(1) Understanding of the position of language in literature
The understanding of the position of language in literature in China and the West has experienced a long-term development.
1. The understanding of language in western literary circles
Generally speaking, the understanding of language in western literary circles has gone through two stages of development: one is the classical language view, and the other is the modern language view.
(1) From the ancient Greek period to the end of 19th century and the beginning of 2th century, the western literary circle
thought that language was the main tool to express meaning in literature according to the classical view of language. Meaning is regarded as the dominant factor in literature. Compared with this, the status of language is secondary. That is to say, meaning determines language, not
language determines meaning; Meaning comes before language. What kind of meaning requires what kind of language is suitable for it. It is true that language is an indispensable and important factor in literature, but < P > this importance only lies in expressing meaning. Once this expression is realized, the language itself becomes
unimportant.
(2) Since the beginning of the 2th century, the western literary circles, starting from the new understanding that language is
a way of life in modern language view, think that language is mainly a place to create meaning in literature. It is no longer that meaning simply precedes and determines language, but that meaning is created in language. Eagleton, a British scholar, described this new understanding as follows:
From Saussure and Wittgenstein to contemporary literary theory, the
"Linguistic Revolution" in the 2th century was characterized by the recognition that meaning is not just something "expressed" or "reflected" by language: meaning is actually created by language.
We don't have meaning or experience first, and then set about putting words on it; We
can have meaning and experience only because we have a language to accommodate the experience. Moreover, this means that, in the final analysis, our experience as individuals will be met by the society. Because there is no such thing as a private language, imagining a language is
imagining a complete social life. (1)
language, together with its problems, secrets and meanings, has become the paradigm and dedicated object of knowing
life in the 2th century. (2),
This is equivalent to saying that it is not that a writer first has literature (meaning) in his mind, and then uses language to
make it "materialized", but that literature is made up of language and in language. If
leaves the language, there can be no literature. Contemporary western literary theories talk about "language", and
study it as a "central" problem from many aspects, which is precisely based on this new language view and new vision that is different from the traditional language view. By the way, Eagleton here transforms Wittgenstein's famous assertion that "to imagine a language is to imagine a life form", and puts forward a new proposition that "to imagine a language is to imagine a complete social life", which reveals the "social" nature of language. This gives the language in literature a more fundamental position than meaning. People realize more and more that language is not a simple or secondary "tool" to express the meaning of
in literature, but something to create meaning. Meaning is not first meaningful < P > and then expressed by language, but meaning is created by language; Language
in literature can not only reproduce the social reality, but also reproduce the social language situation.
the evolution of the above two stages shows that after a long historical period of evolution, the western literary circles have fully realized that language has a fundamental position in literature. However,
is this understanding absolute? This is worth thinking about.
2. China literary circles' understanding of language
---------
① Eagleton: Theory of Western Literature in the Twentieth Century, translated by Wu Xiaoming, published by Shaanxi Normal University (1986), pp. 76-77.
② Eagleton: The Theory of Western Literature in the Twentieth Century, translated by Wu Xiaoming, published by Shaanxi Normal University, p. 121, 1986.
China's literary circles have a rich and complicated understanding of language. If we take the last years of the Qing Dynasty (that is, the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 2th century) as the general dividing line, we can see that the views on language in Chinese literary circles are different from those in modern times.
(1) China's view of classical language
From the pre-Qin Dynasty to the late Qing Dynasty, China's classical literary circles formed their own unique views on the status of language, which were based on China's view of classical language.
People realize that language is the way of existence of Tao in the external objective world.
On the Book of Changes, it is pointed out: "Those who drum up the movements of the world will have words." That is to say, what can inspire the world < P > lies in the rhetoric of divination. According to this view, language has the magical power to encourage the movement and transformation of all things in the world. "Ci" here: although it directly refers to the words in Zhouyi, it can also be regarded as a basic provision for general language (including language in literature). Liu Xie
"Wen Xin Diao Long Yuan Dao" pointed out after quoting this sentence: "Ci can drum up the world,
it is also the text of Tao." In his view, the reason why language has the power to inspire the world is because
it is the way of existence of Tao. Liu Xie clearly linked the power of words or language with the most fundamental
Tao of the universe, thus revealing the source of the power of language, which provided a powerful basis for establishing the position of language in culture and literature. From this
view, we can draw the following conclusions: the language in literature has the power to encourage the movement and change of everything in the world because it is the
type of "Tao". Language is not only the way of existence of Tao, but also closely related to people's inner subjective mind. The proposition of "expressing ambition through poetry" in the pre-Qin period has long shown a proposition: "ambition" is a kind of inner activity of human beings, which can be expressed through "words" (language), and the mission of poetry is
to express this kind of ambition through language. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Yang Xiong further pointed out in Fa Yan Wen Shen: "Words are also heartfelt." He directly believes that language is the "voice" of human beings, that is, the track of inner mind < P >. This clearly puts forward a view that language is the concrete way of existence of human inner mind. From this, we can also draw the following conclusion: because language is the way of "mind", language in literature has the power to express people's inner spiritual activities. Can
see, according to China's classical language view; Language plays an important role in literature. This is embodied in the fact that language is both an external Tao and an internal mind, which has the power to inspire the world.
