Emphasizing that aesthetic research should focus on the key dimension of "pleasure", this paper explores the understanding and insights of "pleasure" in different periods of Western literary history, forming a theoretical chain. The article analyzes the mixture of pleasure and negative emotions, their relationship with literary forms and reading, and points out that the basic meaning of the term "aesthetics" is "perception" and "sensitivity". The aesthetic process involves perception, insight, and judgment, which is different from rational and moral judgment. Aesthetics "and" pleasure "are two complementary keywords in aesthetics, focusing on visual and mental aspects respectively. A deep understanding of the complexity of "pleasure" can help enrich our understanding of "beauty".

Several Perspectives from Ancient Greece to Romanticism

Aristotle regarded pleasure as a characteristic of literature in his Poetics, believing that artistic representation of reality can generate pleasure, which is achieved through the purification of tragedy and the complexity of plot. Horace proposed in "The Art of Poetry" that poetry should be both enjoyable and educational, emphasizing the dual purposes of aesthetics and ethics in literature. Sidney reinterpreted Horace's principles in his "Poetic Debates," viewing poetry as a carrier of divinity and emphasizing its role in organizing knowledge and enhancing the mind. Wordsworth proposed in the Preface to the Lyrical Ballad that the pleasure of poetry comes from the poet's perception of the similarities and differences within different things, emphasizing the importance of the poet's genius and subjective poetics.

The coexistence of a mixture of pleasure and negative emotions

Explored the phenomenon of the coexistence of aesthetic pleasure and negative emotions. Aristotle believed that the reproduction of ugliness and displeasure in reality through art can generate pleasure, and the classic question in literary history, "Why does tragedy bring pleasure," also reflects this paradox. Kemed proposed in the Tanner lecture that the pleasure experienced when reading classic works is complex and different from simple pleasure. The painful content portrayed in classic works such as King Lear, Moby Dick, and The Brothers Karamazov can create shock, inspiration, and even a sense of nobility in the hearts of audiences or readers due to the power of poetry. The conflict between the weaknesses of characters and social forces in popular literature can also generate a sense of touching or enlightening pleasure. Taking Wordsworth's poem "Determination and Self Reliance" as an example, Kermode illustrates that in his conversations with impoverished elderly people, although the poet's heart was heavy, he gained enlightenment on life, resilience, and humanity, and felt happy. Keats referred to the ability to transform negative emotions into pleasure in literature and art as the 'negative ability', which means that people can immerse themselves in uncertainty, mystery, and doubt without rushing to seek truth and reason. Freud focused on the repressed relapse in the unconscious, believing that the expression of negative emotions in literature and art is more diverse and abundant than in reality. Excellent literature inevitably expresses instability within stability, forming tension and strong infectiousness.

Three pleasures and literary forms

Explored the challenge of modernist literature to the subjective poetics of romanticism, emphasizing the core position of literary form in aesthetic pleasure. Eliot proposed that poets should desalinate personality and re integrate traditional essence through literary form. Both American New Criticism and Russian Formalism focus on the relationship between literary form and aesthetic perception. Among them, Shklovsky proposed the concept of "estrangement" of literary language, believing that prolonged perception is the source of aesthetic pleasure. Harvard University professor Wendell conducted in-depth research on literary pleasure and believed that poetic pleasure originates from various factors such as phonology, rhetoric, and structure, involving argumentation, wisdom, emotional resonance, and self discovery. She emphasizes the diversity of poetic forms and the richness of pleasure in reading, reminding readers to understand and appreciate poetry according to its own setting.

Four pleasures and reading

Explored the interactive relationship between poets, literary works, and readers, which is the key to generating aesthetic pleasure and is known as the "trinity of poetry". The article analyzes three different theoretical models: romanticism, formalism, and reader response theory, each emphasizing one aspect of the three, but none can explain aesthetic pleasure alone. Bart's viewpoint was specifically mentioned, advocating for the relativization of the relationship between the author, reader, and critic, but at the same time belittling the role of the author, forming a new binary opposition. Bart's theory has been criticized for ignoring the traditional consensus of literary taste and using sexual physiology as a metaphor for aesthetic pleasure, which goes against the premise of aesthetics. The chapter also mentions similar theories in drama studies, emphasizing the collusion between the audience, playwright, and actors. Finally, through Ms. Mead's article in The New Yorker, the multifaceted pleasure brought by reading is demonstrated, including challenges, expanded abilities, empathy, knowledge acquisition, and the pleasure of participating in larger conversations. The article emphasizes that aesthetic research is a continuous dialogue that requires attention to these pleasurable discussions to avoid incomplete or inaccurate understanding of beauty.