從1902年梁啟超提倡"小說界革命"到五四新文學運動,是中國小說逐步走向現代的重要歷史時期。經中國近現代作家批評家的理論和實踐探索,"現代小說"概念呈現出從朦朧意識到理性自覺、再到明確生成的發展過程。"現代小說"既是中國文學文體的不斷裂變與重構,也是小說文體的返本與開新。從"林譯小說"到魯迅小說,從梁啟超到胡適,中國近現代作家批評家對"現代小說"所作的不同闡釋,及其對小說文體所進行的多樣探索,構成"現代小說"的復雜形態,同時,現代小說觀念與創作也表現出"型類的混雜"的特點。中國"現代小說"在回到小說本體的同時,又突破中國古代小說和西方小說的理論局限,最終構建起中國現代小說的文體理論。

The period between Liang Qichao’s advocacy of the "revolution in the realm of fiction" to the New Literature Movement of the May 4th Movement was of historical importance for Chinese novels’move into the modern era.Theoretical and practical exploration by modern writers and critics in China led to a process of development of the concept of the "modern novel" from a hazy awareness to rational consciousness,and thence to clear creative production.The "modern novel" involved not only the continuous division and reconstruction of Chinese literary style,but also a return to and innovation in the traditional Chinese style of fiction.From "Lin Shu’s translations" to Lu Xun’s fiction,and from Liang Qichao to Hu Shi,the various interpretations of the modern novel made by modern Chinese writers and critics,as well as their various stylistic explorations,constituted the complex form of the modern novel.At the same time,the concept and creation of these novels also show the characteristics of "mixed genres." They break through the theoretical limitations of Western and ancient Chinese fiction and return to the novel’s original essence,ultimately constructing the stylistic theory of the modern Chinese novel.