Abstract

This book aims to examine the dissemination and reception of modern and contemporary Chinese literature in the Germanophone world by adopting the methodology of panoramic narrative and by focusing on the historical lineage of intercultural literary communication.This study includes introduction，four main chapters and the concluding chapter.The introduction part draws out the general history of modern Sino-German literary communication focusing on Chinese literature from the twentieth century.The first chapter commences with the historical narrative from the perspective of German intellectuals of the late Cold War era，delineating the bifurcating yet similar paths of literary reception of BRD and DDR regarding modern Chinese literature before German unification in 1990.The intellectual zeal for revolutionary ideal in West Germany since 1968 continues to intensify political exoticization in the reception of Chinese literature，while the East German sinologists undertake the tasks of translating and studying literary works from modern China under the capricious cultural policies of the DDR.The second chapter focuses on the intertextual rewrite of Lu Xun's works by two prominent writers from both sides of Germany around the same time.The third chapter examines the characteristics and forms of production，dissemination，and reception of Chinese literature in the German Literaturbetrieb .The fourth chapter concentrates on particular Chinese personnel involved in the German Literaturbetrieb as in the literary public sphere. Through an examination of two Chinese authors——Bei Dao and Mo Yan-whose relative prominence and symbolic identities are representative for the German reception of contemporary Chinese literati，this chapter attempts to construe methods of German literary propagation as structural categorization of Chinese authors.Finally，this book concludes the phenomenal analysis and historical tracing of literary communication from the four main perspectives .It proposes the dialectic characteristic in the German propagation and reception of modern Chinese literature，as the German receptive subject bases its literary outlook towards China on its own societal concerns，while the literary receptive patterns demonstrate leanings towards both politicization and de-politicization.

This book stands on numerous first-hand historical materials，with a deliberate excavation of “paratext”regarding the circulation of modern Chinese literature in the Germanophone area.Through material analysis，close reading of literary texts，historical narrative and phenomenal deconstruction，this paper follows the methodological orientation of literary sociology and adopts the form of panoramic narrative，so as to draw out the critical socio-historical configurations of the German reception of modern Chinese literature.Lastly，this study renders a dialectic motif that merges subjective personal aesthetics and objective political reference，as the German subject throughout history guards its vernacular tradition in the outlook for foreign culture.This dialectic motif dominates the reception history of modern Chinese literature in the Germanophone world，while its relative implications for today could contribute to the ongoing practice of intercultural literary communication between China and the German-speaking countries.

Key words： German translation of modern Chinese literature；intercultural literary communication；Literaturbetrieb；Oversea literary propagation；Sino-German literary relation