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The Significance of Zhu Guangqian's Poetics to the Construction of Comparative Literature Schools in China

202 10-09 Wu

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Keywords: Zhu Guangqian's Comparative Literature between China and the West

Abstract: Zhu Guangqian's On Poetry has made an important contribution to the establishment of the school of comparative literature in China. In "On Poetry", Zhu Guangqian not only actively compared Chinese and western literature with the method of parallel research, but also explained and analyzed China's literary works with western theory earlier, which made China's literary works gain unique significance and showed the extraordinary theoretical value of "elucidation research". At the same time, his fruitful efforts in the two-way elucidation of Chinese and Western poetics and aesthetics effectively corrected the bias of one-way elucidation in early elucidation studies, showed western scholars the irreplaceable role of China's ancient poetics and aesthetics in interpreting western literary works, and promoted China's ancient poetics and aesthetics to the world.

Keywords: Zhu Guangqian; Poetic theory; Comparative literature; China school

Fund Project: This paper is the research result of the key support project of Chinese Writers Association.

Mr. Zhu Guangqian has made great contributions to the establishment of the school of comparative literature in China. However, his great achievements and far-reaching influence in aesthetics and literature and art overshadowed his achievements in this respect. Therefore, except for a few scholars who rarely mention it, Mr. Zhu Guangqian's unique achievements in this respect are invisible in domestic comparative literature textbooks and comparative literature history works.

During his study abroad from 1925 to 1933, Mr. Zhu Guangqian successively completed his doctoral thesis "Tragic Psychology", wrote "Literary Psychology" and published "Abnormal Psychology". These books are excellent works that use western psychological theory to explain Chinese and western literary creation, analyze Chinese and western literary phenomena, and convincingly analyze the theme and characters of the works, which is of great help to promote the development of comparative literature in China. In particular, On Poetry, written by Mr. Zhu Guangqian abroad 193 1 and published by National Book Publishing House 194 1, has made immeasurable contributions to the establishment of the school of comparative literature in China. I think it is mainly reflected in the following three aspects.

one

First of all, Mr. Zhu Guangqian used the method of parallel research in On Poetry to explore the similarities and differences in tastes between Chinese and Western poems, which gave people great enlightenment, broke the limitation that comparative literature was confined to the western regions in the past, and made western scholars begin to understand China literature and let China literature go global. It should be noted that expanding the research scope of comparative literature is one of the foundations for establishing a new school.

