Abstract

Info

Title:: Justice and Concrete Analysis：A Reflection on What LiteraryCriticism is and the Current Dilemma

Keywords:: justice; concrete analysis; public intellectuals; literary criticism of the post-80s generation

Abstract:: The defining attribute of good literary criticism should be just and concrete analyses. In otherwords，good literary criticism is not only the process of looking for beauty，but also the activity for peopleto find fault，which can be offensive sometimes but reflect the critical rationality of intellectuals. It is also theactivity that embodies the sense of justice which should be pursued by the intellectuals，and it is a dialogue andconsultation in which the critics can share level playing field with their objects. This is the quality and aspectthat should be possessed by good，effective literary criticism in my understanding. At present，we have a lotof popular but empty literary criticism，which can be put into four major categories：the first type tends to be amixture of various kinds of theories and“ -isms”，which make a simple issue unbearably complex；the secondone usually focuses on a pseudo-issue which contains little substance；the third one can be called“ castratedcriticism”；and in the fourth form the critics act more like a nitpicker. A common feature shared by these typesof literary criticism is that they seem to be full of all kinds of“ sense” and“ issues”，but actually they are emptytalks with little reason and substance.