五四时期写实主义理论的开放性

The openness of Chinese realism in the May Fourth Movement

尽管韦勒克说现实主义的理论是极为拙劣的美学,但是针对现实主义/写实主义以及文学史出现过的其他流派,我们应该以历史主义的标准来评价,而不是用后来发展起来的审美趣味来评价其价值。五四时期的写实主义理论是在一种开放的语境中形成的,不同观点之间的差异构成了它的开放形态,它打破了旧文学模式的封闭樊篱,使文学可以直接面对现实生活;它直接参与社会变革而不是在审美王国中自我陶醉;它应合社会思潮、参与思想论争,使文学产生震撼人心的社会效应,而不是在形式技巧的游戏中自生自灭。因此,从历史的视角看,五四时期的写实主义并不像韦勒克所说的那么拙劣,而是具有推动历史变革的力量的。

Rene Wellek once said that realism is a sort of extremely inferior aesthetics. Even so, we should evaluate realism, Chinese realism and other schools in literary history by the criterion of historicism, rather than by the aesthetic taste that has developed later. Chinese realism in the May Fourth Movement was formed in an open context, with the heterogeneity of different viewpoints constituting its openness. It broke the enclosed boundaries of the old literary modes, enabling literature to face the reality directly;it participated in social changes straightway instead of being self-intoxicated in the aesthetic kingdom;it followed the trends of thought and took part in ideological debates, leading to the shocking social effect of literature rather than running its course in the game of forms and techniques. Therefore, from the perspective of historicism, Chinese realism in the May Fourth Movement was not as inferior as what Wellek said, but was powerful enough to promote historical reforms.