Declaration on "Literary Consciousness" in Wei and Jin Dynasties

The consciousness of China's literature refers to the value of literature's self-consciousness to independent existence, which breaks away from the state that literature, history and philosophy are not divided, and poetry, dance and music are integrated into one, thus becoming an independent academic category. When did literary consciousness begin? The writing of literary history, literary criticism, literary theory and literary thought is an unavoidable problem. In what era did the consciousness of China literature occur? The academic circles generally adopt Lu Xun's statement in the article "Wei Jin demeanor and the relationship between articles and medicinal liquor", which is considered to have started from Wei Jin period. For example, The History of China Literature, edited by You Guoen, said: "The Jian 'an era showed the conscious spirit of literature." (198 page) Another example is Wang Yunxi and Yangming's History of Literary Criticism in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. It is indeed accurate to say that Lu Xun summarized the Jian 'an period as "the era of literary consciousness" (7 pages). Li Zehou's A Course of Beauty not only thinks that "literary consciousness" is the product of Wei and Jin Dynasties, but also says that "its significance is not limited to literature. Other arts, especially calligraphy and painting, have also shown this awareness since the Wei and Jin Dynasties. " (page 97 ~ 100) Some influential literary history published in recent years also adhere to this formulation. For example, the History of China Literature, edited by Zhang, said: "Wei and Jin Dynasties were an era of literary consciousness" and said: "The literature of this era is indeed a bit extraordinary."

In recent years, some scholars have put forward different views on this. Luo Zongqiang believes that it was not Lu Xun who first proposed that Wei and Jin Dynasties were the era of literary consciousness, but Suzuki Donglang. He pointed out: "In 1924, Japanese scholar Dong Lang Suzuki put forward in his History of China Literature that Wei and Jin Dynasties were the era of literary consciousness" (quoted from: Dong Lang Suzuki put forward this view in the History of Zhina Poetry published in 1925). 1927 Lu Xun said in the Wei and Jin Dynasties: "From the perspective of modern literature, an era of Cao Pi can be said to be an era of literary consciousness, or in modern words, it is a school of" art for art's sake. " Later, China literary historians all said: Lu Xun said that Wei and Jin Dynasties were the conscious era of literature, and until recently some people said so. In fact, Lu Xun only quoted Takeo Suzuki's statement and interpreted it as "Art for Art's sake" (Zhang Fengyi: Preface to the History of Western Han Literature Thought).

Zhang Shaokang pointed out in the article "Evolution of China's Literary Concept and Literary Consciousness": "The independence and consciousness of literature has a long development process, from the end of the Warring States Period to the middle and late Western Han Dynasty." In his view, the completion of this process "can be marked by Liu Xiang's proofreading of books and the special class of Bielu", which is directly related to the evolution of literary concepts, the prosperity of literary creation, the maturity of various literary genres, the development of literary theoretical criticism and the formation of professional literati.

In the article "The emergence of Han Fu marks the arrival of the era of literary consciousness", Yang Degui believes that China's ancient literary consciousness was inspired by Qu Yuan and Song Yu and began with the emergence of Han Fu. The appearance of Han Fu marks the arrival of the era of literary consciousness. It is mainly manifested in four aspects: consciously exerting the social function of literature to make literature serve the society; Han Fu was separated from Confucian classics, history and philosophy and became an independent literary work. Have a certain creative theory; Some writers of Ci and Fu devoted themselves to the creation of Ci and Fu, forming a group of professional writers.

Xin Yue believes that the so-called "consciousness" of literature includes at least two aspects: first, literature develops independently and does not become a vassal of Confucian classics; The second is to create according to the artistic laws of literature itself. China people's view of literature, no matter their understanding of the nature and characteristics of literature or their achievements in literary theory, has not reached the level of "consciousness". The "consciousness" of literature is not an isolated phenomenon, it is guided by the awakening of human subject consciousness. Without the recognition and affirmation of people's own value and the formation of respecting people's personality concept, there can be no "conscious era" of literature. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the re-examination of individual life aroused people's awakening, which made Wei and Jin literature show a strong subjective color. This is the characteristic of the times that people's awakening promotes the "conscious" development of literature Song and Qi literature continued the development of Wei and Jin literature. Cao Pi's "articles" are divided into four subjects, which are close to the literary concept in the modern sense. His affirmation and praise of the status and value of the article played a positive role in promoting the deepening of literary concepts in later generations. "Wen", one of the four pavilions in Liu and Song Dynasties, is similar to Cao Pi's view of articles. This is from the renewal of ideas to the establishment of systems, and does not affect the determination of the era of literary consciousness (Guo Xue. Com, 65438+February 3, 20021).

The History of China Literature, edited by Yuan Xingpei, said: "The consciousness of literature is a rather long process, which runs through the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties and will be realized after about 300 years." Yuan Xingpei pointed out that the so-called literary consciousness has three signs: First, literature is separated from the broad academic sense and becomes an independent category. Secondly, we have made a detailed distinction between various genres of literature, and more importantly, we have a clear understanding of the system and style characteristics of various genres. Third, the conscious pursuit of literary aesthetic characteristics.

The History of the Development of China Literature, edited by Hong Min, divides the development of China's ancient literature into nine parts: the embryonic era, the conceptual era, the conscious era, the youth era, the deepening era, the variation era, the vulgarization era, the Nie NFDE 1 era and the transformation era. It also positioned the "conscious era" of the whole literature of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. Wei Shaosheng pointed out in the article "Re-understanding of the Era of Literary Consciousness" that the era of literary consciousness is undoubtedly marked by literary consciousness, which should include at least three levels: the writer's literary creation activities are conscious rather than utilitarian (literary creation consciousness); People's understanding of the characteristics, functions and values of literature, at least at the writer level, has formed a relatively consistent understanding (consciousness of literary concepts); Criticism of writers' works and literary phenomena has entered the aesthetic or artistic level, which is not sporadic, superficial or so-called "trivial criticism" (the consciousness of literary criticism). If the academic circles can form a * * understanding of the symbol of literary consciousness, it will help to further explore the times of China's literary consciousness.