What is the significance of writers' literature? thank you

In recent twenty years, "pure literature" is an extremely important core concept, which not only creates a brand-new literary concept, but also greatly influences and rewrites contemporary literature in China. This concept effectively controls the specific literary practice, but also effectively penetrates into literary criticism and even literary education, and no one can ignore it. In a sense, it is no exaggeration to say that the emergence and rise of China's concept of "pure literature" and its control over the whole literary history have left traces of modernity influence in contemporary China. Therefore, today's re-dialectic of the concept of "pure literature" actually means rethinking modernity and re-understanding China's social development. The dialectics of a concept naturally transforms into a concrete historical narrative, a tracing and description of the origin of thought.

1, a moving signifier

In the past twenty years, in my memory and reading impression, no one has made a complete and clear definition of the extension and connotation of the concept of "pure literature", which seems to coincide with a common phenomenon in the history of contemporary literature: the more vague the concept, the wider the scope of communication. So when we enter the history of literature, we often find that some concepts themselves are sometimes unimportant. What is important is what kind of "story" contemporary literature tells as a word, an active signifier or a narrative category relying on the concept of "pure literature". Therefore, it is very necessary to make the concept of "pure literature" historical and staged. Only in this way can we "explore future archaeology" as Jameson said. 2

There is no specific textual research on the specific time when the concept of "pure literature" came into being, but it can be roughly confirmed that in the early 1980s, the special historical background of this concept was just as Li Tuo said: "The expression of" pure literature "appeared and survived in China in the special historical environment at the turn of the 1970s and 1980s, that is, the Cultural Revolution just ended, and the very rigid literary dogma has seriously bound literature, such as" literature is subordinate to politics ". In that case, writers can only be liberated and develop a new kind of writing if they rush, resist and criticize these literary dogmas. After the Cultural Revolution, what was initially recognized and liked by the whole society was "scar literature". At that time, critics generally believed that this was a new literary development (so-called "new period literature"), and regarded it as a concrete practice of "bringing order out of chaos" in the literary field, which was of great innovative significance. But I have always had a low opinion of this kind of writing. I think it is basically the continuation and development of the literature of workers, peasants and soldiers. As a literary trend of thought, it did not put forward new literary principles, norms and frameworks, so scar literature is basically an' old' literature (my view was later discussed in detail in the article 1985). At that time, mainstream critics spoke highly of scar literature (some people still speak highly of it), and I was not the only one who was skeptical and opposed to it, so there was a fierce conflict around' scar literature', which sharpened around 1985, and the' trendy criticism' which had a decisive impact on the 1980s came into being. " 3 Han Shaogong also thinks: "The definition of' pure literature' has always been ambiguous. In my impression, the concept of "pure literature" appeared in the 1980 s, aiming at a kind of "problem literature" that emphasizes publicity and sociality. Later, writers who advocated self-supremacy, form supremacy, modernism supremacy and even serious and elegant taste were classified as "pure literature", although there were many differences between them. As the parties to the "pure literature" movement, Li Tuo and Han Shaogong's statements were generally credible.

