In all fields of society, everyone is always in contact with papers, and writing papers can improve our ability to comprehensively use what we have learned. So, have you understood this paper? The following is my analysis of the nature, connections and differences between literary appreciation and literary criticism, hoping to help everyone.
On the Nature, Relations and Differences between Literary Appreciation and Literary Criticism
Abstract: The practical course of literary appreciation and literary criticism has different characteristics and difficulties from other courses. On the basis of analyzing the essence, relations and differences between literary appreciation and literary criticism, we can implement a four-step training mode of "retelling, induction, understanding, interpretation, analysis and evaluation, and enhancing creation" to distinguish related concepts and enhance the ability of appreciation and criticism.
Paper Keywords: literary appreciation; Literary criticism; Writing exercises; Teaching strategy
For teachers and students of Chinese Department, the practical course of literary appreciation and literary criticism has different characteristics and difficulties from other courses. Compared with other pure theory courses, this course requires not only the knowledge of teachers and students, but also the specific practical ability of teachers and students. For students, this course is no longer a pure theoretical mastery, nor is it just a stage of "studying hard". More crucially and importantly, how to combine the knowledge learned with the feelings, experiences and thoughts of reading works to appreciate and evaluate literary works is undoubtedly the embodiment of comprehensive quality and ability-the perfect combination of learning, feeling, thinking, reading and writing. For teachers, they should not only have relevant knowledge and ability, but also impart relevant knowledge to students through explanation, guidance and specific operation, and cultivate relevant ability in students, which involves not only professionalism, but the combination of professionalism and professionalism. Therefore, this course is very operational and practical for both teachers and students, and it is no small challenge. The difficulty of solving these problems is particularly prominent in universities for nationalities. Based on my own teaching experience, the author tries to summarize and explore an effective teaching strategy that is easy to implement and practice in ethnic universities.
Sharp tools can do a good job. However, for us, it is not for students to "sharpen their knives" first, but for students to learn to "use tools" first. Because, building and honing students' comprehensive quality and ability can't be achieved overnight, especially in universities for nationalities, and it's not a problem that can be solved in our course. For this course, we must let students know in advance how to use the utensils made by university majors in this course. So at the beginning of the course, we must explain the essence of literary appreciation and literary criticism, as well as their connections and differences. This is not a cliche, but a problem that many experts and scholars can't distinguish. Moreover, these problems are also clearly reflected in the assignments of literary appreciation and literary criticism writing that we assign to students. The author assigned different forms and requirements of literary appreciation and literary criticism assignments to the Chinese Department students in our school, and found that about 60% of the students did not know the relationship between literary appreciation and literary criticism, and nearly 65,438+0,000% of the students did not know the difference between literary appreciation and literary criticism. Most students write literary appreciation and criticism as impressions and conjectures, and many students write literary criticism as literary appreciation. Although the comprehensive quality and ability of students in local colleges for nationalities may be poor, the problems in this respect may be more prominent, but the emergence of these problems is by no means a case. According to the author's reading experience, even literary appreciation and literary criticism works published in magazines are not uncommon, which shows the importance of explaining these problems at the beginning of the course. Here, the author briefly expresses my humble opinion on this issue in order to clarify the problem and benefit the teaching of this course.
On the question of how to define literary appreciation scientifically, the author agrees with Mr. Wu's definition method, but disagrees with some of his conclusions, so I didn't take the conclusion part in the quotation, and the conclusion part was replaced by ellipsis. He said, "The scientific definition of literary appreciation must first distinguish between appreciation and appreciation (objectively, there is a phenomenon that appreciation and appreciation concepts are mixed or universal), ...; Secondly, it is necessary to clarify the internal relationship among literary appreciation, literary appreciation and literary criticism ... "The author believes that the word" appreciation "is not an academic term, but a life term. Linguistic common sense tells us that life terms are vague and inaccurate in academic and scientific terms, so the word "appreciation" is a vague concept, which means that people do not deliberately take care of things with a certain purpose, viewpoint and vision, but in fact, no one does not have a certain viewpoint and standard when "appreciating", and this kind of care generally does not form formal words and words. The object of "appreciation" can be natural things or works of art, and "appreciation" is much more serious, earnest and rational than "appreciation". The object of "appreciation" generally only refers to the artistic factors in works of art, and generally does not involve more and wider content.
