First, the Greek literary theory
Ancient Greek literary theory is the source of western literary theory. Plato and Aristotle, two literary critics in this period, occupy a very important position in textbooks. When learning, we should first pay attention to the following small knowledge points:
Plato and Aristotle are teachers and students, but their views on literary theory are different in many ways.
2. Plato founded the "Academy School" in Athens, while Aristotle founded the "Free and unfettered School".
3. Plato's literary views mainly focus on his Utopia, Ian, Pedro, Hippocrates, drinking and Pele Booth. Aristotle's famous literary works include Poetics, Rhetoric and Psychology. Because Aristotle's Poetics was lost at that time, his influence on ancient Greek and Roman literary theory was mainly borne by his book Rhetoric.
The following are the theoretical points of ancient Greek literary theory:
1, Plato's Theory of Ideas and Theory of Imitation, Plato thinks that ideas (or translated "formulas") are the real world independent of individual things and people's consciousness, things are the shadows of ideas, and literature and art are imitations of real things. Therefore, literature and art are three levels of imitation and shadow of ideas. Aristotle objected to his teacher that literature and art only imitated "human actions and life". It is the real world and its laws, which affirms the authenticity of literary and artistic works.
2. "Madness theory", Plato believes that poetry is essentially the product of God, and poets enter a mad state because of the possession of gods, thus gaining inspiration for creation and creating. He believes that poets "do not create by skill, but by God's inspiration". Aristotle defined the poet's creation as a rational activity of human beings, and asked the poet to have a clear intention when he began to create.
3. Tragedy view and purification theory. Plato believes that tragic poets have two major crimes, that is, tragic poets engage in imitation art and their works do not show truth; Tragedy caters to people's inferior desires. Aristotle put forward different views on Plato's theory and advocated the famous theory of tragedy purification. He believes that the expression of human emotions is beneficial to the human body, and tragedy "cultivates this emotion by causing pity and fear."
4. Aristotle's tragedy theory: Aristotle's tragedy theory defines tragedy as "tragedy is the imitation of a serious, complete and long action". He believes that tragedy has six elements: plot, character, thought, words, songs and images. Among them, Aristotle thinks that the most important thing is "plot", followed by "character".
5. Aristotle's theory on the difference between poetry and history: Aristotle believes that the truth of history is different from the truth of poetry, and history describes individuals and patterns of occurrence. Poetry imitates "universal" and "possible" things, so it is "more philosophical" than history. This poem describes the "reasonable impossibility"
The influence of ancient Greek literary theory on western literary theory;
1, Plato's Theory of Ideas influenced Plotinus's neo-Platonism literary theory in Roman times.
2. Bertrand thinks that artistic beauty is embodied in the creator's mind and imagination through material, which has become the pioneer of modern romantic literary view.
3. The Berber people's thought that literature and art should be practical and instructive opened Horace's thought of "entertaining through education" in Roman times.
4. Among Plato's literary theories, inspiration theory has the greatest influence on later western literary theories.
5. Aristotle's imitation theory provides a basis for the mutual complement of romanticism and realism in European literary theory.
6. Aristotle's poetic imagination theory is the cornerstone of the literary imagination theory put forward by the Roman poet Pelos Kutaras.
7. Aristotle's stipulation that the length of tragedy should be limited to one week in the sun was developed by Italian literary critic castel Violleau during the Renaissance into the famous "three unifications" drama theory law, and was regarded as the source of beauty by western drama creation in the 7th century.
8. Aristotle's "purification theory" has long been a theory with great influence in western tragedy theory.
Second, the theory of Roman literature
Roman literary theory followed Greek literary theory closely, which was the period when ancient Hebrew civilization had an influence on western culture. With the establishment of Christianity, the influence of religion on literary theory has become considerable.
What Roman literary critics should master ... (* * 3).
Masterpieces and ideas ...
The main points of Roman literary theory: ... (* * * two points)
The influence of Roman literary theory on western literary theory ... (* * * 3 points)
Third, the literary theory of the Renaissance
The literary theory of the Italian Renaissance was a part of the cultural renaissance at that time, and writers and artists returned to ancient Greece to seek themes and inspiration. Humanistic values broke through the imprisonment of medieval religions and became the banner of the spirit and belief of writers and artists in this period. What the literary critics in this issue should pay attention to is: ... (* * *)
Masterpieces and works ...
Essentials of Renaissance Literary Theory ... (* * * 3 points)
The influence of Renaissance literary theory on western literary theory ... (* * * 3 points)
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Eight, 2 1 century western literary theory
2/Kloc-0: The general characteristics of western literary theory in the 20th century: The 20th century is a period when human industrial society is heading for prosperity, crisis and recession, and it is also a period when post-industrial society takes the place of industrial society to occupy the mainstream of western culture. The ever-changing dimension of human existence in this period makes the literary theory schools in this period numerous and novel; The attention of literature to people's inner world gradually replaced people's enthusiasm for foreign life, especially in the second half of the twentieth century, the appreciation of ugliness in literature overwhelmed the aesthetic life of literature.
Representative theorists and theoretical works of western literary theory in the 20th century;
Freud (Psychoanalytic Literary Theory): Interpretation of Dreams (or Translation of Interpretation of Dreams, Creator and Daydream)
Jung (psychoanalytic literary theory): essays on analytical psychology, psychological types, psychology and literary theory
Rips (Empathy Theory): Space Aesthetics and Errors in Geometry and Visual Aesthetics.
Mazhikowski (Stereofuturism): A slap in the face for social interests
Pound (Imagism Literary Theory): Comments
Richards (Semantic School): Two Uses of Language
Dewey (Pragmatic Literary Theory): Art is experience.
Eliot (Avant-garde Literature Theory): Literature and the Modern World
Croce (Intuitive Aesthetics Theory): Aesthetic Principles
Romain rolland (20th Century Realistic Literature Theory): On the Role of Writers in Contemporary Society and People's Drama.
Western psychoanalytic literary theory in the twentieth century
1, Freud's pan-literary theory: Freud is the founder of contemporary western psychoanalytic literary theory. He divided people's psychology into three areas: instinctive impulse (that is, ID or unconsciousness), ego (that is, conscious personality) and superego (that is, conscience). The neutral vitality of these three is the main content of human spirit. As for why literature has great aesthetic power, he thinks it is because literary works write "Oedipus complex". He uses Oedipus and Hamlet as two tragic figures to analyze it to prove the correctness, profundity and universality of this complex. He believes that the description of literature is the venting and disguised satisfaction of Oedipus complex.
2. Jung's collective unconscious literary theory: Jung was originally a student of Freud, but he was dissatisfied with his teacher's Pan Libido literary theory and made innovations, becoming another master of western psychoanalytic literary theory in the 20th century. His literary point of view is mainly that he put forward the famous theory of "collective unconsciousness", which holds that "collective unconsciousness is the racial memory inherited by every member of a nation through heredity. It links the directness of human existence with the primitive roots of human beings. Collective unconsciousness, or "prototype", shows some images, stories and patterns in people's minds. Jung agreed with the tradition of illusion, religion and even magic in literature. He believes that literature contains a kind of knowledge, which plays a particularly important role in the alienation and secularization of modern people.
2 1 century psychoanalytic literary theory's influence on western literary theory.
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Mayakovski's "Three-dimensional Futurism" Literary Theory ...
Pound's "Imagism Literary Theory" ...
Richards's "Semantic School" Literary Theory ...
Dewey's Practical (or Empirical) Literary Theory ...
Eliot's avant-garde literary theory ...
Croce's "intuition" ...