The study of modern Italian literature and Luigi Pirandello in Xu Xiacun’s Xiandai Nan’Ou wenxue gaiguan 现代南欧文学概观 modern Southern European literature

Translator and Scholar Xu Xiacun’s monograph, Xiandai Nan’Ou Wenxue Gaiguan 现代南欧文学概观 [Contemporary Southern European literature] (1930), is among the first in China to discuss the modern literature of southern European countries. The volume particularly highlights modern Italian writers Gabriele D'Annunzio and Luigi Pirandello, and this was groundbreaking at the time in the Republic of China. An analysis of the critical forms and opinions expressed in the text demonstrates that Xu Xiacun used mainstream literary devices common in that period of the Republic of China. These emphasize the relationship between the lives and the creations of Italian writers, with an analysis of the background of the times focused on the human condition and the spirit of Italian literature. At the same time, Xu Xiacun was also deeply influenced by the views of literary critics in Europe and America, such as Benjamin Crèmieux (1888-1944) and Walter Stakie (1894-1976). Xu Xiacun creates references across cultures, a characteristic of comparative literary history. He is the pioneer of the Chinese study of Italian literature, and this paper aims to analyze his early work and discuss how Italian literature influenced his criticism.