再审当代文学

Reexamining Contemporary Literature

本文认为,当代文学面临的最大问题是名实相分,概念所指不一。当代文学有时间和意义两个维度,人们仅仅在时间维度上认同和使用这个概念,而在意义维度上则各有其所指,各说各的。“当代文学”因原有性质被“新时期文学”胀破而发生意义破裂,给修史者造成难以摆脱的困境,已经是一个不合时宜的概念。本文具案分析这个概念意义破裂的状况,认为这是在社会文化急剧转型的过程中必然出现的现象。

This paper holds that the most serious problem of contemporary literature is the distinction between form and content and between concepts and their referents. There are two dimensions in the concept of contemporary literature: time and meaning. There is an agreed recognition and usage of time but not of meaning, for which, a variety of conception is made. Contemporary literature has been exploded by the swollen “Literature of the New Age” and therefore creates difficult dilemmas for literary historians. It has become an untimely concept. This paper analyzes the split between concept and meaning with a case study and points out that this is a necessity in the process of the sudden social and cultural transformation.