Immediately commented | Li Li: Holistic View, Concretization, and Methodology of Western Literary and Art Studies

Li Li

Recently, the Literary and Art Critics Association of the Twelve Provinces and Cities in the Western Region gathered in Rongcheng to discuss the liaison mechanism of the Western Literary and Art Criticism, jointly seek the method of cooperation in the Western Literary and Art Criticism, condense the aesthetic spirit of the Western Region, and build a highland of Western Literary and Art Criticism. In this situation, as Li Mingquan, vice chairman of the China Appraisal Association and chairman of the Sichuan Provincial Appraisal Association, said, "Western literary and art critics have a high degree of cultural self-confidence, criticism self-confidence, industry self-confidence and professional self-confidence. ”

As a result of the conference, the "Measures for the Coordination of Literary and Art Criticism work in the western region" has generally planned the future in terms of system. However, in the face of the complex and diversified patterns, patterns, and artistic categories of western literature and art, we should think more about how to promote the in-depth study of western literature and art in specific work.

We need to think holistically. In the face of such a huge territory, such a rich soil, and such a prosperous category of artistic creation in the western region, we need to think more about the relationship between western literature and art and Chinese art, think about the unique aesthetic style and artistic expression of western literature and art, speculate on the reasons why western literature and art have made achievements, sum up the regretful lessons left in the process of its development, the political influence of archaeology due to the geographical differences in the western region, the factors that affect the creation of artists in the western region based on evidence, and restore the soil and creative environment in which western artists live. Seeking universality from the special, seeking the general from the individual, thinking about the western space on the map of China, seeking commonality among the western provinces, and establishing a "holistic, comprehensive, and macroscopic" vision, only in this way can we learn from history and look forward to the future in reality.

Of course, the overall view is more of a big picture, and the in-depth study of western literature and art needs to be started in a small way, so we need to concretize cases and ideas. This concretization not only refers to specific art categories and specific artists, but also includes specific artistic trends and intersecting artistic influences. For example, in the 1980s, the third generation of Sichuan poets was well-known throughout the country, and many of them had a key influence on the representative figures of the "Scar Painting School", how did this influence occur, what was the evidence, and to what extent did it affect the artist's creation? Chengdu has a very important literary and art center "White Night", from the "White Night" out of a large number of poets, painters, musicians, how did they intersect in the "White Night", how to feast guests, raise tall buildings, and how to continue to "Fanghua"? In recent years, at the Chengdu Biennale, western artists and critics have mostly gathered together, so how do their works influence each other? It can be said that it is precisely because of the closeness of geography that western literature and art have the characteristics of cross-influence, so how to clarify this cross-influence requires "concrete, microscopic, and detailed" argumentation, and facts have proved that the more grand the study, the more specific and in-depth research is needed, and only the specific and in-depth study has the strength to decompose the grand western literature and art into problems that are worth explaining and explaining clearly, and landing on the object of empirical evidence.

To that end, we also need to establish a comparative approach. This kind of comparison requires finding conclusive empirical evidence and literature, finding comparable and comparable cases, which is not a simple diversion of impact studies and parallel studies, but a cross-category study produced on the basis of integrating the two, a comparative study based on positivism and imagination. For example, can Sichuan's Kangding love songs be compared with Guangxi's folk songs in terms of adaptation, creation, and song structure, and whether the model of cultural IP development has reference? Can the Yi dance in Sichuan be compared with the Tibetan dance in Qinghai, the Bai dance in Yunnan, and the Zhuang dance in Guangxi, and think about how the dance of ethnic minorities can be creatively transformed, innovatively developed, and cast a solid sense of the Chinese national community in terms of its dance choreography, techniques and movements? Cross-category comparative studies not only provide a new paradigm for comparative art, but it is in this attempt that the study of cross-category art is promoted. Like the influence of the Chang'an painting school on Western films that have been established in the academic circles, it not only realizes cross-categories in the research objects, but also has important enlightenment in the research methods.

Although the future is bright and promising, it is important that we maintain a conscious vigilance and sustained effort. That is, as a geographical space, the west exists, but as a name, "western literature and art" often faces questions from the academic community. As an aesthetic style, western literature and art is more of a sketching existence, and how to generate a series of explanatory concepts and categories is our task of "continuing to write". As an artistic expression, the existing achievements have written western literature and art into the history of contemporary Chinese literature and art, so how should we "continue to write" in terms of language, themes, categories and methods? It can be said that the study, criticism, and questioning of western literature and art will continue forever, and what is important is not to argue about winning or losing, but only to express; as long as we come up with research results that have weight, evidence, materials, and ideas, the in-depth study of western literature and art will really be "the exploration of ideas and the climbing of the soul."

In the final analysis, the study of western literature and art is the "localization" study of the local path, which fundamentally shakes the logic of the central system of discourse of "great unification" in the history of modern and contemporary literature, promotes the prosperity of regional literary history, and realizes the power transfer from the "marginal center" to the center. It is not only a written declaration, but also a pragmatic and forward practice.

(The author is a concurrent expert of Zhejiang University and deputy secretary-general of Sichuan Literary and Art Critics Association)