Yidali hanxue jie de Zhongguo wenlun yanjiu 意大利汉学界的中国文论研究

The historical development of Chinese literary theory research in Italy may be divided into three periods. The first one began with the earliest Jesuit missions in China and ended approximately with the outbreak of World War II; the second one started in the 1960s with the establishment of professional sinology; and the last period is the contemporary one which was promoted by the establishment of Sino-Italian diplomatic relations after China instituted the policy of “reform and opening to the outside world”. Since then, a number of Italian scholars have published important research works. In order to illustrate the pioneering contribution of the “Emotion Theory” from Santangelo to the Italian and international sinology since the 1980s, the author elaborates the evolution of research on Chinese literary theory in Italy. Santangelo’s interpretation to the concept of “human rights and freedom” in Chen Duxiu’s works has set a new milestone to his emotion- centric research. Through international symposiums, his “emotion theory” has gradually become mature. Based on this theory, the author approaches to her own research: discussing the “hesitation” feeling experienced by readers of Chinese traditional gong’an literary works. In short, the essay will show that the Italian research on Chinese literary theory has formed a characteristic method recognized and appreciated by the academia.