The concept of method in philosophical sense refers to the sum of the means, tools and approaches used by the research subject in the process of grasping the object, and the theory of research method is methodology. Literary theory also has its own method system and methodology. Generally speaking, the method system of literary theory includes three levels, namely, philosophical method level and scientific method level. The level of professional methods. (1) The hierarchy of philosophical methods. Philosophical method is a method to grasp the world as a whole, which is of guiding significance to every specific subject. Therefore, philosophical method is the highest level of literary theory and method system, and it is also the theoretical basis of this system. It includes the method of combining theory with practice, the method of combining logic with history, and the method of transforming abstraction into concrete. (2) The level of scientific method is a method gradually formed in natural science, social science and humanities, which is absorbed and used for reference by literary theory because of its intersection and intersection. It is in the middle level and plays an important role in accurately grasping the research object of literary theory, including system theory, cybernetics, information theory, catastrophe theory, dissipative structure theory, fuzzy mathematics theory and so on. (3) the level of professional methods. This is a special method suitable for the characteristics of literary and art majors, including traditional methods naturally formed in the long-term development process, such as appreciation, textual research and criticism. , as well as methods transplanted from other disciplines and gradually fixed later. These methods are more specific and closer to the research objects of literature and art, such as sociological methods and psychological methods. Cultural methods, etc. I don't intend to give a special explanation of philosophical methods and scientific methods here, but only introduce several commonly used professional methods: (1) Empirical method is an important method used in China's ancient literary theory, which is characterized by feeling, experience, appreciation, experience and pondering, and its conclusion contains a lot of feelings and guesses, all of which are based on experience. Therefore, many literary critics in ancient China were often writers and artists themselves. This empirical method attaches great importance to refining and following the style and laws of law, and standardizes and guides literary creation with a relatively fixed theoretical paradigm, thus establishing a certain academic system, such as Wang Changling's poetic style, Jiao Ran's poetic style, Si Kongtu's Twenty-four Poems, Wang Jide's Qulv and Jin Shengtan's Reading the Fifth Talented Man's Book. All show this theoretical tendency. When interpreting literary theories, we are accustomed to using visual reasoning methods, seldom using logical reasoning and deduction methods, but using metaphor, exegesis, comparison, analogy, suggestion and other methods. For example, Liu Xie compared the "wind bone" of the article to the human body: "The text regards bone as the skeleton of the body; Love contains wind, and it still contains gas. " (Liu Xie: Wen Xin Diao Long? Another example is Preface to Mao Shi, which illustrates the social function of literature by exegetical methods: "Where there is wind, there is wind and there is teaching. Wind, enlightenment. " Moreover, when the empirical method refines and applies concepts and categories, it often embodies simple dialectical thinking. Many conceptual categories it uses correspond to each other and are revealed in the mutual opposition and connection of different contradictions within things. Such as literature and Taoism, literature and quality, form and spirit, wind and bone, meaning and environment, emotion and reason. However, the conceptual categories they use often show a kind of fuzziness and tend to grasp things as a whole. For example, the important concept "structure" put forward by Li Yu in Random Feeling is not the "structure" as a formal factor we understand now, but includes both form and content. China's ancient literary theories often used emotional narrative methods, and some of them were poetic, such as on poems, such as Du Fu's "Play as Six Poems", Lu You's "On Poems" and Yuan Haowen's "On Thirty Poems". Some are essays, such as essays, prefaces and postscripts, letters, comments and notes. The above characteristics of China's ancient literary theory have obvious advantages. It can grasp the object completely and dialectically, without splitting and dismembering the object in manual analysis and anatomy. We can directly deepen from the perceptual level to the rational level, give full play to the subjectivity in cognitive problems, including inspiration, understanding, intuition and talent, and avoid abstract theoretical derivation. The connotation of its concept category is not clear, so it is difficult to make quantitative analysis and scientific verification. Its unique narrative form often leads to theoretical ambiguity and ambiguity. In short, the advantages of this empirical method should continue to be carried forward today, while its shortcomings are expected to be reversed and improved with the help of modern thinking. (2) Sociological method The sociological method of literature has been formed for a long time. However, sociology of literature and art, as an independent discipline, came into being in modern times. /kloc-in 0/800, the French writer Madame de Starr published the book "On the Relationship between Social System and Literature" (translated in Chinese as "On Literature"), which initiated the precedent of "explaining literature with factors other than literature". In the words of Madame de Starr, this book aims to "study the influence of religion, fashion and law on literature. Introduction. People's Literature Publishing House, 1986). Dana, a French scholar, put forward the theory of "race, environment and times", that is, the internal genetic factors of a certain race, external conditions such as geography, climate, politics, legislation, war, religion and the spirit of the times are taken as acquired factors to explain the emergence and evolution of literature and art, and at the same time Saint Beaufort, undersea Pingdingshan, Zola and others put forward important opinions on this. The birth of Marxism laid a good starting point for