On Yue Daiyun's Theories And Methodology Of Comparative Literature Study

As a major pioneer of the discipline of comparative literature in China and one of the most distinguished theorists, Yue Daiyun has made outstanding contributions to the discipline shaping and developing of comparative literature in contemporary China. Thoughts home and abroad as nutrition, problems facing global cultures in globalization era and existing literature study as background, Yue Daiyun gives new definitions for comparative literature in contemporary China and improves comparative study onto the inter-cultural level. Because of the brilliant achievement she has made in respective fields, many an academic treatises can be seen published concerning her comparative literature thoughts, while no monograph has been found published expounding her ideology system comprehensively.This dissertation interprets Yue Daiyun's theories and methodology of comparative literature study in the following aspects: detecting the academic origin of her comparative literature theories according to her absorption of and reference to comparative literature thoughts home and abroad; embodying the features of her disciplinary theories by tracing the course of her disciplinary construction of China's comparative literature; revealing her theoretical achievement in comparative literature by analyzing the causes and features of her comparative literature theories; demonstrating her application of her theories and methodology on the four major levels of her literature study.There are four divisions in this dissertation, apart from the introduction and conclusion.The introduction is a general view of the development of comparative literature in China and Yue Daiyun's contribution to it, which, on the one hand, provides related background information for the study of Yue Daiyun's comparative literature thoughts, and on the other, illustrates the essentiality and significance of researching Yue Daiyun's comparative literature thoughts. The first Chapter traces systematically the academic origin of Yue Daiyun's comparative literature theories, revealing the respective impacts on Yue Daiyun of French school, American school and China's comparative literature tradition with her introduction, evaluation, absorption and transcendence of the above three schools. In fact, it is from relationship study of literatures with actual contacts that Yue Daiyun steps forward into the field of comparative literature. She absorbs rich theoretical nutrition from the influence study started by French school and introduces reception aesthetics to influence study, emphasizing the literature receivers' selecting, filtering, transforming and innovating of influencers, with emphasis laid upon interaction between literatures. Influenced by the analogy study of American school, she concerns about intercultural and interdisciplinary study and feasibly combines the study of heterogeneous cultures into comparative literature. Meanwhile, Chinese comparative literature tradition lays significant influence on her research. Yue Daiyun has conducted very careful and profound research into the development of comparative literature in China, as a result of which, she writes many articles to analyze the causes, course, features, prospects and problems of the formation and development of comparative literature as a discipline. She holds that Chinese comparative literature develops out of the internal need of native literature, and it is an unprecedented humanistic phenomenon with Chinese characteristics taking form within the context of global communication. It is the academic style of "rooted in motherland and branching abroad" and the concern about and the pursuit of humanism that constitute the impact that Yue Daiyun receives from Chinese comparative literature tradition.The second chapter deals with Yue Daiyun's contribution to disciplinary construction of comparative literature. Yue Daiyun concerns intensively about the disciplinary construction of comparative literature in contempotary China, trying building comparative literature for the new stage to adapt it to the requirement of contemporary Sino-western communication.Yue Daiyun's disciplinary construction of comparative literature in contemporary China consists of three stages: acquaintance and reference to western theories of comparative literature; exploration and innovation of disciplinary construction of comparative literature in view of the situation of literature study in China; constructing the discipline of comparative literature as communicative poetics. Yue Daiyun begins to introduce systematically western comparative literature theories very early, carefully expounding on the content and methodology of influence study and parallel study, trying to put western comparative theories into the practice of Chinese comparative literature study. After abundant absorption of and reference to western comparative literature theories, Yue Daiyun does not hesitate to apply relatively new ideas to her in-depth comparative literature research, and explore and innovate in the construction of the disciplinary theory of comparative literature. She updates influence study with reception aesthetics and explores the limitations and probabilities of combining literature and natural science based on the theories such as System Theory, Information Theory, Cybernetics and Dissipative Structure and Entropy Theory derived from the Second Law of Thermodynamics, with which she substantiates the content of parallel study. With the approaching of globalization in 1990s, a series of incisive changes occurred in every aspect of literature study. Yue Daiyun published successively some essays to construct comparative literature in the era of cultural transformation and conclusively laid the new definition of comparative literature. She presents the prospect for the third stage of comparative literature development, molds comparative literature as communication-oriented and as communicative poetics, which, in turn, gives birth to comparative literature's significant breakthrough in terms of its developing orientation, researching contents and studying methodology.The third chapter explores Yue Daiyun's contribution to laying theoretical cornerstone for comparative literature as communicative poetics. Current Chinese comparative literature constructed by Yue Daiyun advocates cross-culture research, attempting to erase the boundary line between heterogeneous cultures of east and west and make comparative literature a bridge connecting eastern and western cultures. To achieve the goal, some new feasible theories and methods are needed