He pointed out: "The interests of western poetry and China's poetry are concentrated on several common themes, among which the most important ones are (1) human relations (2) nature (3) religion and philosophy." These are similarities and differences. The interest of poetry focuses on these three themes, which are the same, but the connotation and bias of poetry interest on each theme are both the same and different. In the aspect of expressing human relations in poetry, Zhu Guangqian thinks that "the friendship of friends and the kindness of monarch and minister are not very important in western poetry, but in China's poetry, they occupy the same position as love" [1]85-86. China's poems describing Syrian human relations are mostly works of answering and singing among friends. Love poems are far less important than western poems. Some of China's poems seem to be love poems, but in fact they are political poems expressing ideals. For example, Qu Yuan's Li Sao, in which the author's thoughts and admiration for beauty are poured, is actually a catharsis of the author's loyalty and patriotism to the monarch. Even in love poems, western love poems are passionate, while China's love poems are euphemistic and implicit. Zhu Guangqian's analysis of Chinese and western cultural roots is in place. He pointed out: "First, although western society is based on the state on the surface, it is centered on individualism in its bones." [1]86 "Although China society is based on family on the surface, it emphasizes kindness in its bones." [1]87 "Second, in the west ... women have higher status and better education, and they often attract men in knowledge and interest." [1]87 "Influenced by Confucianism, the status of women in China is low. The love of couples often begins with ethics, but in fact, the fun of like-minded people is quite rare. " [1]66 Third, "Westerners value love ... China people value marriage and despise love. ...... people who are down and out, bored and pessimistic are willing to express their feelings openly. " [1]87 Although Zhu Guangqian did not analyze the differences between Chinese and Western ethical poems brought about by social atmosphere and national character from the economic form, it is the lifeblood of parallel research to explore the roots of national cultural traditions from the differences in poems or reveal the deep-seated reasons for the differences in national cultural traditions. It eliminated the nasty disease of comparative literature research for comparison's sake and achieved the purpose of comparative literature research, which was really not easy at that time. Similarly, there are great differences in the description of nature between Chinese and western poems. Zhu Guangqian analyzed that both Chinese and Western poems praising nature came into being later, but comparatively speaking, China's natural poems began at the turn of Jin and Song Dynasties, which was earlier than the western countries that produced the romantic movement 1300 years. Moreover, as far as the overall style of Chinese and western nature poems is concerned, "one wins by euphemism and implication, and the other by frankness and profundity" [1]89 "The nature that western poets like is the sea, storms, cliffs and canyons, and the sun; What China poets like is the sparse willows in Mingxi, the gentle breeze and drizzle, the lakes and mountains, and the moonlight. "[1]89 This comparison is generally correct. The west is mainly a commercial socio-economic form, with maritime trade as its main economic activity, and the idea of opposition between man and nature is more serious; China was an agricultural socio-economic form in ancient times. Most of our ancestors adhered to the concept of "Nature is heaven and earth, and everything breeds", "Sunrise works, and the sun goes in, and the bridge flows, and the moon shines, which makes our ancestors in China have a sense of intimacy and attachment to nature, and they have long had the idea of" harmony between man and nature ". Therefore, it is not surprising that there are differences in themes and techniques between Chinese and western nature poems, and Zhu Guangqian's analysis is undoubtedly correct. However, Zhu Guangqian's conclusion about the depth of interest in Chinese and western poetry is not convincing. He thinks that China's poems are superficial and not profound on the whole, which is because of the simplicity of China's ancient philosophy and the weak religious feelings. Are China's poems superficial and not profound? Is the reason only the simplicity of philosophy and the weakness of religious sentiment? Obviously, influenced by Hegel, Zhu Guangqian thinks that China people lack speculation, which is debatable. But there is no doubt that, as Zhu Guangqian said, China people are "down-to-earth, paying attention to reality rather than metaphysics, so philosophically speaking, ethical creed is the most developed, while systematic metaphysics is unknown" [1]92 "China nationality is the most practical and humane. This is its strength and weakness. "[1]92 This is an indisputable fact, but we can't agree that China's poems are superficial. The poems of Qu Yuan, Li He and Li Shangyin are all quite intriguing, and the ancient philosophers in China, such as Lao Zi and Mo Zi, are not short of critical thinking ability. But what is commendable is that Mr. Zhu Guangqian has always compared Chinese and Western literature to the deep level of Chinese and Western cultural traditions to analyze the reasons.

two

Secondly, Mr. Zhu Guangqian used western scientific theory to evaluate the significance of China's poetic techniques earlier, which reflected the achievements of "elucidation research".

Mr. Zhu Guangqian studied in Europe in his early years and was once fascinated by western psychology. In 1930s, he published books such as School of Abnormal Psychology, Psychology of Literature and Art, and Abnormal Psychology. At the same time, he wrote a doctoral thesis on tragic psychology in English and obtained a doctorate from the University of Strasbourg, France. This book was also published by University Press at 1933. Later, he became fascinated with aesthetics, especially Hegel, Croce and Vico, and made great academic achievements. This enables Mr. Zhu Guangqian to use western aesthetic theory, especially psychological theory, to analyze the creative techniques and values of China's poems earlier. Zhu Guangqian has a deep research on western empathy theory, and he often uses it to analyze his works. In his view, the author can only create immortal works by combining inner interest with foreign images. Zhu Guangqian said: "The result of forgetting things is that things are the same as me. When the viewer is in high spirits, he has no time to distinguish between things and me, so my life and things and my life communicate back and forth. Inadvertently, I instilled my personality into things and absorbed the attitude of things into me. For example, watching a Gu Song, when we are absorbed in it, we often unconsciously transfer the cool breeze in our hearts to the pine trees, and at the same time absorb the vigorous posture of the pine trees to me, so Gu Song becomes a human being, and people become Gu Song. In a word, in the aesthetic experience, the boundary between me and things is completely eliminated. I am not in nature, and nature is not in me. I am integrated with nature, live together and tremble together. " [2] This phenomenon of identity between things and me is what German aestheticians call "empathy".

