Abstract:
The "repressed modernities", put forward by Wang Dewei when he criticizes late Qing fiction, has become a hot topic for academic circle. This view is quite enlightening and has enriched the multiple connotation of modernity in modern Chinese literature. However, it is somewhat inappropriate in breaking the linear time concept while adopting a Foucauldian, spatially oriented way for historical investigation. When presenting various literary voices of the late Qing, he has paid too much attention to aesthetics and neglected the complex relationship between literature and society. Meanwhile, his understanding of modernity in Chinese literature implies the western standard.