A Reflection on the Literary History Research of the Past Hundred Years

The review of the literary history research over the past hundred years reveals that we have to pay due attention to the specific works and avoid turning new ideas into rigid modes.We need a concept of literary history which reflects the actual development of literature and a literary history which is rich in real ideas.We should attach importance not only to the artistic analysis of works but also to literary activities as a whole,avoid reducing the literary history simply to a history of works.As for the individual writers,our literary history should give a good understanding to the literary trend reflected in their works and their characteristic literary contributions rather than remain a chronological collection of the writers' life stories,in which a writer's contribution is proportional to the textual space he is allocated.