在悖论中跋涉:经典作品的批评伦理

Towards an Ethics of Literary Criticism

经典文学作品中隐藏着"陌生性"对"熟识性"依赖、"原创性"因其审美性与社会性的此消彼长而隐退的两重悖论。文学批评中的工具主义出于批评家希冀文学"有用"的初衷,是一种合理认知,但是专业文学批评必须坚持以审美体验为基础的本体式研究,甚至不排斥部分回归印象批评。合乎文学逻辑的批评伦理应该予以批评家充足的个性化阐释空间,同时尊重"外部研究"对文本社会意义的探讨。

A literary classic contains at least two pairs of paradoxes： its ＂strangeness＂ depends on the implied reader＇s ＂familiarity＂ with works of a similar theme or style, and its ＂novelty＂ will turn into staleness or vice versa if the implied reader judges the work in question by an aesthetic criterion instead of a sociological one. Although instrumentalism in literary criticism is cognitively reasonable as critics cherish its ＂usefulness＂, and many amateurs have contributed tremendously to literary studies, ontological studies of literature based on professional literary critics＇ aesthetic experience are still in need. While respecting ＂extrinsic approaches＂ to classics, professional critics are to be bound by some ethics that allow various interpretations in wide scopes, including traditional impressive criticism based on highly personal tastes.