Abstract
This article is a genealogical investigation of the origin and evolvement of aesthetic poetics in China since the 1980s. Its prelude originated from the "imagistic thinking Debate" in the 1950s and 1960s, which was revived at the end of the 1970s. The outcome of this debate was a common recognition that the image, rather than concepts, features literature and art. The evolvement from image epistemology to affectionism paved the way to an aestheticism-based theory. However, the emphasis on the functions of aestheticism to appeal, to educate, to save, and to liberate indicates that the aesthetic poetics was a utilitarian literary paradigm. Out of key with the time in the 1990s, the value system of aestheticism fell short of addressing the new cultural reality. The origin, development, and evolvement of this aesthetic poetics have proved that any essentialist poetics is just an interpretation of literature under certain circumstances. Though dominant in one period, it will be replaced and surpassed. The purpose of literary study is to comprehend literature's richness, intricacy, and significance to life, rather than attaching to it an essence.
First Page
15
Last Page
26
Recommended Citation
Xing, Jianchang, and Hao Zhang. 2016. "The Origin and Evolvement of Aesthetic Poetics from the Perspective of Genealogy." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 36, (4): pp.15-26. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol36/iss4/21
