价值与困境:文化资本视角下的乔叟研究

Value and Dilemma: Chaucer Canon as Cultural Capital

以乔叟经典为个案,从文化资本的视角探讨传统文学经典的价值与困境。文章首先分析乔叟经典当代危机的主要原因,指出重视读者相关性对解决危机的重要性;并就由此引发的文学经典功利性争议发表见解,认为文学作品的创作、经典化及经典的延续和普及都隐含着一定的利益关涉性;能否恰当利用经典的文化资本特性将影响其价值的增减。

Based on the case study of Chaucer Canon, this article explores the value and dilemma of traditional literary canons from the perspective of cultural capital. The author firstly analyses the key factors that lead to the crisis of Chaucer Canon, and then points out the importance of reader-relevance to its solution. This reader-relevance, however, consequently arouses the disputes on the ＂interestedness＂ of literary canons. The author argues for the inescapability of certain ＂interestedness＂, though implicitly, in literary works＇ production, canonization, and further extension. Literary canons as cultural capital may be value-added or devaluated, depending on how they are invested.