The Romantic Quest: The Reception of Goethe in Modern Chinese Literature
The Romantic Quest: The Reception of Goethe in Modern Chinese Literature

Summary/Abstract: The two decades immediately following the end of the First World War have often been considered as the most significant decades in modern Chinese literary history. It denotes a period of drastic social, cultural and political change; it also registers a period when many Chinese writers took a more reflective approach to literature, treating literature not merely as an art in itself but as a form of social critique. At a time when young Chinese writers were eager to look for alternative modes of expression through which private concerns and personal visions can be fully articulated, many turned to their European counterparts for inspiration and modelling. Such an ardent desire to deal with the personal self in the flux of socio-cultural change helps to explain the Chinese writers’ incessant interest in Western literature, especially romantic literature, since the beginning of the twentieth century.

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