Some Views on the History of China's Ancient Literary Criticism

Aesthetic standards of China's appreciation of ancient literature

China's universal view of the essence of beauty in ancient times is not single, but a complex and complementary system, which takes taste as beauty, meaning as beauty, Tao as beauty, isomorphism as beauty and literature as beauty, which constitutes the overall characteristics of China's view of the essence of beauty in ancient times. China's ancient views on the essence of beauty were the same, but they were different in the end. For example, Confucianism believes that nature is better than morality, emotion, harmony and the form of "purposiveness", Taoism believes that nothingness, beauty, softness, nature, anger and fitness are beautiful, and Buddhism believes that nirvana, extinction, death and the symbol of nirvana-roundness and light are beautiful, which embodies ancient China. China's ancient aesthetic theory pays attention to the characteristics and methods of aesthetics. The theory of aesthetic characteristics involves pleasure, intuition, objectivity, subjectivity and authenticity of aesthetic feeling. Aesthetic methodology emphasizes chewing aftertaste, looking at things from my perspective and accepting things modestly, which echoes China's ancient theory about the essence of beauty.

2. China's works of ancient literary criticism.

Guo Shaoyu, Editor-in-Chief, Selected Literary Theories of China in Past Dynasties (one volume) Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House 1979, 1980.

A volume of Selected Literary Theories of China in Past Dynasties is selected on the basis of four volumes. There are 66 kinds of China ancient and modern literary criticism papers (including poems), 5 kinds of pre-Qin, 4 kinds of Han, 5 kinds of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, 8 kinds of Tang, Song 10, Jin 1 0, 2 kinds of Yuan and 9 kinds of Ming. Books are selected according to the author's time, and the selected articles are all selected. The parts unrelated to literary theory are abridged and marked. All the selected texts are arranged into various versions, and the source of a main text and version is indicated at the end of the article. There are notes and explanatory texts at the end of each text. The book is well chosen, the judgment is accurate, and the notes emphasize the interpretation of the text, which is easy to understand and clear. Exegetics can not only explain the main idea of the text, but also clarify its origin, which is most convenient for beginners of China ancient literary theory.

Wen Xin Diao (Southern Dynasties Liang) Liu Xie Zhu People's Literature Publishing House 1985.

Liu Xie's "Wen Xin Diao Long" is the earliest existing work in China that systematically expounds literary theory. This book is divided into two parts, each with 25 articles. The first part of the first part is an introduction, and the last twenty articles describe the stylistic characteristics and changes respectively; The next 25 articles mainly discuss the principles and methods of literary creation style and criticism, as well as the relationship between literature and the times. The last preface is the preface of this book. Fan's notes are based on Huang's Notes on Wen Xin Diao Long in Qing Dynasty, and are collated by Sun Zhongrong's Notes on Gu Xiao, Huang Xiao, Tan Xiao, Japanese suzuki torao and Zhao Wanli Wen Xin Diao Long. Model essay notes are not limited to sparse sentences, and all documents related to understanding the text are quoted in detail, so they are the most detailed compared with various notes. This book is also accompanied by the preface and bibliography of Hufu Suzuki's collation of Huang's Wen Xin Diao Long for scholars' reference.

Zhong Rong's Liang Shi Hua, People's Literature Publishing House 1980

Zhong Rong's Shi Pin is a literary criticism work devoted to the study of five-character poems and their poets. The author selected 122 poets from Han Dynasty to Qi Liang, and divided them into three categories (top grade 1 1, middle grade 39, and inferior grade 72), and formed Zhong Rong on the basis of studying the writers' works. Chen's notes refer to various versions, which are sorted and annotated, concise and convenient for beginners. The appendix "Selected Poems" at the back of the book is the works mentioned in Zhong Rong's "Selected Poems" compiled by the annotator, which is particularly convenient for readers to consult and refer to. The postscript written by the annotator at the end of the book is also of guiding significance to Zhong Rong's selection of poems and comments on the first chapter.

Textual research on Yan's Cang Lang Shi Hua (Song Dynasty) Textual Research on People's Literature Publishing House 1983.

