From Modernization to Modernity: Transition of Modern Chinese Literature Studies in the 20th Century

The authors maintain that the 1980s and 90s have witnessed a significant transition of the discourse paradigm of modern Chinese literature studies. Modernization, having Enlightenment as its value standard in 1980s, gives the way to in 1990s, which devotes itself to the comprehensive speculation upon the of literature. Such a transition indicates that our acknowledgement of modern Chinese literature and value judgment tends to be more pluralistic, and is very helpful for us to reveal the once being suppressed modernity of modern Chinese literature in more broad a field. However, we should also pay close attention to the discourse ambiguity of modernity. To discuss the of modern Chinese literature, we must keep in mind the special context of its occurrence, the specificity of historical progress and the complexity, plurality, and even paradoxicality contained in literary text proper as the connotation of modernity.