理查兹的作者心理经验论

I.A. Richards′ Theory of Authorial Mentality

理查兹(1893—1981)是本世纪初英国著名的文学批评家。本文旨在考查他的作者心理经验论。理查兹倡导了后来美国的新批评派所极力推崇的“细读”式批评。他认为作品只不过是读者进入作者心灵的窗口。由于读者文学水准的高低不一,所以,读者的看法不能作为评价文学的标准。理查兹把作者的心理经验看成是衡量读者“期待视野”的标尺。理查兹对绝对标准的关注,使其理论带有明显的客观主义和实证主义的色彩;同时他对心理因素的兴趣也使他的理论具有人文主义和心理主义的内涵。

I.A. Richards(1893-1981) was a prominent literary critic of early20th-century England. This paper is an attempt to examine his views on authorialmentality. Though richards pioneered the method of 'close reading', he considers thework a transparent medium through which a perceptive reader peeps into theauthor's mind. On the other hand, readership is regarded as a divided pssychetraversed by cultural codes. Therefore, he places the critical criterion in theauthor whose experience determines the reader's 'horizon of expectations'. Ri-chards' theory savours of objectivism and positivism which tend to establish ab-solute norms whereby to pass aesthetic judgments. At the same fime, his theoryis not without humaniststic and psychological implications.