Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.3, 2024

 

Sentimentality: Literary Experience Intervenes in the Discursive Basis of Knowledge Generation

(Abstract)

 

Li Yong

 

The generation of knowledge in literary theory is not an internal logical deduction of theory but an innovation driven by the intervention of perceptual literary experience into theoretical discourse. Literature expresses reason using fictional, imaginative, and poetic means, while theory articulates it through rational discourse. Therefore, sentimentality is the discursive foundation for the intervention of perceptual literary experience in the generation of theoretical knowledge. Literary experience and theoretical discourse both adhere to the rules of reasonable discourse, and the entry point for dialogue between them is emotion, which adapts its mode of dialogue according to specific contexts. Through mutual verification in common sense and interaction via dialectical thinking, and by engaging in dialogue based on specific historical contexts, theoretical discourse can articulate reason effectively, allowing for the generation of coherent and reasonable theoretical knowledge.