Mao Zedong pointed out that literary and artistic works as ideological forms are the reflection of certain social life in the human mind. (Elucidating the importance of writers and artists penetrating into people’s lives.)

Balzac regarded literary works as mirrors reflecting the life and thoughts of a nation.

Marx praised: a group of outstanding novelists in modern Britain who have revealed political and social truths to the world in their outstanding and vivid books. More than all the politicians, commentators and moralists put together can reveal.

"Wind", "Ya" and "Song" in the Chinese Book of Songs vividly reproduce the life content and emotional experience of different classes in the Zhou Dynasty. Cao Xueqin's "A Dream of Red Mansions" is an encyclopedia for people to understand the late ancient Chinese society.

Lu Xun's "The True Story of Ah Q", the contradictory "Midnight" and Gorky's "Mother" all show a broad picture of social life and their deep feelings about the society in which they live.

Although some writers have not formed a scientific worldview, they can sincerely face reality and show a certain sense of progress. Writers adopt an objective attitude and critical spirit towards social reality, and can overcome the limitations of their own worldview and social stance to reflect the true face and history of society. development trend

Literature's understanding of social life belongs to the way Marx said that art masters the world. This way can often transcend the limitations of general ideologies that reflect too abstract and tortuous life, and provide a true, rich and complete reflection of social life.

It requires literature to play the role of social ideology and not avoid important social conflicts. However, this does not require literature to become a major social subject matter. It does not require literature to display all aspects of social relations. It requires literature to be unique. The artistic image depicts the overall relationship and shape of social life and helps people understand the true face of social history.

It is related to two factors. One is the class position, thoughts, feelings and value orientation of the writer, and the other is the political and ideological content contained in society.

Political and ideological tendencies are a relatively common attribute of literature. Engels clearly affirmed the political and ideological tendencies of literature: "The modern Russians and Norwegians who have written excellent novels are all writers with tendencies."

Karl Liebknecht also believed that "from a historical and aesthetic point of view, "unbiased" and "true" art is a myth. ... In the most ideal aesthetic system, it is required to serve the interests of society and the people. The tendency to serve interests is regarded as the sacred duty of art."

The greatness of Dante's Divine Comedy lies in its expression of the revival of the new humanity of the oppressed class under the rule of theocracy in the Middle Ages. The value of the radicals of Shakespeare's drama lies in its expression of the full bloom of the bourgeois humanistic spirit after its awakening.

In a class society, the political and ideological tendencies of Chinese literature are largely class-based. Literature as an integral part of ideology will reflect different class interests, ideas and aspirations in different societies. This is determined by social class relations and the writer's own class attributes.

In a socialist society, the political and ideological tendencies of literature are more reflected in the attitude towards the people.

Literature has political and ideological tendencies, but it cannot therefore become a conceptual propaganda tool for the politics of the times. It should be reflected in a form that conforms to the laws of art and should be based on literary reality.

Marx pointed out that "literary works should be more "Shakespearean" and not "Schiller-like, turning individuals into mere mouthpieces for the spirit of the times."

The humanistic tendencies of Shakespeare's plays are not presented in a diagrammatic and conceptual way. It is a combination of his deep understanding and grasp of human nature and his true feelings and understanding of historical conditions.

Engels pointed out, “The tendency should flow out naturally from the scenes and plots without specifically pointing it out. The author does not have to force the historical and future solutions to the social conflicts described on the readers.” “It should not be for the sake of conceptualization. Forget the realist stuff for the sake of joy, forget Shakespeare for the sake of joy.”

The authenticity of literature originates from life and is higher than life. Writers can neither make subjective inventions in isolation from social life nor make naturalistic copies of social life. Only by unifying tendency and authenticity can successful literary works be created.

Both literature and politics belong to social ideologies, so compared to the role of economic foundation, literature has a more direct impact on political practice.

The Book of Songs has long been regarded as a mirror for examining political gains and losses. "The wind above is used to soften the bottom, and the wind is used to stab the top." The 300 poems have become an important means to express political emotions and implement political enlightenment. The satirical novels at the end of the term, the May Fourth period issue novels, later revolutionary literature, and anti-Japanese war literature. The scar literature and reflective literature in the new era all had an impact on the social and political development of that time.

