Literature of Human and the People’s Literature

The concept of modern literary theory of human studies has been the self-conscious construction of Chinese literary theory since the May 4th movement. There are two basic dimensions in the concept of human literature and people’s Literature. The former pays attention to the expression of personal life emotion, pursues individual freedom liberation and individual development; the latter attaches importance to reflecting people’s life and serving the people’s free liberation and all-round development, and the two constitute a dialectical and unified relationship. Through the investigation of the historical evolution of the concept of literary theory of human studies in recent 100 years, it mainly involves the following theoretical propositions. Human literature is the enlightenment discourse of pursuing personality liberation, arousing people’s awakening to pursue personality and emotional liberation. People’s literature embodies the direction of the people’s literature, so that literature can play a full role in the people’s revolutionary cause; Literature is the study of human beings, which aims at publicizing the subject spirit and its literary consciousness, and promoting the awakening and strengthening of human subject consciousness to a new stage. From the perspective of historical practice, there has always been a tension between the two dimensions. Due to the changes of the times, the dual dimensions are constantly adjusted to achieve a new balance. In the new era, the overall development trend of the concept of literary theory of human studies inevitably requires the dual variation and dialectical development between the two dimensions.