Includes bibliographical references (p. 231-255) and index.

Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- 1 Intellectual Social Circles and the Gestation of the Creation Society -- 2 The Socio-political Context of Intellectuals’ Self-Recognition -- 3 “Mission of Literature” and the Political Involvement of the Creation Society -- 4 Struggles between Two Souls: Intellectuals’ Theoretical Construction of Class Transformation -- 5 Theoretical Struggle: The Politics of Literature and Arts -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index.

Available to subscribing member institutions only.

In Politics of Art Zhiguang Yin investigates members of the Creation Society and their social network while in Japan. The study contextualises the Chinese left-wing intellectual movements and their political engagements in relation with the early 20th century international political events and trends in both East Asia and Europe. The Creation Society was largely viewed as a subject of literary studies. This research, however, evaluates these intellectuals in the context of Chinese revolution and elaborates their theoretical contribution to the Chinese Communist Party’s practice of “theoretical struggle” as a main driving force of ideological construction. As this study tries to demonstrate, theoretical struggle drives the ideological politics forward while maintaining its political vigour.