Therefore, "appreciation" refers to people's aesthetic concern and artistic analysis and evaluation of works of art with certain purposes, viewpoints and established aesthetic standards. Therefore, literary appreciation is generally only the artistic aesthetic concern and artistic evaluation of literary works. On the other hand, literary criticism is different. In addition to the content of literary appreciation, it is necessary to establish and express more external standards about works, so as to judge and treat works, such as the ultimate value, social significance, social influence and humanistic care of literary works. If literary appreciation mainly judges literature from the perspective of artistic standards, then literary criticism must have other standards to judge literature, such as social and historical standards, ethical standards, scientific standards of the times and so on. Therefore, in literary appreciation, we generally only use artistic methods and theories to appreciate, while literary criticism needs to adopt social history criticism, ethical criticism, feminist criticism, colonial criticism and other methods and theories. What methods and theories are adopted specifically depends on the purpose of our criticism, existing viewpoints and standards. In addition, in literary appreciation, appreciators rarely create their own works, while in literary criticism, critics can give full play to their creativity to a great extent.
Literary appreciation must depend on specific literary works, while literary criticism is not. To some extent, it can have its own independent status. As the critic Chen Xiaoming said, "Literary criticism should play an active role in creative practice. This does not mean that criticism should lead the practice of literary creation, but that criticism always has its own cultural/aesthetic goals. And creation are antagonistic, not mutually comforting, but speculative. Creation can have its own goals, and the characteristics of creation are very personal, which makes creation always stubbornly avoid criticism. Creation is not simply a response to criticism or a matter-of-fact, but a revolutionary impulse to escape from tension in response to criticism and form literary creation practice and criticism practice. Every betrayal of creation is a question of the practice of critical forces, prompting criticism to constantly explore new starting points, solve new problems and meet new challenges. " Therefore, our definition of literary criticism is: literary criticism refers to people's evaluation and requirements for literature by adopting multiple artistic and non-artistic standards in a diverse social and cultural background. Although the connotations of literary appreciation and literary criticism are different, the relationship between them is very close. Literary criticism should be based on the artistic appreciation of literature and be perfected on this basis, while literary appreciation can not completely ignore non-artistic judgment, and the two are often in a state of mutual integration. For writers who are new to literary appreciation and literary criticism, it is necessary to understand the connection and difference between them to avoid confusion in writing practice. After the concept is clearly explained, students will be very clear about the methods and operations when they attend the practical class of literary appreciation and literary criticism. They will not write literary appreciation as subjective imagination and feelings without artistic standards, nor will they write literary criticism as pure artistic appreciation.
In this way, our literary appreciation and criticism practice class began. However, according to the author's experience in class, we still need to pay attention to a big principle, that is, we must not rush, especially the teachers and students in ethnic colleges. The general low quality of students also determines that the cultivation of literary appreciation and literary criticism practical ability needs to be carried out in stages and at different levels, otherwise students will easily ignore some important links. The practical teaching of literary appreciation and literary criticism by stages and levels has several advantages: for teachers, it can make the classroom clear and orderly, facilitate teachers' expression and operation, and ensure the teaching quality; For students, on the one hand, there is a gradual process in the process of acceptance and training, which is convenient for learning and acceptance and will not be at a loss. On the other hand, it can strengthen the processing and practical ability of literary appreciation and literary criticism at all necessary stages, and lay the foundation for the synthesis and selection of each stage in the future. In order to save classroom time and improve classroom efficiency, the author advocates combining literary appreciation with literary criticism to carry out teaching in stages and at different levels. The effective way is to combine literary appreciation and literary criticism writing into four stages, and train different abilities in these four stages, but also take into account the relationship and difference between appreciation and criticism.
Of course, different schools, different teachers and different students can adopt different methods to divide the stages and levels, depending on the actual situation of schools, teachers and students. The author takes Mr. Yang Shousen's "four forms" and "four realms" as the basis for dividing classroom stages and levels. According to Mr. Yang Shousen, "according to the content composition, literary criticism can be roughly divided into four basic forms: retelling and induction, understanding and interpretation, analysis and judgment, promotion and creation, which correspond to the four realms of spreading literary information, enriching the content of works, exploring the law of creation and opening up ideological space in turn." Close the same. We can divide the practical process of literary appreciation and literary criticism into four stages: retelling and induction, understanding and interpretation, analysis and evaluation, promotion and creation. Corresponding to the four realms, we will have standards to judge students' performance in each stage, that is, whether students have achieved "spreading literary information, enriching the content of works, exploring creative laws and opening up ideological space" in each stage. Although Mr. Yang's article is aimed at literary criticism, we can also bring literary appreciation into these four stages and literary appreciation writing into the third stage for professional training. Below, the author briefly describes the relationship between the four stages, as well as the specific treatment and classroom operation methods, so as to discuss with teachers and get expert advice.