Yan Yu's Cang Shi Lang Hua is a work that uses Zen as a metaphor for poetry and pays attention to the form and art of poetry. Guo's Cang Lang Shi Hua is based on the Jiajing edition of Ming Dynasty, revised with reference to the poet Yu Pian, and made notes in Cang Lang Shi Hua and Hu Caifu's Cang Lang Shi Hua, adopting some textual research on Cang Lang in Tao Yuanming's Miscellanies of Shi Hua. There is a "note" in front of the book, which briefly combs and evaluates Canglang's version and viewpoint. The book is divided into proofreading, annotation and interpretation according to the order of five parts of the original book: on poetry, poetic style, poetic method, poetic evaluation and textual research. Proofreading is mostly for textual research and has the power to correct fallacies. Annotations pay attention to the source of words and allusions, which are concise and clear; Interpretation plays a guiding role in origin exploration and theoretical invention. Appendix Yan Yu's answer to Lin 'an Book is helpful for readers to understand Yan's poetics. This book is the most detailed and clear research work on Cang Shi Lang Dialect at present.

The original poem (written by Ye Xie in Qing Dynasty) was annotated by Huo People's Literature Publishing House 1979.

Ye Xie's "Original Poetry" is a theoretical criticism of poetry that pays attention to the origin of poetry creation and opposes literary revivalism. It is divided into two parts: internal and external, in which there are many incisive discussions on righteousness and change, knowledge, talent, courage, reason, things and feelings. Huo's collation is based on Qing Shi Hua and Ye Xie's Ji Jie, and the original poem is collated, punctuated, punctuated and annotated. There is a preface in front of the book, which briefly introduces and evaluates the theoretical thought and style of the original poem. The notes in the book focus on the sources of quotations and reference materials, and generally do not analyze the words.

Art Outline (Qing) Liu Xizai Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House 1978

Liu Xizai's Introduction to Art is a theoretical criticism work on literary theory. The author's exposition on literature and art covers a wide range. The book includes six parts: Wen Jian, Poem Notes, Fu Notes, Qu Notes, Shu Notes and Jing Yi Notes. In "Xu", Liu claimed that his method of commenting was "generalizing from this, generalizing from less", that is, making outstanding comments in concise language and expressing complex contents through "analogy". Throughout the book, especially the papers, poems, words and poems, we can see from time to time how to evaluate the writer's works, the evolution of literary forms and the elucidation of artistic characteristics. This "Outline of Art" was compiled according to the original version in the 12th year of Tongzhi in Qing Dynasty (1873), and some typos were punctuated and corrected. There is a preface written by Wang Guoan in front of the book, which gives a detailed introduction to the original work.

A New Comment on Ci Hua in the World —— Annotation of Qilu Bookstore by Hua Wang Guowei and Teng Xianhui 1982

This book is divided into two volumes, the first volume is "Ci Hua on Earth" and the second volume is "Appendix to Ci Hua on Earth". The first volume is based on Wang Guowei's "Human Thorns". The second volume is Wang's sporadic comments on words other than human words. This book has two parts: proofreading and annotation. The important differences between the interpretation of "Jiao Kan" and other editions (especially compared with the revised versions of Xu Tiaofu's notes and Wang Youan's notes by People's Literature Publishing House (1962 edition) can be seen from the author's mastery of historical materials and meticulous attitude towards documents. The Notes are supplemented and revised with reference to the old notes. Its quotation can also indicate the source, which makes people clear at a glance. There is Zhou's preface and Teng Xianhui's "On Wang Guowei's Aesthetic Thoughts" in front of the book, in which Teng Wenyu's "Theory of Realm" and his aesthetic thoughts in "The World" are discussed in detail for readers' reference.

