimensions. However, due to the confusion of the "unpresentable" and the "unrepresentable", Rancière does not sympathetically see Lyotard's sublime aesthetics' direction; his route of aesthetic politics also has some limitations. Both his insights and limitations as manifested …
Desktop Drama And Stage Drama: Technical Problems Of Traditional Chinese Drama In The Mid-Ming Dynasty And Shen Jing's Contribution, Wanshu Zhu, Wen Zhu
Desktop Drama And Stage Drama: Technical Problems Of Traditional Chinese Drama In The Mid-Ming Dynasty And Shen Jing's Contribution, Wanshu Zhu, Wen Zhu
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
When it comes to Shen Jing's idea of poetic drama writing, scholars used to confine themselves to his controversy with Tang Xianzu, instead of paying sufficient attention to and making objective evaluation of Shen Jing's other ideas. This article argues that though many literati since the mid-Ming Dynasty were active in the creation of xiqu works, the scripts they created were very difficult to be staged and sung, because there were no rules of creation to be followed. They were neither unsuitable for kunju emerged in the Wuzhong area of Suzhou. Therefore, literati were faced with "technical problems" during their …
Cultural Code: The Public Image Of Imagination, Hecheng Li
Cultural Code: The Public Image Of Imagination, Hecheng Li
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Cultural code, as the public image of imagination, provides an analytical model for the integration of mind and social order. Vico's civil theology, through the ideas of "imaginative concept" and the "metaphor", explains the origin of human common sense, and shows the meaning of mind that the poetic wisdom brings to the community. Since the emergence of subjectivity philosophy, this has critical significance for distinguishing image from being itself. Arendt's idea of the "exemplary" combines the concrete and the common by special images' interactive communication, thereby achieving a common commonality. This is how the mechanism of the imagination progresses from …
Disenchantment: Gu Cheng And Hai Zi In The Illusion Of Cultural Memory, Dong Yan
Disenchantment: Gu Cheng And Hai Zi In The Illusion Of Cultural Memory, Dong Yan
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
In the history of Chinese new poetry since a century ago, Gu Cheng and Hai Zi have become a cultural memory symbol indispensable to contemporary culture. Their similarities in people's memory continue to affect later readers' interest, which gives them an enduring position in the age fragmented with information. However, being in the cultural memory illusion, they gradually reveal how new poetry becomes an object of consumerism and entertainment. At the same time, because of the function of the symbol system called "condensed structure" by Jan Assmann, factors within and without their poetry are mixed together and indistinguishable, which affects …
Mimetic Violence And The Issue Of The Other: A New Interpretation Of René Girard, Xue Li, Xiao Bi
Mimetic Violence And The Issue Of The Other: A New Interpretation Of René Girard, Xue Li, Xiao Bi
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
In his study of some literary canons, René Girard, a French literary critic and anthropologist, analyzes human desire and sums up the theory of mimetic desire, which means that a person's desire, as the desire of the subject, always imitates the similar desire that belongs to the mediator of the desire. Girard distinguishes the modes of mimetic desire into two types, the external mediation and the internal mediation, and draws a conclusion that the internal mediation would inevitably lead to violence due to the competition between the subject and the mediator. Referring to Roland Barthes's mythologies, this article indicates that …
On The Misunderstanding And Reception Of "To Be A Poet In The Spare Time", Xiang Xiong
On The Misunderstanding And Reception Of "To Be A Poet In The Spare Time", Xiang Xiong
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
"To Be a Poet in The Spare Time" was a verse from Han Yu (768-824), and he praised Xi Ba with this verse. From North Song Dynasty, some people made it as an independent topic to express their own opinions. And some people even add their own understandings to Han Yu, which lead to the confusion about quoting and annotating. They had two explanations about the verse, poem was less important than essay, or poem was less important than government affairs and moral integrity. The former reflected the poetics of Ou Yangxiu (1007-1072) and others, and the latter continued traditional …
Oriental Miscellany And Theatre Reform Of Modern China, Liming Zhao
Oriental Miscellany And Theatre Reform Of Modern China, Liming Zhao
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
At the beginning of the new literature, Oriental Miscellany consciously provided a public platform for advocating theatre reform, and contributed greatly in this aspect. In terms of reforming traditional theatre, it put forward the idea of the three ways for reform, thus correcting the New Youth School's extreme idea of abolishing traditional theatre. As for the introduction of Western drama, it paid attention to transplanting advanced theatre ideas, such as nature, evolution, realism and tragedy. It advocated the reform of theatre space, and introduced Western experimental drama, thus promoting the development of the "little theater" in China. As a modern …
Personal Experience About Frankfurt School: From "Non-Identity" To "Singularity" — An Interview With Professor Samuel Weber, Yong Zhao, Weber Samuel
