From "beauty and censure" to "venting indignation": the evolutionary trajectory and discourse system construction of the "indignant censure" spirit in Chinese literary theory
从“美刺”到“发愤”—中国文论中“怨刺”精神的嬗变轨迹与话语体系建构

摘要

“怨刺”精神作为中国古代文论的核心范畴，经历了从《诗经》的政治劝谏到李贽启蒙批判的复杂嬗变。本文通过梳理先秦至晚明代表性文献，结合社会政治语境与文论话语互动，揭示“怨刺”理论的三重转型逻辑：周汉时期的政教规劝体系、魏晋至唐宋的个体抒愤范式、宋明以降的道德批评与启蒙转向。研究指出，“怨刺”精神通过突破儒家诗教边界，完成了从集体话语到个体觉醒的范式转换，不仅塑造了中国文学的批判性基因，更构建了“伦理—情感—主体”三位一体的文论话语体系。系统梳理其理论演进轨迹，有助于揭示中国文论的内在逻辑，并为当代文学批评提供历史参照。

Abstract

As a core category of ancient Chinese literary theory, the spirit of "indignant censure" has undergone a complex evolution from political persuasion in The Book of Songs to the enlightenment critique of Li Zhi. This paper, by examining representative documents from the pre-Qin period to the late Ming Dynasty, and analyzing the interaction between social-political contexts and literary discourse, reveals the threefold transformation logic of the "indignant censure" theory: the political and educational persuasion system of the Zhou and Han dynasties, the individual venting paradigm from the Wei, Jin, Tang, and Song dynasties, and the moral criticism and enlightenment turn from the Song and Ming dynasties onwards. The study points out that by breaking through the boundaries of Confucian poetic teachings, the spirit of "indignant censure" completed a paradigm shift from collective discourse to individual awakening, which not only shaped the critical gene of Chinese literature but also constructed a trinity discourse system of "ethics-emotion-subject” in literary theory. Systematically analyze its theoretical evolution trajectory helps to reveal the internal logic of Chinese literary theory and provides a historical reference for contemporary literary criticism.