A Study On Susan Sontag’s New Sensibility Aesthetics

In allusion to the conflict between art culture and technology culture,Susan Sontag,an American literary critic,put forward the aesthetic view of "new sensibility" in the 1960 s,discussing that art and technology should not be opposed.On the one hand,contemporary art has absorbed scientific and rational spirit as well as scientific and technological means,which means the audience’s view of art needs to change correspondingly;On the other hand,people have sensory paralysis,which means a new sensibility is required to accept,appreciate and criticize art since the industrial society.Sontag abandoned the theory of literary indoctrination and opposed the single creation motive and criticism mode under the influence of the Ancient Greek Imitation Theory.She reiterated the diversity of creation motives and the richness of literary and artistic expression;she leaded the literature appreciation and evaluation to the multi-value beyond the indoctrination and restored people’s feeling ability that is imprisoned by the single appreciation mode.The aesthetic view of "New Sensibility" is based on social changes and artistic changes.It has the characteristics of emphasizing experience,paying attention to form,appealing to senses,being based on diversity,being open and inclusive,and combining science and technology.At the same time,Sontag also practiced this aesthetic view in her literary and artistic creation,providing a new model for artistic creation and criticism.This thesis consists of introduction,four chapters and the conclusion.The introduction is about Sontag’s life,achievements and honors she earned.This thesis briefly introduces Sontag and the research achievements on her "New Sensibility" from the perspectives of translation and Lead literary creation and criticism to pluralism.The first chapter analyzes the formation of Sontag’s aesthetic view from "Against Interpretation" to "New Sensibility" from the perspective of literature to literature.Itdetermines the ideological relationship that "Against Interpretation" contains in "New Sensibility",and "New Sensibility" continues the expansion of "Against Interpretation" to feelings.She claimed that the indoctrination theory of literary and art should replace the literary and art pluralism.At the same time,the applicability and fuzziness of "New Sensibility" are evaluated,and it is concluded that there is a lack of specific evaluation criteria and thinking on traditional culture about how to follow the development.The second chapter analyzes the formation of this aesthetic thought from three aspects: historical background,personal experience and the influence of western literary and art theories."New Sensibility" is the way to cope with the changes of art during times of change.Sontag inherited lots of aesthetic though,including the aesthetic party form and the pursuit of beauty,symbolism on the way of poetic expression,the literary attitude of Nietzsche on questioning and opposing the traditional spirit through the study of western classical literary thought.She also absorbed the theory of Benjamin’s combination with art and technology in the Frankfurt School and critically inherited the textual view of the New Criticism.This chapter also compared with Marcuse’s "New Sensibility" which is similar with Sontag from the perspective of practical means and theory objectives.The third chapter discusses the practice of Sontag’s aesthetic view with an example of The Benefactor.It combines with the specific plots and characterization in the novel,and makes an intertextual interpretation with Sontag’s aesthetic view on "Against Interpretation" and "New Sensibility".This chapter finds out the creation methods which are with similarities on creative ideas,advocating the first-person narration and emphasizing the inner monologue in New Fiction.Combining with Sontag’s art evaluation method of the unity of subject and object and her criticism,the pluralistic evaluation can be exposited.Sontag’s specific experience proves the prominence of experience in this concept.The fourth chapter starts from Sontag’s discussion on the relationship between literature & art and morality and proves the sub-didactic view was the basis of the realization of "New Sensibility".On account of the particularity of multi-ethniccountries,China has the characteristics of cultural opening,which are suitable for the development of "New Sensibility" practice.The practice results of the revival of Chinese traditional culture can also be perfected the transformation of traditional art,which leads to form a Chinese sensibility eventually,stressing the importance of history and exploring ways to revive traditional culture actively.The final part reviews the viewpoints and conclusions of the thesis,and defines that "New Sensibility" is based on social changes.Through the critical inheritance of traditional literary and art thoughts,it can be more suitable for the era development and help to deal with thoughts about aesthetic issues perfectly.The cultural development cannot be stopped,which means a new thought should be found constantly in order to suit the development of the Times.