George sand, a famous French romantic woman writer, once said to Balzac, a master of critical realism, "You are both capable and willing to describe the human beings you see. All right! On the contrary, I always feel it is necessary to describe it according to my hopes for mankind and what I believe human beings should have. " George sand's writing shows that she follows a creative method different from realism, which is romanticism. The basic feature of romanticism is idealism, which reflects life according to the writer's style that life should have, so it always idealizes the object or idealizes it.
In order to embody "the life that human beings should have", the romantic writers' subjective feelings are particularly strong, and their love and hate are extremely distinct. In order to express strong feelings, romantic writers often use passionate fantasy and bold exaggeration to describe colorful ideal world with strange imagination and magnificent language.
Due to the different nature of ideals, romanticism can be divided into positive romanticism and negative romanticism. The ideal of positive romanticism conforms to the trend of social development and people's wishes and requirements, so it can inspire people to transform reality and enhance their will to struggle. Gorky said: the application of romanticism can beautify human nature, overcome animal nature and improve people's self-esteem. Qu Yuan's Li Sao, Li Bai's Poems and Songs, Wu Cheng'en's The Journey to the West and Guo Moruo's Goddess are all representative works of China's romanticism. The ideal of negative romanticism reflects the hostility of the declining class to realistic change and social progress. Negative romantic writers always beautify and cherish the social life and system that have disappeared, hoping that history can go backwards according to their wishes, so their thoughts are pessimistic and their emotions are sad. The content of their works shows nostalgia, escapism or mysticism. In art, the style is low and the color is gloomy, which is often covered with a blurred and illusory veil. /kloc-The works of the English Lake Poets in the 0/9th century belong to this category.
Romantic creative methods have existed since ancient times. As a literary trend of thought, it was formed at the end of18th century19th century. At that time, the bourgeoisie waged a fierce struggle against feudalism and monasticism, advocating "natural human rights" and "personality liberation", which was manifested in literature, that is, opposing classicism and advocating innovation and creation. Hugo's romantic work Onani caused a sensation in the French literary world when it was staged. From then on, it defeated classicism and established the status of romantic works. After the proletariat gained political power, the creative method of revolutionary romanticism was affirmed and advocated, and many excellent works were produced.
Romanticism, as a literary trend of thought in European literature, came into being in the era of bourgeois revolution and national liberation movement at the end of18th century19th century. Political opposition to feudal autocracy and artistic opposition to classicism belong to an ideology in the rising period of capitalism.
The word "romanticism" evolved from the adjective "romantic". The adjective "Romance" is transformed from the French word "Romance" (that is, "legend" or "novel"). Judging from the available data, the word "romance" was first used by British talents in 1654. It is legendary, absurd and untrue, and obviously contains negative connotations of derogatory meanings. In the18th century, the word gradually became a positive commendatory word, which was used to evaluate works and gained the additional meaning of "pleasant melancholy".
1At the end of the 8th century, with the rise of romanticism in the European literary world, the word romanticism became very popular. 1798, Fran' especially learned the names of other creative methods.
Romanticism in Europe was born under the historical conditions that people were disappointed in the "kingdom of reason" in the Enlightenment, disillusioned with the slogan of "freedom, equality and fraternity" in the bourgeois revolution and dissatisfied with the capitalist social order. The reality at that time, as Engels pointed out: "Compared with the gorgeous promises of enlightenment scholars, the social system and political system established by' rational victory' is actually an extremely disappointing cartoon." The writers at that time were dissatisfied with the reality and tried to find ways to solve social contradictions. However, due to the different class positions and political attitudes held by writers, romanticism is divided into two opposing schools, namely positive romanticism and negative romanticism. The former is a progressive trend, which makes people look forward, while the latter is a reactionary countercurrent, which makes people look back. This difference is essentially two completely different reactions to the French Revolution and the Enlightenment.
