Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.3, 2020

The Concept of “Autonomy of Art” in the West and Paradigmatic Innovations in Contemporary Chinese Literary Theory

(Abstract)

Han Qingyu

As an important characteristic of aesthetic modernity, the autonomy of art was charged with the mission of transforming Western aesthetics from the classical to the modern, and exerted much influence on contemporary Chinese literary theory. The discussion on the autonomy of art gave rise to a number of meaningful questions in the Chinese context. These include “turning inward” and “aesthetic ideology”, which embody the long-lasting tradition of “writings are for conveying truth”, the dialectical understanding of the autonomy of art, as well as the awareness of constructing the aesthetics of literature and the arts as a discipline. Ultimately, this led to the paradigmatic innovation in the interpretation of Chinese literature. For us, this methodology taught us that we ought to take the demand of Chinese local theory as the foothold, be geared to the needs of the reality of Chinese literature, learn from Western theory to make comprehensive innovation, and construct a local discourse system of literary theory.