A Self Towards Freedom

James Wood is a rising star in Contemporary Western criticism and a pioneer of theoretical literary writing.Wood redefined literary criticism,advocated the organic combination of the individual critics’ artistic sense and theory,and put his own accurate artistic judgment into the logic category to form a literary criticism with both insight and criticism.Wood’s practice of literary criticism is extremely personal.It means that the once "theoretical" deadlock is over.In the new media era,literary criticism will build a bridge between academics and the general public.This thesis takes James Wood as the object of study,combining with the tradition of humanism and “theory”,trying to trace back to the traditional theoretical source of Wood’s critical theory and the nourishment of the theory of modernity.First,this paper analyzes the two traditional sources of Wood’s critical practice: One is the aesthetic-humanistic tradition composed of Levis,Bloom,and others.It focuses on careful reading of the text,advocates classic value judgments on the novel,and emphasizes the text.The other dimension is the "theoretical" tradition composed of theorists such as Roland Barthes and Bakhtin.Wood adopts a critical "utilization" of "theory",based on the "theory" and practiced in text.The questions raised in this article question and revise the "theory" and explore the internal driving force of its criticism system.Secondly,this paper observes the trend of literary criticism from the post-theoretical era.Jonathan D.Culler proposed that the writing of "Theory" should be literary writing.Wood’s writing-type criticism has become an experimental field for the post-theoretical literary turn.Therefore,it is obvious that the "post-theory" characteristics of Wood’s criticism practice: metaphorical criticism and "local theory" type of criticism.Behind these two characteristics are the core categories of Wood’s criticism practice:freedom and self.Finally,starting from the core of Wood’s critical practice,re-examining the inner vitality of "realism",correcting the "anti-subjective" tendency of contemporary western theory,and restoring the character’s aesthetic dignity.Wood’s "freedom" and "self" are a critical absorption of modern theory,gradually eliminating the boundary between "theory" and literature,and making literary criticism shine in the new media era.