“当代文学研究”既非真正意义上的文学史学科 ,又不完全是“当下”的文学批评活动 ,这种两不着边的处境表明它作为学科的不成熟 ,这种不成熟源于它从“新文学”分离时是以意识形态而不是以学理为依据的。“当代文学”学科在词义和内涵上都名实难副。本文强调当代文学研究对象的“当下”性质及其学科特征的即时性、动态性 ,主张为它设定一个切近真正“当代”的上限 ,同时把已成为历史的“十七年”文学等都归入“现代文学史”框架中 ,使“当代文学研究”名副其实 “Contemporary Literary Studies” is neither a real discipline of literary history nor a literary criticism of “the present”, which shows its immaturity as a discipline which is derived from it “New Literature” is based on ideology rather than theory. The subject of “contemporary literature” is both difficult to understand in meaning and connotation. This paper emphasizes the immediacy and dynamics of “the present” nature and the characteristics of its subject in contemporary literature. It advocates that it set a ceiling close to the real “contemporary” and at the same time, Into the “history of modern literature” in the framework of “contemporary literary research” worthy of the name