For this book, this road is to examine the subtle and poetic connection between melancholy and reflection. Because of this clear theme, we can understand why Baudelaire's poems that Starobinski chose to discuss are usually not widely praised by later critics. Starobinski chose these seven poems-To Readers, Inscription of a Book, Melancholy IV, Dedicated to Saint-Beaufort, Voice, Journey and Fountain-all of which were related to Starobinski's core attitude, drooping his head, looking in the mirror and brooding gloomily.
From this path, we immediately realized the academic origin of Starobinski's Geneva School. This school laid the foundation for the critics in the 20th century to accumulate self-confidence and self-esteem. Although Starobinski and several other leaders of the Geneva School, such as george bly and Marcel Raymond, have differences in criticism practice, they obviously all think that criticism is an action between subjects, and criticism is not mainly based on aesthetic judgment (that's too simple? ), and critics are no longer vassals of writers, they have an equal relationship with writers, and critics should "try to reflect and think about the experiences and ideas that others have experienced again." As a kind of "secondary literature", criticism is equal to "primary literature", and it is also a way to know yourself and the world. Because of this, we also understand what Starobinski meant by "drawing a path". Starobinski chose those seven poems to a great extent because the images and ideas in them coincide with the issues he has been concerned about-melancholy, meditation and gaze.
The two literary theories attached to the back of the book are mostly to thicken the book to the thickness that China readers are used to, so as to set a profitable price. But after reading the whole book, you will find that the article "The Pope's Veil" is indeed inextricably linked with the text. It can even be said that only after reading "The Pope's Veil" can you better understand "Melancholy in the Mirror". The former is the programmatic text of Starobinski's critical thought, which is undoubtedly better written. In this article, Pope, a famous dissolute ancient Roman beauty in Starobinski, always veiled as a metaphor, discusses the strange power brewing between concealment and absence, and presents the critical activities of critics in detail.
Paradoxically, in this process, Starobinski finally raised his criticism to the height of poetry. At least we can find that the sensitivity of criticism and poetry are actually the same thing. Under the veil of the Pope, wonderful expositions emerge one after another. In contrast, Melancholy in the Mirror is much inferior, although the latter is an example of the former. The reason may be that Baudelaire's powerful poems finally covered up Starobinski's puzzling speculation. The free and direct charm of Baudelaire's poems makes Starobinski's hard thinking dull, and the occasional flash gradually becomes silent against the background of night.
If we compare Starobinski's self-confident and spiritual expression in Pope's Veil, we can't help crying: "A complete criticism may not be one that aims at the overall interest (for example, staring down), nor one that aims at internality (for example, the intuition of identity), but one that sometimes needs to look down and sometimes needs to look inside. This kind of gaze knows in advance that truth is neither in the former attempt nor in the latter attempt. There is no doubt that this is even insightful, but the truth in sports is really too difficult to control. When he tried to pursue this unpredictable truth in Byakki Smoker's Melancholy, the problems he encountered didn't decrease at all, so he showed fatigue.
The Pope's Veil is one of the collections of living eyes published by 196 1, which is more than 20 years earlier than Melancholy in the Mirror, but there is still an obvious inheritance relationship between them. In Pope's Veil, Starobinski spent a lot of time describing the "gaze" of gaze: "Gaze has an eager power, which is not satisfied with what is given. It waits for the stillness of the moving body and the slightest tremor towards the still face, and it requires approaching the face behind the mask." Although Starobinski admitted that "staring is a dangerous behavior", he also realized that "staring ensures that our consciousness has a way out beyond the place occupied by our bodies". Many interesting ideas have been derived from the in-depth thinking of gaze, and criticism activities are obviously included, and even combed in many places in the name of "gaze" in order to restore the most essential features of criticism. Twenty years later, Starobinsky is still "staring", just adding a mirror in front of his own sight, and all the thinking is more complicated because of the existence of this mirror, because the reflection of the mirror itself is full of introspection, and the passion is suppressed in this process and turned into irony, even so complicated that Starobinsky has to use Baudelaire's poems as an intermediary to clarify.