The four stages of "retelling and induction, understanding and interpretation, analysis and evaluation, and promotion and creation" are a whole. Among them, "retelling, induction, understanding and interpretation" is the basis of literary appreciation and literary criticism writing. These two stages are simpler than the last two, and we can reduce the class hours, but because they are basic things, we must not ignore them. In universities for nationalities, the proportion of class hours and practical training in this link can be appropriately increased to make up for the lack of teachers and students' quality and lay a more solid foundation for future links. The stage of analysis and evaluation is the most critical and important of the four stages, which relates to whether students' writing meets the standards of appreciation and comment in quality. Therefore, we should increase the proportion of class hours, increase the classroom investment in explanation and training, and ensure that students understand and learn to use relevant standards. The standards of analysis and evaluation are nothing more than artistic standards and non-artistic standards, and the proportion of the two must be chosen properly.
This is also the reason why we put literature appreciation in the third stage for special training. Literature appreciation is inseparable from the artistic standards of analyzing and judging literature. We can summarize the relevant artistic standards that students have learned in literature classes and literary theories, so that they can learn to choose relevant standards when analyzing and judging their works. At the same time, we should also explain the application and scale of non-artistic standards, especially non-artistic standards, because compared with artistic standards, non-artistic standards are more complex and subjective, and in the development of human society and culture, non-artistic standards are uneven, good and bad, and overwhelming in number. How to choose and use them is a problem with high difficulty coefficient, not just a literary problem. Therefore, teachers must explain carefully, ask students to be cautious, and cultivate their "eye-catching" vision, discrimination and judgment. In addition, at this stage, we should re-emphasize the nature, relationship and difference between literary appreciation and literary criticism mentioned above, because this stage is related to the nature of writing, and there will be a distinction between appreciation and criticism written by students here. Focus on artistic standards close to literary appreciation, and focus on non-artistic standards or comprehensive standards close to literary criticism.
At this stage, it is necessary to increase students' specific practice and writing training, which can be strengthened through in-class training and after-school homework. The fourth stage is the sublimation stage of literary appreciation and literary criticism writing, which is related to whether the writing is wonderful or not. The author thinks that this issue should be emphasized, but it is not easy to go too far. If the explanation and training are too deep, the effect may be counterproductive, which may blur the clear conclusions that students get in class and make the rule-based writing method "untraceable". This stage mainly provides a clue and a direction for students' future development. A lot of content is gradually realized and understood by students in their later life or career, and a lot of preparation work is accumulated in other disciplines and students' extensive reading.
Of course, in the specific classroom practice, teachers and students will encounter all kinds of specific and thorny problems, and there may be more problems in ethnic colleges. In the training course we have experienced, there are many problems, such as students' small reading, narrow reading, poor basic writing skills and insufficient grasp of basic theory courses, which will seriously restrict the development of practical courses of literary appreciation and literary criticism writing. However, some of these problems can be supplemented, emphasized and a series of promotion and strengthening measures can be taken in our classroom. However, most of them are not tasks that can be solved by one person in this course, and they need the full support and cooperation of schools, even society and families. In universities for nationalities, more attention should be paid to increasing investment in this area to make up for the shortcomings that can't be made up compared with ordinary college students. In a word, literary appreciation and literary criticism writing are the embodiment of various abilities and comprehensive qualities, bearing a lot of social, humanistic and historical contents, and are very practical, which makes this course successful. This is not a problem that the author can solve in a poor article. We need to further explore problems and sum up experience in order to obtain better methods and reach a certain understanding.
Extended supplement: literary appreciation
"Introduction to Literature" points out: "Literary appreciation is a kind of spiritual activity when people enter the state of mind and observe their emotions when reading literary works." In literary appreciation activities, readers feel, experience, comprehend and understand the images, images and artistic conception created in their works, so as to gain aesthetic enjoyment and ideological understanding, thus improving their aesthetic ability. So, how can we better realize the ability of literary appreciation? Let's talk about the method of "knowing people and discussing the world".
