鲜活的源泉——再论剑桥批评传统及其意义

The Living Principle: Cambridge Critics Re-examined

由瑞恰慈、燕卜荪、利维斯和威廉斯等人形成和发展的剑桥批评传统体现出“实用批评”的现实品格和“文化批评”的价值关怀,曾对20世纪的文学批评和文学教学产生巨大的影响。瑞恰慈、燕卜荪于20世纪上半叶应邀在清华大学、北京大学和西南联大讲学,影响了我国文学研究界和诗歌界的一批学者;利维斯和威廉斯作为英国文学批评和文化研究的领军人物,从上世纪80年代始被引介到国内,引起学界的关注和重视。从中西文化交流影响的宏观视野和语境出发,重温剑桥批评传统,考察其所形成的时代背景、丰富内涵以及在中西方接受与传播的具体过程,并从文学批评史、学术史、教育史的多重视角深入研究和阐明剑桥批评的“伟大传统”无论是在过去还是在当下都具有深刻的意义。

The paper argues that Cambridge literary criticism can be traced along peculiar tradition and threads of ＂practical criticism＂ and ＂cultural criticism＂ running through the theory and practice of English studies involving I.A. Richards, William Empson, F.R. Leavis and Raymond Williams. The beliefs and forces involved have been influential to 20^th century literary criticism. Richards and Empson taught in China in 1920s and 1930s, whereas Leavis and Williams started to attract Chinese scholars＇ attention in 1980s. The paper examines these Cambridge critics through a cross-cultural approach, pointing out the importance of re-examining the Cambridge tradition of criticism from a mutiple perspective including that of literary criticism, intellectual history and liberal education.