There seems to be no more suitable criticism medium than Baudelaire's poems. Baudelaire's poems are full of emotion and complexity, which just corresponds to Starobinski's struggle in the ideological whirlpool, if not sinking. It is no coincidence that Baudelaire's poems he chose contain the image of "mirror". For example, in a poem dedicated to St. Boff, there is such a poem: "In front of this mirror, I perfected the cruel art taught by the newborn devil." In the poem Fountain, it is: "How pure your melancholy is,/It is the mirror of my love." In "Self-Punishment": "I am a mirror, gloomy and horrible,/the shrew sees herself in it." In hopeless: "in gloomy and sincere observation,/heart becomes its own mirror!" " In "Offending the Moon God": "Son of the declining century, I saw your mother,/leaned down in front of the mirror for many years,/brushed your breasts artistically!" In Death of a Lover: "He opened the door slightly, came in, wiped the dim mirror and lit the dying fire." It is no accident that the mirror is indeed one of the important images in Baudelaire's poems, because the mirror image implies multiple paradoxes and inversions hidden in Baudelaire's poems, which is not only the complexity of Baudelaire's poems, but also the source of its charm. It is no accident that Starobinski clearly realized this, because as early as in Pope's Veil, he said that "gaze is a dangerous act", while gaze in the mirror is naturally a gaze, and this gaze is directed at himself, so it has a sentimental and ironic meaning: "A series of reflections cast shadows, and the fate of angelic people ends in the depths of mud."
It should be said that Starobinski entered Baudelaire's poetry from the image of a mirror, which seized his fatal weakness and found the gap of his consistent deep thinking on criticism. Don't forget, critics of the Geneva School all have a potential desire to compete with their critics, so it is naturally smart to move the battlefield of wrestling to their familiar fields. However, maybe Starobinski is not that complicated. Maybe he will shrug his shoulders and ask disapprovingly, "Aren't all critics talking about themselves?" But this time, in the process of transforming Baudelaire's poems into his own critical voice, Starobinski was in trouble. Although he did his best in critical thinking and interpreted the complexity of his thoughts to an unbounded extent, Baudelaire's poems he quoted always pushed his analysis into the corner with a clear and direct force, showing his rough and clingy side-of course, there were many wonderful fragments. Baudelaire's poems are clear, profound and complicated, which may shift the position of onlookers to the camp of poets. It seems that the leaders of the Geneva School still have a long way to go before they can compete with outstanding poets.
On the other hand, in The Pope's Veil, Starobinski actually had a long-term vision of the critics' disadvantage. Paradoxically, it is these viewpoints that, in turn, show that Starobinski is an excellent critic, and finally he wins himself the qualification to talk with poets. This passage is wonderful: "the pursuit is the farthest, but it leads to the nearest, that is, the obvious things, forms and rhythms at first sight." At first glance, these things seem to promise only a secret message. After a big circle, we returned to the text itself, where meaning lives and mysterious treasures shine. People think that we should look for this treasure in the' deep'. " We can also easily use this passage to understand the differences between Baudelaire's poems and Starobinski's analysis, or to compete. Baudelaire, with the poet's extreme sensitivity, completed the return of appearance and essence in his passionate poems. He equated going with going back with the magic of golden words, but Starobinski's efforts were one-way after all (although he realized the importance of withdrawing and reviewing). When he was struggling to dig the deep meaning, he drifted away from the "mysterious treasure".
Baudelaire's obsession with mirror image finally changed his melancholy with solemn eyes, and irony gradually surfaced, which became an excellent cover for the poet to hide his shame in showing people's pain. Irony is almost invincible in the light of modernity, and it has an animal face because of its crazy biting face. As a critic, Starobinski's attention to mirrors is slightly different from that of poets. He has already expounded the characteristics of criticism with the multiple meanings contained in his eyes. In addition, he certainly feels that for critics, the evaluated object (poets and novelists) is also a mirror reflecting the image of critics, and because of the color and breath of the evaluated works, this dark reflected light becomes particularly hazy, just like the veil of the Pope gently and wickedly draped over the vulnerable people. The effect of the mirror is arbitrary and nihilistic. It accepts and inquires, and does not hesitate to throw all questions back to us. In the end, the work will get rid of the staring net entangled in itself and show its enthusiasm. The critic will take the initiative to take back the bait he throws, and the critic will win himself. It is in this sense that Starobinski's famous saying will be confirmed again: "Watch, be watched for you."