The problem of how the academic examination of the cultural phenomenon of an adjacent nation can be sublimed to the universality of humane studies is an unavoidable gateway to the overall studies of foreign literature. Strictly speaking, the prepositi ...
The problem of how the academic examination of the cultural phenomenon of an adjacent nation can be sublimed to the universality of humane studies is an unavoidable gateway to the overall studies of foreign literature. Strictly speaking, the preposition for ‘universality’ is the dialectical fusion of subjectivity and objectivity, which is intertwined with the essential problem of proving that the act of interpretation is not simply established on the basis of the personal experience of the researcher. Such question signifies the rationality that the research of humane studies must be discussed with the consideration of the methodology of interpretation itself.
his context, the ultimate aim of this study is the experimental examination of the possibility of reading the East with the eye of the East.
This study is composed of two main axes. One is the examination of the problem of why 'language' had to be the core subject of conversation in the discourse of the meaning of the modernity of China in relation to the practical cases of cultural history. The other is, on the basis of the analysis of the existing discussions, illuminating that the discourse of modernity is already structured linguistically. Of course, the ultimate aim of this study is the establishment of a new paradigm to have a perspective of the modernity of China.
For this, this study systematically groped for the possibility of the establishment of ‘Eastern style’ research methodology as an alternative thinking compared to Western style. For this purpose, the sub themes related to the philosophy of the Book of Changes including the specific operation principles of divination signs, the interpretation principles of the shape of the divination signs, the principle of the formation of the shapes and the thinking logic of the parts and the whole were examined in depth. Furthermore, on the basis of the methodological hypothesis established in such a way, the thinking logic positioning in the depths of Chinese culture was traced through the inspection of the thinking grammar that shows the specific linguistic format. As a result, it was illuminated that the typical format of the classical Chinese poetry was a thorough reflection of a world of Duidai theory.
By applying the Duidai theory as a methodology to the modern Chinese literature, a very interesting phenomenon different from the interpretation of the existing studies' interpretation with evolutionistic paradigm was drawn out. Firstly, with the cases of Liu Bannong who attempted to solve the contradiction between easy language and literary language with ‘opposition’ and Hu Shi who translated 'image' as 'material', it was illuminated that the traditional thinking, not the evolutionistic thinking, was hiding behind the May Fourth movement of easy language. And the case of Lu Xun who asserted for the modernization of Chinese language was quite different from the existing studies that defined it as a ‘Western modernization' if reinterpreted with the viewpoint of the Book of Changes. Furthermore, through the dual strategy inherent in the linguistic practice of Lu Xun and the cases of his modernization of the traditional language, it was positively demonstrated that the study of Lu Xun was possible by the introduction of an 'Oriental Perspective'. Finally, this study reviewed the matter of Chinese modernization by applying translation, a way of China's accommodation of foreign cultures, to the process of China's accommodation of Western culture in modern days. Especially, the East and West Culture Discussion during the May Fourth Movement was reviewed to see how the modern Western theory of civilization was translated with the traditional Chinese theory of civilization, and on its basis the theoretical problems on language and ideology were examined.