In the history of Western literature, French writer Hugo's "Notre Dame de Paris" and "Les Misérables" fiercely criticized the cruelty and injustice of the bourgeois laws at that time.

However, the political practice of literature does not mean that writers need to directly express political opinions in their works. Literature must implicitly reflect its political practice through original characters and other artistic images.

Literature develops in social life based on economy.

Engels pointed out, "People must first eat, drink, live and clothe themselves, and then they can engage in politics, science, art, religion, etc."

On the other hand, literature and economic and social development have an active influence. Engels emphasized that the determinants of history are ultimately the production and reproduction of real life. Don't be opposed to economic factors being the only determining factor.

The practicality of literature has its own special ways and means of realization. It does not have clear normative provisions and concepts to guide and restrict people like other ideologies. Instead, it usually relies on aesthetic literary images and artistic means to inspire and enhance people's spirit. to fulfill.

Wang Fuzhi, a poetry critic in the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, called the spiritual stimulation of literature "Xing" and spoke highly of its significance. "Those who can be Xing will be heroes. Those who are Xing are those whose nature is deeper than Qi." Wang Fuzhi believed that the spiritual inspiration of literature is "Xing". "Xing" can cultivate the personality of a hero who wins with virtue.

Literature can indeed play a unique and important role in carrying forward the national spirit and the spirit of the times.

Beauty is not an objective natural thing. Beauty can only exist in specific human aesthetic activities. It is a value judgment that people make on aesthetic objects during activities, and this value judgment is mainly reflected in emotional evaluation.

Brandes believes that everything can be viewed from three aspects: a practical perspective, a scientific perspective and an aesthetic perspective, thus forming three attitudes and evaluations of things. , among which aesthetic value has three characteristics compared with the other two types of value evaluation.

To sum up, emotions constitute the psychological basis of aesthetic activities, and emotional factors play a dominant role in literature. Therefore, emotion is the main characteristic of literature as an aesthetic art.

Susan Lange pointed out: "Artworks are emotions that are presented for people to appreciate. They are emotions transformed into visible or audible forms."

Ancient China has always attached great importance to the emotional factors in literary aesthetics. Zhong Rong's "Preface to Poems" describes it this way: "Everything touches the soul. How can it express its meaning if it is not a statement, and how can it express its emotion if it is not a long song." (These kinds of feelings sent to my heart are not poetry. What should I do? ? Expanding, its meaning is not Brother Cheng. How should I express my feelings?)

The specific expression of literary emotion in literary activities has various forms. It can be yearning for beautiful things, or criticizing ugly phenomena, etc. The forms of expression are different, but they must show true emotions and cannot complain without reason.

Although aesthetic activities mainly correspond to the human emotional field, in fact many beautiful things as art involve cognition and morality, and are creative activities under the guidance of certain ideological concepts. Therefore, they are the interaction between intuition and cognition, emotion and rationality. Unite.

The reason why literature is beautiful lies in the perceptibility of its images. The artistic value of literary works is also mainly condensed in the vivid literary images of operas created by writers.

This image characteristic of literature is particularly vivid when compared with philosophy and science. Philosophy mainly uses concepts, and science mainly uses theorems and formulas to reflect events abstractly. Literature reflects the objective and subjective world with perceptual and concrete artistic images.

This can be clearly reflected from the comparison of literary images with various daily artificial graphics (drawings, picture models, etc. that we can see imitating reality in reality.). The artistic image of literature contains richer and deeper connotations than the concrete perceptible images of everyday model images. (vivid and full of meaning)

Real images in life are the living material of literary images. But the difference is that literary images are products created by the writer's mind. It is the crystallization of highly creative spiritual activities. The writer's artistic atmosphere, emotional attitude, personality, social ideals, etc. can be put into it.

(1) Transcendence of the relationship between man and nature.

(2) Transcendence of the real relationship between people and society (Real life is always dominated by social relationships, and literary aesthetics enable people to escape the constraints of social relationships in their imagination. Achieve spiritual transcendence.)

(3) Transcendence of the human self (literary aesthetics is the free activity of the soul, and various spiritual elements of the aesthetic subject combine with each other to produce spiritual pleasure)