Introduction: Highlights of Chinese Theories of Literary Creation

This book is the first install ment of a four-part pro ject, with roughly con cur rent pub li ca tion in Chi nese and English: the first three of my Chi nese mono graphs will appear with Shanghai guji chubanshe in the first half of 2025, soon after the pub li ca tion of this first English mono graph. It will take some what more time to bring out the remaining mono graphs in the English series. As works treating Chinese theories of literature, literary creation, interpretation, and aesthetic judgment, respec tively, they're all subtitled A Historical and Critical Introduction to emphasize their broad chronological coverage and their original and analytical nature. Each book pres ents much mate rial never presented in either Chi nese- or English-lan guage schol ar ship. On both the macro level (each book's con cep tual frame work) and the micro level (my topic selec tion and com men tary), I believe my work is decidedly new. At the same time, I mean to make my crit i cal inquiry acces si ble to as broad a read er ship as pos si ble.