从形式批评到文化批判——20世纪“反讽”研究的演进轨迹

From Formal Criticism to Cultural Criticism:The Evolution of Research on Irony in the 20th Century

20世纪的反讽研究,经历了从新批评反讽,经由结构-解构主义反讽向后现代主义反讽的发展。新批评反讽强调相反力量的辩证平衡;结构-解构主义反讽则认为反讽意义处于不稳定的无限延迟中,甚至带来意义的消解;后现代主义则将反讽运用于大文化场域中以寻求批判与团结的并存。反讽概念的变化,显示出20世纪西方文论从文本语境走向大文化语境的发展脉络。

The research on irony in the 20 th century has experienced three stages,namely,the new criticism,the structural-deconstructive,and the postmodern. The new criticism emphasizes the dialectical balance of opposing forces; the structural-deconstructive considers irony as an infinite delay of instability,and that irony may even lead to the dissolution of meaning; the postmodern,however,applies the concept of irony in its larger cultural contexts to seek the coexistence of criticism and unity. The conceptual change of irony shows the development of the western literary theory in the 20 th century from the textual to larger cultural contexts.