The History of China's Literary Criticism, which reflects the latest research achievements in academic circles.
—— Author of Fudan Edition "A New History of China's Literary Criticism".
Fudan edition, a two-volume new edition of the History of China's Literary Criticism (hereinafter referred to as the "new edition") will be published soon. As a key project in the Ninth Five-Year Plan and a new textbook for 2 1 century, where is the "new edition"? Compared with the original three-volume History of China Literary Criticism (hereinafter referred to as the three-volume version), what are the differences? To this end, we specially invited two editors, Wang Yunxi and Gu Yisheng, and the professors who participated in the compilation to answer these questions.
Content Description: Try to reflect the latest views of academic circles, and many chapters reflect the latest research results of the author.
Wang Yunxi: Compared with the previous three-volume History of Criticism, the new edition has changed a lot in content. The first volume of the three-volume book was written in the early 1960 s, that is, before the Cultural Revolution, when it was seriously influenced by the "Left" trend of thought; The second volume and the third volume were published in the early 1980s and the mid-1980s, respectively, when they had not completely shaken off the "Left" ideology. Take literary criticism in Tang Dynasty as an example. Because Bai Juyi emphasizes the social function of poetry and advocates that poetry should reflect the national people's livelihood and the realistic content related to politics, we have a high evaluation of it in three volumes and think that his literary theory is realistic and progressive. Others, such as Jiao Ran and Si Kongtu, are described as backward-thinking and formalism in the three volumes because they emphasize artistry in literary criticism. In this regard, the "new edition" has been greatly revised. In terms of content, the new edition has also been reduced and compressed on the basis of three volumes. For example, "Twenty-four Poems" handed down from generation to generation for Si Kongtu, a few years ago, some scholars verified that it was not written by Si Kongtu. Although there is no consensus on this issue at present, we think that the materials provided by the researchers are informative and convincing, so there is not much introduction to poetry in the new edition. This does not affect Si Kongtu's position in the history of literary criticism, because his literary theory views can be expressed in other single papers.
The new edition not only revised some views in the past, but also added some new contents. For example, there is no poetic theory about Lu Guimeng in the three-volume edition, while the new edition absorbs the achievements of the seven-volume general history and introduces him. He has a long poem "Repaying the Fathers of Beauty", which specially evaluates Lu Ji's "Wen Fu" and Liu Xie's "Wen Xin Diao Long". This is an evaluation of literary criticism works, which is rare in the literary theory of the Tang Dynasty and deserves attention.
Yang Ming: When compiling the new edition, we pay special attention to absorbing the new achievements of academic research in recent years, including the achievements of the seven-volume General History of Criticism, and strive to reflect the latest viewpoints of academic circles. For example, the influence of pre-Qin Taoist thought on literary criticism has been a hot topic of academic discussion in recent years. I absorbed more achievements in this field when I was writing the relevant chapters of the new edition. Although some Taoist remarks are not directly directed at literature, or even literature and art, they are just philosophical thoughts, but they have had an impact on later scholars, who absorbed some ideas from them and applied them to literary criticism. We pay attention to absorbing these research results into our new edition to enrich its content.
