Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.2, 2020

From Dramatic Conflict to Destiny Conflict:The Poetic Formation of Cao Yu’s Plays

(Abstract)

Liu Yong

What Cao Yu always concerned about is the exploration of the mystery of the universe and the consideration of human destiny. As a resulf, Cao Yu’s plays generally have a broad, far-reaching, long had been poetic nature. “Poem in the play” is the feature in Cao Yu’s plays which is closest to both foreign drama and traditional Peking Opera. Understanding Cao Yu and modern drama’s development over the past century from this perspective, we can better appreciate Cao Yu’s importance for Chinese modern drama and even Chinese modern literature.