瞿秋白と初期左聯

Abstract

The founding of the Chinese Left Wing Writers' League was an epoch-making event in modern Chinese literary history. At first, although it had many members, it did not bear much fruit in terms of either creative or theoretical works. This was due to The Controversy on the Revolutionary Literature (革命文學論爭) and a preoccupation with political problems. In 1931. 11, The Left Wing Writers' League passed the resolution known as The New Task of the Chinese Proletarian Revolutionary Literature (中國普羅革命文學的新的任務). According to Mao Tun (茅盾), this changed the course of The League. Many advances were subsequently made in both creative writing and literary theory, and among these Ch'ü Ch'iu-pai's contributions are particularly noteworthy. Ch'ü Ch'iu-pai's contribution lay chiefly in his formulation of a theory of literature--the theory of realism. Through the criticism of Nationalistic Literature, he dealt with the relation of politics and literature from the viewpoint of realism. In his treatise, The Real Problem of the Proletarian Masses Literature (普羅大衆文藝的現實問題), he developed his own literary theory. He asserted that literature should not obey politics blindly, and propounded realism and method of creation. The Task of the Chinese Proletarian Revolutionary Literature drew its theoretical basis from this treatise. In addition, he published some magazines, edited others, and engaged in fruitful discussions with Lu Hsün (魯迅) and Mao Tun. Through this the League became the league for literature in fact as well as in name.