文学事件论的现实理论意义

Theoretical and Realistic significance of Literary Event Theory

文学事件论是英国西方马克思主义文学理论家和批评家特里·伊格尔顿在《文学事件》(2012)中提出来的,立刻得到中国文艺理论和批评界的热烈反响,2017年出版了中文版。文学事件论实际上指的是,文学作为一种事件是生成性的,因此,文学并不具有古典形而上学的一成不变的本质,但是,却是具有不断生成发展的本质:虚构性、道德性、语言性、非实用性、规范性。作为一个曾经坚定的反本质主义者,从完全否定文学的本质到探讨文学的“家族相似”而维护文学本质探讨的合理性,这是文学事件论在中国当代现实中的主要启示意义。它提醒那些反本质主义者不要再跟着西方后现代主义亦步亦趋了,否则就会陷入邯郸学步的窘境。文学事件论关于文学的五种特质的阐释,不失为一种有益的探索,它指明了文学在当今现实中的语言本质、伦理本质、意象本质,对于进一步发挥文学的审美功能具有重要意义。文学事件论关于文学意义的生成和阐释注意到了作者和读者相结合的理解维度,应该也是一种比较全面的解释学理论,可以启发我们辩证地理解文本的意义生成和意义阐释。

Literary event theory was put forward by Terry Eagleton,a literary theorist and critic of Western Marxism in England in Literary events(2012).It was immediately warmly echoed by Chinese literary theory and criticism,and the Chinese version was published in 2017.Literary event theory actually refers to the fact that literature as an event is generative,therefore,literature does not have the fixed essence of classical metaphysics,but it is the essence of continuous generation and development:fiction,morality,language,non-practical,normative.As a once firm anti-essentialist,it is the main enlightenment significance of literary event theory in Chinese contemporary reality from completely denying the essence of literature to discussing the“family similarity”of literature and maintaining the rationality of literary essence discussion.It reminds anti-essentialists not to follow Western postmodernism,or they will fall into Handan’s dilemma.The interpretation of the five characteristics of literature in literary event theory is a useful exploration.It points out the language essence,ethical essence and image essence of literature in today’s reality,and is of great significance for further exerting the aesthetic function of literature.The generation and interpretation of literary meaning in literary event theory pays attention to the understanding dimension of the combination of author and reader,and should also be a more comprehensive hermeneutic theory.It can inspire us to understand the meaning generation and meaning interpretation of the text dialectically.