Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 4, 2023

Variables and Constants in Literature: “Extrinsic Research” and “Intrinsic Research”

(Abstract)

Chen Zhongyi

The variables and constants in literature areas inextricably entangled as quantums, in what is not only a basic mode of literary existence but also an important precondition for the longevity of literary classics. However, since the 19th century, literary trends and critical theories have rushed in headlong. In particular, extrinsic and intrinsic studies in literary research are at war, a situation manifest in disputes and even mutual exclusion. The constants or common sense of literature are intentionally or unintentionally ignored. This is not only clear evidence of the accelerated development of human society, but also the result of the interaction of many complex factors. How to dialectically analyze the relationship between variables and constants or “extrinsic” and “intrinsic” research has long become a major issue that is difficult to avoid. Literature is an additive process, and its variables cannot negate the constants, any more than contemporary literature would make us negate classical literature; and we certainly should not forget classical theory, especially the original principles of our mother literature, because of contemporary Western literary theory. To guard the constants and gain insight into the variables in a dialectical and balanced way that goes into the internal and emerges from the external is the basic standpoint for reconstructing literary principles.