Active romantic writers dare to face up to reality, criticize the darkness of society, aim at feudal aristocrats, oppose the remnants of feudal factors in capitalist society, and expose all kinds of evil phenomena caused by the bourgeoisie itself, so they are full of passion for resistance and struggle, hope for the future, yearn for a new and better life, and some are in favor of utopian socialism. Daimai writers include Byron and Shelley in Britain, Hugo and george sand in France, Heine in Germany, Higgins in Russia (early), Miz Kevic in Poland and petofi in Hungary. Their life practice and artistic practice were all related to the bourgeois democratic revolutionary thought at that time and the national liberation movements of various countries, and most writers were active participants in these national liberation movements.
Negative romantics are not. They can't face up to the sharp contradictions in social reality and adopt a passive evasive attitude. Their thoughts are related to the ideology of the overthrown feudal aristocracy. Starting from the movement against bourgeois single life, they opposed the status quo, nostalgic for the past, beautified the patriarchal clan system in the Middle Ages, and fantasized about seeking spiritual comfort and sustenance from the ancient feudal society. The emergence of negative romanticism is actually a literary reflection of the thoughts and emotions of declining feudal nobles. Representative writers are German brothers Rajgl, namely, Ashe Rajgl and Fausch Rajgl, French Novalis, chateaubriand, Lamartin and Winnie the Pooh, Russian zhukovsky, British Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey and so on.
The rise and fall of romanticism is determined by the characteristics of historical conditions in various countries. As a formed literary trend of thought, P first appeared in Germany. At that time, negative romanticism prevailed and positive romanticism developed slowly due to the rampant influence of German Yong Ke nobles and the weakness of the bourgeoisie. After Heine entered the literary world, positive romanticism rose in Germany.
The romantic trend of thought in France, like the waves of the sea, is magnificent, spectacular and violent. Its emergence and development can not be separated from the restoration of feudal nobles and the repeated struggles of the bourgeoisie. Romanticism first rushed out from the obstacles set by classicism, and won in one fell swoop after a close combat. Then, in the rambling inner corner, positive romantics organized a broad United front including critical realists and defeated negative romantics. 1Before the 1920s, negative romanticism was king. From the late 20s to the early 1930s, due to the political victory of the bourgeoisie, positive romanticism suddenly rose and gained a dominant position.
In Russia, romanticism developed relatively late. It was not until 19 century that it became a genre. Among them, positive romanticism is closely related to the Russian The Decemberists Movement, which played a significant progressive role in the aristocratic revolution. Representative writers are early Pushkin and Reiliyev.
The most complete, standardized and successful romantic trend of thought is Britain. Compared with other countries, the romantic movement in Britain has the following characteristics; First of all, English romanticism did not form a large-scale literary movement, but appeared in the form of the free activities of a few writers. Secondly, British romanticism has a long history, like a small river, which is as long as 150 years. As early as the end of18th century, there were signs of romanticism in the poems of william blake (1757- 1827) and robert burns, a peasant poet (1759- 1796), and in the19th century, Until the late19th century, when Queen Victoria (reigned 1837- 190 1) was in power, romantic feathers could still be seen in the poems of Tennyson, robert browning and his wife elizabeth barrett browning. Third, English romanticism is clearly divided into two opposing factions. Negative romanticism came onto the literary stage before positive romanticism. Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey are the main generations, while Byron, Shelley and Keats are the opposite.
A basic method and style of literary and artistic creation, together with realism, are two major ideological trends in the history of literature and art. Romanticism (English Romanticism) originated from the language and literature of some ancient Roman capitals in southern Europe. The different dialects in these areas were originally a mixture of Latin and local dialects, and later developed into Romance. 11~12nd century, a large number of legendary stories and ballads in local languages and literature were written in Roman language. These works mainly describe the magical deeds, chivalry and mystery of medieval knights, and stories with such characteristics are gradually called legends, that is, knight stories or legendary stories. Romantic thought is embodied in literature, art, architecture, music and other artistic fields.
