Volume 29, Issue 2
DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.293
APPLICATION OF AESTHETIC DISTANCE IN ANCIENT CHINESE LITERATURE
Abstract
In literature appreciation, aesthetic distance is a psychological state of the audience, which changes constantly with their cognitive laws and understanding of literary works. This paper mainly studies the aesthetic distance in the creation and appreciation of ancient Chinese literature. Based on the theories of aesthetic psychology and aesthetics, the author introduced the Edward Bullough’s theory of psychical distance and its inheritance and development by Zhu Guangqian, one of the founders of the study of aesthetics in 20th century China. The author also explored the influence of time distance and space distance on aesthetic distance. Then, several literary works of ancient China were cited to analyse how aesthetic distance is utilized to enhance the aesthetic value. The research results provide a direction for creating contemporary literary works from the perspective of aesthetic distance.
Keywords
Ancient Chinese Literature, Aesthetic Distance, Theory of Psychical Distance, Aesthetics Psychology.