(2) China's view of modern language
Since the late Qing Dynasty, China's modern literary circles have absorbed
the language view from the west and formed a new modern language view according to the needs of the new literary reform. This is obviously reflected in the fact that
the question of ancient and modern language and elegance and vulgarity is regarded as a key question in the modernization transformation of China literature. People increasingly feel that the rigid and obsolete ancient language (classical Chinese or written language
) has seriously hindered the expression of modern life experience, so they urgently hope to change the language
. Huang Zunxian (1848 ~ 195), a poet and diplomat in the late Qing Dynasty, called for "I write my mouth by hand" and
"the combination of spoken and written languages", and put this idea of "oral writing" into practice in his own poetry writing. Liang Qi, who advocated the "novel revolution", immediately put forward the idea of "changing the literature of old sayings into the literature of common sayings".
His reason is that the change of language is "a key" to the evolution of literature.
This shows that he has a full understanding of the position of language in literature. By Hu Shi's
On the Improvement of Literature (1917), the "language revolution" was finally directly and clearly regarded as the fundamental problem or the primary task of the contemporary literary revolution. Hu Shi put forward a famous eight-point proposition:
"On the one hand, it is necessary to have substance in words. Second, don't imitate the ancients. On the third day, you must pay attention to grammar. Four
days, without moaning. On the fifth day, be sure to get rid of cliches. Six days, no need to code. Seven
days, no confrontation. On the eighth day, I don't avoid common sayings. " Except for the first and fourth articles, which focus on the expression of < P > emotions and thoughts, all the other articles involve language issues. The second article argues that
there should be a modern literary language in modern times, and it cannot imitate the language of the ancients; Article 3 emphasizes the importance of grammar. Fifth, it is required to abandon cliches and create fresh vocabulary to express what modern people
have seen and heard with their own eyes and ears and experienced with their own hands; Related to Article 5, Article 6 clearly
advocates getting rid of the bad habit of "using allusions" in language, and requires writers to "write their own words and sentences to write
the scene before their eyes and the meaning in their hearts"; Article 7 continues to talk about breaking the norms of ancient Chinese, and puts forward the bold proposition that "vernacular novels" are "authentic literature" and "parallel prose and poems" are
"literary trails" by "not talking about antithesis"; The last one is the goal of replacing classical Chinese with vernacular, which is
the unity of modern words and literature:
from the perspective of historical evolution in this world, vernacular literature is
authentic in China literature, and it is also a necessary weapon for future literature, so it can be asserted that ... Today, writing
poems should adopt common sayings and common characters. It is better to use twenty
----------
instead of the word "dead" three thousand years ago. (1) Liang Qichao: Planing and Telling Conghua, "Literature Congchao, Novel and Drama Research Volume 4", Zhonghua Bookstore.
movable type of the century; It is better to respect the well-known characters of Water Margin and Journey to the West than to write the characters of Qin, Han and Six Dynasties that can't go far and be popularized.
Hu Shi regards the use of "vernacular" or "colloquialism" as the primary task of the literary revolution, which represents a mainstream position in the May 4th New Culture Movement: language plays an important or fundamental role in literature and is a key link to reflect the modernity of literature. For example, if
Guo said that Hu Shi's language views mainly reflected the influence of European and American language views, then
literary language views from the former Soviet Union had a slow and decisive influence in China for more than half a century since the 193s. China's famous proposition
"Literature is the art of language" is the product of this influence. At that time, Gorky, the literary giant of the Soviet Union, pointed out: "Language fixes all our impressions, feelings and thoughts, and it is the basic material of literature. Literature is the plastic arts expressed by language. " (1) since
"literature is the art of language", then language has a prominent position in literature:
"The first element of literature is language. Language is the main tool of literature. " (2) this view
has played an important role in enlightening the academic circle of modern literature in China because it highlights the position of language as the "first factor" in literature. However, on the other hand, this role is limited < P > and needs to be reflected. There are three points worth noting here: first, language is only regarded as a tool of literature, which seems to have nothing to do with the fundamental way of human existence, which is far from enough; Second, the function of language is only to "fix" the seemingly ready-made meaning, which obviously < P > values meaning but ignores language, ignoring the meaning of language itself; Third, in this way, although
language is clearly defined as the "first element" of literature, at the same time, it is only
regarded as a tool and only plays a fixed role, so this "first" position is actually lost
. Therefore, the so-called "literature is the art of language" and "the first element of literature is language
words" and other reasonable propositions have evolved into two empty
hole numbers that lack practical content and have not been implemented for a long time.
However, some outstanding writers still insist on their own language in that special context
------
① Gorky: On Prose, On Literature (sequel), People's Literature Publishing House, 1979,
p. 337.
② Gorky: Talking with Young Writers, Selected Literary Papers, People's Literature Publishing House, 1958
, p. 294.
pursuing words. Cao Yu pointed out in 1962:
If I don't love language, I don't feel the charm of literary language, and I can't indulge in
the wonderful world of rich and profound people's language, it's "seeking fish from the wood", and I can't learn the mystery of how to use language without a
determination. Love the language, be fascinated, and
the beauty of the language can be understood; After that, we can talk about learning to master the language, learning to
create flowers under the pen, and creating the same real, vivid and charming language realm ... Without a strong interest in
language creation, it is difficult for an author to become an author. Xin Xin
works hard, ponders language, and at the same time is full of interest, and feels the joy of language creation. This is the author's life's work ... One day, we are "possessed" by language, which is considered as entering the door, and then it is possible to enter the room and engage in language creation. From being interested in learning
a language to being able to use it satisfactorily and make it a work of art, this is another big step forward, and it will take more hard work. The author has a feeling that language should be like fish to water and man to air. Without language, the author imitates.