Abstract
Wang Guowei's Criticism on A Dream of Red Mansions is acclaimed as a groundbreaking work in the history of Chinese literary criticism for its “organized and systematic” approach. However, a notable textual discontinuity exists between the Chapter III and IV, revealing ideological shifts and editorial interventions by Wang himself. He openly acknowledged that Chapter IV abandoned Schopenhauer's theory of the will, which formed the philosophical foundation of Chapter III. A close examination of Wang’ s editorial practices as the chief editor of World of Education revealed a striking anomaly: while articles marked with “to be printed in the next issue” consistently appeared as scheduled in the subsequent issue, Chapter IV of Criticism was the sole exception. Influenced by Nietzsche's ethics, Wang began to question “the highest ideal of Schopenhauer's ethics,” prompting a revision of the chapter's publication schedule. Titled as “The Ethical Value of A Dream of Red Mansions,” Chapter IV marked a significant shift. Later, as Criticism evolved from serialized publication to a self-selected anthology, Wang meticulously revised earlier arguments in Chapter II to align with the new ethical stance in Chapter IV. This case highlight how media morphosis profoundly influenced the development of early modern Chinese literary criticism.
Keywords
media morphosis, ethics, literary theory, novel critique, World of Education
First Page
12
Last Page
21
Recommended Citation
Si, Wei. 2025. "Tracing Textual Discontinuity in Wang Guowei's Criticism on A Dream of Red Mansions." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 45, (2): pp.12-21. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol45/iss2/2