Literary works are written by writers. People are people in society, and it is inevitable that they will be influenced by social ideology, living environment, personal feelings and aesthetic concepts. On the other hand, the writer's emotions and mentality reflected in his works are inextricably linked with social life. Therefore, "readers have a certain understanding of the writer's experience, situation, personality and the politics, economy and culture of his time, which plays an extremely important role in appreciating the works." As Lu Xun said: "But I always think that if you want a paper, it is best to take the whole article into account, taking the author's whole person and his social state into account, which is more conclusive." "Knowing people" is to examine the author's family background, circumstances, whereabouts, personality and ideology. On the World is to examine the social and historical features, especially the era and social conditions in which the author lives. Therefore, in the appreciation of literary works, it is not only an idea and method to appreciate literary works, but also a bridge to build the relationship between authors and readers, and a way for readers to enter the works.
For example, when we study Du Fu's Autumn Wind Breaking the Cottage, we must first understand that there was a famine in Shaanxi in 759 AD, but the Anshi Rebellion was not peaceful, the society was chaotic and the people were miserable. At that time, Du Fu abandoned his official position and went west, and finally arrived in Chengdu, where he built a small house to live. Secondly, I understand that the author's feelings for the life of the lower class are profound, and he cares about the sufferings of people's livelihood. This poem was written in the autumn and August of 76 1 year. The author suffered social and natural disasters, and his life was very difficult, so he couldn't sleep at night. In the face of the bleak situation that the thatch was swept away by the strong wind, "the bed room leaked rain" and "the clothes were like iron", I was deeply touched by the sadness. However, in this case, the author's first thought is not himself, but others. In his poems, he clearly expressed the ideal of "there are thousands of spacious buildings, and all the poor people in the world are happy", and expressed the feelings of "my family broke down the house and froze people to death alone". The reason why this poem has become a masterpiece through the ages lies in the poet's great mind of "worrying about the world first, and enjoying the world later" in an embarrassing situation.
In short, through the appreciation method of knowing people and discussing the world, we can not only enter the emotion, but also let readers have a deeper feeling about the works, understand by going up one flight of stairs and gain a deeper meaning of the poem.
literary criticism
They contributed to the healthy development of literature. In the history of modern and contemporary literature in China, there are some critics with high artistic accomplishment, daring to speak out and profound academic attainments, such as Mao Dun, Hu Feng, Li Changzhi and Li Jianwu. However, in the past 20 years, with the rapid advancement of social marketization and commercialization, literature has been greatly marginalized, and a large number of critics have been unable to resist loneliness and temptation, and have also begun to degenerate sharply, with red envelope comments, hype comments and human feelings comments emerging one after another. However, in the face of endless comments, literary creators (including some literary masters) seem to lack a correct understanding and an open-minded attitude. In view of this moral decline of literary criticism, the author wants to talk about the moral bottom line of both sides of literary criticism.
First of all, literary criticism should be based on the existence of literary texts, not on authors. Contemporary literary criticism is often directed at contemporary writers and their works, so there are many external pressures or temptations for critics. As a serious literary critic, what should I do?
We must adhere to a predetermined principle: no personal attacks. Of course, this is only the premise, and no citizen has the right to personally attack another citizen.
Secondly, literary critics must stick to the basic professional bottom line of criticism: they must make a true statement about the works you read. The bounden duty of a literary critic is to tell the truth. Seeking truth and being pragmatic should be what critics call the basic professional ethics, or more accurately, the professional bottom line. Even in the face of some influential writers, critics can't do whatever they want. Their comments and opinions are only a reference for your criticism and cannot replace your thinking and opinions. However, in the current literary and academic circles in China, scholars and critics are often constrained by various factors: subjective factors or external pressure, and they are often afraid or unwilling to tell the truth. Among them, the newly published Symposium on Literary Works is representative. Because most of the participants took other people's money or friends, they dared to say anything nice at the meeting. In such a big environment, the real critic seems to be much ado about nothing.
Finally, as a literary critic, we should also pay attention to the cultivation and promotion of our own professional quality. At present, literary criticism is criticized by readers and writers in many cases. Another important reason is that some so-called critics with poor theoretical literacy and poor literary perception and appreciation ability are making up for their mistakes. A critic who has no maximum reading accumulation and high artistic perception and appreciation ability is often not as good as a layman's evaluation of literature.
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