An Ambiguous School: The Formation and Transformation of Chinese “Modernists” in the 1930s

In the 1930s, two groups emerged around the magazine Modern edited by Shi Zhecun, namely “Modernists” in the field of poetry and “Neo-sensationalists” in the field of fiction. These two group soverlapped in membership and writing style. Through the joint efforts of literary field, especially the reverse definition from the Left-wing, the two were shaped into formalism distinct from realism, and then faded from the literary scene under the harsh political situation. In the 1980s, the academic community rediscovered “Neo-sensationalists” under the name of “Modernists” and subsequently certified it as the first Chinese modernism school. Thus, modernism poets and neo-sensationalism writers of the 1930s merged to form a school of “Modernists” with Shi Zhecun, Dai Wangshu, Du Heng, Liu Na’ou and Mu Shiying as its core members. In the process of rebuilding this school, its initial connotation may sometimes change or even form another kind of obscuration due to the influence of historical legacy concepts or the need for an ideological stance.