Inheriting Chinese traditional thought of "Harmonious but Different" with modern interpretation and adaptation, and referring to Habermas' "Communicative Rationality", Yue Daiyun introduces "Harmonious but Different" and "Communicative Rationality" into comparative literature as the concrete principles and behavioral methods of intercultural communication and poly-cultural coexistence."Harmonious but Different" accepts variety and diversity and emphasizes complementarity and harmony among things on the one hand; it stresses that the "Harmony" based on "Difference" is what can lead to development on the other. Being a major principle in the development of social affairs and relations, "Harmonious but Different" displays enormous inclusiveness and openness. Yue Daiyun holds that the principle of "Harmonious but Different" enhances the coexistence of multiple cultures and the mutual understanding, mutual confirmation and mutual complementation of heterogeneous cultures, therefore, cultural diversity can be conserved and hermetization and isolation of indigenous culture can be avoided. Yue Daiyun also introduces Habermas' "Communicative Rationality" into comparative literature study. Habermas has been dedicated consistently to providing a solution for various social problems in the west. He believes that under the circumstances of capitalist society, disequilibrium occurs between communicative rationality and instrumental rationality, real-life world and systems, which gives rise to a variety of crises in modern society. Habermas replaces instrumental rationality with communicative rationality and highlights dialogue-style inter-subject communicative conducts. Yue Daiyun deems that communicative rationality advocated by Habermas emphasizes "Justice Principle" and "Unity Principle", guarantees equality and tolerance, shares the common goal of comparative literature in the globalization era, therefore, communicative rationality can provide the idea of moderation in cross-cultural comparison with concrete principles and behavioral methods.As cross-cultural ideas, "Harmonious but Different" and "Communicative Rationality" show methodological significance to accelerate the pluralistic development of international cultures, whereas those two principles inevitably have certain limitations due to the time they were created and the objects they serve. In view of that, while introducing "Harmonious but Different" and "Communicative Rationality" into comparative literature study, Yue Daiyun remedies and corrects their lack of feasibility, innovatively proposes "inter-cultural interpretation of reciprocal recognition" be the methodological cornerstone of comparative literature, hence realizes her transcendental theoretical construction.Based on inter-cultural interpretation of reciprocal recognition, comparative literature as communicative poetics founded by Yue Daiyun exhibits its powerful penetrability on both levels of ontology and inter-languages. On the level of ontology, comparative literature as communicative poetics founded by Yue Daiyun stresses "literary intersubjectivity" in an effort to form a dialogue-style literary concept that texts be independent subjects and be put into the concept of literary intersubjiectivity, therefore mutual reference can be created between texts and mutual reference research can be conducted. Such research brings to comparative literature a trait different from national literature and general literature science. Therefore, there occurs an interactive relation between comparative literature and national literature, comparative literature and general literature science. On the level of "inter-languages", as communicative poetics, comparative literature assumes another essential task to enable theoretical languages in different cultural structures and language systems talk with each other. Conversation is the nature and condition of multi-cultural coexistence. Based on inter-cultural interpretation of reciprocal recognition, comparative literature as communicative poetics founded by Yue Daiyun is characterized with emphasizing equality and diversity between cultures, and therefore is able to effectively build a platform for cultural conversation.The fourth chapter demonstrates in more details the wide horizon and unique academic style in Yue Daiyun's concrete practice of literature study. Firstly, taking her feminine study as an example, the dissertation analyses Yue Daiyun's methodology of Chinese literature study in comparative literature horizon. With her constant concern about feminine problems, she explores the nature of Chinese feminine problems and their solutions by means of three-angle comparison in chronology dimension, actuality dimension and gender dimension. Three points characterize Yue Daiyun's Chinese literature study: comparative literature horizon, humanistic solicitude and culture concern. Secondly, her representative paper Nietzsche and Chinese Modern Literature as the example, the dissertation demonstrates Yue Daiyun's researching features concerning sino-foreign literary relationship. Thirdly, the dissertation parades Yue Daiyun's achievements in comparative poetics by analyzing her study in that field. Yue Daiyun's comparative poetics study embodies her unique academic view: first, tracing and rectifying the origin, she accelerates the modernization of Chinese classical literary theories, transforming them into modern discourse comprehensible and influential to world cultures; second, by absorbing anything and everything and conversation on equal standing, Chinese and western poetics may further develop during mutual communication; third, a common poetic spirit should be sought so that some universally significant theories may be developed in the conversation between Chinese and western poetics. Finally, this part illustrates the main contents and characteristics of Yue Daiyun's comparative literature study. Yue Daiyun explores profoundly into the crisis-facing human culture and its solution, embodying her emphasis on literature study and humanistic spirits in her comparative literature study.Based on the summary of Yue Daiyun's comparative literature theories and methodology, the conclusion division proceeds to illustrate the critical role that Yue Daiyun plays in China's contemporary comparative literature, and to assess the potential academic value of this dissertation. Yue Daiyun's comparative literature thoughts involve literary study, poetical study, cultural study and interdisciplinary study, the study of which proves to be significant to comparative literature study, modern literature study and literary theory study in China.