Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.3, 2021

 

Reflection on Novel Commentary Study over the Past 20 Years

(Abstract)

 

Tan Fan

 

Since the late 19th century, the study of novel commentary has undergone four stages marked by the years of 1950, 1980, and 2000. Over the past two decades, the field comes to fruition in three major dimensions, namely theoretical study against the background of the history of criticism, comprehensive study through the lens of cultural history, and grammatical study based on theory of essay composition. Retrospectively, study falls short when it comes to the history of novel commentary, commentary on novels written in classical Chinese, and textual criticism that exerts the greatest influence on novel dissemination. Future scholarly efforts are advised to shine light on these issues, thereby exploring new fields concerning basic study, theoretical study and historical study.