《悲剧心理学》的成就与启示

《悲剧心理学》是我国悲剧理论史上的一座重要里程碑，朱光潜在书中自如穿梭于西方各大理论流派之间，以一个中国学者特有的眼光，提出不少至今仍然很有价值的见解。朱光潜对悲剧理论的最大贡献在于修正亚里士多德的“过失论”和“净化说”，不仅肯定好人受难的悲剧情节，而且引入“爱”“惋惜”等其他描述悲剧情感的重要概念。也许因为过于青睐康德的崇高理论，朱光潜对描写卑微人物被动受难的作品稍有疏忽。就德国古典理论而言，朱光潜一方面批评黑格尔的“永恒正义”论过于乐观，另一方面认为叔本华的“退让说”过于悲观。无论在人生哲学还是美学观念上，他都更倾向于介于这两者之间的尼采。可惜尼采的悲剧死亡论与史实相去甚远，导致朱光潜在同一问题上出现偏差。尽管如此，尼采和朱光潜将悲剧与文化价值进行连接的尝试，依旧对后人的研究很有启发。

The Psychology of Tragedy (1933) by Zhu Guangqian is a monumental work in the history of Chinese theories of tragedy. Written from the unique perspective of a Chinese scholar and moving with ease among major Western theories of tragedy, its author had raised therein a good number of great insights that are still valid today. Zhu Guangqians greatest contribution to the theory of tragedy lies in his modification of Aristotles theories of “catharsis” and “hamartia”, legitimating the plot of innocent suffering and introducing into the mix of tragic feelings such important concepts as love and regret. Probably due to his overemphasis on the Kantian notion of the sublime, Zhu seemed to have neglected those tragic works that depict the passive suffering of ordinary men and women. As to the three classic German philosophers, Zhu Guangqian rejected both Hegels theory of universal justice for being too optimistic and Schopenhauers theory of resignation for being too pessimistic. Zhus overall outlook on life and his aesthetic theory in particular find a close ally in Nietzsche who combined the ideas of his two German predecessors. Nietzsche, of course, erred miserably in his pronouncement on the death of tragedy in ancient Greece, and this had a negative impact on Zhu Guangqian in his own elaborations of the subject. Nevertheless, their similar effort to connect tragic art with cultural values constituted a great inspiration to later scholars.