From the Subject-object Opposition to Inter-subjectivity——On the Transformation of Western Literary Criticism Paradigm in the 20th Century

Literary criticism is an activity of literary interpretation guided by certain literary concepts. Different literary concepts determine the critics' attitude to the texts and ways to interpret them and thereby influence the purpose and significance of criticism activities. Making a comprehensive review of the western literary history in the 20th century, one may find that, with the transformation from essentialism to dialogic theory, literary criticism also has experienced a change from Subject-object Opposition paradigm to Inter-subjectivity paradigm. In the context of words of the later postmodernism, literary criticism has shifted to post-modern criticism headed by culture studies.