文学并不是一个固定不变的概念，文学的内涵在不断地发生着变化，“文学”这一概念在中国现代被不同的知识不断地重新诠释，文学并不能仅仅从文学的内部获得理解。现代纯文学观念的发生，蕴含着更深刻的现代性知识背景，是现代性推展的结果。五四文学革命是新文化运动的一部分，与此同时，在此基础上又逐渐建立了新的现代“自律”的纯文学的观念。纯文学的概念是不断地分离和生成的。在现代我们重新厘定了各种知识的界限，同时，我们对于文学进行了新的定义。 Literature is not a fixed concept. The connotation of literature is constantly changing. The concept of “literature” is constantly reinterpreted in different ways in modern China. Literature can not be understood solely from the inside of literature. The occurrence of the concept of modern pure literature embodies a more profound background of modern knowledge and is the result of the promotion of modernity. The May 4th literary revolution was a part of the New Culture Movement. At the same time, on the basis of this, a new modern concept of “self-discipline” pure literature was gradually established. The concept of pure literature is constantly separated and generated. In modern times we have redefined the limits of various kinds of knowledge, and at the same time we have made a new definition of literature.