On the Misreading of the Literature Research Association in Translating and Accepting Modern Russian Literature

During the May 4th period, particularly in the early and middle 1920's, There is a unprecedented prosperity in the introduction and translation of Russian literature in China. Having seen the significance and value of Russian literature translation in Chinese current political trend and cultural construction, Zhou Zuoren, Mao Dun, Zheng Zhenduo and other outstanding literary figures of the Literature Research Association took the lead in advocating the translation of Russian works into Chinese. They adopted modern Russian literature of realism genre and interpreted kinds of works of Russian authors from the practical perspective. They laid emphasis on the prominent humanism and the realist style embedded in Russian literature, and intensified the significance and value to instruct China's reality. Such misreading, which was utilitarian oriented in the literary, met the domestic needs in the turning period of Chinese social culture in the May 4th movement. On one hand, it provided the Chinese new literature creation with literary resources; on the other hand it brought some negative influence.