文气论的现代诠释与美学重构

Theory of Wenqi( Literary Pneuma) : Modern Interpretation and Aesthetic Reconstruction

文气说或文气论是中国美学的一个基础理论,虽然文气论带有鲜明的中国特色,但它包含的美学原理对文学艺术具有普遍意义。通过与当代理论的对话,可以对这一古代理论进行现代重构,并为建立跨文化的美学理论提供一些新视野。文气论是一个完整的理论系统,它研究的是艺术家如何获得自己的个人特质,其个人特质的主题如何反映在作品之中,以及如何被读者感知和理解。从作者、文本和世界的广义上说,文气论主要讨论的是人类社会的宏观世界、作家的微观世界和作品的微观世界这三个相互交织的空间内的创作活动及其美学原理。宏观世界的元气赋予作家以人气,是其先天才华、个性气质、身份主题和后天学养的精神综合。人气注入作家的写作中,使其文学作品具有特别的结构、统一完整的形态、个性鲜明的风格,所有这些因素的有机结合构成了文气。文气的核心是作家的自我及其个人特质在其作品中的彰显。

Literary pneuma( Wenqi) is a foundational Chinese aesthetic,but is an aesthetic thought specific to the Chinese tradition or an aesthetic theory with universal significance? This article conducts an examination of the discourses on this aesthetic in Chinese history from a combined perspective of philosophy,physiology,psychology,aesthetics,textual analysis,and literary theory. It suggests that although Wenqi contains distinctive features of the Chinese tradition,its aesthetic rationale has universal significance for literature and art in general. By engaging in a two-way dialogue between traditional and modern theories,we can reconstruct this ancient theory into a new aesthetic which will provide insights for cross-cultural aesthetics. The theory of Wenqi is a self-contained theoretical system,which addresses how an artist acquires his personal identity,how identity theme is reflected in his literary works,and how it is perceived and understood by the reader? The writer's personal pneuma pours into his creative writings and allows his writing to possess a special structure,a unified and complete form,a distinct style,etc.,an organic integration of which constitutes the literary pneuma. The core of wenqi is the sensuous manifestation of the writer's self and his identity theme in his writings.