「抒情傳統」之論，首揭於旅美學人陳世驤的論述，而以他在1971年離世前發表的宣言―＜論中國抒情傳統＞為標誌。他的文學史論，中文部分由弟子楊牧結成《陳世驤文存》一集，在1970年代出版以後，對大陸以外地區的中國文學研究有重大影響。然而他從1940年代到美國登上漢學講壇開始，還有不少著述以英文寫成；當中如考證及英譯《文賦》、探索中國文學批評的起源，以至對中國文化本質的討論，均是後來「抒情傳統」論述的根本，學界卻罕見討論。本文集中探討陳世驤這些未經結集的文章，以見其去國以後，如何反思中國文學傳統的學術歷程。

The proclamation that "the Chinese literary tradition as a whole is a lyrical tradition" was first made by Chen Shih-hsiang 陳世驤 (1912-1971) in his opening address to the Panel of Comparative Literature at the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Annual Meeting in 1971. It has since been echoed by many scholars in the West and a whole generation of academics in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Chen, who graduated from the Department of Foreign Literature at Peking University in 1932, left China during the Sino-Japanese War and joined UC Berkeley, first attached to the Department of Oriental Languages and Literatures, and then also to the Department of Comparative Literature, where he stayed until his final years. This paper traces Chen Shih-hsiang's academic discourse on Chinese literature after his arrival in the United States. His English translation of Wen fu 文賦, investigation into the beginnings of Chinese literary criticism, and interpretation of the essence of Chinese literature are discussed in light of his later conception of the Chinese lyrical tradition.