From Locality To Totality:Research On Franco Moretti's Literary Theory

Franco Moretti is a renowned contemporary Italian cultural researcher,literary theorist and leftist intellectual.Famous in Euro-American academic circles,his influence has been profound,and he has been admired as "a mythopoeic figure" and "a great iconoclast of literary criticism."This dissertation represents a case study of Moretti,seeking to sort out Moretti's intellectual sources and the academic logic of his literary theory,building a full understanding of the core concepts of Moretti's system of literary theory,and reflecting on the value Moretti can represent for Chinese literary research,so as to provide reference and context for literary criticism in China.Reading Moretti's work in Chinese and English,this author has discovered that Moretti's identity as an academic has undergone three transformations:social formalist,cultural analyst,and humanities "scientist.”Moretti's academic career implies that his literary theory is not only a process of logical evolution,but a wholly integrated system.In his early years,Moretti takes social formalist theory as the guiding principles of literary theory,examining specific formal questions through the close reading of literary rhetoric,genre,type,etc.In the process of his formalist research,Moretti discovers the important role of geographical factors in shaping literature,thus turning to research literary space.However,Moretti believes that if geographical research focuses on the spatial questions of literature,it cannot give full weight to the literature's temporal question,and thus he uses evolutionary theory to investigate the formal evolution of European literature,in order to establish the space-time of literature in the matrix of trees.In the space-time of literature,Moretti finds literature becoming more homogeneous and convergent,and thus he predicts a period of world literature,examining world literature's entire situation from a global perspective,inventing "distant reading" as a research strategy and a methodology of quantitative analysis as well.In Moretti's theory,formal research is the basis,of which spatial research and evolutionary research are the two branches,and world literature is the result.From form,to space,evolution and on to world literature,Moretti's literary theory exhibits a clear train of thought.This not only shows that Moretti's theory represents a progressive,interdependent and indivisible theoretical framework,it also demonstrates the logical progression leading from the specific to the abstract,from the total to the general.Form is not only the medium and vector ofMoretti's literary research,but also its object and basis.Integrating and assembling Western Marxism,various formalist tendencies,and biological evolution,Moretti has shaped an evolutionary Marxist organic formalism.This theory argues that form is not only the abstract emblem of social relations,but rather a“diagram of forces," and thus first and foremost a methodology.In Moretti's view,genre research can most easily express formal theory,and the evolution of the novel is the classic example of literary genre research.Research into literary space is an important branch of Moretti's literary theory.Moretti has discovered that geography has a profound influenee on the proliferation of literary forms,on the plots,structure,and narrative style of novels.This discovery enables him to take geography as his basis,and maps as his tool,to engage with the question of literature in space and space in literature.In terms of literature in space,through plotting a map of European literature,Moretti constructs countryside,town and city as three principal spaces.Space is packed with ideology.Moretti's research into literature in space reveals literature,s historical/geographical fission in European geography.Moretti posits that Europe's religious wars cause Europe to split into three geographic zones,generating a tragedy zone with Germany as its centre,a novel zone with Britain and France at its centre,and a modernist space with the city at its centre.At the same time,Moretti discovers that each of these geographies represents the hegemonies of different identities,gradually generating central,peripheral,and semi-peripheral spaces,causing literary space also to separate into these three classes,Moretti's literary space is thus filled with ideological hegemony but also with the substance of evolutionary theory.The theory of literary evolution is the other branch of Moretti's literary theory.Just as Darwin believed life was always evolving,Moretti is also certain that literature,like other biological species,is evolving.That is why he reflects on the process of change in literature through evolution theory.Moretti constructs tree-diagrams,since he holds that tree-diagrams can establish the connections between literary differentiation and historical alteration,thus clearly showing the internal diversity and complexity of the generation process and fully and clearly demonstration the enormous disparities between different genres.The trees of literary evolution are dynamic systems of literary time and space.In an era of geographic isolation,every nation's literature develops independently and through differentiation develops new genres;but after the formation of the international capitalist market,the isolation between nation-state dissolved,and literary forms could be more broadly diffused.In the process of diffusion,the struggle and compromise between different literatures will converge on a new literary form,resulting in increasingly similar literature and the era of world literature.World literature(Weltliteratur)is the core of Moretti's literary theory.Moretti has discovered that with the emergence of international capitalist market,and with geographical barriers no longer being the most important factor in literary development,the influence and communication between each nation-state's literature become more frequent,and literature enters into a phase of interactive co-existence.Moretti's world literature has no substantive existence,and is instead a conceptual existence,referring to a tendency in literary evolution;a developmental phase in literature;the result of literary evolution;the general condition exhibited by literature;in a global context,a problem and a solution proposed by literature;a way of thinking about the question of literature;the way of life of world literature scholars.Moretti's world literature is in fact a "dynamic ecosystem of literature" summing up the current state of literary development at a global scale.In order to resolve the contradictions and limits of world literature,Moretti divides world literary history into pre-and post-18th century periods.The former period of world literature consisted of many 'local' cultures creating a mosaic,while the latter period of world literature can be called a system of world literature,although this theoretical periodization is imbued with the paradox of nationalization and denationalization.Moretti believes that in the evolutionary process of world literature,cultural hegemony plays a role,and the literature of core areas often interferes with the literary development of non-core areas.But Moretti's staunch insistence that this role is universal and unidirectional has provoked considerable attacks.Needless to say,Moretti's literary theory is a product of the crisis of modernity,but Moretti's research methodology is also worthy of attention.When studying world literature,Moretti proposes the research strategy of "distant reading," using quantitative analysis to research literature.This is the most important highlight of Moretti's literary theory,and is also the principal focus of controversy."Distant reading" is an approach that involves no close reading,and is founded on the reading of the research of others,constituting a strategy for a literature that has reached the evolutionary stage of world literature.Although the strategy is highly contentious,it is based on the reality that one person cannot master all languages,or read all literary works,and from this perspective "distant reading" has a certain rationality and validity.Quantitative analysis is the specific operative method of "distant reading." Under the influence of scientists such as Karl Popper,Moretti discovers that technological development carries the possibility of alterations in research methodology,using modern large-scale electronic database retrieval to analyze literary form and plot,thereby substantially enlivening academic debate.Actually,Moretti has broken the disciplinary boundaries between natural sciences,social sciences and humanities,creating a unique comprehensive human science research methodology.In the search for a "third way" he has created a new consciousness.Compared to Moretti,Chinese scholarship is weak in the adaptation of technological methods for literary research.Discarding that attitude may open a new dimension for Chinese researchers of literature.