Literary reading in the context of media culture

Abstract

1980年代中国曾掀起文学阅读的高潮，但从1990年代始，文学阅读则进入一个缓 慢的衰退期，新世纪以来，其衰退步伐进一步加快。在文学阅读式微的过程中，新 媒介扮演着重要角色，其影响主要体现在：因文字转换成图像，接受者的感知结构得 以重塑；因读屏代替了读书，阅读过程的沉思冥想无法启动。同时，新媒介还破坏了 “孤独”的阅读状态，削平了接受的深度模式。从媒介文化角度看，文学阅读的式微 是印刷文化遭到视觉文化重创后的结果，但由于新一代人已生活在视觉文化的环境 中，他们游离于文学阅读将变得在所难免。此种阅读状况既会影响文学生产也会波及 文学研究。而守护文学阅读并抵制新媒介的人，其私人记忆、感知结构甚至身体习惯 恰恰是被印刷文化建构而成的。因此，游离或守护文学阅读的背后，其实隐含的是一 种媒介文化的冲突。 关键词: 新媒介 文学阅读 式微 印刷文化 视觉文化 Literary reading reached its peak in China in the 1980s. From the 1990s on, however, it underwent a slow decline which has gained speed in the new century. The new media have played an important role in the process of its decline. Their influence is mainly seen in the reshaping of the receiver's perceptual structure because of the change from text to image and in the lack of stimulus to reflection and thought because of the change from page to screen. At the same time, the new media have broken down the “solitary” state of reading and lessened the depth of the reception model. From the perspective of media culture, the decline of literary reading is a result of the serious damage inflicted upon print culture by visual culture. The new generation is already living in an environment of visual culture; they will inevitably drift away from literary reading. This will have an impact on both production and research in literature. The private memory, perceptual structure and even bodily habits of those who preserve literary reading and resist the new media are precisely those established by print culture. Therefore, behind the clash between preserving and forsaking literary reading lies a clash between different media cultures.