Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 12, 2023

Reflections on the Essentialism of Historiography in China’s 20th Century Literary History

(Abstract)

Zhu Shouxian

From a historical perspective, a widely accepted conclusion about China’s 20th century literary history is that although literary history falls between literature and historiography, the specific treatment of the two has met with different fortunes: history often bests literature. This historical essentialist thinking permeates various aspects of the practice of literary history. The historiographic essentialist view of literary history holds firmly that its essence is “history,” and in turn it incorporates literary history into the scope of historiography. In terms of specific writing practice, it draws inspiration from historiography’s concepts, methods, stylistic settings, historical stages, narrative mode, discourse conventions, etc. It also emphasizes the decisive significance of the socio-historical scene for literary creation, which helps to reveal the intrinsic connection between the development of literature and social realities. However, to a certain extent, it has obscured the role of literature in literary history’s scheme of internal composition, blurring the disciplinary boundaries between literary history and historiography and exacerbating the gap between literature and the 20th century discipline of Chinese literary history. Literary history is not only history but also literature; its essence lies in inter-literary history. Therefore, reflecting on the literary history view of essentialist historiography is the only way for Chinese literary history to return to its essence and become a veritable literary history, and thus realize a path to disciplinary innovation.