The research on the historical documents of contemporary Chinese literature has long been neglected, which has directly affected the construction and development of the discipline. This phenomenon is inevitable, considering the various factors in history, reality, research subjects, etc. that have exerted their influence on the research. Firstly, the research on the historical documents of contemporary literature is faced with the pressure from history. Since contemporary literature has long been subjected to the literaturepolitics ″integration,″ the production, preservation, dissemination, discovery and interpretation of historical documents have been greatly influenced and regulated by political ideology, and the case was especially true in the first three decades (1949〖CD*2〗1979). On the other hand, the historical documents which have secured a place in the political ideology arena may have strong subjective assumptions. What is worse, some even confuse right and wrong. The historical documents and their research in the new era (after 1979) have not yet completely broken away from the control and influence of ideology. Some of them involve sensitive issues and have been sealed in the archives, and the long delay of disclosure leads to a number of artificiallyconstructed blanks in historical documents. Secondly, the ″openness of postmodernization″ of contemporary literature brings brandnew issues to its historical documents. First of all, although new technology has been introduced to facilitate document storage, retrieval and sorting, it has also challenged previous approaches, expediting the shift from the traditional textual criticism to modern historical document science. Next, under the influence of marketization, some vulgar historical documents are just intended to appeal with sensational content, blurring the distinction between serious research and public entertainment. This finds evidence in the composition and even fabrication of private historical documents without any careful research, as well as the vulgarization and renarration of ″Red Literature.″ Finally, in the context of globalization, the research, preservation and distribution of literature in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and overseas should also be an object of study and become an important part of the historical documents of contemporary Chinese literature. Thirdly, research subjects are the ultimate causes of problems in the research of historical documents. The lack of awareness of the importance of historical materials in contemporary literature is intimately related with the ″pantheorization″ in 1980s. This ″intransitive″ trend (historical documents) played a dynamic role in the ″theory mode;″ 〖JP2〗meanwhile, it intentionally or unintentionally contributed to the academic orientation of overinterpretation and underempiricism. 〖JP〗As a consequence, academic research is diverged considerably from the realistic context and is heavily reliant on the excessive import of western theories, which is partly responsible for the fickleness in contemporary literature research. To promote and develop the discipline, it is necessary for researchers in historical documents to reflect on and improve their subject cognition and literary qualities.
吴秀明 章涛. 当代文学文献史料研究的历史困境与主要问题[J]. 浙江大学学报(人文社会科学版), 2013, 43(3): 62-74.
Wu Xiuming Zhang Tao. The Dilemmas and Main Issues in the Research of the Historical Documents of Contemporary Chinese Literature. , 2013, 43(3): 62-74.