The stars hang down over the great emptiness of the level plain,and the moon bobs on the running waters of the Great River: thirty years of New Era research on the essay

新时期以来的散文研究已走过了30年的历程。由于种种原因，散文研究一直受到 轻视和责难。本文从作家作品研究、专题性研究、散文史建设和散文理论建构诸方 面，对30年来散文研究进行了全面系统的梳理和评析，并追寻散文研究长期被冷落的 原因。文章认为21世纪的散文研究要走向深入和阔大，必须从三方面用力：其一是要 建立现代意识的散文批评视野；其二是“化西方”与“中国化”；其三是思维方式与 研究方法的改变。这三方面不但是认识和解决当代散文问题的重要维度，而且对散文 研究具有方法论的意义。

关键词: 新时期?散文研究?现代视野?理论建构

New Era research on the essay and other occasional writing already has a history of thirty years. For various reasons, however, such research has consistently been slighted and condemned. This article offers a systematic and comprehensive review and analysis of the last thirty years of research in this field in terms of writers and their works, research on special topics, and the construction of the history and theory of this genre, and explores the reasons why it has been slighted for so long. To deepen and broaden this research in the new century, we must exert ourselves in three areas: first, we must adopt a modern vision of criticism of the essay; second, we must “digest Western theories” and “Sinicize essay writing and research”; and third, we must change our research methods and way of thinking. These three points not only offer an important dimension for understanding and solving contemporary issues relating to the essay, but also have methodological significance for research.