Author ｜
Lin Yu-kai
Abstract ｜
Wenxue is the modern Chinese term for literature. However, it is an ancient term that originated from the Confucian classics where it did not bear the same meaning as it does now. While some scholars have pointed out that wenxue was reintroduced as the modern Chinese term for “literature” during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, what qualifies this term to serve as the modern referent for “literature” is a question that remains underexplored. In this paper, I analyze the works of Wang Guowei (王國維, 1877-1927), Hu Shi (胡適, 1891-1962), ChenDuxiu (陳獨秀, 1879-1942), Liu Bannong (劉半農, 1891-1934), LuoJia Lun (羅家倫, 1897-1969), and Zhou Zuoren (周作人, 1885-1967), among others, to show how wenxue articulates of set of cosmopolitan values such as the idea of individual life and the call for a reflection on the humanity as a whole.
keywords ｜
Wenxue, aesthetics, language, humane literature, life