本书将中西文学批评中有关经典与创新辩证关系的探讨进行了纵向与横向维度的理论追溯与梳理，呈现这一理论主题在中西文学批评中的互动与发展脉络；总结现代以来经典文学作品在研究实践中遇到的问题，并以改编与脚注为具体研究案例与研究对象，探讨多元个性在阐释与传播经典中的新角度与新方法及其合理性。本书脉络清晰，文笔流畅，对于英美文学、比较文学方向师生和研究者，以及其他感兴趣的读者均有较高的参考价值。

Introduction
Chapter One The Classic and Creativity in Western Literary Criticism
1.1 Poetry and Inspiration: The Paradoxical Plato
1.2 Pope: "Nature and Homer Were the Same" .
1.3 Wordsworth: Thoughts Are the Representatives of Past Feelings
1.4 Nietzsche:Apollonian and Dionysian
1.5 Oscar Wilde: Unity Is of the Individual
1.6 T.S. Eliot: Tradition and the Individual Talent
1.7 Eliot Weinberger: Karmic Traces
Chapter Two The Classic and Creativity in Chinese Literary Criticism
2.1 The Book of Poetry and the "Mao" Preface: Emotion and Old Custom
2.2 Lu Ji and Wen Fu: Feeling, Intent, and Ancient Canons
2.3 Liu Xie: Poetry Means Disciplined Human Emotion
2.4 Yan Yu: Judgment and Spontaneous Enlightenment
2.5 Yuan Mei: Heart and Hand
2.6 Qian Zhongshu: Emotion and Talent, Nature, and Art
Chapter Three The Classic and Canon as "Means of Discrimination"
3.1 Confined Definition: The Classic and Ancient Greek and Latin Literature
3.2 T.S. Eliot: Tradition and Depersonalization
3.3 Woolf: The Male-Dominated Classic and Discrimination Against Female Talent
3.4 Harold Bloom: The Western Canon for Pure Aesthetic Value and "Achieved Individuality".
3.5 "Centered" and "Periphery" Literatures in this Age of World Literature
Chapter Four Struggle between the Classic and Creativity in Adaptation: The Tempest and A Tempest
4.1 Transformation and Ghettoization of The Tempest
4.2 Particularity and Diversity Indicated by A Tempest
4.3 Deconstruct the Postcolonial Reading of The Tempest
4.4 Universality and Multiple Perspectives of the Classic
4.5 De-Ghettoize the Classic and Culture in this Age of World Literature
Chapter Five Footnotes Where the Classic and Creativity Interact
5.1 How the Classic and Creativity Interact in Footnotes
5.2 The Importance of Footnotes and the Paradoxical Features of Footnotes
5.3 Footnotes in The Waste Land: References to the Past
5.4 Footnotes in The Book of Poetry: Subjective Interpretation of the Classic
5.5 Footnotes in World Literature
Works Cited