Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.2, 2019

Analysis of Five Rumors about Guo Moruo

(Abstract)

Li Bin

Guo Moruo is one of the most polemic and important intellectuals of twentieth-century China. Serious reflections of Guo are needed, though many are based on unreliable historical materials. This paper has selected five typical rumors about Guo and his writings, ranging from his marriage, his behaviors in the socialist period, his criticism on Shen Congwen, and his motive of writing Li Bai and Du Fu, in the hope of analyzing the provenance and transmission of these rumors and approaching the truth with reliable materials. The emergence of these rumors, this paper contends, is closely related to the transformation of research paradigms and literary ideas since 1980s. Furthermore, a reflection of Guo Moruo based on an analysis of the “rumors” is of significance for us to reconsider prevalent research paradigms and literary ideas.