A Study On Shen Congwen's Literary Criticism

It is generally acknowledged that there is something unique about Shen Congwen's novel creation and he plays an important part in the history of Chinese modern literature. However, people don't pay much attention to his literary criticism. That's because he can't be considered as a great master of the history of Chinese literary criticism in the 20th century. While through the analysis of his writing on criticism, it is not difficult to recognize that he is a critic who has his own unique style. He advocates the independent status of literature, the portrayal of writers' human dignity and the practising of lenient and aesthetic critical principles. He has made so great contributions to the flourishing and prosperous Chinese literary criticism in the 20th century that he should be highly praised.1. Interweaving Freedom with UtilityShen Congwen's literary point of view carries forward the enlightment tradition of the May4th literature. He understands and identifies the value and function of literature in the sense of remoulding the society and the national nature. On the one hard, he firmly upholds the independence, freedom and dignity of literature and resolutely opposes the politicization and commercialization of literature. He doesn't agree with "the nationalistic literature" of reaction, nor does he agree with the leftwing literature which makes "epoch" as its call and always mentions "the public" and "revolution". These two groups both have their political aims which make the literature lose its independent status. Furthermore, the commercialization of the literature makes it become the writers' tools for earning money and makes the writing become pastimes. As a result, life literature loses its seriousness and its aesthetic characteristics.On the other hand, Shen Congwen pays much attention to the social utility value of the literature. He proposes that literature should bring its functions such as the function of morality, human nature and transcending the reality into full play which can exert an imperceptible influence on people's spiritual world and their ideal life. Literary works should instill the holy human sensibilities and love into the public and then help them be an honest man. These works should also help the public develop sound life consciousness and human nature which are useful to form a fine social order.2. A Good Friend of Writers and ReadersShen Congwen's literary criticism activities embody his sincere human dignity. He never makes comments on other people's works according to his own love and hate. He maintains a proper distance from the target works and always comments on them with a gentle, calm, lenient and broad minded attitude. We can take his comments on LuXun and Yu Dafu as examples. Shen Congwen can also appraise the former writers' achievement in historical perspective. He emphasizes the importance of epoch in their writings and this can reflect his scientific attitude towards the history and the literary laws.Different from other critics, Shen Congwen attaches importance to readers' reflections as well as the comments on the writings. He states that literary criticism should be an echo to the works and it can be a guide for the readers. Besides this, literary criticism should link up writers and readers and shorten their distance. Therefore, it should be a good friend of both readers and writers. Shen Congwen proposes that writers should stand on a higher place and shoulder responsibilities to mould readers' thinking values. In a word, writers should try to create excellent writings that can interest readers as well as instruct them.3. Intuition and Rational AnalysisShen Congwen's literary criticism is greatly influenced by Chinese traditional literary theories and it also intakes the thinking property of French impressionistic criticism. His criticism doesn't focus on the analysis of the detailsbut on the analysis of the whole style and also on the comprehension and description of the aesthetic feelings in the writings. Shen Congwen is a critic with poetic te...