【正文】 1 A Brief Survey of Critical Theory From Plato to 19th Century Compiled by Zhang Xuchun Sichuan International Studies University 2 Contents Syllabus 3 Introduction 5 1. Critical Theories in Greek Times 9 2. Critical Theories in Roman Times 11 3. Critical Theories in the Middle Ages 17 4. Critical Theories in the Renaissance 23 5. Critical Theories in the Age of Neoclassicism 30 6. Critical Theories in the Age of Sensibility 36 7. Critical Theories in the Age of Romanticism 43 8. Critical Theories of the 19th Century Social Criticism 54 9. New Developments in Theory 68 Appendices 85 3 Syllabus for Classical Western Critical Theory Course Purpose: This course, which is a 2credit optional or selective course, is designed for the purpose of acquainting the students of English literature with some fundamental knowledge of classical critical theories in the west from the time of Plato well into the 19th century. Text: Zhang Xuchun, ed., Selected Readings in Classical Western Critical Theory. Further Readings: 1) Zhang Xuchun, ed., A Brief Survey of Critical Theory from Plato to 19th Century。 2) Richard Harland, Literary Theory from Plato to Barthes: an Introductory History (NY: Palgrave, 1999)。 3) Hazard Adams amp。 Leroy Searle ed., Critical Theory Since Plato (Beijing: Peking Univ. Press, 2022) 4) Thomas H. Greer, A Brief History of the Western World (Orlando: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers, 1992). 5) 朱光潛：《西方美學(xué)史》（上、下）； 6) 伍蠡甫、胡經(jīng)之：《西方文藝?yán)碚撁x編》（上、中、下）； 7) 伍蠡甫：《西方文論選》； 8) 李賦寧主編：《歐洲文學(xué)史》（ 4）。 Course Schedule: 1. Introduction (1 week): 2. Critical Theories in Greek Times (3 weeks): Plato: Republic。 Aristotle, Poetics。 3. Critical Theories in Roman Times (2 weeks): Horace, Art of Poetry。 Longinus, On the Sublime。 4. Critical Theories in the Middle Ages (2 weeks) Plotinus, On the Intellectual Beauty。 Saint Thomas Aquinas, The Nature and Domain of Sacred Doctrines。 5. Critical Theories in the Renaissance (2 weeks) Sir Philip Sidney, An Apology for Poetry。 Sir Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning。 4 6. Critical Theories in the Age of Neoclassicism (1 week): Pierre Corneille, Of the Three Unities of Action, Time, and Place。 Samuel Johnson, Preface to Shakespeare。 7. Critical Theories in the Age of Sensibility (4 weeks): Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful。 Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Laocoon。 8. Critical Theories in the Age of Romanticism (2 weeks): Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Conversation with Eckerman。 Friedrich von Schiller, Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man。 9. Critical Theories of the 19th Century Social Criticism (2 weeks): Matthew Arnold, The Function of Criticism at the Present Time。 Karl Mark, A Contribution of the Critique of Political Economy。 10. New Developments in Theory (1 week): Walter Pater, Studies in the History of the Renaissance 11. Writing and Submitting the course paper. 5 Introduction What is the nature of literature? What function – socially as well as aesthetically, does literature perform? What are the intrinsic qualities that a literary work is supposed to have? All these are questions that a critical theory intends to answer. And it is the different answers to those questions that distinguish one critical theory from the other. I For a clear, though seemingly simplified illustration on the orientations that characterize different critical theories, I‘d like to remend you a scheme or a triangle set forth in M. H. Abrams‘ The Mirror and the Lamp (1953). According to Abrams, there are altogether four elements involved in literature: the work, the artist, the audience, and the universe from which the work derives or signifies or reflects. And the emphasis upon any single relation between two elements leads to one particular type of critical theory: mimetic theories, pragmatic theories, expressive theories and objective theories. (mimetic theory) universe ↑ work (objective theory) ↙ ↘ artist audience (expressive theory) (pragmatic theory) Mimetic theories privilege the relation of the literary work to the world (the universe) and usually define literature in terms of imitation (mimesis). Or to put it simply, mimetic theories argue that literature is the imitation or copying of the universe, therefore, mimetic theories usually judge a work on the accuracy or the verisimilitude of its presentation of the universe. (Just as Socrates puts it, the arts of painting, poetry, music, dancing, and sculpture are all imitations. And roughly in the same token, Samuel Johnson says the Shakespeare?s drama is the “mirrour of life”.) There is little doubt mimesis was the dominant critical term in the west from Plato well into the Renaissance (even in 20th century the Soviet social realism), though during that long stretch of time it underwent several shifts of meaning because critics differ from each other with respect to 6 the identity or the notion of ―universe‖, or the object to be imitated by literature: fo