"Empathy" means that when the subject observes an external object, he moves his feelings to the external object, as if he felt that the external object had the same feelings. However, empathy is not just an emotional projection, it is unilateral for me and things; Empathy comes from me and things, and also from things and me. It is two-sided. I don't have to be the same as the object in my outward action; In empathy, things must be the same to me. Therefore, Zhu Guangqian said: "Empathy comes not only from me and things, but also from things and me; It not only transferred my personality and emotion to things, but also absorbed the attitude of things towards me. The so-called aesthetic experience is actually nothing more than concentration, and my interest and interest in things flow back and forth. " [3] The works produced in this way are works of art and have the charm of infecting people. He said, for example, Tao Qian's "Seeing Nanshan leisurely", Li Bai's "Never tire of seeing it, only Jingting Mountain", Xin Qiji's "I think the green hills are charming, so I want to see them", and Jiang Kui's "Several peaks are bitter, and the yellow rain in Shang Lue" have all become eternal songs, which will last forever. It is all caused by the author's empathy for things. Zhu Guangqian said: "The world that everyone sees is created by himself. "[1]62 Tao Qian, Li Bai, Xin Qiji and Jiang Kui have all seen mountains." In fact, because of their different tastes, each is a realm "[1]62, so" the depth of meaning of things is directly proportional to the depth of people's sexual interest, and the depth of what they see is also deep and shallow. This is the difference between poets and ordinary people "[1]62. This is the secret of writing a good poem. A good poem should be a poet's unique discovery and should contain the poet's sincere feelings. Zhu Guangqian's analysis was really shocking and refreshing at that time.

Zhu Guangqian also used empathy to analyze the appreciation of China's ancient poems. He took Jiang Kui's "Several Peaks Suffer, Yellow Rain in Shang Lue" as an example to show that "there is no difference between appreciation and creation". When the poet wrote this poem, he first saw this realm and felt this interest in nature, and then used these nine words to convey it. When reading this poem, readers should also use the comprehensive function of the mind to appreciate the realm that Jiang Kui originally saw. Everyone can appreciate the realm of this poem, which depends entirely on the reader's "personality, interest and experience" [1]63. [1]63 In other words, appreciation of works also requires empathy. When writing, the author communicates with the object of singing to achieve the unity of things and me; When readers appreciate a work, they can only enter the acme of appreciation if they are intimate with the work and have emotional communication. Zhu Guangqian also pointed out that many of China's ancient poems have the feeling that readers often read and are always new, or they can be circulated for hundreds of generations, because the works leave room for readers to re-create, and appreciating a poem means creating another poem. "Every re-creation must be based on the overall interest and experience of the situation at that time, so every re-creation in every situation must be fresh poetry" [1]63 "The realm of real poetry is infinite and always fresh." [1]63 Zhu Guangqian also used the theory of western psychology to explain why China's ancient excellent poems never tire of reading. Here, we should also pay attention to that Zhu Guangqian's conclusion that "appreciation is also creation" actually inspired future generations to open up the idea of reception aesthetics.

