现代派诗歌与读者

Modernist Poetry and the Reader

从1910年至1939年,在美国拥有庞大读者群并占据诗坛主导地位的诗派,并非是以艾略特和庞德为代表的现代派诗人,而是以弗罗斯特和米蕾为代表的非现代派诗人。直到新批评派在美国高校呼风唤雨的四十至六十年代,现代派诗人在诗坛的主导地位才得以确立,现代派诗歌经典也由此逐渐形成。然而,美国学院派文学史家在书写这段时期的诗歌史时,无一例外地以现代派诗学为权威话语,这种书写方式与历史事实严重不符。解析现代派诗人对大众读者的态度及其对心目中理想读者的定义,有助于我们透过现象捕捉到文学史背后潜藏的诗坛政治,从而对这段时期美国诗坛的流派和诗学争鸣有一个相对客观的认知。

In literary history, the period 1910s-1930s has been examined and re-examined almost entirely through the lens of Modernism, so that non-Modernist poets have been considerably marginalized. Contemporary Modernism-oriented scholars have successfully created the impression that Modernism was the dominant force of the period and the only poetics that mattered so that non-Modernist poets have become the footnotes in the evolution of Modernism. The hegemony of Modernism in literary studies can find its origin in New Criticism which, during the period 1940s-1960s, dominated literary criticism in academies and canonized Modernism in the English-speaking world. However, the Modernist version of literary history of the period is far from being the historical fact. As far as the reading public is concerned, it is non-Modernist poetry, rather than Modernist poetry, that was the dominant writing mode of the period at issue. In an attempt to present a more plausible version of the historical past, it is necessary to analyze the relationship between Modernist poets and the reader as well as the literary politics behind the curtain.