Wang Guowei; The Soul of the Century

Author: Xia Zhongyi / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-01-01
Features: This is a monograph on comparative aesthetics. It focuses on exploring the relationship between Wang Guowei's aesthetics and Schopenhauer's philosophy, revealing why Wang Guowei, as the pioneer of the 20th-century history of Sino-Western aesthetics and the founder of modern Chinese aesthetics, followed Schopenhauer, and how he created a modern humanistic-artistic aesthetics with Chinese characteristics based on his inheritance of Western masters. Furthermore, it delves into why academia has long failed to systematically analyze this relationship since the beginning of the 20th century. Wang Guowei's aesthetics has often been neglected and misinterpreted after his death, as if it were "fate." This book is indeed a monograph on comparative aesthetics. From an aesthetic perspective, Wang Guowei held two roles: the pioneer of the 20th-century history of Sino-Western aesthetics and the founder of modern Chinese aesthetics, earning the title of "genesis." However, all of this was essentially completed by Wang Guowei by the early 20th century. At that time, Wang Guowei was young, and his soul was experiencing the characteristic anxieties of youth. It can be said that the anxieties of life were both the psychological motivation for Wang Guowei to follow Schopenhauer's philosophy and the soul of the humanistic-artistic aesthetics he recreated. Therefore, the book is titled Wang Guowei: The Soul of the Century. This book primarily explores the relationship between Schopenhauer and Wang Guowei's aesthetics. The "theory of genius" is Wang Guowei's aesthetic-artistic subject theory. In Wang Guowei's view, "genius" has a dual identity. First, "genius" is a personal manifestation of aesthetic ability and artistic modeling skills, meaning that only "genius" possesses aesthetic ability and artistic skills. Because, in his view, the masses are overwhelmed by the suffering caused by the insufficiency of life desires, and thus, they are accustomed to viewing all things in the world from a direct or indirect utilitarian perspective. If one does not use a selfish eye but observes things with an aesthetic gaze, "the mountains and waters of nature are bright and charming, birds fly and flowers fall." "The words and actions of humans, their joys and sorrows, tears and laughter—what are not objects of beauty?" Wang Guowei believed this was not the case. He said, "However, since these things are related to us in terms of profit and loss, and we wish to forcibly detach ourselves from this relationship to observe them, unless one is a genius, how could this be easily achieved? Thus, geniuses emerge, who reproduce what they observe in nature and life in art (i.e., art—ed.), allowing those of mediocre intelligence to also transcend the relationship between self and object and be free from profit and loss." "Therefore, as for art, those who desire it do not observe it, and those who observe it do not desire it; and the beauty of art surpasses that of nature because it makes it easier for people to forget the relationship between self and object." Interestingly, Wang Guowei did not read Marx, but through the comparison between aesthetics and utilitarianism, he defined the connotation of "genius," which reminds one of Marx's insightful idea in the Manuscript of Economic and Philosophic Critique of Capitalism that divides the spiritual ways humans grasp the world into four categories: "science," "art," "religion," and "practice-spirit." Because Wang Guowei's non-utilitarian view of aesthetic-artistic and utilitarian view of practice seem to align perfectly with Marx. Precisely because Wang Guowei believed that practice aimed at fulfilling or satisfying life desires is utilitarian, he also divided human perspectives (i.e., spiritual activities) into the "eye of a politician" and the "eye of a poet": "The eye of a politician is limited to one person and one matter; the eye of a poet observes the past and the present." To say absolutely that the "eye of a politician is limited to one person and one matter" is indeed not accurate, but I guess Wang Guowei's intention was probably to emphasize that politicians often focus on the consolidation or change of the existing order and have no time to, like poets, transcend the utilitarian aspects of human affairs and take an aesthetic overview of the universe and life. This is one meaning of "genius." Wang Guowei's "genius" also has another meaning: it is used as a synonym for an outstanding master. For example, in the history of Chinese literature, Wang Guowei believed: "A genius may appear every few decades or even every few centuries, and it must be supplemented by learning and guided by virtue to produce true great literature. This is why Qu Yuan, Yuan Ming, Zi Mei, and Zi Zhan were so rare and unmatched in their time." Clearly, this is no longer defining "genius" from the perspective of categories of human spiritual ways (i.e., aesthetic principles), but rather defining "genius" at the level of artistic aesthetics. This seems to suggest that not all literati who wield the brush are geniuses, but only a few great masters who, with a single composition, "change the way the world looks at the past and the present" truly deserve the title of "genius." P008-009