The meaning of concepts often comes from the opposition of things. It is precisely because of the existence of so-called old literature that "pure literature" can gain its legal status in the history of literature. Therefore, the existence of so-called old literature was the premise of the establishment of the concept of "pure literature" at that time. Li Tuo's so-called "old literature" actually refers to the rigid literary concept that sanctifies the traditional realistic coding method. This literary concept still had some influence in the 1970s and 1980s, and directly derived "problem literature" such as "scar literature" and "reform novel". It is in this special historical environment that the concept of "pure literature" has a rather strong revolutionary significance. This significance lies in the destruction, disintegration and even subversion of traditional realistic coding methods. Under the cover of the slogan "form is content", the writer's personality has been fully exerted, thus gaining real inner creative freedom. With the rise of modernism in China, the concept of "pure literature" has not only been strongly supported by literary practice, but also further promoted the development of this practice. It was in this modernist movement that "pure literature" penetrated into people's inner world with the help of modern philosophy, aesthetics and psychology, and became an inner narrative, that is, the so-called "inward turn" at that time, which greatly enriched the narrative means of contemporary literature in China. More importantly, with the help of the narrative category of "pure literature", a "story" about modernity was successfully told at that time. Some important ideological concepts, such as self, individual, humanity, sexuality, unconsciousness, freedom, universality, love and so on. Through the narrative category of "pure literature", it is organized into various stories. Therefore, in a sense, the concept of "pure literature" was the product of the "New Enlightenment" movement at that time. It also provides a choice of modern values for people to describe the personal survival dilemma in this world. It should be acknowledged that in the 1980s, various narrative behaviors were organized through the narrative category of "pure literature", such as "modernism", "root-seeking literature" and "avant-garde literature". Their resistance and subversion greatly shook the position of orthodox literary ideas. And opened up a fairly broad artistic space for later literary practice. However, we still can't put the concept of "pure literature" only in the field of literature for investigation and dialectics. In this case, we will underestimate the revolutionary significance of this concept at that time. If Foucault's "discourse" theory is introduced into the analysis of the concept of "pure literature", we will find that there is also a power struggle behind the discourse conflict. As the product of the "new enlightenment" or "ideological emancipation" movement, the concept of "pure literature" represents the intellectual's right appeal from the beginning, which includes: the independent status of literature (true spirit), the freedom of thought and expression, the diversity of individual existence and choice, the rejection and resistance to ultra-left politics or identity, the expansion and opening up of the public sphere and so on. Therefore, at that time, the concept of "pure literature" actually had a very strong realistic concern and ideological color, even a kind of cultural politics, rather than a non-ideological literary proposition that later generations mistakenly thought refused to enter the public domain, which was one of the reasons why literature could become a pioneer of thought at that time. Therefore, in the 1980s, "pure literature" used to be a very useful concept, as Nan Fan said: "If the traditional realistic coding method has been sanctified, if the historical achievements that once appeared are becoming a huge cage, then shocking exaggeration is necessary. If the society and history in literature have become a bunch of abstract concepts and figures, then the individual experience, inner life and life of some marginal figures are the proper meaning of restoring society and history on the other hand. If martial arts novels, cartoons, pop songs and soap operas are being described by many people as the whole of art, what's wrong with mentioning' pure literature' as another existence? ..... The concept of "pure literature" produced the function of criticism and resistance in the historical and cultural network of 1980s and 1990s. This concept cuts into history from another direction ",5 at the same time, it also helps intellectuals to establish their own critical position.

However, as Nan Fan said, when "pure literature" cuts into history, the dialectics of history also begins. "This concept soon lost its momentum and became conservative", and "pure literature" began to be endowed with some metaphysical nature. Some theorists and writers try to regard literary form or "private writing" as a new literary dogma in the name of "pure literature". They firmly believe that this is the characteristic of literature. At this time,' pure literature' broke away from the historical context and began to carefully safeguard some so-called literary' essence'. Electronic media, modern transportation and economic globalization are connecting the world. All kinds of new power systems were born. History is asking everyone a series of important questions. However, at this time' pure literature' refused to enter the public domain. Literature gave up sharp criticism and resistance and voluntarily withdrew from the historical and cultural network. Advocates of "pure literature" are not afraid to admit that literature is a language handicraft in the study and a paradise with language structure. The ideological deconstruction contained in the radical language of avant-garde literature has been replaced by random language games. This is consistent with other art fields-all collages or pranks have reason to call themselves avant-garde art-without depth and significance, and there is no need to have a deep connection with those complicated historical cultures. ..... "and so on. six

A concept must depend on its specific historical context in order to exist and obtain its legal basis. Once the times have changed, if the extension and connotation of the concept cannot be adjusted in time, it will probably become a new theoretical dogma, and only those essentialists will stubbornly believe that there are eternal things in this world. Similarly, after China entered the 1990s, the whole historical conditions and social relations have undergone drastic changes, and some specific historical contexts in which the concept of "pure literature" originally existed have also undergone great changes (such as the sanctification of traditional realistic coding methods). At this time, if we continue to be confined to the concept of "pure literature" and refuse the new "call" of history, it is very likely to become a new literary dogma. However, this is only one aspect of the problem, and the other aspect of the problem is that while the concept of "pure literature" came into being, a theoretical conservative possibility has been presupposed.

