Explanations for a Few Theoretical Issues of the Research Subject 野con- Temporary Chinese Literature and Folk Culture冶

Explanations for a few Theoretical Issues of the Research Subject 野Con- temporary Chinese Literature and Folk Culture冶 Institute of Chinese literature in Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences College of Arts in Huangshan University College of Arts in Jiangnan University Abstract On the basis of organizing and summarizing the relationship between folk culture and modern and contemporary Chinese literature, the theories and methods of Archetypal Folk Criticism have been developed within the research scope of contemporary Chinese literature. Rooted in rich experience of literary history, those theories and methods have remoulded Archetypal Literary Criticism advanced by Western aca- demic circles and put it into practice in light of Chinese characteristics. Compared to Archetypal Literary Criticism, Archetypal Folk Crit- icism has attached more importance to the innovative functions and meanings of Archetypes, been inclined to tap into the local aesthetics consciousness of writers and further contributed to the understanding of the relations among the nativeness, nationality and cosmopolitanism of contemporary Chinese literature. Conducting research into Archety- pal Folk Criticism can not only present the folk cultural traditions and aesthetic forms and aesthetic characteristics of contemporary Chinese literature but also probe into the generating laws, local characteristics and aesthetic mechanisms of contemporary Chinese literature and re- WANG Guangdong, Doctor of Literature, a researcher of the Institute of Chinese literature in Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. Major Research Direction: Chinese Modern and Contemporary Literature. ZHOU Tao, Doctor of Literature, associate professor of College of Arts in Huang- shan University. Major Research Direction: Chinese Modern and Contemporary Literature. LUO Xingping, Doctor of Literature, professor of College of Arts in Jiangnan Uni- versity. Major Research Direction: Chinese Modern and Contemporary Literature. 窑70 窑 New Explorations of Archetypal Folk Criticism: Explanations for a few Theoretical Issues of the Research Subject 野Contemporary Chinese Literature and Folk Culture冶 veal its internal impetus and spiritual resources in the process of growth, thus boosting the development of literature. Keywords Folk Culture; Archetypal Criticism; Contemporary Chinese Literature; Consciousness of Local Aesthetics he in-depth development and research of any branch of learning can hardly T do without two conditions: the discovery of new material changing the ex- isting views and new explanations of material or text now available based on new research methods or research viewpoints. With the aim of exploiting the room for studying the the relationship between contemporary Chinese literature and folk culture and exploring the deep-seated spiritual link between contemporary Chi- nese literature and traditional folk culture, this paper has attempted to put forward and make use of the theories and methods of Archetypal Folk Criticism by means of three research findings, as well as . In the course of contemporary Chinese literature history, folk culture and literature are closely connected from beginning to end and the former serves as the non-negligible internal impetus and spiritual resources for contemporary Chinese literature. Revealing the significance of folk culture to the full can not only further explain the generating and developing laws of contemporary Chinese literature from the angle of local culture but also discover the relations between the folk culture in the narrative of literary history and other cultural forms, high- light the forms of existence and value of aesthetic resources among the people in the course of contemporary Chinese literature history and enable contemporary Chinese literature to establish an extensive spiritual connection with local experience, memories, convictions, ethics and historical traditions, and thus boosting national literature and special literature. Before carrying out the study of contemporary Chinese literature from the per- 窑71 窑 Critical Theory Vol.3 No.2 spective of Folk Archetypes, we have to roughly organize and set forth some con- cepts such as Archetype and Archetypal Criticism. The concept of 耶an archetype爷 is first put forward by Philo of Alexandria, a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher, when he refers to the 野transcendent God冶 in humans, God is also known as the 野Beacon of Archetypes冶, and an archetype can be a Platonic philo- sophical idea referring to pure forms, according to Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. However, For Jung, the reason why he borrows the word 野Archetype冶 is to show a kind of 野Nature of Psychology冶, which is different from the concept of 野Unconscious冶 advanced by Cullers, Von Hartmann and Freud. In his view, there is a kind of 野Collective Unconscious冶, 野which isn爷t derived from personal experience or experience acquired, but is innate. Hence, I have named it 耶Collective Unconscious爷. Due to the fact that the unconscious mentioned here is general rather than individual, I have chosen the word 耶Collec- tive爷. Contrary to individual psychology, the Collective Unconscious is provided with similar content and behavioral patterns among all the places and all the people. In other words, since each people carries the Collective Unconscious, it has formed a kind of psychological foundation that is hyper-individual and prevails among all the people. 