What are the similarities and differences between romantic literature and realistic literature?

The historical tradition of combining realism with romanticism

As two basic creative methods in the history of literature, realism and romanticism have their own characteristics and strengths. They reflect social life from different angles and in different ways, which makes many works with different characteristics, styles and colors appear in ancient literature, enriching the literary treasure house and meeting people's diverse artistic appreciation needs.

In the history of literary development, realism and romanticism are two different creative methods, but they are often linked and combined, not unrelated, mutually exclusive or incompatible.

In the era when the reactionary exploiting classes dominated, there was a contradiction between the people's progressive ideal and the dark social reality. Many writers can't find the social forces and the right way to realize their ideals in their lives, so when they reflect on their lives, they often either focus on exposing the darkness of reality or "prefer to abandon reality and take fantasies and dreams." This is the social and historical reason for the formation of realism and romanticism. However, we should also see that as far as the overall process of historical development is concerned, ideal and reality are unity of opposites. Even in the old society, the dark reality itself aroused people's desire for beautiful ideals, and then guided and inspired people to participate in the struggle to change reality, and then realized people's ideals to varying degrees. Without ideals, there will be no struggle to change reality, and there will be no real revolutionary practice to promote social progress. Therefore, reality and ideal are often unified in the practice of people's revolution. This is the realistic basis that realism and romanticism are often linked together. In the old society, although many writers were far away from the people's struggle, many writers were influenced by the people's struggle to varying degrees, and reflected this struggle with their own works, or expressed the people's wishes and desires to change the status quo to varying degrees. In the history of literature, many works reflecting people's struggles and aspirations often combine realism and romanticism to varying degrees. This is true of Shuo in the Book of Songs, Yuefu folk song Peacock Flying Southeast, opera Dou Eyuan and Peony Pavilion. There are many folklores, such as the story of Yang Jiajiang, the story of Liang Zhu, the story of the legend of White Snake, etc. Both have the spirit of combining realism with romanticism. Especially in the era when the social revolutionary movement is in the ascendant, such as the Renaissance, Enlightenment and bourgeois revolution in Europe, or the May 4th Movement in China, literature, realism and romanticism at that time are often closely linked, and the works of writers involved in the revolutionary vortex or impacted by the revolutionary wave are often a combination of realism and romanticism. This is true of Pushkin in Russia and later revolutionary democratic writers, as well as Lu Xun and Guo Moruo in China.

As far as the writer's subjective aspect is concerned, no progressive writer has no ideal. No matter Qu Yuan, Li Bai, Guan Hanqing, Tang Xianzu, Wu Cheng'en, Du Fu, Bai Juyi, Kong, Cao Xueqin and so on. As far as their positive and serious attitude towards society is concerned, they are all realists and as far as their tireless pursuit of ideals is concerned, they are all idealists. In terms of creative methods, as mentioned above, some writers either focus on depicting typical pictures of real life or eulogize their enthusiasm for ideals. But there are also some writers who combine the typical picture of reality with the ideal realm in the same work. This combination may not be organic yet. However, there is no denying that some works are well combined, such as Yuan and Peony Pavilion, which are examples of the combination of realism and romanticism in China classical literature. In the long history of literature, many writers and works are really difficult to be simply classified as realism or romanticism. As Gorky said, there are many great writers in history. "When he said-are they romantics or realists-it is difficult for us to be completely correct. On great artists, realism and romanticism seem to be combined forever. Gorky further affirmed: "This confluence of romanticism and realism is a prominent feature of China's excellent literature, which endows our literature with that kind of originality and strength that is increasingly obvious and profoundly affecting the world literature. "(2) Not only Gorky's point of view, but also Schiller's On Simple Poetry and Sentimental Poetry mentioned earlier mentioned that only when simple poetry and sentimental poetry are closely combined can we produce works that meet the" real aesthetic standards ". The above examples show that the combination of realism and romanticism to some extent is not unique in the history of Chinese and foreign literature. In other words, there are many excellent works in history, which often combine realism and romanticism to varying degrees. Of course, in most cases. The creative methods used in literary works are all focused, such as realism and romanticism. This situation is closely related to the writer's time, personal life experience, creative personality and style, and also related to the theme and genre they choose. There are many reasons, which need specific analysis.