In addition, Mr. Zhu Guangqian explained the immortal value of China ancient folk songs with the western "game theory" in On Poetry, and also made remarkable achievements. Zhu Guangqian said in "On Poetry": "Art and games, as Spencer said, are partly the expression of spare capacity and the expression of enriching life." [1]48-49 In fact, literature and art originated from games, which is one of the more common views in the West. Conrad and Freud both talked about the relationship between literature, art and games. Kant mentioned the idea of mental game in Anthropology of Practical View, and Cao Junfeng pointed out in Introduction to Kant's Aesthetics: "When Kant discussed the mental game and illusion, he revealed an idea: art and aesthetic activities deceive the mind, especially the sensibility, which is artificially created by people to deceive their own sensibility." [4]75 "The mind needs games and deception, which is the root of art and general aesthetic activities." [4]75 Kant further put forward the concept of "free game" in Critique of Judgment, arguing that the essence of aesthetic activities is free game. In people's cognitive and ethical activities, imagination, intellectuality and rationality are not free and must be restrained. Only in people's aesthetic activities can imagination, intellectuality and rationality be in free games, and every process and aspect of aesthetic activities is the result of free games. When Freud revealed the connection between creation and dreams, he also thought that writers, like children in games, were passionately creating a fantasy world and having fun in it. This shows that western game theory emphasizes that artistic creation is free and non-utilitarian, just to satisfy people's aesthetic pleasure, vent their vitality or find a way out for Libido. Zhu Guangqian's analysis of China folk songs from this angle not only shows the inevitability of some techniques in China folk songs, but also correctly evaluates the social value of China folk songs. Zhu Guangqian said: "Folk poetry also has a traditional skill, the most obvious of which is word games." [1]25 There are three methods of folk poetry: "The first is to joke with words, usually called' harmony'; The second kind of hide-and-seek with words is usually called' mystery' or' concealment'; The third type ... usually without a suitable name, it is simply called' word game'. " In art, he quoted three-stick drums, playing the huqin, cross talk, ventriloquism and boxing, and especially pointed out folk songs in his poems. Taking two ballads in Beiping Ballad as examples, he shows that the focus of this kind of ballad word game is not the content and significance of ballads, but the funny patchwork of voices, which has won people's love. "They seem to think that such a round and self-contained voice has an indescribable originality" [1]50. This artistry embodies people's essential strength and creative spirit, and shows the value of "winning freedom in restriction" [1]49 "overflowing life in norms" [1]49, which is also the place where art makes people linger. Mr. Zhu Guangqian spoke highly of the artistic achievements of China's ancient ballads in absorbing western theories, which was beneficial to the development of folk art in China, and also reflected the value of comparative literature and the achievements of comparative literature research in China in this period.

three

Finally, Mr. Zhu Guangqian tried to explain and verify Chinese and western poetics for the first time, and corrected the bias of one-way interpretation in the early "elucidation research".

The differences between Chinese and western cultural traditions and their relatively independent development, as well as the differences in literary styles preferred by their respective nationalities, have caused significant differences between Chinese and western literary theories. China's ancient literary theory emphasizes verve, charm and artistic conception, and emphasizes emotional appeal, which is more intuitive, unlike the western emphasis on analysis and argumentation, and is systematic. The concept of China's ancient literary theory is ambiguous and vague, which is not as clear as the category of western literary theory. China's ancient aesthetics emphasized the combination of beauty and goodness, while western aesthetics generally recognized the consistency of beauty and truth. Therefore, the comparison between Chinese and western poetics and aesthetics can confirm and complement each other. So as to establish a more scientific and comprehensive poetics and aesthetic theory. In this regard, Mr. Zhu Guangqian has made important contributions.