literary sociology. Although Marx and Engels did not put forward a systematic theory of literary sociology, their exposition on studying literary phenomena with dialectical materialism and historical materialism laid a solid foundation for literary sociology, which still retains its classical significance. Later scholars such as Merlin, Laferger and plekhanov also made useful attempts on this road and achieved important results. The basic point of literary sociology method is to confirm that literature is a social phenomenon and emphasize that both ends of literature are related to social life. On the one hand, it comes from and is restricted by social life, on the other hand, it leads to social life, which in turn has an impact on social life. Therefore, the sociology of literature advocates that literature should be examined in the context of the whole social life, and what and how social life affects literature, and what and how literature in turn affects social life. At present, the development of literary sociology is extremely rapid. Its subject field is expanding constantly, and its academic achievements are also very eye-catching. Such as literature production, literature dissemination, literature consumption, literature policy, literature management, literature prediction and so on, are of great value to the optimization and development of modern society and are paid more and more attention. It must be pointed out that it has experienced great twists and turns and mistakes in the history of literary sociology, which reminds us that in the theoretical research and practical application of literary sociology, we should be alert to the tendency of vulgar sociology, avoid attaching literary phenomena to social phenomena simply, regard the restriction of material and economic life on literature as a direct decisive role, and simply subordinate literature to political and economic needs, ignoring the aesthetic characteristics and artistic essence of literature itself, otherwise it will bring disastrous consequences to literature. At this point, it can be said that Yin Jian is not far away. However, the emergence of sociological and natural science signs of literary theory in contemporary western literary sociology warns us that we have to pay attention to this point, that is, literary theory must adhere to its own standards when absorbing sociological achievements and methods, and sociological research cannot replace literary theory research, nor can sociological methods replace literary theory methods. The study of the social attribute of literature by literary theory still needs to be well combined with the study of its aesthetic attribute. (3) Psychological Methods German psychologist Feng Te established the world's first psychological laboratory in Leipzig in 1879, which marked the birth of psychology as an independent discipline. Since then, psychology has penetrated into various disciplines and has also had an impact on literary research. It has gradually become an important research method. This method is characterized by the cross-infiltration of literature and psychology. It studies literary phenomena with the help of the principles, principles and categories of psychology. For example, psychology studies the characteristics and functions of imagination and association in literary creation according to the law of human appearance movement; We should also use the unique methods, techniques and means of psychology to carry out literary research, such as questionnaire survey, case test, data statistics and so on. Study the social function of literature and the value orientation of readers. When using psychological methods, we should also avoid the tendency of mechanically applying psychological theories to literary research and ignoring the social nature and social content of literature. Freud's psychoanalysis, which had a great influence on modern academic thought, made such a defect. He directly transferred the important categories of complex, id, libido, sublimation and other theories to literary research. It is concluded that Sophocles' King Oedipus, Shakespeare's Hamlet and Dostoevsky's brothers karamazov are all due to the Oedipus complex of the author. This is obviously arbitrary and does not conform to the facts. Therefore, it is best to combine the application of literary psychology with the method of literary sociology. Only in this way can we draw a scientific conclusion. (4) Formalism is a popular literary research method in western literary criticism in the 20th century. From Russian formalism to British and American new criticism, to French structuralism and then to deconstruction, it is an important ideological trend throughout this century. The main point of formalism is to emphasize that literature is based on form, and form is not a vassal of content, but independent and self-sufficient It is not limited by content and has nothing to do with society, history, culture, morality and religion. This method takes the text as the center, regardless of the world, authors and readers outside the text, and thinks that it is only a fallacy to advocate studying the text from factors outside the text. Therefore, the social attribute and content of literature, the social function of literature, the social roots of literary development and so on. Be excluded from the field of vision of this method. In a famous saying by shklovsky, a representative of Russian formalism literary theory, art is always independent of life, and its color never reflects the color of the flag flying over the castle. (shklovsky: Literature and Art? Meditation and analysis, page 6. Moscow, 196 1 version. For example, Russian formalism literary theory emphasizes the literariness of literature and embodies the principle of "defamiliarization". The so-called "literariness" means "what makes a work a literary work" (Jacobson: Recent Russian Poetry, the first 192 1 edition. ), not in content, but in language skills, rhetorical devices, structural layout and so on. The so-called "defamiliarization" means that the literary language alienates and mutates the daily language through the strengthening, overlapping, inversion, concentration, distortion and delay of formal factors, thus obtaining a refreshing effect, as shklovsky said: "Artistic. Increase the difficulty and length of feeling "(shklovsky: As an art of technology, Russian formalism criticism: four papers, page 12, University of Nebraska Press, 1965). In a word, Russian formalism literary