Abstract
Aofuhebian (Aufheben), now commonly rendered in Chinese as yangqi, is a core category of dialectics. In 1928, the Creation Society introduced this concept into the “debate on revolutionary literature,” which served as a major approach of Marxist literary theory and drove the paradigm shift of Chinese literary discourse. From the perspective of literary history, its dialectical logic of negation broke from the stereotype of linear evolutionism, providing a philosophical basis for revolutionary writers to sublate May Fourth New Literature. In terms of class consciousness, it functioned as a theoretical weapon against bourgeois literary views and anchored the proletarian writing stance of revolutionary literature. Such an attempt to translate philosophical conceptualization into practical guidelines for writing marked the strong self-consciousness among early left-wing critics in constructing a localized theory. However, the intense polemics with Lu Xun simplified its profound theoretical implications into a strategy of struggle. In terms of theory, dialectical sublation was replaced by mechanical negation. In creative practice, this appeared as the formulaic pattern of “revolution plus romance.” The tension between theoretical transplantation and practical alienation constitutes a symptom of early Chinese Marxist literary theory. Re-examining early cases where theory, criticism, and creation were intertwined can provide profound insights for the construction of contemporary literary theory.
Keywords
Aufheben, Sinicization of Marxist literary theory, debate on revolutionary literature, the Creation Society, Lu Xun
First Page
16
Last Page
25
Recommended Citation
Lai, Rui. 2026. "Aufheben: The Theoretical Approach of Early Chinese Marxist Literary Theory." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 46, (2): pp.16-25. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol46/iss2/2
