Literary text interpretation

Author: Wang Yaohui
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-02-01
Features: This book is one of the series textbooks for the "Literary Theory" course for university literature majors, primarily targeting first-year undergraduate students. The introduction of the "Literary Text Interpretation" course in literature programs is mainly based on the practical needs of students' learning in the "Literary Theory" course. In teaching practice, we have found that students generally find the "Literary Theory" course very difficult. Students struggle to truly integrate and comprehend the fundamental principles systematically taught in the "Literary Theory" course, and it is even harder for them to smoothly connect literary theory with literary practice to form independent thinking. This is partly related to the content of the course itself, but on the other hand, it is also due to students' lack of perceptual engagement with literary practice, especially with literary texts. Students generally lack strong reading skills for literary texts, and some students, even after completing literary theory courses, still feel lost when facing specific literary texts, unsure how to interpret them in detail. Communication with peers has shown that this is actually a quite common phenomenon. The reason for this phenomenon is clearly related to the stereotypical tendencies in language teaching caused by the long-standing and increasingly prevalent exam-oriented education in secondary schools. Secondary school language teaching, driven by exam preparation, treats literary works as language materials, making language learning the primary focus while neglecting the cultivation of students' artistic sensitivity, which has weakened their artistic appreciation ability—a concern widely recognized by the public. Moreover, with the proliferation of vulgar cultural consumption in society, students have significantly increased exposure to low-quality cultural products, further fostering some poor aesthetic habits. In response to this situation, in the mid-1980s, we began offering the "Appreciation of Famous Literary Works from China and Abroad" course (later renamed "Literary Text Interpretation") to first-year undergraduates. We selected outstanding literary works of various genres and styles from ancient and modern times, guiding students to read and savor them carefully to cultivate their basic artistic sensitivity and literary reading skills, aiming to lay a preliminary foundation for further studies in literary theory and literary criticism, with excellent teaching results. As one of the three required foundational courses in literary theory for literature majors, "Literary Text Interpretation" aims to gradually eliminate students' poor habits in literary appreciation through the detailed interpretation of literary texts of different types and styles, fostering a positive aesthetic mindset and refined artistic taste. Combined with the teaching of relevant literary text knowledge, it helps students develop a professional perspective on literary reading, trains them to move from reading and appreciating texts to understanding and interpreting their aesthetic implications, and enables them to quickly transition from secondary school language learning to specialized literary studies. This teaching objective determines the current form of this textbook. It should be noted that the reform of university professional courses is an arduous task that has been initiated and placed before us as we move into the new century, and the work we have done in practice still needs further improvement. This also means that this textbook inevitably has many shortcomings that require continuous refinement in practice. Therefore, we sincerely hope to receive criticism and suggestions from fellow experts and readers.