澳大利亚的左翼文学批评

The Left Literary Criticism of Australia

澳大利亚的左翼文学思潮由来已久,但左翼文学批评活跃于澳大利亚文坛的时间为20世纪30—50年代。左翼文学批评的核心观念是"社会主义现实主义",这一来自苏联的批评观念主张艺术家应该乐观地描绘社会主义现实和共产主义革命,同时扎根现实生活,坚守现实主义创作手法,用革命的艺术教育大众,培养社会主义精神。早期的澳大利亚左翼批评与自由派民族主义批评因现实主义的共同信仰而结盟,但这一结盟的后果是左翼批评最终在后者的压力之下消磨了对于"社会主义现实主义"的激进诉求。60年代,传统的左翼思潮归于沉寂,但是,一种后马克思主义的"新左翼"思想席卷整个澳洲大陆,"新左翼"除了直接参与文学批评以外,还影响了包括女性文学批评、土著文学批评、移民文学批评和后殖民文学批评在内的许多流派,这些明显具有左翼倾向的批评流派于80年代前后风行一时,但至90年代,在澳大利亚社会日趋保守的大环境之下,它们迅速地走向了颓败。认真梳理澳大利亚文学的左翼传统对于认识澳大利亚文学和社会无疑有着重要的意义。

The Left tradition in Australian literature dates back to the socialist movement of the 1890s, but the Left as a school of Australian literary criticism emerged largely in connection with the rise of Australian communist movement and Leftist literature. At its most active between the 1930s and 1950s, it registered the contributions of some wellknown writer-critics and influential communist officials. The core concept that the Leftists adhered to was 'socialist realism' which called on writers to write optimistically about communism and realistically about life in order to educate the masses in the true spirit of socialism. The Leftists sought alliance with the Liberal nationalists on the basis of a common faith in realism but had to give up on its radical edge in its earlier insistence on socialist realism. In a debate on Patrick White, they broke up under the pressure from the alliance amongst themselves. After the 1960s, the Old Left was replaced by a New Left which, apart from participating directly in critical practices, inspired a host of literary critical schools based on the marginal literary communities. Working under the common rubric of multiculturalism, they later antagonized the mainstream conservatives whose resistance ultimately brought about their downfall.