Professor Wang Zuoliang delved into the establishment of a foreign literary history model with Chinese characteristics while creating multiple works on the history of British literature. He has published multiple articles in the "Zhonglou Collection" discussing the writing of literary history, and in the "Wenyuan" he explores the pioneers of literary history in ancient China in English. In 1987, Wang Zuoliang proposed five aspects of foreign literary historical perspective in the preface of "A History of Romantic Poetry in Britain": narrative, interpretive, global perspective, historical materialist perspective, and literary perspective. These viewpoints have forward-looking and universal significance for many debates in the field of humanities and social sciences in the 21st century. This article reviews Wang Zuoliang's discourse on the history of British literature and Western new literary theory, and explores the universal value and practical significance of his academic ideas in conjunction with the discussions on Western "post criticism" and "descriptive turn" in the past two decades.

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Professor Wang Zuoliang emphasizes the importance of narrative and interpretive writing in literary history, believing that narrative should include analysis and commentary, while interpretation should integrate traditional Chinese cultural aesthetic ideas and standards. He demonstrated the embodiment of Chinese perspectives in foreign literary history writing through works such as "A History of Romantic Poetry in Britain". Professor Wang Zuoliang advocates a global perspective and historical materialism, advocating for the discovery of connections and literary development trajectories based on in-depth research of specific writers and works, and examining literature in macro contexts such as social, economic, political, and philosophical trends. He emphasized the literary aspect and believed that Chinese scholars writing foreign literary history for Chinese readers should have Chinese characteristics and literary style. Professor Wang Zuoliang's analysis and judgment of Western New Literary Theory is forward-looking in the field of Chinese literary criticism. The issues he focuses on are reflected in later trends such as "post theory," "post criticism," and "shift in description." The forward-looking and universal significance of his ideas is worthy of continuous research and learning by scholars in the humanities and social sciences under the new situation.

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Explored the importance of descriptions in the fields of humanities and social sciences, challenging the long-standing orthodoxy of theoretical and conceptual research. French philosopher and sociologist Latour proposed in "Reorganizing Society" the idea of abandoning theory and carefully describing, emphasizing that description involves multiple steps such as observation, analysis, and selection, similar to the process of scientific research. He opposes interpretation based on the Actor Network Theory (ANT) and advocates description. In the United States, scholars also criticize the drawbacks of theory and advocate for "surface reading" and "fine but not deep" literary analysis methods, emphasizing that the role of literature is to record and describe. Anthropologist Jackson questioned the overconfidence of "deep description" in "Shallow Description" and advocated an open, humble, and tolerant attitude. Post critical scholars such as Philsky oppose "skeptical hermeneutics" and advocate that criticism should be emotional and hopeful, focusing on the relationship between knowledge producers and objects. These ideas have been echoed in multiple fields, such as communication studies, sociology, etc., emphasizing the role of practical social problem research and emotions in research.

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In depth exploration of the viewpoint of British social psychologist Biliger, that psychological research should reduce theoretical frameworks and increase specific examples and descriptions. Bilig believes that descriptions can contain explanations, while abstract theories have limited help in understanding specific social phenomena. He emphasized the importance of description by analyzing Yaheda's study "Mariensel Village", which demonstrated the impact of unemployment on the psychology of villagers through specific examples. The research feature of Yaheda lies in its specific description of family and personal situations, which she believes is a moral responsibility that researchers should bear. The book provides a detailed description of how the unemployed lose their sense of time, as well as the hardships and brilliance of human nature in their daily lives. Bi Lige concluded that in order to safeguard the humanistic care of psychology, it is necessary to pay attention to specific cases. In addition, the chapter also mentions Professor Wang Zuoliang's analysis of British essayist Corbett and novelist Priestley in "The Changes in British Prose", whose works also demonstrate a focus on and vivid descriptions of common people's lives. These analyses compare the importance of detailed descriptions in literary works and social science writing, emphasizing the responsibility of researchers to showcase the daily lives and dignity of ordinary people. The "descriptive turn" and "post criticism" trends that have emerged in the fields of Western humanities and social sciences in the past two decades reflect an academic pursuit that is closer to real life, which is in line with Professor Wang Zuoliang's academic thinking and demonstrates the rich connotation and practical significance of his ideas. The five aspects of literary history writing proposed by Professor Wang Zuoliang involve major issues such as epistemology, methodology, and historical perspective, which have important practical significance for exploring issues such as academic localization, internationalization, and decolonization.