Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.2, 2019

Questions concerning the Reading and Evaluation of Guo Moruo’s Plays

(Abstract)

Xian Liqiang

Guo Moruo’s historical dramas, Qu Yuan for example, had triggered polarized receptions and evaluations since its publication, polemical readings of which, from the left and the right wing, have later developed to be the endogenous and exogenous interpretations both in mainland China and abroad. The author argues that it is necessary to screen the pseudo-reading about Guo, and adequate apprehension of the performativity and readability as manifested in Guo’s historical dramas is in great need. While reading Guo’s plays, an open-minded view of drama, instead of the narrowly defined stylistic view, should be taken, one which fully recognizes and affirms the variety, integration and transformation of genres in his playwrighting. A pioneer in the field, Guo’s historical dramas have been dismissed as the “fascination of the dead bone” or the “trumpet of his time”. Such negative readings and comments reveal, on the contrary, the importance of Guo’s plays. That is about how a playwright should do to tap into the Zeitgeist contained in traditional culture, or how to construct the cultural confidence through contemporary narrations of history.