The Dialectical Relationship between “San” (散) and “Wen” (文): “Speech” and Modern Chinese Prose Aesthetics
Vol. 45 No. 1 03/2015
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Title |
The Dialectical Relationship between “San” (散) and “Wen” (文): “Speech” and Modern Chinese Prose Aesthetics |
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Author |
Liu, Zheng-zhong |
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Genre |
Article |
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Pages |
101-142 |
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Download |
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Language |
Chinese |
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Key words |
speech, vernacular prose, modernity, May 4th movement, new literati |
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Abstract |
This article discusses how “speech” became involved in and changed the tradition of Chinese writing, initiating the pattern of poetic production in vernacular prose. The May Fourth new literati experienced collective anxiety over losing their voice. They believed that writing should open up the system, reconfigure authority, and integrate the vernacular in order to obtain its voice, display vigor, and create poetic sentiment. With respect to social reformation, they regarded “speech” as an act of liberation. With respect to the literary revolution, they regarded it as a process of creating poetic language. Therefore speech, a daily behavior, suddenly became a ritual of revaluation, which produced the force necessary to stimulate the transformation of Chinese prose from classical to modern. |