Abstract: Shen Congwen applied aesthetic methods to describe the theme of the western area of hunan in Shen Congwen’s early days of creation.As a result,Shen Congwen had preserved a cultural space which differenced from modern culture.Shen congwen had regarded western culture of Hunan as a mirror to rethink modern civilization,so anthropological poetics became a basic feature of the literature works of Shen Congwen,and his literature works also posed a kind of distinct primitivism.Shen Congwen regarded the western culture of Hunan as resource to realize national rejuvenation,creating a utopia world,which is why Shen Congwen’s thought of artistic aesthetics could stand out in modern literature.But his anthropological poetics met with inevitable defeat because of his lack of historical reason.We can adopt the cultural anthropological theories and methods to study Shen Congwen’s concrete anthropological literary works.Only by utilizing the anthropological theories and methods can we possess a macroscopic and whole horizon in the domain of Shen Congwen’s literary research,which is the only way out of this predicament.

Key words:  , Shen Congwen；theme of western Hunan；Anthropological Poetics；Primitivism