As active advocates and participants in the "ideological emancipation" movement or the "new enlightenment" movement, intellectuals undoubtedly played a decisive role in the historical changes of China society. But at the same time, it also cultivated the elite mentality of intellectuals. In the process of its development, society gradually bred a relative intellectual elite class, which complemented each other and formed a new interest group in China in the 1990s. However, in the early 1980s, intellectuals were still a vulnerable group in society. Their rough experiences not only aroused the sympathy of the whole society, but more importantly, the rights demands of intellectuals in this period, such as the yearning for modernization, the yearning for humanized life, the pursuit of freedom and democracy, and the resistance and rejection of ultra-left politics, all met the interests of the whole society to a certain extent, thus forming an interest alliance with most sectors of society. So the so-called "pure literature" conveyed a certain spirit of the times in a very subtle and tortuous way at that time. Even the more radical "avant-garde literature" still has certain revolutionary significance because of its violent destruction and deconstruction of ideology, which is one of the reasons why "pure literature" can gain social support. It was only in the 1990s that various new power relations began to form, the society was stratified again, and interests and power requirements began to disperse. In fact, the social alliance in the 1980s no longer exists. At this time, as a group or stratum, intellectuals can hardly represent the interests of vulnerable groups. Therefore, when "pure literature" continues to refuse to enter the public domain, more often, it will evolve into a "narcissistic" word game. Similarly, the famous slogan "How to write is more important than what to write" in the 1980s also developed new writing possibilities because of its destruction of traditional realistic coding methods. Although exaggeration is still an effective literary proposition, once the premise of resistance is lost, it will also

For the intellectuals in the 1980s, their thoughts came from the strong support of modernity. In the narrative category of "pure literature", modernity is not only manifested as a specific western imagination (including excessive infatuation with western modern theories), but also transformed into an essential way of thinking, such as being used to abstractly summarizing concepts, rather than examining and dialectically placing them in a specific historical context. This way of thinking has seriously weakened the observation and thinking ability of China intellectuals, especially after the increasingly elite intellectuals, which has hindered them from continuing to find and ask questions. Although modernism provides a text practice of resisting modernization for "pure literature" (some clues can be found in "root-seeking literature"), in essence, modernism exists with modernization and determines its bright future, so its resistance can only be incomplete. Today, this "collective" imagination formed under the call of modernity has encountered many problems that modernity may encounter, including: individual, self, subjectivity, freedom, state, politics, ideology, and so on. It is these words that constitute the derivative of the concept of "pure literature"-"back to literature itself".

2. What is literature itself?

There is a famous metaphor in the 1980s, which means that the carriage of literature carries too many things. Now it is necessary to unload those things that do not belong to literature from the carriage, and these things that do not belong to literature are naturally the country, society, politics, ideology and so on. This is actually an extremely vivid summary of what "literature itself" is. At that time, this sentence was widely circulated, not only in words, but also in college classroom education or impromptu speeches, which made many young people still remember it. eight

