On February 5, Guangming Daily's literary criticism published Li Jingze's article "A Literary Criticism with Local Roots--Thought from the" Longjiang Literature Criticism Book Series ". Among them, he asked an interesting question: "Can a place have a shaping influence similar to that of a writer on a critic? Can a critic criticize some local influence in his Critical vision, so that we can imagine a kind of criticism with local roots? "
Imagine a literary criticism with local roots in the current context. Perhaps there is a needless prerequisite, that is, the dissatisfaction with the prevailing literary criticism and the new possible call for literary criticism.
Literary criticism with local roots is transitive and open
The broad and rich social life continues, new literary phenomena and writers' works endlessly appear, but it seems to fail to effectively promote the self-renewal of literary criticism and the concept of literary history on which it is based. The estrangement from the moving world of life, the scene of literary history that is happening, and the experience of personal life experience is the symptom of the increasingly "academic" literary criticism.
If "academicization" is the unavoidable development direction of literary criticism, it still cannot explain the rigid and closed criticism method that satisfies the established cycle of literary history ideas and self-deduction within the theory. Fundamentally, "life is the source, and the academic concept system is the stream." And "sensitivity to the consciousness of life-world problems in this era" is "the foundation of the endless academic life." For the same reason, literary criticism towards "academicization" still needs to face many problems in the life world, and respond to the ever-changing literary reality in time, so as to obtain the power of constant and self-renewal.
The height of a literary critic's understanding and the depth of his theoretical horizon are not only related to his knowledge lineage, but also closely related to the depth of his awareness of life-world problems, but also to his ability to deal with problems theoretically. Therefore, literary criticism that interacts with the living world, theoretical concepts, literary practice and life experience, and transitive and open literary criticism must be a kind of criticism with local roots.
The local roots mentioned here can be understood from multiple dimensions, including the unique personal life experience of the critics in the "literary homeland" with regional characteristics, as well as the critics' local literature, regional history, Unique handling of regional culture, etc. From a larger perspective, local experience is also closely related to the locality and locality of cultural concepts, that is, how to take root in the unique Chinese experience and create a new culture that belongs to the new era on the basis of the integration of ancient and modern, Chinese and Western cultures.
The premise for the establishment of literary criticism with local roots is the conscious awareness of the critic as a unique "historical subject". He has a full understanding of the historical position he is in, the ideological resources he can rely on, and the issues of the times he needs to bear. With this cognition, his unique life experience as an individual became the basis for the individual to express the world, and it was also a necessary condition for the development of literary criticism with his own style.
The individual's specific and fresh life experience not only has immediate and immediate significance, but also relates to the "hometown" of the critic's real and spiritual sense, and to the literary memory closely related to hometown. Such a local foundation derived from personal life experience is enough to become the basic experience of the critic as a unique "historical subject" thought and aesthetic perception. He sees the breadth, depth and width of the world, and what the literary criticism can reach The realm is mostly based on this.
Just like Shen Congwen, critics can constantly realize the possibility of self-discovery and growth by reviewing the "coming path" of their lives. Although the local foundation of personal life is innate, it is not self-sufficient and closed, but can be presented as an open state of advancing with the times and endlessly. This depends on the self-adjustment and constant opening of critics. The local foundation can also be a spiritual starting point where life experience and reading experience converge, and a basis on which criticism can be continuously generated and gradually broadened. If a literary critic has an individual's consciousness as a "historical subject", there is no limit to the resources he can rely on. Therefore, the ups and downs and the past and present can be included in the scope of "I" thinking. The critic's self can be opened to the vast world of life, but also to the rich cultural and ideological resources.
Local writing also has the energy to reach universality
The interaction of literary critics with the outside world is related to the second meaning of the local experience that the critics rely on, namely, the local literary experience of the critics, and the regional history, culture, and customs of the local literature. Depth sensing and theoretical processing.
In a sense, whether or not it has a unique "place" in the literary and geographical sense is an important indicator of the maturity of a writer. For example, the American writer Faulkner ’s York Napata County, Shen Congwen ’s Xiangxi, Luyao ’s Northern Shaanxi, and Jia Pingwa ’s Shangzhou all have unique literary and geographical significance. These writers' "places" in the literary sense, carrying the cultural and historical content, are enough to become an open foundation for the new literary world.
Because of his deep perception of Northern Shaanxi culture and the tradition of "people's literature and art", Lu Yao still adhered to the realist tradition in the middle and late 1980s and pushed it to a new state. Because he has a deep sense of the rich traditional cultural heritage and spiritual accumulation in Guanzhong and southern Shaanxi, Jia Pingwa completed the "Middle-aged Reform" of his personal writing in the manner of continuing the Chinese classical context, thus opening up a whole new level. Lu Yao and Jia Pingwa are rooted in the writing of local experience, and are of great significance to the expansion of the contemporary literary realm, indicating that writing based on "local" experience has the energy to reach the "universal" experience.
And "universality" can only be implemented in a certain local experience before it can exert its meaning of "giving the vast majority and subtlety", and will not become a deduction of the concept of vain. Jia Pingwa continued the Chinese classical context and strived to open up a new realm of literature, surpassing the limit of thinking that today is better than ancient, and the west is superior to China, and opened up the possibility of integration between ancient and modern. Although this possibility lays the foundation and expands on the "local" experience, it contains the power to modify the "universal" experience. This is the dialectical meaning between "universality" and "locality".
Literary critics need to maintain a deep sense of the general problems of the times and have a deeper perception of the regional cultural traditions that writers rely on in order to activate the corresponding ideological and cultural resources. When talking about Jia Pingwa's overall writing tendencies and aesthetic preferences, Li Jingze realized that Jia Pingwa's writing faced the "anxious anxiety" of "Dream of Red Mansions", both paying tribute to Cao Xueqin and "competing" with Cao Xueqin, that is, working hard in the new In the context of the Chinese language, the Chinese classical thought and aesthetic way were restarted to deal with the life experience of contemporary people, and to create works with Chinese characteristics and Chinese style rooted in the times. The virtual Shangzhou world described by Jia Pingwa not only contains rich and complicated local experience, but also points to a broader Chinese experience.
This involves the cultural "controversy between ancient and modern China and the West" that it has faced for a hundred years. It is also a profound reflection on the notion that today is better than ancient and West is superior to China. On this basis, it establishes cultural self-confidence with fundamental significance. Blindly chasing the so-called universality of the world leads to the "root deprivation and divine emperor" as Lu Xun said, falling into a state of incompetence without thinking or even thinking without Western theory. To fundamentally break through this dilemma and to rebuild cultural self-confidence is a necessary prerequisite. This may be one of the "big problems" that Li Jingze ultimately points to, although he has not stated it.
As the highest level that "academicization" may reach, it is undoubtedly more important for literary criticism to allow critics to take root in life experience and era experience, and to complete the historical responsibility for the inheritance and development of era literature and culture between generations. Literary critics need to have a deep sense of the issues of the times, take root in the Chinese experience, absorb ancient and modern Chinese and Western resources, and then realize the theoretical creation that has both historical continuity and distinctive times and is open to the future. Only in this way can literary criticism have the significance of cultural continuity because of its full participation in the spiritual process of the times.
(Author: Yang Hui: Shaanxi Normal University, College of Liberal Arts)