理论没有“之后”——从伊格尔顿《理论之后》说起

Beginning from Eagleton's After Theory

对理论的敌视在文学研究界一直是沉浮不定但从未也永远不会寂灭的一种态度。最近由于伊格尔顿《理论之后》的出版和相关介绍,要不要理论,以及要不要后现代理论,又成了一时的话题。本文从伊格尔顿《理论之后》说起,一方面指出伊格尔顿始终一贯的对"理论"的忠诚,另一方面也批评了他对后现代"文化理论"的误解,提出后现代理论如德里达的解构乃是一种被更新了的认识论、一种文化批判。本文同时还展示了伊格尔顿与后现代理论的复杂关系,意在证明,若是从伊格尔顿和他的《理论之后》出发,我们是既不能取缔理论,也不能轻易抛弃后现代理论,除非另辟蹊径。

Hostility to theory as an attitude comes and goes in the field of literary studies; but it has never, and will never evaporate or diminish. On the publication of and then some comments on Eagleton's After Theory, the necessity of theory and of postmodern theory has once again come to the fore. To begin with Eagleton's After Theory, this essay on the one hand points out Eagleton's consistent loyalty to 'theory', and on the other, criticizes his misunderstanding of postmodern 'cultural theory', arguing that postmodern theory, like Derrida's deconstruction, is in essence a renewed epistemology, a cultural critique. This essay also clarifies Eagleton's complicated involvement with postmodern theory, purporting to prove that within Eagleton, we cannot deregister theory, nor can we cancel postmodern theory, unless other ways can be found.