Zhu Guangqian fully agreed with Wang Guowei's theory of poetic realm, but he compromised Croce's intuition theory, Lipps's empathy theory, Blau's distance theory and Gullers's inner representative theory, and analyzed and developed Wang Guowei's theory of poetic realm. Zhu Guangqian believes that "every poem has its own realm" [1]54 As Wang Guowei said, "realm is not the only scenery." Emotions and sorrows are also one of the realms in people's hearts "[5]. Zhu Guangqian elaborated on this. He said: "Poetry is a reflection of the life world" [1]54 "Poetry must have a choice about the life world, and it must be tailored ... and it must penetrate the author's personality and interest. "[1]54 realm is the product of scene fusion. Zhu Guangqian then explained with western empathy theory that "inner interests often blend with foreign images and influence each other" [1]60. For example, he said, for example, to appreciate natural scenery, on the one hand, the mood changes with the scenery; On the other hand, the scenery also changes and grows with the mood. Scenery blending, "Scenery begets emotion, Scenery begets emotion", which is a good realm of scene blending and a beautiful poetic realm produced by empathy. Empathy is not only projecting subjective feelings onto things, but also onto me from things, and finally reaching the point where "all scenery and words are sentimental" and things are with me. The realm of good poetry lies in "seeing the end in an instant, showing greatness in the dust, and infinity in the finite", which gives people the feeling of imagination and infinite meaning. Mr. Zhu Guangqian believes that "the realm of poetry is intuitively perceived" [1]57 is the viewer's direct perceptual knowledge of images, not the rational knowledge of using concepts. Of course, Mr. Zhu Guangqian does not deny the importance of thinking and association to poetry, but "after thinking, once it is suddenly penetrated, the realm of the whole poem suddenly appears like an epiphany, which makes people relax and forget everything" [1]58. Zhu Guangqian believes that this is "imagination", that is, "intuition". This is the case with Mr. Zhu Guangqian, who raised Wang Guowei's "realm theory" to the theoretical level in the mutual participation of Chinese and Western theories, giving people a convincing explanation. Mr. Zhu Guangqian also used western symbolism theory to put forward different views on Wang Guowei's theory of "dividing" and "dividing" in poetry. Wang Guowei divided the realm of poetry into "separation" and "non-separation" in "thorns on earth" The difference between "Ge" and "Bu Ge" lies in the use of language. " At present, all languages mean "not a", otherwise it means "a". For example, he said that "spring grass grows in the pond" and "empty beams fall in the mud" means "leaving", while "wine can clear the sorrow and flowers and eliminate the heroic spirit" means "leaving" Wang Guowei appreciates the realm of "never leaving". Zhu Guangqian disagreed with Wang Guowei. He said: "Wang's language is too obvious in the current standards, and symbolists are too obvious." Their poems may be as confusing as what Wang called "seeing flowers in the fog", such as Wagner's music [1]65. The poem Buge may be too obvious to be a good poem; The poem "Song" may also be like Wagner's music, and it is a good poem. Zhu Guangqian went on to say, "What is obvious is superficial, and what is hidden is obscure. ..... but' obviously not superficial', implicit and not obscure. " [1]65 Mr. Zhu Guangqian also pointed out that due to people's physiological and psychological differences, they also have their own preferences for the "obvious" and "hidden" of poetry. "Some people accept that poetry focuses on the visual organs, and everything should be visible with the eyes, so poetry should be' obvious' and like plastic arts. Some people also accept that poetry focuses on hearing and muscle feeling, and is most easily moved by the rhythm of music, so poetry is required to be' hidden' and like music, so it is suggestive. [1]66 Mr. Zhu Guangqian explained by employing psychological differences that "Buge" poems are not simply better than "Ge" poems, and "Implicit" and "Explicit" have their own advantages, which vary from person to person and cannot be generalized.

This is the case with Mr. Zhu Guangqian. Based on the height of world literature, he used the method of comparison between Chinese and western poetics. On the one hand, he provided mutual explanation for Wang Guowei's "realm theory", which gave it a solid theoretical support. On the other hand, it also makes up for the theoretical defect that the theory of "realm" is limited to one country's poetry, making this theory more scientific and comprehensive. Mr Zhu Guangqian's contribution to China's comparative literature theory is remarkable and commendable.

four

To sum up, Mr. Zhu Guangqian has made great contributions to the establishment of the school of comparative literature in China. Mr. Zhu Guangqian not only actively uses the parallel research method to compare Chinese and western literature, but also expands the research connotation of comparative literature. He also used western theories to explain and analyze China's literary works earlier, which made China's literary works gain unique significance and inspired readers in different ways, thus revealing the extraordinary theoretical value of "elucidation research", which was finally accepted by Chinese and foreign scholars and made it one of the important methods of comparative literature. At the same time, his fruitful efforts in the two-way interpretation of Chinese and Western poetics and aesthetics effectively corrected the bias of one-way interpretation in early research, created the contemporary value of China's ancient poetics and aesthetics, and showed western scholars the irreplaceable role of China's ancient poetics and aesthetics in interpreting western literary works. It pushed China's ancient poetics and aesthetics to the world.

It is because of the joint efforts of Mr. Zhu Guangqian and a group of scholars who are proficient in China and the West that the China School of Comparative Literature was founded and recognized by the academic circles.

References:

[1] Zhu Guangqian. On Poetry [M]. Beijing: Beijing Publishing House, 20 1 1.

[2] Zhu Guangqian. Literary Psychology [M]// The Complete Works of Zhu Guangqian (Volume I). Hefei: Anhui Education Press, 1987: 2 14.

[3] Zhu Guangqian. Talk about beauty [M]. Beijing: Ming Kai Publishing House, 20 18: 23.

[4] Cao Junfeng. Introduction to Kant's Aesthetics [M]. Tianjin: Tianjin Education Press, 20 12.

[5] Wang Guowei. Words on the earth [M]. Guilin: Lijiang Publishing House, 20 17: 14.

About the author: Wu Jiarong, professor of College of Literature, Anhui University, and professor of Wanjiang College, Anhui Normal University. Director of China Literary Theory Society.

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