The localized choice against a global context: Western literary theory in China in the last 100 years

A systematic study of the spreading paradigm and impact of Western literary theory in this paper will not only have great theoretic significance, but be well-targeted in reality. The modernization of the Chinese literary theory in the past 100 years can not be simply equated with westernization. Though the nature, tendency and characteristics of the three grand influxes of western literary theory into China in this century varied greatly, they revolved approximately around the core of political utilitarianism and aestheticism, which was the result of the positive and initiative selection of the latter. The May 4th movement literary revolution hadn't exactly broken away from the national heritage, rather it served as an interaction between the mainstream and the alternative of Chinese literature kindled by the western thoughts. In the context of the world literary theory, as the author of the present paper expounds, the ethnic identity of the isolated and ossified Chinese literary theory no longer exists, while an open-minded, fluid and combinative one is radiating its full vitality.