Romanticism, as a creative method and style, emphasizes subjectivity and subjectivity, focuses on the ideal world, puts emotion and imagination in the first place, and often uses passionate language, imagination beyond reality and exaggeration to shape the ideal image. Literary and artistic creation, ancient and modern, at home and abroad, has this feature from the beginning. For example, the poems of Qu Yuan and Li Bai in China and The Journey to the West in Wu Cheng'en, Goethe and Schiller in Germany, Hugo and George Shah in France, Byron and Shelley in Britain all have distinct romantic features.
As a literary trend of thought, Romanticism rose and prevailed in Europe from the end of18th century to the beginning of19th century. At that time, it was the era of bourgeois revolution, and the bourgeoisie was on the rise, demanding individual liberation and emotional freedom, resisting the rule of feudalism in politics and the bondage of classicism in literature and art. In order to meet this need, the romantic trend of thought came into being.
Romantic literature The romantic spirit first appeared in literature. In France, the pioneer of romanticism is Rousseau, who preaches that emotion is supreme and human nature is good. A group of writers responded to his slogan of "returning to nature", expressing their feelings about nature, depicting the charm of nature, and expressing their love, pursuit and attachment to beautiful things, freedom and ideals, and their homeland. The representative of early French romanticism was chateaubriand. His works cherish the memory of past ideals, preach the power of religion, and show strong negative thoughts and emotions. 1800, Mrs Starr published a book on literature, introducing her views on romanticism. In this book and another on Germany, she raised the issue of romantic nationalism, which laid the theoretical foundation of French romanticism. The successful performances of Hugo's Preface to Cromwell and Ernane marked the victory of romanticism over classicism. Hugo's works are magnificent and full of idealism, showing deep sympathy for the middle and lower classes. They are masterpieces of French and European romantic literature. George sand's novels expressing utopian socialist ideals and revealing that money is omnipotent are also excellent works in French romantic literature. However, strictly speaking, romanticism still originated in Germany and Britain. The earliest manifestation of romanticism was the German charge period. The schlegel brothers became the leaders of German romanticism in the last decades of the18th century. The publication "The Temple of Athena" edited by schlegel Brothers has played an important role in promoting the propaganda and theoretical construction of the romantic movement, and is called Jena Romanticism. They demand the liberation of individuality, advocate the freedom of creation, and advocate breaking the boundaries of various arts. However, their romanticism theory is full of subjective idealism and religious mysticism. Another school of German romanticism is Heidelberg School. The representative figures are Anim, brentano and Brothers Grimm, who attach importance to folk literature and collect folk songs and fairy tales in depth, which has played a positive role in the development of romantic literature. In addition, the works of Hoffman, Holderlin, Heine, Goethe and Schiller also occupy an important position in German romantic literature. The main representatives of English romanticism are Hunan poets Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey. Wordsworth regarded poetry as a "natural expression of strong feelings" in the preface to the second edition of Lyric Ballads, which later became the declaration of English romantic poets. Byron, Shelley, Keats and others are the representatives of English romantic literature in the early19th century. They criticized the feudal church forces, showed a democratic tendency to strive for freedom and progress, and developed and enriched the form and rhythm of romantic poetry in art. Scott, the representative of the novel, is good at combining historical events with bold imagination to create colorful pictures. Russian poet zhukovsky, influenced and promoted by western European romanticism, broke the classical norms in the early19th century and created many beautiful lyric poems and narrative poems, which played an important role in the rise of Russian romanticism. The Decemberists poets Pushkin and lermontov's early romantic creations are full of revolutionary passion, eulogizing the thoughts of anti-autocracy and striving for freedom, and they are outstanding representatives of Russian romantic literature. Romantic literature in Eastern Europe is represented by Polish revolutionary poet A Mizz Kevic and Hungarian revolutionary poet S Petofi, whose works have distinctive patriotism and strong national characteristics. /kloc-After the middle of the 0/9th century, romantic literature in Europe was gradually replaced by realistic literature.
