“理论”之后的当代澳大利亚文学批评

Australian Literary Criticism after “Theory”

在上世纪90年代的澳大利亚,"理论"在一场激烈的"文化战争"之后黯然消退,但此后的澳大利亚文学批评界并未停止脚步,相反,在近20年的时间里,他们通过1)文学的体制性研究;2)文学的数字化研究;3)文学的跨国化研究,为当代澳大利亚文学批评开拓了一条崭新的新经验主义道路。当代澳大利亚批评中的新经验主义不是一种简单的反"理论"范式,它是一种后"理论"方法,它主张将"理论"与丰富的文学研究数据结合在一起,以翔实的资料给无生气的"理论"输送鲜活的氧气,因此它是澳大利亚文学批评在新时代、新技术条件下的一种与时俱进。作为一种文学阅读方法,它强调基础和资源,因而是一种更加智慧和务实的阅读方式。

If Australian literary criticism of the 1990s faced the seemingly impossible task of maneuvering itself out of its post-Theory impasse,it managed to forge a way out by engaging themselves in the study of 1） literary institutions,2） possibilities of literary digitalization and 3） transnational literary relations and creating in the last two decades something like a neo-empiricist paradigm.By nature,the neo-empiricist approach is not anti-Theory.As a post-Theory form of literary scholarship,it calls for a combination of Theory and genuine literary data.It also arises as a way of living up to a new era,a new set of technologies and a newly integrated universe.As a way of literary reading,it stresses the importance of having great infrastructure and handy resources to facilitate a wiser and more pragmatic literary reading.