The study of modern Chinese literature involves various dimensions, as described by Edward Hallett Carr, involving “an endless process of interaction between facts, a continuous questioning and answering between the present and the past.” In other words, the “present” in the study of modern literary history is an extension of the “historical” continuum. When researchers stand in the “present” and look back to the “past,” extracting a historical segment from linear time and space and endowing it with a “new” order and interpretation, the entangled relationship between the “present” and “history” undergoes repeated oscillations. Literature thus acquires developmental significance in terms of era and spirit, society and culture, as well as thought and academia. In order to elucidate the intricate relationships between modern literature and history, researchers in the field have explored various forms of expression, shuttling between reality, conventions, and situations. They focus on the writer’s psyche, life, the emergence of textual works, societal development, and even ecological history, continuously approaching the so-called “real literary history” from multidimensional research perspectives.
Through the ongoing discovery and release of materials that were once confined, suppressed, obscured, or forgotten, dialogue and interaction between the past and present become more aligned with clarification and interpretation, responding more effectively to emerging research questions. This dynamic process stimulates new flows in the history of modern literature, opening up various possibilities in the literary scene. We hereby invite submissions for the special topic on “Historical Narratives in the Study of Modern Chinese Literature—Multiple Paths of Reality, Conventions, and Situational Presentations.” Contributions may encompass the construction of modern literary history, new forms of practicality, analyses and discussions starting from newspapers, texts, and diaries, returning to the “literary scene,” as well as cross-context and cross-cultural discourse on modern Chinese literature. We welcome submissions from scholars worldwide to collectively build a profound and extensive understanding of issues related to “modern Chinese literature.” Submission for this special article column section ends by the beginning of September 2024.
Through the ongoing discovery and release of materials that were once confined, suppressed, obscured, or forgotten, dialogue and interaction between the past and present become more aligned with clarification and interpretation, responding more effectively to emerging research questions. This dynamic process stimulates new flows in the history of modern literature, opening up various possibilities in the literary scene. We hereby invite submissions for the special topic on “Historical Narratives in the Study of Modern Chinese Literature—Multiple Paths of Reality, Conventions, and Situational Presentations.” Contributions may encompass the construction of modern literary history, new forms of practicality, analyses and discussions starting from newspapers, texts, and diaries, returning to the “literary scene,” as well as cross-context and cross-cultural discourse on modern Chinese literature. We welcome submissions from scholars worldwide to collectively build a profound and extensive understanding of issues related to “modern Chinese literature.” Submission for this special article column section ends by the beginning of September 2024.
