A Study On Saint-Beuve's Literary Criticis

Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve(1804-1869)was an epochal French literary critic of the nineteenth century who pioneered the method of portrait and biographical criticism,opening up a new perspective on literary criticism.Before Beuve pioneered portrait and biographical criticism,there were no writers in France who specialized in literary criticism.It was only with the foundation of the practice of literary criticism by SaintBeuve that literary criticism began to develop as a specialized field.Sainte-Beuve contributed greatly to the re-establishment of the authority of literary criticism in France.His portraits of literature are vivid and interesting to read,injecting a fresh and natural breeze into literary criticism.In this paper,the study of Saint-Beuve’s view of literary criticism focuses on four elements: the background of Saint-Beuve’s view of literary criticism,portrait criticism,biographical criticism,and meaning and revelation.The first chapter examines St.Bove’s literary criticism from a social perspective to a creative subjectivity in terms of classicalism,romanticism,positivism,and religious factors.The second chapter explores the specific connotation and fundamental purpose of portrait criticism.The third chapter focuses on dissecting the main features and uniqueness of biographical criticism.Chapter 4 outlines the significance and inspiration of St.Bove’s literary criticism for contemporary literary critical practice.Saint-Beuve’s literary criticism is free and flexible,and it is difficult for us to define it by a rational criterion of judgment.The study of Sainte-Beuve’s view of literary criticism in this paper is only a glimpse of Sainte-Beuve’s vast and profound thought.The study of St.Bove’s literary criticism is an important part of understanding Western literary criticism,and is important for studying the evolutionary trajectory of Western literary criticism.