时代在改变，新的时代，新的经济生活方式，新的技术条件，也促使人民大众的文艺生活发生着深刻的变化。文学艺术遇到了新情况，应该怎么办？一些西方学者提出了“文学的终结”和“艺术的终结”的观点。这种“终结观”，实际上反映的是文艺与审美的关系，文艺与作为其载体的媒体间关系，以及文艺与所反映的观念间关系这三重关系的变化。因此，文艺要适应新情况，理解文艺也需要新的知识。让人民大众掌握关于文艺的知识，让人民大众了解当代文艺的新情况，这一任务的必要性，在当下显得越来越迫切。

用通俗易懂的语言，讲文艺知识。将专家研究成果的结晶，化为人民大众的文艺常识，这种工作其实并不容易。要做到举重若轻，通俗而不浅薄，前沿而不浮躁，深刻而不晦涩，是非常难的一件事。组织《文艺通识丛书》的原则是，请大家写小书。

《文艺通识丛书》所邀请的作者，都是学术界相关领域的著名学者。他们学养深厚，对学科的来龙去脉有深入的了解，同时，在学术上，既能进得去，又能出得来。

《文艺通识丛书》目的是，用人民大众看得懂的语言，搭起一座座从专业学术通向人民大众之间的桥梁。

The times are changing, and the new era, the new economic way of life, and the new technological conditions have also promoted profound changes in the literary and artistic life of the people. Literature and art have encountered a new situation, what should be done? Some Western scholars have put forward the idea of "the end of literature" and "the end of art". This "view of the end" actually reflects the change in the triple relationship between literature and art and aesthetics, the relationship between literature and art and the media as its carrier, and the relationship between literature and art and the ideas reflected. Therefore, literature and art must adapt to the new situation, and understanding literature and art also requires new knowledge. The necessity of letting the people master the knowledge of literature and art and let the people understand the new situation of contemporary literature and art is becoming more and more urgent at present. Use easy-to-understand language to speak literary and artistic knowledge. It is not easy to turn the crystallization of experts' research results into the common knowledge of literature and art of the masses. It is very difficult to lift weights, be popular without being shallow, cutting-edge without impetuousness, and be deep and not obscure. The principle of organizing the "General Literature and Art Series" is to invite everyone to write small books. The authors invited by the "General Knowledge Series of Literature and Art" are all well-known scholars in related fields in academia. They are deeply educated, have a deep understanding of the ins and outs of the discipline, and at the same time, academically, they can both enter and exit. The purpose of the "General Knowledge Series of Literature and Art" is to build a bridge from professional scholarship to the people in a language that the people can understand.（AI翻译）