Romantic Art 18 In the 1960s and 1970s, some painters in Rome explored various possible ways beyond the strict academic principles of neoclassical art ... Among them, Henry Fuselli, a Swiss, was the most prominent because his paintings were strange and unusual, and his painting incubus focused on depicting the irrational power of thought. On the basis of Christian mythology, British painter and poet Blake developed his own fine view of the world, and his watercolor painting skills were exquisite. In the later generation of painters, constable and Tanner combined the vividness of watercolor painting techniques with oil painting. Constable described the rural scenery in Britain and explored the complexity of light and color in the atmosphere. Tanner played the natural effect of light and created a dynamic composition, which made the audience seem to swim with the picture. In Germany, the landscape painter Long Greto symbolically described personal spiritual temperament as a part of ordinary natural spirituality. Friedrich is a devout religious person. He used the image of a lonely tree or a towering cross to imply reverence and awe for nature and mind. In France, the main romantic painter who uses historical and literary themes is Delacroix. In addition to experimenting with color and light, he also showed his feelings with energetic brushstrokes. He is fascinated by exotic themes, especially nomadic life in the desert of North Africa. His works describing animal life enthusiastically reflect his similar interests with Jericho, who is very revolutionary in choosing contemporary events as his creative theme.
Romantic architecture romanticism is manifested in the pursuit of ultra-dust and refined taste and exotic atmosphere in architecture. 65438+60s ~ 65438+30s is the first stage of the development of romantic architecture, also known as pre-romanticism. Castle-like mansions in the Middle Ages and even sketches of oriental architecture have appeared. The 1930s and 1970s of 19 were the second stage of romantic architecture, which has developed into a trend of architectural creation. Because of the pursuit of medieval Gothic architectural style, it is also called Gothic Renaissance architecture. Romantic architecture is mainly limited to churches, universities, town halls and other medieval architectural types. Its development in different countries is different. Britain is the birthplace of romantic architecture, and the most famous architectural works include the British Parliament Building in London, St. Giles Church, Manchester City Hall and so on.
Romantic music In music, no matter composing or playing, romanticism is characterized by emphasizing individuality and emotional expression. This change is partly due to the change of musicians' social status. /kloc-composers in the 0/7th century were entrusted to create works for noble protectors, while composers in the 0/8th century relied on the audience of city concerts. In this sense, Beethoven inherited the classicism period and inspired The Romantic Period, because his musical skills were basically classical, but he regarded his music above all else as a means of self-expression, thus setting an important example for composers in the19th century. It is generally believed that C.M. von Weber is the beginning of a truly romantic composer. He established the position of German romantic opera with The Magical Bomber, followed by Schubert, Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Liszt, Wagner and many other composers. They have made great achievements in the creation of new romantic genres such as art songs, title symphonies, piano sketches, symphonic poems and operas. The romantic spirit in music, whether it is romance or instrumental music, often draws inspiration from poems, fairy tales and folk stories. Romantic music works are more free in form and structure, subject to emotional needs, and consciously characterized by fragmentation or improvisation. The exploration of the relationship between long-distance harmony and tonality has greatly expanded the harmony language. The ideal of romanticism is vividly reflected in the grand opera of19th century. Strong nationalism, reverence for heroes, strange scenery and costumes, and exquisite skills in descriptive music, symphony and vocal music all constitute romantic music.
Romantic creative methods prevailed in Europe from the second half of18th century to the first half of19th century. It reflects the objective reality, often from the subjective point of view, expresses the enthusiastic pursuit of ideals, and shapes the image with passionate language, magnificent imagination and exaggerated methods.
The characteristics of romanticism are: paying attention to expressing the writer's subjective ideal, expressing strong personal feelings, advocating nature and praising natural beauty, lashing the ugliness of the real society against the capitalist urban civilization, attaching importance to folk literature, preferring to use exaggeration, and pursuing a strong contrast between beauty and ugliness to achieve a surprise artistic effect.
