A Study On Contemporary Chinese Literary Ethical Criticism

Chinese ethical literary criticism was formally proposed by Professor Nie Zhenzhao in 2004,which has been more than ten years from now.And it has made certain achievements during that period,however,there are still some problems and deficiencies in the critical method.Based on the current research,this thesis made a systematic analysis and a multiple elucidation on Chinese ethical literary criticism,so that people could have an integral grasp of it.This paper consists of five parts.The first part is introduction,which demonstrates the necessity and feasibility of the thesis in several sides,including the objective and significance of the study,the research status of ethical literary criticism,the research strategy and the innovating points of this paper.Chapter one makes a demarcation and differentiation in the concepts of ethical literary criticism,such as ethic,moral,ethics,literary ethics,criticism,literary criticism and ethical literary criticism,which lays a good foundation for the following specific analysis.Chapter two is the core part of this thesis,which makes a much deeper analysis in Chinese ethical literary criticism.It carries out a comparative study transversely between the ethical literary criticism and the western ethical criticism.The first section sorts out the ethical ideas that are presented in Chinese literature and Western literature,and shows the differences in ethical traditions and creative ideas between China and the Occident,which is useful for the comparison between the Chinese ethical literary criticism and the western ethical criticism.The second section introduces the core theory of Chinese ethical literary criticism.The ethical literary criticism holds that literature is the product of ethics,and edification is the basic function of literature.Serving for teaching function,the aesthetics is method and means to realize edification.In addition,Chinese ethical literary criticism has constructed its own critical terms,such as ethical environment,ethical dilemma,ethical taboos and ethical selection.These terms have optimized the system of ethical literary criticism,and they are helpful for people to grasp ethical literary criticism as well.Then it introduces the backgrounds and the reasons why ethical literary criticism could grow so vigorously in China,which consists of four aspects.Firstly,ethical literary criticism is a deep introspection of the situation that ethic is absent in the field of Chinese literature.Secondly,Chinese ethical literary criticism is an important attempt that Chinese scholars strive for international discourse,which has a great sense of responsibility and mission.Thirdly,Chineseethical literary criticism is rooted in Chinese ethics and the tradition of moral criticism,so that it has a profound cultural foundation.Fourthly,Chinese ethical literary criticism has a great significance for the construction of harmonious socialist society.The third section introduces two typical American paradigms of ethical criticism,namely,the humanistic ethical criticism whose representatives are Wayne Booth and Martha Nussbaum,and the deconstructionist ethical criticism whose assertors are Hillis Miller and Adam Zachary Newton.The fourth and the fifth sections give a comparative analysis respectively on the basic cognition of ethical literary criticism and the Western ethical criticism.The similarity mainly covers four aspects,including the interdisciplinarity of ethical criticism,the attention to text analysis,the distinguishment between ethic and moral and the debate on �virtue� and �beauty�.And the paper explores the differences through their ideological bases,their theoretical systems and their critical paths.The sixth section summaries the unique characteristics of Chinese ethical literary criticism,namely,ethical literary criticism is deeply influenced by Chinese cultural tradition and social environment,so it pays more attention to the value of moral teaching;it has constructed a series of theoretical system and some critical terminologies;it pays more attention to the analyses and explanations of the texts by using the corresponding critical terms.Indeed,ethical literary criticism manifests the consciousness and attempt of Chinese scholars in constructing the discourse system of Chinese literary theory,which has an important significance and value.Chapter three pays attention to the problems in practice.Chinese ethical literary criticism is still in developing,and it is inevitable to have a few deficiencies.For instance,the critical object is westernized,the criticism is mislabeled and the concept is confused.Facing those problems,the author makes some reflections and summaries as well.The thesis analyzes the causes of the existing problems from the theoretical and critical aspects,and puts forward pieces of suggestions to the theoretical conductors,the critics and the readers.In the conclusion part,this thesis summarizes the achievements,contributions and potential problems in ethical literary criticism,and makes prospects on its development as well: the ethical literary criticism would be more and more perfect and viable.