Archetypal Theory And The Development Of Cultural Criticism Of Literature In The Post-modern Context

As an influential cultural critical school, the archetypal criticism, since its appearance in the West, has made great contributions not only to literary critical practices, but also to the construction of literary theory itself. Since its introduction into China in 1980s, much achievements have been made by the researches both in the archetypal theory and the archetypal criticism, however, it has been found that the concept definition natures and feature as well as many problems concerning both of them have been still in suspense and left to be further combed and differentiated. In recent years, especially in 1990s of the 20th century, although the critical reflection on the traditional euro-centricism in the Western intelligentsia has been continually promoted, and interdisciplinary and omnibearing cultural researches had been unfolded on a large scale; the archetypal criticism, as the particularity and value of the cultural criticism, has not yet to be concluded and expounded systematically. And it is for this purpose that this dissertation will endeavor to reconsider the peculiarity and value of archetypal theory under the postmodern context, and on the basis of which, to accelerate the construction of cultural critical theory in literature.And the paper is theoretically founded on the theory of cultural integration having been formed presently. It is common knowledge that the emphasis on cultural differences has already been regarded as the value foundation for the critics and artists to conduct themselves in this multi-dimensional times under the postmodern context; and C. West has pointed out that the newly-emerged tactics of cultural differences is characterized by the substitution of one-dimensionality and homogeneity with multi-dimensionality and multiplicity, the replacement of the abstract general and universal by the concrete exceptional and singular, and the realization of the historicization contextualization and multi-dimentionalization through the emphasis on the accidental temporary uncertain indeterminate transformative and changeable. At the same time, however, it has been pointed out by other scholars that the extreme emphasis on those features such as the accidental temporary foreign and singular is at the risk of making the relativism change into the nihilism, and the people today therefore pay much attention to the combination of both of them.Starting from the understanding and re-interpretation of the "archetype" and the "archetypal criticism", the paper will make the utmost to give a more scientific explanation to those fundamental concepts and categories to replace past misunderstandings, and thereafter to reveal the internal essence of the "archetypal criticism" as a kind of cultural criticism. And it has been pointed out in this paper that the key to understanding "archetype" lies in there-entering into the philosophy represented by Plato, into the analytic-psychology by Jung and into the literary criticism by Frye, then breaking through hedging in all critical schools, and finally searching for the comprehensive values and shared characteristics of the "archetype" originated from philosophy psychology and literature.Apart from that, two elements innate in the archetype should be taken into account, i.e. infinite synchronicity and everlasting diachronicity. Seen diachronically and in a crosswise way, the "archetype" could be recalled to the essence concerning the origin of philosophy humanity and art, which are philosophically connected with the beginning and finality of human beings; while the archetype is related to the future, it would have an intimate concern with those already-existed and yet-to-be concrete matters; and seen diachronically and longitudinally, the "archetype" may very well leap over those hindrances installed by all etymological fields, disciplinary categories and critical schools, and bring about the accomplishment of the inter-penetration and the realization of dialogue and communication among all of them to the utmost. And it is through this fact that the "a...