The Reflection Of Transformation And Development Of The "Aetheticization" Of Literary Theory In The New Era

The unique context of the times of the New Era created a relaxed atmosphere for thedevelopment of literary theory. The research perspectives of literary theory have changed frompolitics to aesthetic appreciation. The transformation of “aetheticization” of literary theorycomes into being and constructs a series of theoretical forms and it has made some theoreticalachievements. In the meantime, the transformation of “aetheticization” frees the literary theoryfrom political shackles and makes the literary theory start to master independence of their own.However, problems and crisis appeared in the process of the development of the transformationof “aetheticization” of literary theory can not be ignored.The introduction deals with the macroscopic background about the transformation of“aetheticization” of literary theory. The realistic context and cultural background of thetransformation of “aetheticization” are composed of three conditions: background of thecountry’s reform and opening up, the influence of the development of aesthetic subject and theinflux of the modern trends of the western aesthetics.The first chapter deals with specific implementations of the transformation of“aetheticization” and the theoretical achievements—aesthetics and literary theory. This chapteralso deals with analysis and summarizes of theoretical results represented by aestheticreflection theory and aesthetic ideology theory. At the same time, this chapter discusses theinfluence which the transformation of “aetheticization” has on the practice of literary creations.It makes literary creations pay more attention to personal inner feelings and the creativeapplication of the language and forms.The second chapter deals with problems and crisis that come with the transformation ofthe “aestheticization”. It includes the arguments about the rationality of theories, the extremetendency about “pure aesthetics” and “pan-aesthetic”, and the shock from popular culture andcultural studies. This chapter shows the development of literary theory research after thetransformation comprehensively. To some extent, these problems dispel the aesthetic featuresof literature, which also make the aesthetic literary theory become questioned and challenged.The third chapter is the evaluation and reflection of the transformation of“aestheticization”. On the one side, it makes an important contribution to literary theory research and made the literature research return to a normal track. It provides a new directionfor the research on the essential rules of literature and art. On the other side, the transformationof “aestheticization” has its inner contradiction. The reflection includes four aspects: theone-sided development of literary utilitarianism, the imbalance between the perceptual and therational，the choice of mono-value and multiple values and the isolated development betweeninternal and external researches. At last, what we need is a dialectical and comprehensivetheory which can be updated and improved through combing with the new situation of thecontemporary literary practice. From the perspective of methodology, aesthetic literary theoryalso has its own theoretical limitations, just like not a theory can make a thorough andcomprehensive interpretation to the literary phenomenon on a transcendental stance. We canonly be infinitely close to the truth.The conclusion summarizes the30-year-development of the research of “aetheticization”of literary theory. This theory was mainly build in the1980s. It improved very well in the1990s.It began to be questioned at the end of the20th century. The relevant theoretical controversyhas continued since the new century. And the heat of discussion decreased in recent years. Inthe process of the transformation of “aestheticization”, it contains rich theoreticalachievements and it has the great theoretical research value. Due to the limitations of the space,the other forms related to the aesthetic literary theory in this thesis is ignored. The study ofrelative theoretical forms of aesthetic theory remains to be further.