Among the unloaded things in literature, ideology is obviously an extremely important concept. If we make a simple historical and phased treatment of ideology, we will find that the content it refers to is extremely complicated. In Tracy's time (it is said that he invented the word), ideology was used to name a new discipline-idealism. Half a century later, Marx used this word to describe a narrow and egoistic worldview (that is, bourgeois viewpoint) in his book German Ideology. That is to say, ideology is the result of a particular social class distorting the real social relations in order to maximize its own class interests, and it is a "wrong consciousness" or "wrong idea", which is destined to be replaced by science (reflecting the working class viewpoint). Mannheim further distinguished the two ideologies. One is the ideological prejudice of the declining class-"ideology"; One is "Utopia", an emerging class idea that Utopia is the creation of intellectuals who do not belong to any class. After World War II, daniel bell expressed his disappointment with ideology and utopia, and then declared the end of ideology. When he said this, he mainly thought of Marxism, and thought that Marxism was giving way to a moderate and non-ideological liberalism, which was based on the understanding of political limitations. However, ideology did not end as daniel bell imagined, but under the reinterpretation of contemporary theory, it showed another vibrant new world. In the new interpretation of ideology, Althusser defined ideology as "the representation of the imaginary relationship between an individual and his reality", which means that the overall meaning of ideology is an imaginary function and is related to the ideal self. This statement obviously has traces of psychoanalysis (for example, Geiger regards ideology as primitive emotion, aesthetic taste and value judgment disguised in the form of "theory") 10, especially Lacan's theory. When Jameson introduced Althusser's ideological theory, he insisted on the concept of "class", "Without the concept of class, there can be no concept of ideology" and "ideology is an intermediary concept, which is the intermediary between individuals and general things in dialectics. All ideologies include two levels: individuality and collectivity, or group consciousness or class consciousness. " 1 1 However, individual factors in ideology have attracted many people's attention. Under the influence of Lacan, Cizel thought that "ideology is not an illusion to cover up the real state of things, but an illusion to establish our social reality". And ideology itself is not a kind of "social consciousness", but a kind of "social existence". In this way, ideology is not only a kind of thought and concept, but also a kind of belief, and it is also a kind of behavior and "practice". In this way, ideology has not ended, on the contrary, it has penetrated into our daily life, and we are actually surrounded by various ideologies. As Jameson said when introducing Adorno, "Adorno once said: Commodity has become its own ideology. This sentence means to point out the change of ideology. ..... Now we don't have the old ideology, only commodities, and commodity consumption is also its own ideology. What is emerging now is a series of behaviors and practices, not a set of beliefs. Maybe the old-fashioned ideology is faith. 13 and the function or function of ideology still exists, because ideology provides a certain mode for human beings to experience the world after all. Without this model, mankind will lose the possibility of knowing and experiencing the world. It is this "omnipresence" of ideology that makes literature actually impossible to be non-ideological. On the other hand, if there is "literature itself", then this so-called "literature itself" is also an ideological or ideological conflict "occasion".

However, in the 1980s, we wouldn't have such a complicated understanding of ideology. At that time, we only understood ideology as mainstream ideology, more precisely, it was the ideology of ultra-left politics. This ideology not only controls all the contents of our lives, but also literary writing, making literature just a simple "propaganda machine" of some political opinions, and the so-called "reproduction" is only an illusion of this ideology. Therefore, in this specific historical environment, the "non-ideology" emphasized by "pure literature" at that time obviously had quite positive significance. In this way, it rejected the extreme left political-ideological control over literature, thus enabling literature to express the voice of the times independently. 14 However, we can also say that this rejection itself is an ideology. Specifically, it redefines an imaginary relationship between individuals and modernization, namely "human modernization" (individual liberation, freedom, rights, etc.). In order to realize this "human modernization", we must first eliminate the "false consciousness" that ideology controls people. In this way, there is a real "fracture" between history and reality, and the past history can easily be regarded as a kind of "absurdity" or simply a "joke". Behind the "end of ideology" is the final establishment of China's modernity in 1980s. All the imagination of the future finally points to modernity, and points to two core concepts of modernity: progress and development. And everything we have (including literature) is only or can only be a copy of the "matrix" of modernity. These seem to form a kind of "destiny" in China's contemporary literature. Because giving up the exploration of various possibilities in the future, on the one hand, it is a fierce deconstruction of reality, on the other hand, it automatically gives up the imagination and even impulse of a new historical utopia. Avant-garde literature clearly shows the above two characteristics. 15' s one-sided and simplified understanding of ideology actually makes us lose our two abilities of "unmasking" and "utopia" gradually. For a long time to come, we will face new social phenomena such as market, capital and commodities. We can only hold a moral critical attitude, but we can't realize that commodity consumption is also its own ideology, a response to modernity and the establishment of a new imaginary relationship. The lack of "unmasking" ability is also due to the loss of our "utopia" ability. When we regard modernization (Westernization) as the only blueprint for the future, it actually means the exhaustion of our utopian resources. And when we can't determine the imaginary relationship between ourselves and the real existence conditions, we can't establish our own ideology. So, when all kinds of ideologies are using their "persuasion-training" function to "legalize" what they represent, what can "pure literature" do?

