A Study Of The Reception Of Harold Bloom’s Literary Theory In China

Harold Bloom,an American literary critic,plays an important role in the western literary theorists.During the 30 years of his theory "traveling" in China,the translation and introduction in China has undergone a dynamic process from implicit to explicit.From being initially "shaded" to the establishment of classical status,the evaluation of many dimensions has demonstrated great influence in China.At the same time,there are multiple interpretations of Bloom’s identity in China.This paper does not attempt to classify Bloom into a particular school,but advocates defining his theory as revisionist critical theory.This paper examines the reception of Bloom’s theory in China from three perspectives that have the greatest influence on Chinese literary theory,namely,his Great literary view,Misreading theory and Canon view:Bloom’s Literary view is a kind of Great literary view,which encounters difficulties in China,but a few scholars still pay attention to it;as the cornerstone of the whole theoretical system,the Misreading theory has been widely accepted and approved in China,produced various forms of variation.Forming the Misreading of "Sinicization";taking aesthetics and elitism as the standpoint,the Canon view has formed the two-way parallel of forward interpretation and reverse thinking in China,which has realized the expansion of Chinese literature theory and exerted an extended influence on the research of foreign literature.The different situations of the above theories in China originate from deep-seated cultural motivation.On the one hand,this is the result of the recipient’s choice according to the needs of the Chinese local context.The totally different cultural and religious environment makes the academic circles avoid or reject Bloom’s Great literary view based on the homogeneity and infiltration of Religion,Theory and Literature.The coincidence of Misreading theory with the trend of thought of literature "subjectivity" after the 1980’s,and the connection between British and American Cultural Studies behind Canon view and Chinese contemporary Cultural Studies are the deep motivations for their persistence.In addition,the "Former understanding" and "Horizon of expectation" of the reception subject also dominate the degree of reception.There is an inherent communication between Misreading theory,Canon view and the accumulation of traditional literary theory and criticism in the "Former understanding" of domestic scholars.The convergence of theories promotes the fusion of horizons.The interdisciplinarity of Great literary view and the religious background infiltrated in it far exceed the "Horizon of expectation" of academic circles,and the "obstruction" of Great literary view is inevitable.If we look at the reception of Bloom’s theory in China,we can examine the "gain"and "loss" in the reception of the whole Western literary theory.Fundamentally,the reception of Bloom is aimed at the construction of Chinese literary theory,which is related to the development stage and demands of Chinese modern and contemporary literary theory.In this context,the whole process of domestic reception of Bloom shows the presence of local consciousness:the diversified interpretation in reception fills in the "Response-inviting structures" of the text,and also constructs Bloom’s"localization",reflecting the positive interaction between the recipient and the text.Therefore,most of the existing reception is worthy of affirmation.However,Bloom’s reception in China still has some dislocation.It shows that the research tends to be stereotyped and simplified,universalism tendencies,lack of practical pertinence,etc.In view of all kinds of dislocation,we should revise and reconstruct the theory by the realistic strategies,such as strengthening the critical senses and "rerestoration and contextualization" of western literary theory,and guide the recipients to accept and study in a rational and equal manner,and for the purpose of dialogue and communication,so as to form a benign and beneficial reception of Chinese literary theory.