1. Rousseau and Aesthetic Romanticism
Romanticism is a concept with complex meaning and extensive connotation. It has accumulated what predecessors have given it from different positions and perspectives, and superimposed the requirements and missions of different periods and trends of thought in history. So that some scholars lamented: "What is romanticism? This is an unexplained mystery. It seems difficult to analyze romantic phenomena in a scientific way. This is not only because people can't give a unified definition of its colorful content, but also because it is incredibly contradictory: romanticism is both revolutionary and counter-revolutionary; It is cosmopolitan and nationalist; It is both realistic and fictional; It is retro and fantastic; It belongs to the people and nobles; ? This contradiction not only runs through the whole romantic movement, but also runs through a writer's life and all his works, even in his same work. " Can't explain, is there no decision?
Just like the pursuit of the essence of beauty, it is impossible to obtain an absolutely accurate concept unanimously recognized by the world public on the topic of romanticism. However, we can't reject the definition of relativity, at least we can make a demarcation on the subject field. The latter is particularly important for the literary theorists in China, because we have never made a clear analysis in this dimension. Romanticism in our theoretical system of literature and art is a mixture of politics, sociology and aesthetics. This leads to the dilemma of literary theory entering practical research. For example, Shen Congwen once claimed to be the "last romantic" in China in the 20th century, and some researchers were puzzled by his confession.
Romanticism is different from realism, and it is not limited to the category of literature and art, but has interdisciplinary significance. Brandeis once summed up the romanticism in the19th century: "Romanticism once gave new vitality to literary style in almost every literary department, once brought unprecedented themes in the scope of art, once nourished itself by various contemporary social and religious concepts, once created lyric poems, plays, novels and comments, once penetrated into historical science as a nourishing force, and penetrated into politics as an inspiring force." It can be seen from this passage that romanticism is widely used, involving not only literature and art, but also history, science and politics. When Russell talked about the chapter "Romantic Movement" in the history of western philosophy, he also wrote: "Romantic Movement had nothing to do with philosophy at first, but it soon had something to do with philosophy. Through Rousseau, this movement was linked with politics from the beginning. However, we must first examine its most fundamental form, that is, as a resistance to universally recognized ethical standards and aesthetic standards, and then we can understand its political and philosophical influence. " Here, romanticism involves ethics, politics, philosophy and aesthetics, and the boundary of the subject is far beyond the scope of literature and art.
Rousseau and Russell called him "the father of the romantic movement" and gave such a judgment: "He is the founder of the ideological system that infers facts beyond human scope from human emotions, or the inventor of the political philosophy of pseudo-democratic dictatorship opposite to the traditional monarchy." Rousseau is an absolute emotional subject and the founder of political philosophy of pseudo-democratic dictatorship, which involves romantic aesthetics based on emotion and political aspects excluded by Lu Xun in On Cultural Deviation. Rousseau's "Cynthia's New Sorrow" pioneered romantic literature with sentimental style and unrestrained emotion, and was the guide of Goethe's "Young Werther" in the Enlightenment. At the same time, his social contract theory promoted the principle of people's sovereignty and free will, but it also provided a theoretical basis for totalitarianism, which was the "Bible" of robespierre's administration during the French Revolution. Thus, the romantic trend of thought is an extremely complex synthesis. In academic research, we can neither absolutely separate the disciplines involved nor confuse them in general.
Romantic aesthetics with Rousseau as its founder, the strengthening of its emotional subject is combined with political revolution and ethical judgment. If we examine Rousseau from the perspective of modernity, we will find that the great opposition between the construction of human civilization and the deconstruction of civilization is gathered on him. Although there is a deviation from individualism to totalitarianism from On the Origin and Basis of Human Inequality to On the Social Contract, as revealed by the researchers, his personal power and free will are condensed in the Declaration of Human Rights of the French Revolution and become unshakable guidelines for human beings. From this perspective, Rousseau's thought has its modern value orientation. But what is more important in Rousseau's thought is his deconstruction of civilization, which is the deep essence of "alienation" that only Kant can understand: "Rousseau's appearance makes people realize that historical progress is interwoven by two opposing lines of positive growth and negative effect of civilization. The former line leads to optimistic and constructive behavior of human beings, and the latter line leads to pessimistic, critical and even destructive behavior of human beings. " This deconstruction and criticism, that is, the reflection on modernity, that is, "aesthetic modernity", is embodied in Rousseau's famous book On Science and Art.