Personal Experience About Frankfurt School: From "Non-Identity" To "Singularity" — An Interview With Professor Samuel Weber, Yong Zhao, Weber Samuel
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
In this interview, Professor Samuel Weber vividly reviews his personal study experience with Adorno in the 1960s, reveling some features of Adorno's thoughts such as the teleological tendency and non-identity. Based on Adorno's current situation and the limits of his general concept, Professor Weber and the interviewer discuss the inevitable barrier between the social critical theory and the political action plans. He further develops "repetition" and "singularity" from Kierkegaard, Walter Benjamin and Derrida, which focus on the concrete things. The interview also reveals the question of foreign words and Adorno's half Jewish identity in the discussion of Adorno's controversial saying, …
Preservation And Distortion: The Recording, Editing And Publishing Of Yangzhou Storytelling, Huarong Wang
Preservation And Distortion: The Recording, Editing And Publishing Of Yangzhou Storytelling, Huarong Wang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Affected by the Chinese Communist Party's policies on literature and art and the aesthetics of written literature, during the recording, editing and publishing Yangzhou storytelling, the editors revised or deleted the undesirable or negative content including the parts that did not comply with the social ideology. Meanwhile, the editors tended to follow the style of written literature to normalize the language of Yangzhou storytelling. On one hand, the recording and publishing work saved some repertoires of Yangzhou storytelling, and let more people know and enjoy Yangzhou storytelling. It also promoted the development of academic research on Yangzhou storytelling. On the …
Prosthesis Of Speed, Aesthetics Of Disappearance And Logistics Of Perception: Paul Virilio's Discussions Of Cinema, Xing Zheng
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
By integrating scatted discussions of Paul Virilio, this paper will give a comprehensive mapping of his thought on cinema and reveal its inner logic. Virilio's discussions on cinema are based on his "Dromology" theory. He points out that cinema is a kind of Prosthesis of Speed. It mimics an experience of perception which is peculiar to children, and has made it reborn in the adults. In this context, a new aesthetics related to modern art and media has emerged, which is named "Aesthetics of Disappearance" by Virilio. This new aesthetics has reshaped the perception in modern society in all dimensions, …
Questions About Studies Of The Book Of Songs In The Recent Century, Yufeng Xie
Questions About Studies Of The Book Of Songs In The Recent Century, Yufeng Xie
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Many scholars such as Hu Shi have made pioneering contributions to the researches of The Book of Songs in the recent century. They have found common ground regarding some issues about The Book of Songs: it is the earliest poetry collection in China; all the poems are songs; there are three types of poems, namely, feng, ya, and song. But there might be serious misunderstandings in these aspects, which need reinvestigation. We should express gratitude to predecessors who enlighten us and misguide us simultaneously. It is our destiny that we will be permanently on the road to truth of The …
Re-Packaging A Cultural Revolution Model Opera: Politics And Commerce In Tsui Hark's The Taking Of Tiger Mountain, Li Han
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Tsui Hark's The Taking of Tiger Mountain (Zhiqu weihu shan, 2014) presents an unique text to examine the ramification of the Cultural Revolution in contemporary China and its interplay with the explosive growth of the mainland film industry in the global context. First of all, examined herein is the CCP's discourse on the role of cinema in its cultural enterprise plan in recent years. By situating The Taking of Tiger Mountain in the state's refreshed propaganda campaigns, the paper demonstrates how this work participates in the continuing exploration of new possibilities for the "main melody" elements. Secondly, conducted here is …
Tarrying With The Surface: The Screen Theory Of Slavoj Žižek, Guangji Wei
Tarrying With The Surface: The Screen Theory Of Slavoj Žižek, Guangji Wei
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Centered around Lacan's concept "screen-image", this paper, proceeding from Žižek's interpretation of Lacanian psychoanalysis, especially from Žižek's critical theory of ideology, tries to elaborate, on the level of the image, how "the real/the Real" is visually constructed, and to demonstrate that the invisible is not the mystery beneath the appearance, but the manner with which the real "tarries with the surface".
The Aesthetic Ethics Of Evil: Understanding Evil In Modernistic Narrative, Shiren Tang
The Aesthetic Ethics Of Evil: Understanding Evil In Modernistic Narrative, Shiren Tang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
With the characters of impersonality and depersonalization, the evil plots in modern fiction is often described intuitively and indifferently, that is great different from the traditional narrative which the moral attitudes are distinctively. It's difficult to understand the complex ethical tenor from the evil plots in modern narrative, so readers also need to understanding some modern aesthetic ethics concepts. These issues are also prominently manifested in Chinese contemporary literature, especially in Vanguard writing and Modernist Literature. From the perspective of evil writing, we can review the Modernistic narrative in Chinese Contemporary Novels, and explore the narrative ethics, at last point …