On Qian Zhongshu's Art Record by Zhonghua Book Company 1984

Qin Yi Lu is a work of Qian Zhongshu, which mainly discusses the artistic thought of China's ancient poetry. This book is a revised edition of the first edition of Ming Kai Bookstore from 65438 to 0984, which is divided into two parts. The first part is the old appearance of the original book, only slightly deleted and polished, accounting for 91; The second part is the revision and gain of the old works one by one, which is an "addendum", 18. In the introduction of the new edition, the author said: "The upper and lower volumes complement each other, that is, the contrast of strength in the morning and evening", which shows that this book can be regarded as the essence of the author's life. Qian's works are closely related to the skills, textual research, style and theory of China's ancient poems. But there are three characteristics: first, if the author adopts the method of commenting on ancient poems, it can explain important theoretical problems such as the classification of poems in Tang and Song Dynasties. Second, the essence comes from learning, that is, the author's articles are extremely varied, but he has a profound understanding of the issues involved, such as "separation of poetry and music" and "Tongcheng School". 3. The combination of Chinese and Western culture is reflected in the literature and theoretical ideas in the book, which shows that the author has combined Chinese and Western culture and art. This book is rich in knowledge and incisive in analysis, and it is a must-read for understanding the ancient artistic spirit of China.

Detailed introduction

Is there literary criticism in ancient literary theory? Mao Dun once gave a negative answer to this question. He said: "China has only literary works since he came, and there is no literary criticism; The definition of literature and the technology of literature have never been systematically explained in China. Some papers collected by the Ministry of Miscellaneous Libraries, such as Wen Xin Diao Long, are actually not literary studies or literary techniques. " (1) Mao Dun's position of "Westernization" with "West" as the rope and "China" as the key link has not been recognized by most ancient literary theory researchers. This can be seen from the summary and analysis of "Sikuquanshu Catalogue" and "Poetry" by ancient literary critics in the early 20th century.

An overview of "poetry and prose criticism" in the catalogue of sikuquanshu;

The article was not prosperous in the Western Han Dynasty, and it was muddleheaded, well-written and well-founded. Jian 'an Chu, the genre is gradually prepared, so the paper is not clear, it is the first one. The book Le Wei was handed down from the present to the present, but it was written by Liu Xie and Zhong Rong. From the origin of literary style, just like China's first writers A and B, it is different to follow the teacher's footsteps. To Jiao Ran's "poetic style", prepare the law. Bai Meng's "Poetry of Skills" is based on facts; Liu Ban's Zhong Shan Shi Hua and Ouyang Xiu's Liu Yi Shi Hua are both styles and departments. After discussion, there are no such five situations. (2)

Strictly speaking, the summary of "comments on poetry and prose" in Siku is a general description of the academic history of classical literature. However, if we use the concept of modern literary criticism to judge the construction of traditional literary criticism, then the description of "literary criticism" in the Summary is critical. Based on this, Japanese scholar Masako Aoki, in the chapter of China Literature Review, "perfunctorily revised" the five works of Si Ku and poetry criticism into six. Namely: 1. Critics (Liang Zhongrong's Poems). Second, record the truth of the work (Tang Mengbang's Skill Poetry). Third, the body of literature (Zhi Yu's On the Points of Articles). Fourthly, talk about literary theory (Tang Shi Jiao Ran's Poetic Style). Fifth, the commentator system (thanks to Wen Xin Diao Long). 6. Miscellaneous essays (Song Ouyang Xiu's "Poems on June 1"). (3)

Zhu Dongrun also expounded the theory of Si Ku in the Outline of the History of China Literary Criticism. He said:

Looking at the achievements of ancient literary criticism today, there are six endings. A book of its own, well-organized, such as Liu Xie's The Book of Zhong Rong. As a chapter, watch this episode. Such as Han Yu's Essays on Poetry, the second kind. Zhen adopted various schools and decided to choose them. Later generations gave them a glimpse of their intentions, such as the collection of Yue, the collection of Qi between Gao Zhongwu and ZTE, and the third one. There are also home choices and comments. Although they are complex and varied, and their languages may be different, their modality is perfect, such as Fang Hui's Bone Marrow of Jin Kui, Zhang Huiyan's Selected Poems and Four. If his purpose exists, but his words are inexhaustible, he will shine in the light of riding: he will find it in other people's books, for example, according to the saying of the valley, the strength of the person who is ready to read poetry is five; See other people's poems, such as on the Four Spirits, and see Shui Xin's Collection, Six also. Besides these six terminals, there may be something worth mentioning. I don't know how to count. (4)

Whether the classification of Zhu Dongrun and Aoki is completely correct or not, they sorted out the genre signs of traditional poetry criticism and made contributions to the study of critical stylistics in China's ancient literary criticism in the 20th century. Obviously, combing and analyzing this genre theory also includes the understanding of China's ancient literary criticism as a unique existing style.

