从"文学研究"到"文化研究":世界性文学审美特性之变革

近三十年来,西方大学文学系的主要研究方向已从文学研究转向文化研究.但此一转变的意义迄今未能得到阐明.此一转变实际上已成为如下历史事件的鲜明表征--随着消费社会的日渐成形,与符号化消费互为表里的多语言文学文本已经取代或正在取代以书写语言为主体的传统文学文本的主流地位.文学语言、文学文本形态、文学的审美特性正在经历一场前所未有的根本变革,文学研究也已从其内部转向更深处,亦即已从传统的古典样式的"文学研究"转向以"文化研究"命名的当代形态的文学研究.

From "Literary Study" to "Culture Study": A Worldwide Change of the Aesthetic Feature of Literature

The recent 30 years has seen the alteration of research field from literary study to culture study in the departments of literature in western universities. The significance of the change has not been illuminated yet. Actually, it is a distinctive symbol of a historical fact, namely, the replacement of traditional literary texts in written language by multi-language literary texts, with the latter correlating with the symbolization of consumption, as the society of consumption has been gradually shaped. Thus, literary languages, the form of literary texts as well as aesthetic features of literature are experiencing an unprecedented profound change. Meanwhile, literary study has also progressed from inner study to a more profound perspective, i.e., from the traditional classical literary study to the contemporary literary study called culture study.