Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.1, 2022 

The Production of Knowledge in Contemporary Chinese Literary Theory from an Intergenerational Perspective

(Abstract)

Tao Dongfeng

Through examining the knowledge production of contemporary Chinese literary theory from an intergenerational perspective, we can find an obvious phenomenon that there are two large teams in this field. One was a group of literary theorists born in the 1930s and the other in the 1950s. A sociological analysis of the phenomenon in the light of Mannheim’s generational theory, reveals that the differences in life experiences, knowledge structures, cultural positions and literary perspectives between the post1930s and post-1950s generations of literary theorists have profoundly influenced their approaches to the production of literary theory.