Just when "pure literature" emphasizes non-ideology, another corresponding statement came into being, that is, the so-called "original ecological life". What is the original ecological life? This sentence seems ambiguous today, but it did provide a new imagination for writing at that time. This is because when ideology appears in the form of "wrong ideas", it will cover up, cover up and tamper with people's daily experience, and literature can only provide a false image of life. Therefore, the so-called "original ecological life" is actually the theoretical support for the writer to open the door to personal memory, and it is to use his daily experience to confront and dispel the ideology as a "wrong idea". But this statement itself relatively hides another possibility, that is, it acquiesces that there is a "real" life that can exist independently of ideology in this world, so life needs to be discovered. A direct consequence of this statement is that "pure literature" gradually despises the real daily life in which we directly participate and puts more imagination into our hearts. In this way, it not only accelerates the alienation of "pure literature" from social existence to some extent, but also makes "pure literature" gradually lose its ability to pay attention to and grasp reality. On the other hand, what needs to be questioned is how personal daily experience emerges to the surface of our consciousness, and how does this memory door open? In fact, even the "original ecological life" comes from the support of another ideology and is a response to "modernity". As long as we read the works of the 1980s, we will find that most of the narratives around the "original ecological life" are daily experiences and life requirements such as "personality liberation". Here, perhaps there is an example to illustrate the problem. From 65438 to 0999, when I was in charge of the daily work of Shanghai literature, I once opened a column in the magazine called "City Map". Many writers who write for this column are around 45 years old. Perhaps influenced by their personal experience, family background and social background, most of the objects described by these writers are concentrated in the north of the city, providing a historical and low-level Shanghai. About a year later, a group of younger writers began to appear. At this time, so-called "aristocratic areas" such as Huaihai Road, Nanjing Road and Xujiahui frequently appear in the works of these writers, and the scenes, characters and plots they provide are similar. These writers may not all live in these areas, and their personal memories may not all be summarized by these lives. Obviously, behind the choice of life is the role of ideology. What these writers accept is a way of life or an illusion of thought created and provided by the current media. In fact, we have been living in ideology, and there is no absolute "original ecological life". The only question is, what do we use to make our daily experience surface and open the door to personal memory?

Of course, we can't attribute the "withdrawal from society" of "pure literature" to the ideological influence of "the end of history" or "the end of ideology", which is too arbitrary. In fact, there are other factors, such as some kind of political coercion. The cruelty of ideological struggle also existed in the1968+1980s. It is this cruelty that forced writers to avoid reality and emphasize the importance of aesthetics. However, the traces of modernity are also obvious. It is the over-emphasis on "self" that makes literature increasingly despise and alienate concepts such as country, society and group.