theory emphasizes that the essence of literature lies in form, while the charm of literature lies in the change of form. It also emphasizes the in-depth and meticulous reading and appreciation of the works (so-called "close reading"), so as to realize the phonology, rhythm, rhythm and meaning of the written form of the works. When analyzing literary works, the New Criticism absorbed the opinions of phenomenological literary theory and divided the works into five levels, namely, (1) sound level; (2) unit of meaning; (3) Images and metaphors; (4) Symbols and symbol systems; (5) Form and skill. This is undoubtedly a useful supplement to the traditional "content-form" dichotomy. Formalism emphasizes the independence and particularity of literature, insists on the objectivity of research and pays attention to the careful appreciation of the formal factors of works, which can be used for reference, but it has the defects of non-historicism. The best way is to combine it with sociological methods and psychological methods. (5) The theoretical origin of comparative literature method can be traced back to ancient Rome. The ancient Romans emphasized the imitation of the ancient Greeks, and the works of Virgil and Ovid, the important Roman writers, mostly imitated Greek literature. Therefore, in the works of ancient Roman literary critics Horace and MacRobis, they both advocate comparing the works of Virgil and Ovid with their original Greek works, and revealing their imitation and affiliation. This place already contains the seeds of comparative literature. In modern times, influenced by the comparative methods of other disciplines (such as comparative anatomy and comparative linguistics), comparative literature has finally formed an important literary research method. Noel and Laplace published an anthology of literary works in 18 16, entitled A Course in Comparative Literature, which is the first time that the name "Comparative Literature" appeared. Comparative literature aims at comparing or analogizing two or more literary phenomena across countries and regions, and defining their respective characteristics from their complex relationships of similarity, difference and sameness. Seek the road of common development. The two schools with great influence in comparative literature are the French school that pays attention to influence research (cross-study) and the American school that pays attention to parallel research. The research methods of the French school are rigorous and rigid, and the research scope is often limited to the same cultural system, limited to literary phenomena in different countries and regions with direct and factual connections. Advocate demonstration and textual research in research methods. There is a strong positivism tendency. This passage by French scholar Kaiya in the book Comparative Literature can illustrate its purpose: "Comparative literature is the history of international literary relations. Comparative writers cross the boundaries of language or nationality and watch the exchange of themes, books and emotions between two countries or several countries." (Kea: comparative literature, translated works of comparative literature research, pp. 79-80. Shanghai Translation Publishing House, 1985. ) This opens the methodology of influence research. For example, through empirical research, it is found that the creation of the Yuan Dynasty zaju Bao Zhi Dai Zhi Hui Lan Ji was influenced by Buddhist scriptures, the Koran and the Bible, which further influenced Brecht's later drama Caucasian Grey Lan Ji. It is an example of adopting the influence research method. The French school sometimes falls into the tedious textual research on the factual relationship between the comparative objects, ignoring the aesthetic analysis of literary phenomena, especially discussing problems in the narrow scope of the European cultural system, and taking France as the center and radiation source of European literature, which tends to be Eurocentric and thus has limitations. On the basis of denying the above limitations, the American School, a French school that emerged after World War II, advocates cross-cultural and interdisciplinary research on literature, especially on literary phenomena that have no practical connection and factual connection. If the French school is based on the actual connection between comparative objects, then the American school is based on the problems contained in comparative objects, as Aldrich said. This school pays attention to "the similarity in style, structure, tone or concept between two unrelated works". (aldridge: Selected Papers on Comparative Literature, Translation Collection of Comparative Literature Studies, p. 17. Shanghai Translation Publishing House, 1985. Another difference between the American school and the French school is that it not only looks for the * between the compared objects. And find out their differences. In short, this school emphasizes parallelism and contrast, pays attention to problems, and makes extensive research on many literary problems and related knowledge and beliefs. It is worth noting that this school broke the Eurocentrism of the French school and tried to outline a general picture of the development of world literature. In particular, some people have begun to realize the important position of China literature in world literature. It is believed that only by combining European and American literature with China literature can major theoretical problems be truly solved. This undoubtedly represents a positive direction of comparative literature. At present, the study of comparative literature in China is developing vigorously, and many important achievements have been made, and there are also many expansions and innovations in research methods. In short, some people even raised the issue of establishing the "China School" of comparative literature. The prospect of comparative literature in China is bright. In a word, each of the above-mentioned literary research methods has its own theoretical background and operational principles, and has formed its own unique angle and approach in grasping the essence and laws of literature, and each has its own advantages. At the same time, the two complement each other and reach the same goal by different routes, making due contributions to literary research and literary theory construction. Therefore, they are worthy of attention, reference and absorption, and the best choice in specific operations is to integrate them.