ABSTRACT
I don’t believe that to critique is to judge. To call a literary critic a judge in the courtroom is less accurate than to call him a scientific analyst. To be “scientific,” a literary critic needs to be fair. To be an analyst, a literary critic needs insight into an author and a literary work. A writer is not a criminal, and his writing is far from a criminal activity. Treating his object as an enemy, even under presumption of innocence, a respectable judge must withhold sympathy, because law does not tolerate sympathy. Ouyang Xiu from the Song Dynasty thought that heavenly rule was no other than human compassion, but his view was similar to what ordinary people think, not the attitude of a true legalist. Indeed, in literature, in terms of the fruition of human mind and soul, who gives us the authority to make decisions of life and death? A critic must first acknowledge the existence of human nature, accept the possibilities of all kinds of activities of the human mind and soul, and therefore the most precious freedom of the human race. Only after that will he be able to complete his mission as a literary critic.
