Author ｜
Cheuk-wai Yip
Abstract ｜
There was a trend composing “critical biography” and “deeds research” of classical literary writers during Mingguo 民國 period, after the May Fourth Movement. These articles absorbed the literary and sociological point of views of the time, showing some kinds of modern writing style. For example, many articles concern the love stories of the subject of biography and tend to replace Confucian moralization by individualism in their approaches, etc. Some findings are accepted by literary history afterward and become the general judgment to those classical writers. By examining the theoretical resources which those articles had applied, we could find that the “rearrangement of the national heritage,” the urge of “human literature,” the translation and introduction of western love theories and Kuriyagawa Hakuson’s love and literary works, had exerted a significant influence on the writing approach of those articles. Therefore, we could conclude that these “critical biography” and “deeds research” articles are signs of the spirit of the age, showing the concern of writers on the contemporary age and their everyday life, and their discovery of modern values from the research of classical literature. Having a deep understanding on these articles, we are allowed to find new angles to review the values of classical literature and modern literature and the transformation of those values and their relationships. It also provides clues for us to rethink the origin of values in the literary history, and the reason why such values are being emphasized.
keywords ｜
critical biography, deeds research, individualism, biographical literature, literary concept