In fact, China's ancient literary criticism, as an "alternative" existence different from western literary criticism, can be said to have been recognized by most ancient literary critics in the 20th century. Although this recognition is realized in different discourse forms, it contains a collective subconscious, that is, China's literary criticism has its national uniqueness. This can be seen in the study of ancient literary theory in the early 20th century.

Chen Zhongfan's definition of "literary criticism" in "The History of China's Literary Criticism" is: "Since Liu Xie and Zhong Rong, there have been many works, and it is impossible to know the origin of the style or the authors A and B, for example. Then the meaning of the word' criticism' cannot be confirmed. "Criticism" has five meanings in the words of far-western scholars: correcting mistakes, one also; Like, two also; Sentence, three also; Comparative classification, four also; Appreciation, five also. Criticizing literature is to test the academic nature and form of literary works. " (5) From the perspective of tendency, Chen's literary criticism is mainly "western" and "Chinese", but it also shows the differences between Chinese and western critical concepts. Subconsciously, I still think that China's literature is critical, and "making exceptions" is just "unpredictable", and there is no clear concept system and unified standard.

Although Guo Shaoyu has never defined the meaning of "literary criticism", he believes that "the change of literary criticism always changes with the evolution of literature, and sometimes the evolution of literature also changes with the influence of literary criticism" and "literary criticism is often related to academic thought". (6) This is an exploration of the ontology of literary criticism. Guo also integrated the above thoughts into his works on the history of criticism, and with the evolution of literary ideas as a clue, wrote the historical process of China's literary criticism from evolution to retro to completion.

Luo Genze made a rigorous textual research on the word "literary criticism". He believes that "literary criticism" is the translation of English literary criticism. Criticism originally refers to referee, and later it was named literary referee, and then it was extended from literary referee to literary referee theory and literary theory. The theory of literary judgment is the principle of criticism, or critical theory. Therefore, the narrow sense of literary criticism is literary judgment, while the broad sense of literary criticism includes not only literary judgment but also critical theory and literary theory. He believes that the study of "China's literary criticism" "must be generalized, otherwise it will not be a real" China's literary criticism "" (7) In Luo Genze's view, China's literary criticism is broad, focusing on literary theory rather than literary judgment. The reason is that, from the perspective of criticizing works, Liu Xie's Wen Xin Diao Long "does not aim at judging others' actions", but "narrates papers" and explains "the hub of literature". Most other literary criticism books also "focus on guiding future literature". From the perspective of the main body of criticism, "China's criticism is mostly a writer's cross-talk, and there are not many critics. The writer's cross-dressing, of course, should focus on theoretical construction, not literary judgment "(8); Judging from the focus of criticism, "China people like to focus on literary issues, not criticism." (9) On the whole, Luo Genze also tends to take "West" as "China", but the information revealed by this tendency is that China's literary criticism does not focus on the analysis, evaluation and judgment of specific works like western literary criticism, but is a unique system that integrates literary theory discussion into critical practice, and is strictly distinguished from western literary criticism in terms of literary appreciation, literary criticism and literary theory. Luo Genze's analysis actually affirmed the uniqueness of "China's literary criticism" as an "alternative", and at the same time made a preliminary explanation of the subject, function and object focus of China's literary criticism.

