雷蒙德·威廉斯之于当今文学和文化研究的意义

Raymond Williams’ Significance to Current Literary and Cultural Studies

英国的马克思主义文学理论家和文化批评家雷蒙德·威廉斯早在20世纪80年代后期就被译介到了中国,但迄今他仍受到中国的世界文学和文化研究界的重视。他的著述不仅涉及了马克思主义文学理论的一些基本问题,如“领导权”“意识形态”“文化”“唯物主义”“共同的文化”等,同时还通过对马克思主义文学理论的文化唯物主义建构,将传统的马克思主义社会历史和美学批评与文化和语言因素结合起来,从而发展了马克思主义文学理论的当代形态。在西方文学和文化理论走向衰落的今天,威廉斯的遗产仍然受到国际文学和文化研究界的珍视。作为一位英国本土成长起来的马克思主义文学理论家和文化研究者,威廉斯留下的文学和文化理论遗产也应该受到中国的世界文学和文化研究学者的重视,同时,他结合英国文学和文化的实际情况建构的文化唯物主义,也为我们今天构建中国特色的文学理论话语提供了宝贵的借鉴。

Raymond Williams was introduced to China in the latter 1980s, and he is still considered prominent in his influence on China’s research on world literature and culture studies. Williams’ works cover some fundamental issues of Marxist literary theory, such as “hegemony, ” “ideology, ” “culture, ” “materialism, ” and “common culture, ” and develop the contemporary form of Marxist literary theory with his dynamic construction of cultural materialism, thus bridging Marxist socio-historical and aesthetic criticism and cultural and linguistic issues. When literary and cultural theory is on the decline in the West, Williams’ legacy is still appreciated in international cultural studies circles, especially in China. His cultural materialism, which combines the reality of British literature and culture, provides a valuable reference for us to construct the literary theoretical discourse with Chinese characteristics today.