A Study On The Subjectivity In Lukács’ The Theory Of The Novel

Georg Lukács was a thinker and philosopher in the early 20 th century,and is known as one of the founders of Western Marxism.History and Class Consciousness,published in 1923,is Lukács’ magnum opus.It is also known as "the Bible of Western Marxism",but few people have paid attention to Lukács’ literary and aesthetic works like The Development History of Modern Drama,Soul and Form and the Theory of the Novel.the Theory of the Novel is Lukács literary theory works created under the atmosphere of despair in the first World War,the book clearly embodies his subjective thought,namely alienation theory and totality consciousness,which is the predecessor of "materialization" theory.As early as studying in Budapest,Lukács was full of strong interest in literature and art.Later,he came to Germany with the dream of becoming a literary historian.Here,the subjectivity thought of the Theory of the Novel its origin--German philosophy.The classical philosophical thoughts of Kant,Hegel and Feuerbach,as well as the life philosophy and sociology theories of Simer,have added a heavy color to the theory of fiction.From the late 1920 s,Lukács’ thoughts gradually entered China,and the translation of his theoretical works began in 1935.After the 1990 s,the domestic academic research on Lukács’ thought shows a tendency of multiple and in-depth,and the research on his literary and artistic aesthetic thoughts is more and more detailed,mainly focusing on alienation theory,realism,naturalism,novel theory and other aspects.Since 1995,the domestic academic circles have paid special attention to the philosophical exploration of Lukács’ literary and artistic thoughts,covering the aspects of humanitarianism,materialization concept,subjectivity research,realism theory,typicality and totality theory.But in general,the domestic academic research on Lukács mainly focuses on History and Class Consciousness and his later works,and pays little attention to the theory of Fiction,his early literary aesthetic work.As the crystallization of Lukács’ early literary and aesthetic thoughts,the Theory of the Novel occupies an important position in his whole ideological career.Therefore,the study of the subjectivity of this book is helpful to better understand Lukács’ literary and aesthetic thoughts.On the other hand,in the face of the increasingly serious crisis of modernity in modern society,how should the value and meaning of human be defined? Where should one go? From the perspective of literary form,Lukács advanced the three ways of epic,drama and novel.Finally,he put forward his personal opinion on the subject,and pointed out the deep-rooted malpractice of capitalist society.The form of novel is the only way to save the subject.Only novels born in modern background can truly save alienated people and construct a complete and complete overall world.This article mainly from the literary theory,aesthetics and philosophy theory,the perspective of discourse and the human culture spirit to dig deeper into Lukács the Theory of the Novel thought of subjectivity,in combination with Lukács " Reification","Generality" and "Modernity" and so on a number of research results,in the aspect of literature to explore value of Lukács’ s thought,and build its inherited the German classical philosophy thought vein system.This paper is mainly divided into four chapters.The first chapter mainly explains the core connotation of Lukács’ subjectivity in his early days--"Alienation" and "Totality".Centering on the development history of Modern Drama,Mind and Form,and the Theory of the Novel,this paper analyzes the process of the concept of "Alienation" and "Totality".In the history of modern drama stage,Lukács focused on research that the form of drama.While under the influence of life philosophy,he turned to the pursuit of the eternal soul and form and finally turned to the novel theory stage.Finally,he truly realized the novel can overcome alienation problem and is the best form to return to overall warm embrace.The second chapter mainly analyzes the origin of the subjectivity of the Theory of the Novel.Lukács showed great interest in drama from the very beginning,and German philosophy came into his vision as his thoughts deepened.In his autobiography later in life,Lukács recalled that "the influence of German philosophy ran through my life".When lived in Heidelberg in early years,he was influenced by the Neo-Kantianism thoughts of Windelband and others,and after recognizing the limitations of Kant’s "thing in themselves" problem,he actively applied Hegel’s dialectics to find a solution.At the same time,he was also influenced by Feuerbach’s religious humanism and his mentor Simmel’s monetary philosophy,and finally all his ideas were integrated into the Theory of the Novel.It is widely considered that this book is the portrayal of Lukács from Neo-Kantianism to Hegelianism,but in fact the thoughts of the Theory of the Novel are very complexed.Therefore,this chapter mainly expounds the inspiration of Lukács ’ subjective thought in the theory of Fiction on the basis of Kant’s transcendental philosophy,Hegel’s absolute spirit and dialectics,Feuerbach’s religious humanism and Simmel’s monetary value and life form.The third chapter mainly explores the three literary forms presented by the subjectivity of the Theory of the Novel,including epic,tragedy and novel.Lukács believes that ancient Greek epic is a complete field of unity of essence and life,perfect integration of individual and nature,representing perfect totality.Tragedy,on the other hand,selects typical events of individual life to show the symbolic life of lonely individuals fighting against fate on the stage,prompting the audience to have strong emotional fluctuations and devote themselves to the performance so as to complete the unification of mind and world.However,the former two ways of overcoming alienation and returning to totality are not applicable to modern capitalist society.In Lukács’ opinion,the modern novel form,which is born facing the split of nature and the world,has internal subjectivity,and its own form can call for a complete modern world and bridge the gap between subject and object.At the same time,Lukács examines abstract idealism and disillusioned romanticism in the way of novel typology according to the distance between the mind and the world,and discusses different ways for novels to save the subject represented by Cervantes’ Don Quixote and Flaubert’s Emotional Education.The fourth chapter mainly explores the significance and value of modern novels as a way to save the crisis of modernity and points out the ultimate purpose of Lukács’ subjectivity.Lukács’ subjectivity is closely related to the problem of modernity.It can be said that "Alienation" and "Totality" are theoretical concepts proposed to solve the problem of modernity.The "Rationality" and "Freedom" advocated by Enlightenment,and the views of Simmel and Weber on modernity have deeply influenced young Lukács.And they provided him with the thought source for modernity theory.Saw the crisis of modernity in the characterization,Lukács realized must dig novel the reliable way to save the crisis.There are two kinds of comprehensive ways that can shape the future,one is the growth of the education novel like William Meister’s time of learning,and one is social life form like Tolstoy’s novel.Finally,he believes that only Goethe’s novel and Dostoyevsky’s works are ideal forms that can truly solve the problem of alienation,achieve the unification of subject and object,and balance the relationship between psychology and the world,all of which reveal a strong utopian color.In general,Lukács’ thoughts are highly complex and profound,and the Theory of the Novel is only a fragment of his ideological career of nearly seventy years.In his later years,he also expressed rebellion and refutation of earlier ideas.There is no denying that Lukács’ subjective thought in the Theory of the Novel is still of great significance for examining the world of human mind and social life.Facing the complex and changeable world picture,the essence,existence,value and status of the subject have always been the most concerned questions of modern people.Where should human beings go? In Lukács’ view,it is necessary to overcome the alienation phenomenon,restore the status of human subjectivity,and move towards the overall direction of the unity of mind and the world.