It was Fang Xiaoyue who explicitly acknowledged the systematic existence of China's ancient literary criticism. In An Introduction to China's Literary Criticism, he thinks that China's literary criticism "has always been a system". Except for the special category of "poetic criticism" mentioned in the General Catalogue of Sikuquanshu, "anyone who collects poems and essays should be criticized" because "anyone who chooses poems and essays has a discriminating view, which is the expression of concrete criticism" (1. For example, in the article "China's Literary Criticism and Anthology", Yao Yao thinks that the monograph "Poetry Review" "from its influence on readers and authors at that time, these books are not as much theoretical guidance as those compiled by modern people, and most people just regard them as prose books. ..... As far as influence is concerned, it is "Ji" that has the effect of "literary criticism" for readers and authors; That kind of role and influence goes far beyond books such as poetry. " (1 1) For another example, Mu discussed the literary criticism thought embodied in the Selected Works of Zhaoming (People's Literature Publishing House, 1998) and Jiang's The Significance of Selected Works of Ancient Literature. ( 12)

Zhu Ziqing directly affirmed that China's literary criticism has its own characteristics and development history. In the article The Development of Poetry Criticism, he thinks that Poetry anthology, Wen Xin Diao Long and Si Ku Quan Shu are of course systematic literary criticism, while Yi Wen Zhi Mei Zong Lun, Selected Works Notes and Prefaces and Postscripts, Other Anthology, Poems, Proses and Sentences Books and Postscripts are systematic literary criticism. This seems to be not to be ignored. (13) On the basis of combing this criticism style, Zhu Ziqing also talked about his own views on the relationship between "literary criticism" and "poetry criticism". He said: "Literary criticism is a translated name. What we call' poetry criticism' and literary criticism are comparable, although they may not be completely consistent. Our poetry criticism has its own development; Now it is generally called' literary criticism' because the term is clearer, more precise and more solemn. But when it comes to development, we can't erase that old name. " ( 14)

In fact, if we really want to determine the "alternative" existence characteristics of China's literary criticism, the early research focusing on the meaning of "criticism" and the difference of criticism style has not touched the core of the problem, and we must explore its uniqueness to make the problem clear. Therefore, it is logical to explore the national characteristics of China's ancient literary criticism. Throughout the discussion on the nationality of China's ancient literary criticism in the 20th century, there are roughly the following viewpoints:

1, "Humanized Literary Criticism". In the article "An Inherent Feature of China", Qian Zhongshu thinks that a prominent feature of China's literary criticism is to "humanize or enliven the whole article". "We didn't see the humanization of the same scale in western literary criticism; We can even say that when we write our own criticisms in western languages, we often feel the lack of humanized idioms. " In Qian Zhongshu's view, the theoretical advantage of "humanized literary criticism" lies in "opening up the appearance of content and having holistic characteristics." (15) This is an early exposition of the characteristics of ancient literary criticism from the "self-reference" of ancient literary criticism to the "two-way reference" of Chinese and western literary criticism.

2. Literary Criticism of Literary Style. Guo Shaoyu divided literary criticism into broad sense and narrow sense in The History of China Classical Literary Theory Criticism. Literary criticism in a broad sense includes literary theory, while literary criticism in a narrow sense refers to literary criticism. In his view, "China's classical literary criticism is different from literary criticism in a narrow sense, and it is not equal to literary theory. It seems to be limited to the poetic or literary theory of orthodox literature. " Guo called it "literary criticism of literary style" (16)

3. "Comparative criticism". In my opinion, the traditional criticism of "point" and "enlightenment" is not "a few tentative analyses, which are neither accurate nor thorough, plus the uncertainty of metaphor", which leads to "how to properly evaluate works has inherent defects." As a remedy, the ancients often compared writers' works, which gradually became a habit. Therefore, "comparative criticism" has become a major feature of China's ancient literary criticism. This kind of criticism includes not only the literary comparison of different times and regions, but also the comparative criticism of different writers, and it is related to the creation of classical literature. ( 17)

4. Criticism combining history, theory and evaluation. Through the investigation of Confucius' theory of "Xing, Guan, Qun and Resentment", Cao Pi's theory of "Wen Qi", Wen Xin Diao Long, Selected Works, Shi Hua, Ci Hua and Novel Comment, Yang thinks that the critical thought of "combining history with criticism" is unique in China's ancient literary theory. ( 18)

