Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 1, 2023

The Chinese Experience of Orienting Literature and Art toward the Masses and the Rethinking of Modern Concepts of Literature and Art

(Abstract)

Li Yangquan

The pursuit of mass style of literature and art is a unique phenomenon closely related to the transformation of modern Chinese society, and its theory and practice have become Chinese experience. Unlike the Western culture of individual enlightenment, the mass orientation of literature and art in China has molded the Chinese spirit. It stands on the reality of Chinese society, implies the autonomy of nation-state construction, reflects on the self-regulation of art, and reconstructs the relationship between literature and art and social practice. The mass style of literature and art represents a process and means of realizing an affinity to the people of literature and art, challenging the notion of elitism and treating creators as a special group. Unlike static aesthetics, the mass style of literature and art empathizes the importance of going deeply into life and practice. Through the interaction between intellectuals and the masses, “speaking for” the masses turned into intellectuals’ “speaking for themselves,” which provides a theoretical solution to the tricky problem of intellectuals’ speaking for the masses. In the use of national forms of literature and art, the mass style of literature and art has been manifest in a shift from a written to a living culture, and in terms of aesthetic effect and literary evaluation, it has thrown off “work centrism”. By reconstructing the relationship between writing, society and the masses, the mass style of literature and art has made systematic reflections on modern concepts of literature and art.