《传统与个人才能》与艾略特的文学史观——兼与“新批评欠缺历史观念说”商榷

Tradition and Individual Abilities and Eliot' s Viewpoint of Literary History -Calling in Question New Criticism is Lacking in Historical Idea

新批评是一种属于自律论范畴的文学批评模式,长期以来,理论界几乎形成了一种共识,认为它仅擅长共时研究而欠缺历史观念,并以此咎病它不能或不宜作历时分析,其实这是不符合实际的。作为新批评派鼻祖的T S艾略特在其最重要的论文《传统与个人才能》中,就试图将文学理论、文学批评与文学史融合起来,强调文学“传统”对个体作家所具有的决定性影响及对文学史发展的推动作用,还提出了“外部权威”的文学史评价标准。这些独特的文学史理论,推动了20世纪西方文学史理论的发展,也为我国新世纪的文学史学建设提供了具体而深刻的启迪。

It is actually unreasonable for the field of theory to have been considering that new criticism, a mode of literory criticism on self- discipline, is only adaptable to temporary study but not constant analysis because of its lack of historical idea. As an originator of the school of new criticism, T S Eliot tried to com bine literary theory and criticism with literary history and put forward the idea of literary non - individuality in his most important thesis Tradition and Individual Abilities. He emphasized the decisive influence of literary tradition on individual writer and the development of literary history, and he also put forward the evalu ation criteria of literary history, which is called External Authority. His unique point of view of literary history made remarkable contributions to the development of theory of western literary history of the 20th cen tury, which was a specific and profound inspiration to the construction of the new century literary historical science in China.