Gu Yisheng: Many chapters in the new edition reflect the author's latest research results. For example, the three-volume edition has a low evaluation of the creative thought of graceful ci in Song Dynasty, and criticizes Li Qingzhao's On Ci as "one-sided emphasis on melody". The new edition reveals that Song Ci emphasized that "emotion" is inherent and divine, and there is a new consciousness of personality liberation shining here. It is the center of literary criticism in Song Dynasty. This is the development of my thinking and understanding in the past ten years. Last summer, I reflected on the old theory in the report "Reflections on Li Qingzhao's Ci Theory" made at the China International Symposium on Ci Studies at the University of Macau, pointing out that Li Qingzhao's Ci Theory showed the free and easy side of Ci and set a good example of using melody to serve lyric writing. Her aesthetic taste is very extensive, and she tries to enrich and expand the realm of poetry by means of the expression of poetry and prose, thus affirming the experience of combining the literariness and musicality of Song Ci, which is considered to be a creation of unity of freedom and law. At that time, many wonderful words were easy to roll, scattered in length, close to spoken English, and full of emotion when reciting. Mysteries are always worth learning from. This article was affirmed by many experts attending the meeting and reprinted in three issues of Literary Heritage this year, with the main arguments included in the New Edition. Another example is "Criticism of Poetry and Ode in Qing Dynasty", which was originally written by me, and the new edition was changed to Wu Guoping. Wujun has been engaged in the study of poetry and literary theory in Qing Dynasty for more than ten years. His new manuscript is not only much better than the original three-volume version, but also better than the History of Literary Criticism in Qing Dynasty written by wujun several years ago.
Huang Lin: Compared with the three-volume edition, the changes in the new edition are mainly reflected in the following aspects: addition, subtraction, deletion and modification. As far as the chapters related to the Ming and Qing Dynasties that I am responsible for writing are concerned, the three-volume edition does not introduce the literary criticism of Jin Ping Mei at all, let alone evaluate it, but the new edition adds a whole section. Zhang Zhupo's theory of literary criticism in Qing Dynasty also expanded, and the content and character evaluation of Tongcheng School also increased. Although the new edition is basically based on three volumes, some chapters have been revised to a certain extent, such as A Dream of Red Mansions and Mao Zonggang. Reform not only refers to the revision of content and length, but also includes the revision of views. For example, the evaluation of the literary thoughts of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Tongcheng School is quite different from the three-volume History of Criticism. It changed the past practice of excessively raising the ideological position of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom literature by emphasizing politics, and affirmed Zeng Guofan's understanding of the literary characteristics of Tongcheng School. In addition, the evaluation of Zhang Taiyan in the original three-volume History of Criticism tends to be high, so we absorbed Shi Xian's new viewpoint and repositioned it in the new edition.
Wu Guoping: I taught the course History of Literary Criticism from Qing Dynasty to modern times. The original three textbooks are too big to complete the teaching task. The new version greatly compresses this part, from the original189,000 words to 6,543,800 words. After the revision, the content is more concentrated. The original branches and vines were deleted, the main clues were highlighted and new materials were added. This not only reflects the new research results, but also is beneficial to teaching. Compared with the three-volume edition, the new edition has really made great progress.
Guiding ideology: literary criticism takes literature rather than ideology or politics as the primary element, emphasizing the aesthetic characteristics and functions of literature.
Wang Yunxi: Just now, Comrade Huang Lin talked about the high evaluation of Zhang Taiyan in The History of Criticism, which is also related to his understanding of the aesthetic characteristics of literature. Zhang Taiyan evaluates literature from a historian's point of view, emphasizing truth and opposing falsehood, while we emphasize understanding the aesthetic characteristics of literature.
Yuan Zhenyu: In the chapters I am responsible for writing, besides paying attention to concise words and accurate quotations, I also pay special attention to correcting some biased words in the three volumes, such as the part about the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, deleting and modifying some commendatory words influenced by the critics at that time in the original text. In addition, when writing, we should try our best to implement the principle of "making the past serve the present". For example, when discussing the reform and innovation theory of Li Zhi and others, we should pay attention to pointing out the practical significance of these viewpoints; When discussing the dispute between Wujiang and Linchuan and Wang Jide's Qulv, we should pay more attention to their theory and creation, point out their one-sidedness, strive for dialectical unity and pay attention to their people-oriented spirit.
