In the centre of this research is the problem of translation, study and reception of Solzhenitsyn’s works in the People’s Republic of China. A Chinese scholar of Slavic languages and literature, the author points out that Solzhenitsyn studies in China would be understandably interrupted for political reasons only to be resumed later, due to the growing interest in the writer’s works. Starting from 1963, there have been two distinct lines of study: Solzhenitsyn’s biography and his literary legacy. The first topic mainly attracts Chinese writers, historians, cultural scholars, philosophers, and professional critics; they present the readers with biographical facts in the context of the history of Soviet labour camps, dissident movement, etc. The second topic has specialists in Russian studies and foreign literature exploring the eternal topics in Solzhenitsyn’s works as well as his innovative techniques. According to the author, contemporary Chinese literary criticism is concerned with the latter area of research, while reception of Solzhenitsyn’s works is changing from negative to positive.
A History of Contemporary Chinese Literature. Hong Zicheng (translated By Michael M. Day). Leiden: Brill, 2007. xx + 636 pp. € 99.00; $ 148.00. ISBN 978-90-04-15754-5
