Different from previous researches weighted toward historical description and individual writer and work, this book establishes a general analytical system and a multi-angled methodology to examine Chinese literature.

In ancient China, there was no definite concept of pure literature. Considering both modern ideas of literature and the corresponding traditional concept, this book broadly discusses Shi and Fu poetry, Ci poems and Qu verses, novels and essays. The four chapters deal with the origins, evolutions, structures and styles of the various genres...