Wu Guoping: Just now Mr. Wang talked about three volumes. Due to the limitations of the times, the evaluation of some historical critics and their works has been influenced by leftist thoughts. I would also like to add that at that time, special attention was paid to political ethics, which even affected the arrangement of chapters. For example, in the three-volume edition, the first chapter of the Qing Dynasty is listed as "the three great thinkers in the early Qing Dynasty". In fact, Qian is Huang Zongxi's teacher. Some of Huang Zongxi's ideas were accepted from Qian, but the three volumes may be based on the fact that Qian had surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and Huang Zongxi refused to be drafted many times after the collapse of the Ming Dynasty, and he lived in seclusion and wrote with national integrity, so he made such an arrangement. In fact, that arrangement is unreasonable, and some things are difficult to explain clearly when arranging lectures like that. On the one hand, the current adjustment has restored the true colors of history, on the other hand, it has also attached the theme that the history of criticism is the history of literary criticism, thus giving Qian and others a proper position in the history of literary criticism.
Yang Ming: What Mr. Wu said reflects our guiding ideology in compiling the new edition, that is, literary criticism is based on literature, not ideology or politics. For example, in the literary criticism of the pre-Qin and Han Dynasties, some original critical histories highly praised Wang Chong, because his papers advocated practicality and opposed fallacies. In fact, the articles he advocates are all applied articles, and he looks down on those with aesthetic characteristics. The new edition thinks that he is "quite lacking in literary vision", and we think this evaluation is very good because it implements the principle that literature is aesthetic. Due to the development of the times, our writers' literary theory will inevitably change with the development of the times, which is also reflected in the writing process of the new edition. For example, the understanding of the nature of literature has changed a lot compared with the past. In the past, literature was emphasized as a reflection of reality, which ran through three volumes of critical history. Now more emphasis is placed on the aesthetic essence and function of literature, thus distinguishing literature from non-literature.
Stylistic framework: it basically maintains and develops the characteristics of seeking truth from facts, rich materials, systematicness and readability affirmed by teaching practice and academic circles.
Gu Yisheng: Compared with the original three-volume edition, the new edition of The History of China Literary Criticism has greatly updated its explanatory content, but basically maintained and developed the characteristics of seeking truth from facts, rich materials, systematicness and readability which have been affirmed by teaching practice and academic circles. Considering that this is a textbook, readers should try their best to master the original materials and taste the original flavor of "pear", so that there is a broad space for independent thinking and further research.
Wang Yunxi: Some people may think that the framework of style is a little old, but I think that as a textbook for undergraduates, it is mainly conducive to introducing basic knowledge to students comprehensively and systematically, to teaching and to introducing historical truth to students. "Practice is the only criterion to test the truth", and the new version of this stylistic framework ultimately depends on practice and effectiveness.
Yang Ming: The problem of style and framework actually involves whether scientific research is realistic or fresh. I don't think it's in line with the principle of scientific research just to seek novelty. Our principle is to be realistic and innovative, that is, to innovate on the basis of seeking truth from facts. As an academic work, perhaps the new style and framework can give people a psychological impact, but as a teaching material, I think it is better.
Wu Guoping: Fudan's history of criticism emphasizes the accumulation of practice and embodies a pragmatic style of study. Our research object is aesthetics, and the research method is realistic and scientific. We don't pay special attention to new terms and deliberately pursue psychological freshness.
Wang Yunxi: I want to add one more thing. This time, our new edition changed the original three-volume edition to two-volume edition, mainly from the perspective of overall status balance. The original three volumes were not written at the same time. Due to the limitation of the times, I dare not write a lot of things in the first volume. Only 300 pages were written from the pre-Qin Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, while the second volume was written over 700 pages from the early Qing Dynasty to modern times, accounting for more than half of the whole history of criticism. Generally speaking, the weight is very unbalanced. Therefore, the new edition enriches the inconsistent contents from the pre-Qin Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, but greatly reduces the modern part. It puts the history of Song, Jin and Yuan Dynasties in the first volume and the Ming Dynasty in the second volume, which basically reflects the position of each period in the history of literary criticism, and the weight of the upper and lower volumes of the general history is generally balanced.