Reflections on the Historical Context and Political Philosophical Implications of Mao Zedong’s Talks at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art

Abstract

Setting to the task of a logical exposition of this article from Mao’s Talks with regards to both historical context and philosophical content, a re-reading explores the “living historical document” as a theoretical possibility. The author indicates that the literary-artistic hypothesis of Talks consists in the political and military logic of “the revolutionary machine,” offering a politically autonomous character to artistic formulation while simultaneously drawing up a mechanics for the general relationship between the reconstruction of art and social relations in the country’s future. Successively, in an attempt to engage with an elucidation of Mao’s notion of “universal enlightenment” in the contemporary context, is an analytical emphasis on the implications of the material of Talks which embodies its cultural-political framework. This indicates that the revolutionary machine imposes a double function on the cultural-artistic worker as somebody who undertakes the responsibilities of both teacher and servant; who occupies the position of a “vanishing mediator” in the process of universal historical movement; and whose vanguard characteristics and ultimate existence possess no independent value but instead depend on and draw from their relationship with the historical totality. The author holds that this perspective supports the advancement of our cognizance with regards to the civilizing functionality and ethical constructiveness of the Chinese Revolution in world-historical context.

Keywords

revolutionary literature and art / political philosophy / enlighten- ment / education / service (Dienst) / universality / revolution as a civilizing process

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2019 Higher Education Press and Brill