A Milestone Work in the Historiography of American Literature in China: A Review of The History of Hispanic American Literature

To cite this article: WANG Zuyou. (2021). A milestone work in the historiography of American literature in China: A review of The History of Hispanic American Literature. Asia-Pacific Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 01:2, 028-034, DOI:10.53789/j.1653-0465.2021.0102.003

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.53789/j.1653-0465.2021.0102.003

Abstract: The History of Hispanic American Literature (2021) is an epochal work in the historiography of American literature. This book uses ethnic literature categories and chronological periodization as the horizontal and vertical axes, respectively. It selects representative works of writers as typical research examples and makes a comprehensive investigation from the aspects of social history, literary trend, artistic representation and aesthetic orientation. The monograph systematically sorts out the development and evolution of Hispanic American literature from 1872 to 2019, focusing on the combination of historical retrospect and literary criticism and the combination of panoramic overview and representative cases. The book has four characteristics. Firstly, it is a pioneering work consisting of rich first-hand materials with novel content, which is the first one in Hispanic American literary study. Secondly, it is research-oriented and rigorously elaborated, which fully shows the distinctive features, representative style, influence and literary status of the research object in each period. Thirdly, it is objective. The author thinks and judges from different standpoints, not affected by subjective thoughts or consciousness in exploring Chicano literature. The fourth one is to analyze writers and works dialectically from multiple perspectives and historical contexts, focusing on horizontal and vertical comparisons. This book has reached a high academic level and has made a significant contribution to the study of American literature in China.

Keywords: The History of Hispanic American Literature; pioneering; research-oriented; objective; dialectical

WANG Zuyou Number 2 APJHSS.pdf