传统的过去性与现存性——论T.S.艾略特文学批评体系中的“传统”观

The Pastness and the Presentness of the Tradition——On Eliot’s Literary Criticism of "Tradition"

T.S.艾略特诗学的起点是文学的评价问题,他从讨论文学批评应该用什么参照物来评价作家作品入手,从而将文学"传统"提升到文学批评研究的核心地位。艾略特坚持文学体系的独立自主,主张任何文学评价活动都必须回到文学体系内部,用文学自身的"传统"作为评价准则。在关于"传统"的界定中,艾略特抛弃了通常仅把传统看作属于过去历史的僵硬封闭体系的认定,他在肯定传统"过去性"的同时还把"现存性"的概念引入到传统体系中,以补充传统源源不断的生命活力,从而使传统成为一种过去性和现存性结合的历史意识,成为一个涵盖过去、活在现在、走向未来的动态开放体系结构。

The starting point of T.S.Eliot’s poetics is the literary comment. From the discussion on what criteria should be adopted to evaluate writers and works in literary criticism,Eliot improved the status of literary ＂tradition＂ to the nuclear status of literary criticism study. Eliot insisted on the independence of literary system and advocated that any literary comment should return to the inner part of literary system with the literary ＂tradition＂ as evaluation criteria. As for the definition of ＂tradition＂,Eliot abandoned the general idea that regarded tradition as stiff and close system within the past history. When affirming the pastness of the past,Eliot introduced the concept of the pastness of the presentness to traditional system and added ceaseless life vitality to tradition,making tradition historic concept combing pastness of the past and pastness of the presentness and making tradition dynamic and open structure covering the past,existing in the presence and orienting to the future.