20th Century Exploration of the “Issue of the Chinese Epic”

Abstract

The paper explores the question of the Chinese language epic, a topic frequently discussed in academic circles throughout the 20th century. Over the past century, many academics of an older generation have put forward ideas for resolving this issue, which arose from the perspective of the origins of Western literature. But careful examination indicates that all the hypotheses and explanations do not faithfully or fully adhere to the facts themselves. This academic affair arose in the course of eastward spread of Western influences when numerous scholars tried to explain the origins of Chinese literature by transplanting to Chinese soil a model of the origins of Western literature. The author doubts the logic of taking such a model as a universal interpretative framework for the historical development of literature or using epic poetry to explain the sources of Chinese literature. Underlying the fact that their academic consciousness was not based on a profound understanding of the facts and materials was a blind and unreflective pursuit of Western discourse; there are lessons to be learned from this.

Keywords

epic / issue of epic / history of literature / origin / Western discourse