The Study Of Sentimentality As A Category Of Aesthetics

Sentiment is an unavoidable and painful emotion in human existence,and also an important content of literary emotion expression.China has a long tradition of sentimental writing.In the early stage of Western Romanticism,sentimentalism became a creative trend and a large number of excellent sentimental literary works emerged.Comparing the fruitful results of literary and artistic creation practice,the study of the theory of the long academia on sentimental but not so rich,for sentimental as an independent aesthetic category system theory of interpretation is more rare,this paper attempts to through to the sentimental connotation,aesthetic characteristics,value and limitations,tentatively constructs the independent character of sentimental as an aesthetic category.This paper consists of six parts:The first part is the introduction,which mainly explains why the author takes sentimentality as an independent aesthetic category to study,and makes a practical explanation of the concepts related to sentimentality,such as sentiment,sentimental tone,the beauty of sentiment,sentimental literature and sentimentalism.Make a sort of the research status of sentimentality at home and abroad,and explain the purpose and significance of this paper to the research of sentiment.The first chapter is the definition of the concept and connotation of sentimentality.The first section discusses the connotation of sentiment as a human emotion,and then describes the expression of sentimentality as a literary content in literature,as well as the general situation and characteristics of western literary trend.This solves the problem of what sentimentality is.The second section resolves the problem of what sentimentality is not by comparing it with similar emotional concepts such as sadness in tragedy,depression and decadence,anxiety and so on,and further determines the connotation range of sentimentality.The second chapter is a review of the research achievements of Chinese and foreign sentimental theories,focusing on Confucius’ s theory of " Poetry can complain",Zhong Rong’s inheritance and development of this theory,and Lu Ji’s theory of "Poems resulting from emotions ",which attaches importance to emotion.Western theoretical resources focus on Plato’s criticism of "sentimentality",as well as Goethe and Hegel’s criticism of sentimentality,which they regard as a morbid and weak emotion.A relatively positive evaluation is Schiller’s research on sentimental poetry,which he believes is rooted in the breakdown of the harmonious relationship between man and nature.This chapter also explains Yu Da Fu’s criticism on the theoretical construction of sentimentality and Liang Shiqiu’s criticism on the overflow of sentimental emotion in literature.The third chapter,through the analysis of the unique aesthetic characteristics of sentimentality,reveals the reason why sentiment can bring people a strong aesthetic pleasure,although it’s a kind of emotion with pain.The uniqueness of sentimental beauty lies in that although it is weak and does not have the spirit of resistance,it is the embodiment of the tragic consciousness of the creator,which reflects the subject’s true understanding of the universe and life.Secondly,sentimental beauty lies in the acceptance,aesthetic appreciation and transcendence of "imperfection".Finally,the beauty of the sentimentality lies in the commonness of the sentimental literature and art in the categories of expression,the intensity of emotion and the commonness of the philosophy of life reflected behind.This ordinary philosophy of life is actually a kind of aesthetic survival philosophy under the influence of Chinese Confucianism and Taoism.The fourth chapter makes a critical review of sentimental beauty on the basis of the whole thesis.As an independent aesthetic category,sentimentality has its value of existence,and sentimental literature brings us pleasant aesthetic experience.However,it also has certain limitations.On the one hand,the excessive flooding of sentiment in literary and artistic works is bound to harm the aesthetic feeling of the works to a certain extent.On the other hand,the special metaphorical meaning of sentimentality in the background of popular culture makes it become a commodity for people to desecrate.Blindly catering to market demand will only make the performance and appreciation of sentimental beauty into a "sentimentality selling".The last part is a brief summary of the whole thesis,pointing out the necessity and rationality of sentimentality as an independent aesthetic category,and facing up to its limitations.To a certain extent,the research of sentimental beauty in this paper to is conducive to make up for the lack of academic circles in the field of sentimental aesthetics,the related research in the field of provide methods and ideas,but there are also some problems to be solved in.For example,how to prevent the erosion of sentimental aesthetics by mass culture is the next problem that should be paid attention to and urgently solved.