论“文化无意识”——一个批评理论的概念性构建和实用性检验

“Cultural Unconscious”:The Conceptual Construction and Practical Verification of a Critical Theory

“文化无意识”是文化研究和文艺批评领域一个模糊的概念,虽然一些西方理论家使用过这一概念,但并没有做过较为深入的概念性研究,其性质和工作逻辑尚需要从纯理论的视角深入探讨,其在全球化语境下的内容和形式也仍然有待于进一步阐明。后殖民时代的文化无意识不是“文化”和“无意识”的简单叠加,而是文化和无意识通过历史、心理、话语等因素的互动而建立的文化心理机制和认识论。通过从精神分析和符号学相结合的视角分析无意识和文化是如何在概念层面产生文化无意识,并对文化无意识的内在逻辑进行概念性探索,可以将一个语焉不详的概念构建成具有一定实用价值的文化研究理论。在构建了文化无意识的内在机制和运作模式以后,通过以该理论揭示的文化无意识的运作原理分析一些文化现象和文学作品,似可证明该理论不仅有助于认识个人和社会意识的深层逻辑,也可以建立文化研究和文艺批评的深层方法论,为一些文化理论和批评理论提供基础性理论支撑。

“Cultural Unconscious”is a vague concept in cultural and literary studies.Although it has been used by Western theorists before,it has not yet been explored in depth conceptually.Moreover,its nature and logic require further exploration from a theoretical perspective,and its subject matter and form in the global context need to be further clarified.In the postcolonial age,cultural unconscious is not a concept that simply combines“culture”and“unconscious,”but refers to the mechanism of cultural psychology and epistemology generated by culture and the unconscious through the interaction of history,psychology,discourse,and other factors.By investigating how culture and the unconscious generate cultural unconscious on the conceptual dimension from the integrated approach of psychoanalysis and semiotics and conducting a conceptual inquiry of its operating mechanism,this article aims to turn the vague concept into a new theory with practical applicability for cultural studies.After outlining the internal mechanism and operating mode of cultural unconscious,the article applies the working rationale suggested by this theory to the analysis of some cultural phenomena and literary texts so as to confirm that this cultural theory may not only help understand the deep logic of personal and social consciousness,but also establish an in-depth methodology for cultural studies and literary criticism,thus providing foundational theoretical support for some cultural and critical theories.