The optimistic and enterprising belief in the construction of human civilization met with the first strong resistance in Rousseau's On Science and Art: "There is an ancient legend spread from Egypt to Greece, saying that the God of scientific creation is an enemy of human peace. ┅┅ Astronomy was born of superstition; Debate arises from ambition, hatred, flattery and lies; Geometry is born of greed; Physics was born out of vanity curiosity; Everything, even morality itself, is born of human pride. Therefore, the birth of science and art is out of our sins. " Human civilization, represented by science and art, has always been the pride of mankind, and the symbol of human rationality has become a new "original sin" and a denied alienation phenomenon in Rousseau, which has been strongly criticized. The negative effects contained in the positive growth of civilization were publicly exposed by Rousseau in overcorrective language, and human beings saw their predicament for the first time. It is in this sense that the romantic Martin? Henkel made this conclusion: "The romantic generation really can't stand more and more blasphemies against the whole world, more and more mechanical explanations, and the loss of life poems. Therefore, we can summarize romanticism as' the first self-criticism of modernity'. "
Therefore, the occurrence of aesthetic romanticism represented by Rousseau has its specific social and historical background and spiritual essence, which can by no means be summarized by the word "emotion first". /kloc-Since the second half of the 8th century, the industrial civilization, which is regarded as historical modernity, has created miracles in the economic field. The scientific and technological revolution and management revolution have brought about material enrichment and social progress, and the living conditions and material enjoyment of human beings have been greatly improved. However, the self-denial factors contained in the positive growth of human civilization are increasingly apparent: the infinite rapid expansion of "material desire", the one-sided and narrow technical thinking, the gradual alienation between man and nature, the infiltration of commodity exchange logic into life and human consciousness, the strict control of discourse right under the cover of ideology, the decline and loss of "divinity" of human spirit and "poeticity" of existence, all of which have caused Rousseau's anxiety and confrontation. His aesthetic romanticism has become a critical force to reflect on modernity. Starting from this premise, Rousseau can also be said to be an optimistic deconstruction of human civilization. As herzen revealed: "When Voltaire was still fighting for civilization and ignorance, Rousseau had denounced this artificial civilization." Worrying, questioning and fighting back against the negative effects of human civilization is the specific connotation of Rousseau's "emotion" and the specific essence of aesthetic romanticism represented by Rousseau.
Babbitt, a master of new humanism, touched on the definition of romanticism when criticizing Rousseau's romanticism. He pointed out: "most wrong definitions are due to taking what is actually secondary as the main thing." For example, the return to the Middle Ages is regarded as the central event of the romantic movement, but this return is only a symbol, not the original phenomenon. The confusion and one-sidedness of romanticism really stems from this-they try to say that what is not at the center of romanticism but on the edge is the main thing, so the whole topic is incorrect. " China's literary and art circles have always ignored the central event of the Romantic Movement-the worries and doubts about the negative effects of human civilization, because these characteristics are only secondary and marginal things derived from this center, such as "returning to the Middle Ages", "returning to nature" or "emotional subjectivity" to oppose scientific and technological rationality.
This romantic aesthetic trend with Rousseau as its source has experienced Kant, Schelling, Schlaege, Novalis, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Rilke and even Heidegger and Marcuse. "They always remember the poetry of life and the purification of people's true feelings, trying to bring shock to people immersed in the dehumanization caused by scientific and technological civilization and enlighten people who are saddened by the increasingly serious alienation in the West." Only in the confrontation between scientific and technological rationality and humanistic spirit, in the construction and deconstruction of human civilization, in the confrontation between historical modernity and aesthetic modernity, that is, only in the grand historical context, can we truly understand the fundamental nature of western romanticism.