Abstract: Contemporary literary contention has left a clear trail in its content and controversial points,and its thinking mode and critic method are worth paying attention to.The issue of 30 years' literary contention since the May 4th Movement has centred around the relationship between liturature and politics,shaping rouphly the two poles of interference and anti-interference and removal and anti-removal.There appeared four frequently seen phenomena in the course of contention:(1) The contention seemed hot,but not tit for tat;(2)it produced a diametrically opposed thinking mode of “either this or that”;(3)it gave way to attacking just one point and not involving others;and (4) it lacked a rational and tolerant attitude.This sort of thinking and criticism produced far-reaching negative influence upon the subsquent development of literature.

Key words: contemporary literary contention, thinking mode, critic method, diametrically opposed thinking mode