Compared with controversial stances that Yu had been taken in theoretical debates about modern poetry, the use of literary versus vernacular language, and abstract painting, Yu's comments made him many enemies-even if he had never equated "nativist" literature with the "proletarian literature" praised by Chairman Mao.
比之這一路走來他參與的「現代詩論戰」、「文白之爭」、「天狼星論戰」、「抽象畫論戰」，這一戰讓余光中腹背受敵，儘管他從未把鄉土文學和被毛澤東謳歌的「工農兵文學」畫上等號。