Auerbach's Research On Problem Awareness

Strictly speaking,when Erich Auerbach talked about mimesis,he was referring not only to a literary approach and relationships between works.According to his understanding,mimesis is different from the "copy" of classical realism,also is different from the "reflection" of 19th century theorists,but more as "a point of departure" for problem consciousness on the philological criticism.Therefore,Auerbach tried to give mimesis a methodological meaning,instead of simply equating mimesis with realism.This paper intends to put Mimesis as the point of departure for thinking.Mimesis is unique in that it's not a traditional history of western literature,but an attempt and demonstration of literary criticism.Over the time span of 3000 years,Auerbach tried to choose a part of works from each era,using philological criticism to make readers think about why the subtitle is named The Representation of Reality in Western Literature.The first chapter is aims to combine three clues presented by Auerbach's problem consciousness.Based on the Auerbach's understanding of reality,this paper explains the complexity of the relationship between literature and reality.In Auerbach's eyes,researchers not only have to think about what reality literature imitates,but it is also necessary to ask how literature imitates reality.What's more,this paper explores the Mimesis's intention of placing western literary works in the evolution of styles,That is why Auerbach opposes the "separation of styles" and advocates the stylistic principle of"mixing styles".In addition,this paper needs to think about the role of figure in mimesis and point out the particularity and importance of Auerbach's figural interpretation.The second chapter aims to explain that philological criticism is the main way to practice Auerbach's problem consciousness.It discusses from two aspects:On the one hand,it needs to trace back the philological tradition and summarize the process from classical philology to German philology.On the other hand,it explains the uniqueness of Auerbach's philological criticism.On the basis,it explores the profound meaning of his world literary thought.The third chapter aims to discuss the significance of Auerbach's problem consciousness in current literary study.The gains can be briefly summarized as follows:First,Pay attention to the concept definition of "absence" and the problem consciousness of "presence".Second,Identify the "a point of departure" and "a field of radiation" of problem consciousness.On the basis,the special case is taken to explore Edward Said's intention of admiring Auerbach.The paper discusses Auerbach's problem consciousness,hoping to provide another literary research idea and possibility for Chinese contemporary literature that is about to enter the third decade of the new century.This is probably the role played by Auerbach's intellectual heritage.