Postcolonialism and Socio-political Development in Africa： Learning Through the Literary Eyes of Ngugi Wa Thiong＇O

This study presents the fact that the relationship between the white colonialists and the black indigenous population threw up a myriad of socio-political cross fertilization in Africa. The way and manner the Whites related with the Black people, the levels of reactions and response of the black population to the invading socio-political values and standards during the colonial era has been the subject of interesting writings in Africa. Of significance in this class of writing in Kenya is Ngugi Wa Thiong＇O＇s works. His profound sympathy with his people in their weaknesses, their poverty in the socio-political development in Kenya, and particularly his hatred of exploitation, cruelty, and injustice are noteworthy. It is the thrust of this work to critically look at the socio-political change in postcolonial Kenya through the literary eyes of Ngugi in his remarkable and compelling work, Petals of Blood （1977）, with a view to establish the contributions of the work to real socio-political development in Kenya through the approaches of textual criticism, interpretation, and post-colonial theory. Thus, the study examines the socio-political development in postcolonial Kenyan society, the lifestyle of people, and the relationships that exist among Kenyan citizens, especially between the rich and the poor, the government （ruling class）, and the governed （masses）. It also establishes the basis for the continued prevalence of the themes of violence, corruption, injustice, disillusionment, decadence, and disintegration in contemporary Kenyan literature, in spite of the transformation and change in the socio-political setting of the State.

Discussion about contemporary Chinese cultural criticism and mass culture

Contemporary Chinese cultural criticism is facing traditional three factors. That are： literary criticism, belletristic criticism and Chinese-style criticism; contemporary transformation from western cultural criticism and consciousness of problems in contemporary Chinese culture together form a problem domain of cultural criticism; during the 30 years, literary discipline knowledge has evolved from the aesthetic to the culture and the weakening and missing of beauty and poetry become a weakness of cultural criticism. Concerning about the study of repression mechanism for appreciation as well as strengthening the aesthetic nature is the proper attitude literary researcher should have while intervening cultural criticism.

Whither East-West Comparative Literature? One Recent Answer from China

Comparative literature,as a discipline,has been in selfdoubt and crisis since its birth.Various scholars give different answers to its tendency and future.With the growth of East-West comparative literature research in East Asia,Chinese School of Comparative Literature proposed its own answer to it.In response to James St.André’s review essay'Whither East-West Comparative Literature?Two Recent Answers from the U.S.',this paper focuses on a new answer from Cao Shunqing’s work The Variation Theory of Comparative Literature,aiming to explore the two focuses of this new platform:one is the heterogeneity,and the other is the variation,which are different from French comparatism based on influences and American part based on analogies.On this basis this article tries to have a dialogue with imagology study of variation theory and sinicization of Western literary theory in Cao’s works.By highlighting the heterogeneity and variation,Chinese scholars seek to promote crosscivilization communication based on maintaining and developing the uniqueness of different literatures and civilizations,thus building a harmonious world without uniformity.

The Construction of a Discourse System for Literature Research in Contemporary China

The construction of the literature research discourse in the seven decades since the foundation of the PRC has shown an upward spiral, from 'state/collective discourse' to 'society/individual discourse' and thence to 'world/human discourse.' These related but different discourses have worked together to facilitate literary writing and literature research. During the last 70 years of literature research, the Marxist theory of literature and art has always played a guiding role. Having close links with Chinese literary practice, Marxist theory has had a fundamental impact on the construction of the Chinese literature research discourse system. The emergence of 'state/collective discourse,' 'society/individual discourse' and 'world/human discourse' is an integral, historical, logical and dynamic process. Chinese literature research discourse should be constantly innovated and developed with a vision that looks to the world and the future, in order to contribute Chinese wisdom to dialogues between different academic discourses in the world and thus demonstrate the unique value of Chinese academic research in the humanities.