The establishment and development of "ego" in contemporary literature has been discussed by many writers and critics. Han Shaogong once thought that "self" seems to be one of many concepts of "pure literature". I once agreed that writers should cherish themselves, know themselves and express themselves, and oppose omniscient arrogance in writing and arbitrary attempts to regulate society. I still think this statement is positive on the whole. 18 and literature also found another corresponding concept-"subjectivity" because of "self", and all kinds of narrative activities around this concept were mainly "the struggle between individual subjects to win identity" in literature in the 1980 s. Because this "self" mostly contained a weak background at that time, it appeared as an "individual subject" in literature, but it was also relatively group (for example, the excellent texts of early female literature had the same vision). However, "ego is not born, it can only be produced in a specific social environment and cultural process, and it can only be produced in public groups." "Therefore, after' pure literature' withdrew from society,' self' gradually evolved into a closed concept." The theory of "ego" does induce some writers' narcissism and autism. Writers seem to look at themselves in the mirror in various ways every day, but they are not getting richer and richer, on the contrary, they are getting more and more stereotyped, such as making standardized recipes for coffee bars, staying in bed and feeling a little sad. "In recent years, I have also found that the closer I am to the' private' writing standard, the more similar my works tend to be. This is only one aspect of the problem. The other side of the problem is that the process of "self-centeredness" is also a process of expansion and colonization of "the other". In this way, it will inevitably produce an elite mentality. " Self "has even become a pseudo-title of a pseudo-aristocrat who ignores others, despises the public and hates society." Presumption will solidify my prejudice, and even avoiding the wave of evil often gains legitimacy based on this statement. In an era of capital liberalization in which the old and new powerful people are expanding their resources more and more than the common people, it is certainly not difficult to imagine what kind of characters and literature this tendency will produce. ”20

In this way, through the country, politics, society, groups, ideology and so on. They are all unloaded from the carriage of literature. What is left on the carriage of literature? Is it ego and subjectivity, or aesthetics and poetry? At that time, two people attracted people's attention, namely Heidegger and Borges. We found the cultural decoration of "poetic dwelling" from the "forest path", and Borges' study and writing provided us with the best excuse for seeking knowledge. However, who knows to what extent we have tampered with and castrated these two writers and philosophers.

However, the problem does not stop there. Behind the alienation of literature from society and the rejection of reality, there may be a desire to construct the world, which comes from the static and eternal nature of human nature. Therefore, in literature, the combination of concepts such as desire, individual, subjectivity, right, sex, unconsciousness and freedom correspondingly constructs a new world, and self-identity is completed in such a constructed illusory scene (now, this illusion is shifting to mass culture, and words such as "humanized space" and "humanistic care" are everywhere in various advertisements, while the cultural industry, however, the self-identity completed in this case is quite suspicious. When literature indulges in this world and thinks that it is the real existence itself, it actually suppresses the "role of thinking about history", thus losing the ability to grasp the ever-changing history and reality.

A dream is shattered, and the world has not achieved the unity of freedom, democracy, equality and justice in the context of modernity as we imagined. The dialectics of history still exists. "The fantasy of human nature will undergo earth-shaking changes, and the social relations of the current system will also change accordingly. Just think about it."

Respondents: bbqmow- Apprentice Magician Level 312-3012:15.

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Concept refers to the generalization and summary of established facts. In the field of literary creation, there are always some obvious creative tendencies, creative ideas, writing skills, values and so on. , reached a certain scale, caused a certain impact, which was recognized by most people, given a more accurate definition, and became a "literary concept."

In the past, the concept of literature was gradually recognized by critics and readers through the creative practice of many writers, and was summarized by the latter as "works first, then concepts". Nowadays, with the deepening of the packaging and hype of works, the concept of literature and the order of literary works have undergone fundamental changes-before the works enter the readers' field of vision, a complete planning scheme has already appeared, with the banner of a book embodying (having) a certain literary concept first, and then attracting readers to buy and read.

1976 it has been nearly 30 years since the end of the cultural revolution, and literary creation has finally grown into a lush jungle today through sparse grass. The literary concept of experience, the number of sands in the Ganges, just depicts the development track of China literature from another side.

Generally speaking, this is a trend from ideological trend to trend.