In the history of literature, many writers and critics in ancient China have also done a lot of research and exploration on the situation that realism and romanticism are intertwined or combined to varying degrees. Their exposition of the issues of emptiness and reality in literary creation is very enlightening for us to understand the combination of realism and romanticism. China ancient critics often used "emptiness" and "reality" to express two different methods and styles, represented by Li Bai and Du Fu respectively. Many outstanding writers and critics have realized that emptiness and reality can and should be combined, and both Li Bai and Du Fu can combine emptiness and reality. Tu Long in the Ming Dynasty said: "Gu's poems are empty and real, empty and real, empty and real, real and empty, and wrong, how can they be clues! But the right side is real and the left side is empty. It is said that Du Li's advantages and disadvantages lie in the distinction between reality and reality. What? " It can be said that the author has come into contact with the problem of close relationship between realism and romanticism, although he did not use the words realism and romanticism. Regarding the inseparable relationship between ideal and reality, Wang Guowei once put forward a sentence in modern times: "Where there are conditions, there are conditions. This ideal is differentiated from the realism school. However, it is quite difficult to distinguish the two. The realm created by great poets. It must conform to nature and the writing environment must be adjacent to the ideal. " ①

The tradition of combining realism with romanticism is especially worth cherishing, because combining them can reflect the times more deeply, fully and comprehensively, and it will be more diversified in artistic forms, which often has greater artistic appeal and appeal to readers. Guan Hanqing's The Case of Dou E's Injustice truly reflects the dark reality of the Yuan Dynasty, fully demonstrates the injustice and final justice of the wronged Dou E, and deeply touches millions of readers in Qian Qian. When the author reveals reality, he is full of strong love and hate, and his description of characters and their relationship with reality is full of ideals and enthusiasm. Before the execution, Dou E issued an impassioned curse to the dark society: "Those who do good will live a short life in poverty, while those who do evil will live a rich life": "What is land, regardless of good or bad? Oh, my God, what you said is both smart and stupid! " This ruthless disclosure aroused great anger among people; This earth-shattering voice of resistance has given readers a strong infection and great encouragement.

The tradition of interweaving realism and romanticism in China's classical literature is as long as the history of literature. From myth to modernity, this tradition has been enriched and developed, and its specific manifestations in literary creation are varied. These still need to be carefully studied and summarized. This historical tradition of interweaving realism and romanticism will inevitably undergo fundamental changes on the basis of new reality and thought when it develops into the era of proletarian revolution and socialist construction. After 1942, under the guidance of the literary policy of serving the workers, peasants and soldiers, some excellent works were produced, such as the long poem Wang Gui and Li Xiangxiang, the opera White-haired Girl, and the novel The Tempest. Some of them have obvious tendency of revolutionary realism, while others have obvious tendency of revolutionary romanticism. Others have the characteristics of revolutionary realism and revolutionary romanticism. This just shows that, in the direction of literature and art serving the workers, peasants and soldiers, writers armed with Marxist-Leninist world outlook have begun to explore the creative methods required by the new situation of China revolution. After the national liberation, China entered a historical period of socialist revolution and socialist construction. In this new historical period, with the fundamental changes in the social system, people's social status and mental outlook have also undergone fundamental changes. They work and build. No longer for a few exploiting classes, but to create their own happy life and realize their ideals. Although there are still twists and turns on the road ahead, and even serious setbacks will be encountered, twists and turns and setbacks have educated the people and strengthened their determination to work hard to realize the revolutionary ideal. Because, they know that every concrete and practical work is a ladder to a great ideal. In such a society, there is no longer irreconcilable contradiction between ideal and reality, but can be consistent through revolutionary practice. Building a modern socialist power and realizing the socialist ideal are gradually realized in every practical work and become an indispensable force to inspire people to move forward. In this case, the people's ideological and spiritual productivity has also been liberated. The spiritual shackles imposed on them by private ownership for thousands of years are being gradually broken. The working people are full of confidence and pride in their own strength and the future of the revolution, because they are aware of their status as masters. Therefore, it showed unprecedented heroism and carried forward a high degree of revolutionary heroism and initiative in the process of building socialism.