Author: Jia Mengwei
At present, literary and art criticism needs to strengthen historical awareness. For literary criticism, the so-called "historical consciousness" includes at least two aspects: one is to look at the content reflected and expressed in literary works from a historical perspective -- history and actual life, and to consider society and life in the coordinates of history; the second is the historical consciousness of literary history, which places writers, works, and literary phenomena in the coordinates of Chinese and foreign literary history. The history of literary criticism should integrate these two consciousnesses, look back at the road ahead, examine reality and the future that is surging in reality.
As far as the problems existing in current literary criticism are concerned, or to put the current literary criticism in the coordinates of the history of literary criticism for review, I think it is more important to emphasize the independence and professionalism of criticism. Of course, the two are inseparable, and only professionals can be independent, and only on the basis of independence can we talk about professionalism. Some people say that critics eat "rotten meat", as if critics are the derivatives of writers, and literary criticism is a derivative of literary works. If the critic is willing to be a "scavenger", then there is no independence and professionalism at all. Critics cannot abide by professional ethics, do not have professional ability, and objectively lose their independence and professionalism.
Literary criticism is supposed to be a spiritual dialogue, a spiritual exercise of a critic. Many critics have kept the position of the text, and the phenomenon of so-called criticism as a platform for the "three customs" is still rare. True critics don't have to, and don't despise, doing that. However, it is also true that the independence and professionalism of literary criticism have weakened recently.
So, what factors have influenced the independence and professionalism of literary criticism? The next interview combines his literary criticism and editing work to talk about some feelings.
The first is that various lures of interest affect independence and professionalism. The spiritual collision between critics and writers' works and literary phenomena is originally the most original driving force for literary and artistic criticism, and only such criticism can form a positive interaction and win-win cooperation with creation. But now the promoters of literary criticism are often magazines, publishers, writers, and other stakeholders. Considerations of interest more or less affect the independence of literary criticism. Who is literary criticism written for? Some literary criticisms are not written for writers, not for readers of literary works, and still less for the critics themselves, but only to write such a piece to complete the task and make a difference.
The weakening of the independent spirit of the critical subject also affected the independence and professionalism of literary criticism. Criticism should be a kind of intellectual criticism. The academic system and interest appeals may weaken the spiritual independence of the critical subject, but the tradition and inertia of intellectuals alienating from secular authority are still there, the discipline of the intellectuals of the previous generations is still ringing in the ears, and the intellectual group is actually mostly in a vague state of physical and mental contradictions. In ancient China, there were "wanderers" who broke away from feudal relations, were ideologically liberated, were able to freely explore the ideal "Way", and said that they should speak out for righteousness and take the way of heaven. Mencius said that "virgins talk about it" (social criticism), Fan Zhongyan said that "it is better to die than to live in silence", but they still have a way to live.
Fichte has a metaphor that says that scholars (intellectuals) should be "big husbands", which is in line with the psychology of Chinese - Chinese who does not want to be a "big husband". Fichte said: "The man chosen by these great husbands is the truth; they are faithful to the truth to the death; even if the whole world abandons her, they must adopt her; if anyone slanders her and slanders her, they will protect her openly; for her they will happily endure the hatred that the great men have cunningly hidden, the fearless smiles of the foolish men, and the short-sighted people's shruging gestures of pity." "For the sake of his sweetheart, the eldest husband can do this, it should be full of happiness." Admittedly, there is a group of intellectuals in China who are still doing what they need to do, albeit sometimes in silence.
Second, china's concept of human feelings has influenced the professionalism and independence of literary and art criticism. In the so-called literary world, writers, critics, literary editors, publishers, and media people all seem to be acquaintances. It's easy to do things between acquaintances, but it's not necessarily a good thing for the independence of literary criticism. "Zhongshan" has a tradition of combining theory and practice, such as "new realism", "new state", "urban literature" and "non-fiction" at the beginning of the new century, all of which are created, but also have related theories and criticisms. The "Hehan Stargazing" column has done nearly 100 writers' theories, including comprehensive writer monographs, "creative limitations" that specifically select writers who have problems, and "heart to heart" columns for famous writers, hoping to study writers and their creations from multiple angles and form a writer research system. Some scholars and critics find various reasons to refuse to do the "limitation of creation", and some famous writers are reluctant to comment on the creations of their peers, mainly because they are afraid of offending people. Later, he made six "Theories of Creative Limitations", such as "Yu Hua's Inertia", "The Struggle in Distress - Jia Ping's Concave Theory", "Mo Yan's Desire Narrative and Others", "Zhang Wei's Creative Limitations", "Wang Anyi's Spiritual Limitations", and "On Zhang Chengzhi's Recent Creation and His Spiritual World", which were very sharp. The authors of these articles, "Zhong Shan" and I, did not "offend the writers" as some people feared. Because there is no private use of literature as a public instrument to seek private interests and vent private anger, it is completely theoretical, and it can continue to be discussed whether it is right or wrong. Writers have no enemies outside of them, and the only enemy may be "themselves." But often the authorities are obsessed, and the writer himself may not be able to fully discover his own problems - the "enemies" are very ghostly. Lao Tzu said, "There is no greater evil than invincibility." "The greater evil is that they are invincible because they do not know the enemy." The "Creative Limitations" column tries to be a detractor for writers, helping writers find these "enemies" and revealing them as they are, reminding everyone, including writers. Writers don't have to buy critics' accounts, and critics can't please writers. Some confused writers who are accustomed to listening to good words, if you raise the tone and praise, he (she) will still feel that he or she does not exaggerate enough. For those good writers who are sober-minded, if you don't exaggerate on ideas, the writers will not be moved in their hearts. The Chinese tradition does not say "understand", but "understand". The key to saying "good" and saying "bad" is to understand each other.
In addition, the impetuosity of the creative world has also brought great trouble to the critical community. There are too many shoddy works, books that lose money will also be published through various channels, and the "quantity" of Chinese literature publishing and publishing is definitely the first in the world, and critics can't read it at all. Many works may not even be effectively read after they come out. Although there are good works, the denominator is too large, so the value of this molecule is actually very small.
At the same time, the impetuous habits of the creative world will also be transmitted to the critical community: you are shoddy, why should I treat you with my heart? In my opinion, whether it is the problems of the creative world or the criticism circle, there are basically no "difficult and complicated diseases", but "common diseases", "basic diseases", "epidemics", and "infectious diseases". (Jia Mengwei)
Source: Literature and Art Daily