5. Aesthetic criticism of "point and enlightenment". Ye believes that "China's traditional criticism belongs to' enlightenment and enlightenment' criticism, with the ideal of not destroying the' machine heart' of poetry. Structurally, it is a kind of structure close to poetry to arouse the activities of poetry in readers' consciousness and reproduce the artistic conception of poetry with "conciseness" and "point to point". "That is, the criticism using analysis and explanation belongs to aesthetic criticism, which is directly related to the management of creation and the interest it achieves. It is not a waste of pen and ink on the accumulation of detailed examples of' the master boldly assumes and the west carefully verifies', but a dialectical criticism based on the work, and the result is far from the artistry of the work itself; It does not follow (at least not rigidly adhere to) the dialectical rhetoric procedure of' beginning, narration, proof, argument and conclusion'. " (19) In his article Historical Development of Traditional Literary Criticism Methods, Wu divided the criticism of ancient literary styles into two categories: overall sensory judgment and intuitive description, and the connotations of these two categories are also very similar to Ye's criticism of "inspiration" and "enlightenment". (20)

6. "Impressionist criticism" (especially in the evaluation of poetry criticism). Ye Jiaying thinks: "China's literary criticism is characterized by impression rather than speculation, intuition rather than theory, poetry rather than prose, and emphasis rather than holism." (2 1) Huang Weiliang criticized Yang Honglie, Guo Shaoyu, Liu Ruoyu and others' "Impressionist Practical Criticism" in "A New Exploration of China Classical Literary Theory" (22). He pointed out: "China's impressionist criticism method and terminology are few, and it pays attention to intuition and generalization", which is a major feature of China's literary criticism. However, "besides impressionism criticism, there are many works that are systematic and reanalyzed, such as Poems of My Servant and Poems of Baiyuzhai". On the other hand, simplifying impressionist description is one of the indispensable critical methods, and its value is undeniable. " (23)

7. "Creative criticism". Sun Rongrong believes that ancient literary criticism is not only extremely rich in content, but also diverse in forms, vivid in language, flexible in techniques, concise and concise, and very particular about its own artistry. This is a major feature of China's ancient literary criticism. This artistry is manifested in: appreciation and criticism are manifested in literary genres, such as fu, parallel prose, quatrains, poems and songs; Or criticize the object with the language described by the image; Or use specific poems to understand abstract theories. Based on this, Sun Rongrong believes that "China's ancient artistic literary criticism is actually a kind of' creative' criticism, which is not strictly different from literary creation. To some extent, it is a kind of literary creation and a kind of critical literature. " (24)

8. "Oriental art criticism mode". Does China's traditional art criticism have a deep model and a potential system? Pu Zhenyuan not only gave a positive answer in the article "A Preliminary Study of China's Art Criticism Mode", but also described its national characteristics as follows: "This is a multi-level criticism based on the unity of man and nature, in which images, qi and Tao are sublimated step by step and integrated, reflecting the profound life realm of the Chinese nation and the integrity of life in the universe. Or it is an oriental art criticism model that advocates neutrality, highlights good taste, highlights advantages and disadvantages, guides art, emphasizes experience, highlights style, and marks a round view (especially with the integration of heaven and man, guides art and round view as the main symbols). " The author thinks that it has six characteristics: first, its philosophical basis is China's ancient theory of the unity of heaven and man in the universe; Second, the subject's introversion and transcendence of the national comprehensive experience accumulation; Third, "it has a unique deep theoretical structure"; Fourth, "diversified theoretical forms of existence"; Fifth, "distinctive aesthetic characteristics" (integrating experiential criticism with perceptual thinking, and being good at using the discourse expression of "talking about ordinary feelings and doing ordinary things"); Sixth, "biased towards emotional experience, the degree of theoretical abstraction is not enough." (25)

Generally speaking, in the discussion of traditional literary criticism, the recognition of the existence of the "other" and the exposition of national characteristics constitute the discourse theme in the study of ancient literary criticism, and the activity characteristics of this discourse theme are reflected in two comparisons: one is the comparison between China and the West, with western literary criticism as the obvious comparison object; Second, the comparison between ancient and modern times takes the system and concept of modern literary criticism as the potential comparative background. Its discourse path is roughly from the analysis of critical style theory to the summary of critical style theory.