冶 The content of this kind of 野Innate冶 and 野General冶 Col- lective Unconscious is 野Archetypes冶, 野The Archetype is a kind of unconscious content by nature, and it will change and gain colors from the emerging individual consciousness when it becomes consciousness and can be perceived.冶1 The concept of the archetype proposed by Jung is mainly a kind of psychological concept, which can be used to explain some common human behaviors and modes of thinking. For example, giving a description of the myth of Adonis circulated widely among Greece, Egypt, Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean, West Africa and West Asia, James George Frazer, a Scottish social anthropologist and folklorist, points out people have created a dying-and-rising god named Adonis when they witness the significant impact of the four seasons on plants and the direct impact of the vegetative cycle of plants on humans. Owing to the fact that 野only by imi- tating things can desired effect be produced when it comes to witchcraft冶2, they want to realize a kind of good and practical desires: everything comes back to life and humans are rapidly moving towards prosperity, by means of mourning the death of Adonis and further celebrating his resurrection. Obviously, the phe- nomenon of the myth of Adonis can at least have three messages. 1.1 The myths of the same or similar kind may appear among different nationali- ties and regions around the world in a repeated way. Just as Ernst Cassirer said, 窑72 窑 New Explorations of Archetypal Folk Criticism: Explanations for a few Theoretical Issues of the Research Subject 野Contemporary Chinese Literature and Folk Culture冶野there爷s no lack of a kind of true homogeneity in terms of the function of myth-creation, both anthropologists and ethnologists tend to find themselves dis covering the same basic idea in amazement, which prevails in the whole world and the societies and cultures with significant differences.冶 3 1.2 Besides the mutual transmission and influences between different cultures or civilizations, the recurring phenomenons of myths, in fact, indicate there exists a certain way of mankind爷s thinking mode or psychological structure that is of uni- versal significance. In Frazer爷s mind, different nations and regions worldwide generally share some beliefs, rituals, taboos, customs and traditions of rough sim- ilarity that can be traced back to witchcraft convictions and ritual behaviors shared by all humans of this era. To primitive eyes, the world is, to a large extent, dominated by a kind of supernatural force or a god. By mimicking this kind of supernatural force or the god, or 野contacting冶 in a imaginary manner, namely performing witchcraft rituals, people are able to acquire the power of the god and further achieve the aim of impelling, taking advantage of, and manipulating the god. Such ritual behaviors, in fact, have already carried out the narrative of gods and constructed the formation of myths. Therefore, Taylor divided myths into 野Material Myths冶 and 野Verbal Myths冶4. 1.3 With a combination of Jung爷s theory, both 野Material Myths冶 and 野Verbal Myths冶 obviously contain rich archetypal connotations. As a result, Northrop Frye, a Canadian literary critic and literary theorist, claims 野myths as a kind of core transmitting force endow rituals and oracles with archetypal meaning and archetypal narratives respectively. Accordingly, myths are 野Archetypes冶5. In other words, the inner link between 野Archetypes冶 and 野Myths冶 has enabled the ex- ploration and interpretation of 野Myths冶 to become a kind of real possibility from the perspective of 野Archetypes冶, which contributes to the formation of 野Archety- pal Literary Criticism冶. However, as a kind of critical theory and method, the 野Archetype冶 in 野Archetypal Literary Criticism冶 not only contains the specific connotation of anthropological or psychological but serves as a kind of 野Archetype in Literature冶. 野Archetype is a kind of typical or recurrent image,冶 according to Frye, 野as a kind of symbol, an archetype can link a poem with other poems, which is conductive to uniting and integrating our literary

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