Abstract: Wang Guowei's Comments on a Dream of Red Mansions made him stand out in the history of China's novel criticism. His works broke China's ancient thought of "cultivating Tao with literature", and started a new journey of China's literary criticism from the perspective of discussing life, supported by western philosophy and aesthetic thought, and adopting modern criticism methods.
Paper Keywords: Schopenhauer; Tragedy; Critical method; Academic discourse
Wang Quanwei, a famous scholar who lives at the turn of the century, is famous in the field of novel criticism for his Review of A Dream of Red Mansions, which opens a new door for my modern literary criticism.
A Dream of Red Mansions Review1904 was published in June-August. It was published in serial form in the 76th, 77th, 78th and 8l issues of Education World magazine. It is the first systematic monograph in the research history of A Dream of Red Mansions. The biggest feature of this article is that it breaks my traditional thought of "literature carries Tao", integrates western philosophy and aesthetic thought from the perspective of exploring the essence of life, and adopts modern commentary to demonstrate. Therefore, it is a milestone in the history of novel criticism in my circle:
First, to explore the nature of life.
Before Wang Wei's novel criticism, most of them advocated? Text carries the Tao, and text carries it? . One of them? Tao? Instead of studying the law of evolution and development of literature itself or expressing people's conscious sense of independence, we should educate people to be positive in Confucianism and even the whole feudal ethical system? Okay？ Who? This utilitarian concept of literary theory has greatly restricted the development of ancient literature to a higher level of thinking and a broader aesthetic space. The great defect of history is that it ignores the influence of literary works on specific people. The Review of A Dream of Red Mansions breaks this pattern and boldly explores the essence of life from the perspective of life in different fields such as philosophy, aesthetics and ethics.
(A) the integration of Western philosophy
From a philosophical point of view, A Dream of Red Mansions Review abandoned China's traditional Taoist thought and introduced western philosophical thought in a mature way. Wang Wei is an outstanding scholar who is knowledgeable in China and the West. Because of his study abroad experience, he accepted the advanced western philosophy and successfully integrated it into his own works. The main purpose of Wang Wei's philosophy research is to answer the questions of life, and among many philosophical thoughts, he chose Schopenhauer's pessimistic philosophy, which is closely related to the situation of Fengshihui at that time.
/kloc-At the turn of the 20th century, China and Laos faced a crisis situation of domestic troubles and foreign invasion, with great powers quarreling, the government * * * *, and people's lives were in dire straits. Faced with this situation, intellectuals set off an upsurge of saving the nation from extinction. Wang Wei believes that in order to save the nation and survive, we must first change the numbness of the people and awaken them to correctly understand life and the essence of life. Schopenhauer's philosophy of life is just an idea that can help people understand life correctly.
Schopenhauer's philosophy is a philosophy full of pessimism about life. Schopenhauer is fundamentally a philosopher of life. Starting from voluntarism and pessimistic philosophy of life, he reveals the unique tragedy, absurdity, hypocrisy and misfortune of life. The core of his philosophical thought is to put? Will. Like everything in the world. The will in his eyes is the instinctive life impulse of things and the master of the whole universe. Desire is the expression of will, embodied in instinctive impulse, pursuit, demand, possession, greed, struggle, love, jealousy, admiration, etc. ? Pain? It is the result form of will. ? Will. Never satisfied, followed by endless pain. So, in Schopenhauer's view, human beings are in such a place? Will life? Swinging in the pendulum of desire and pain is the essence of life.
Wang Wei absorbed Schopenhauer's philosophy and integrated it into his works. For example, the title of the first chapter is "Introduction to Life and Art", from which we can see the purpose of the author's writing, and take A Dream of Red Mansions as the object of criticism to discuss life problems. The first chapter is the general introduction of the whole article. In this chapter, Wang introduced Schopenhauer's philosophical views to people. He said:? What is the essence of life? That's all. Desire is insatiable, but it is born of lack. A state of inadequacy is also painful. ? In Wang Wei's view, what is the essence of life? Desire? People are born with desires, but they are often not satisfied. Prisoners will constantly have new desires, and if they are not satisfied, they will suffer. Therefore, life is a process of constantly experiencing pain. All these are consistent with Schopenhauer's philosophy of life.
On the basis of Schopenhauer's thought, Wang Guowei further integrated his own life experience. Not only did he propose. The desire to live precedes life? And found a way to get rid of the pain, that is, completely? Free? . The fourth chapter of the Dream of Red Mansions Review wrote:? However, the human beings in the world are drawn out, and the so-called cosmic people are the realm of liberation, not shouting that there is nothing. However, there is nothing to say, and it is hard to say. ?
(B) extremely high aesthetic value
From the aesthetic point of view, Wang Wei's Review of A Dream of Red Mansions explains the essence of life with the theory of tragedy. Tragedy was first formed in ancient Greece, which is the result of human exploration of life, soul, art, world and universe. There was no real tragedy in the Middle Ages, so there was no complete tragedy theory. In the third chapter of A Dream of Red Mansions Review, "The Aesthetic Value of A Dream of Red Mansions" wrote: The spirit of China people is also optimistic, so the operas and novels that represent their spirit do not have this optimistic color: they begin with sadness and end with joy, end with departure, and end with difficulty; It is difficult to read the reader's mind without correctness. ? Wang Wei compared A Dream of Red Mansions with China's classical literary works, such as Peach Blossom Fan. In his view, most of the past works are happy endings, which will make people indulge in them rather than introspect. Is A Dream of Red Mansions a novel that breaks this traditional pattern? A complete tragedy? .
Wang Guowei introduced Schopenhauer's three tragic standards here:? The first kind of tragedy is caused by extremely evil people and all their abilities. Second, because of blind fate. The second tragedy lies in the position and relationship of the characters in the play, but it has to be; You don't have to be a snake and scorpion, which is unexpected. ? A Dream of Red Mansions belongs to the third category. The author also wrote:? However, the usual morality, the usual human feelings, and the usual situation are just so. From this perspective, the author of A Dream of Red Mansions can be described as a tragedy among tragedies. ? The tragedies of many characters in A Dream of Red Mansions are not caused by external factors. No snakes and scorpions, no special changes, everything seems reasonable. Their tragedy is the inevitable fate, and their identity and environment have caused their respective life endings. Therefore, the tragedy of A Dream of Red Mansions is an unchangeable tragedy, an inevitable tragedy of life and a real tragedy. Only tragedy has the great power to awaken numb people to understand life and change their destiny. Wang Guowei appreciates the high aesthetic value of A Dream of Red Mansions, and thinks that it not only reveals the inner pain and essential tragedy of life, but also guides people to actively seek a way out. In his view, only by rejecting all life desires and taking the road of being born is the real liberation.