Section Two the Functions of Literature
文學，作為一種極其重要的理念而出現，是一種被賦予了多種功能的人類精神財富，在促進真正的人類文明中起著非常重要的作用。它至少起著下列作用：
Literature， emerged as an extremely important idea， is a special kind of human spirit wealth chargedwith many sorts of functions and plays a very important role in promoting the real civilization of human being.
It， at least， performs the following functions：
1．我們應該把文學所有的錯綜性和多樣性看成一種由來已久的社會實踐和機製，這種機製的基礎是你能說出你想象得到的任何事情。不論什麼正統思想、什麼信仰、什麼價值觀，文學都可以想象出各種不同的、怪異荒誕的虛構故事來嘲笑它，戲仿它。文學一直具有通過虛構而超越前人所想所寫的東西的可能性，如《西遊記》因為在譏諷和戲仿的語境中使用了神聖的名字和主題而引起了軒然大波。任何看似合乎情理的東西，文學都可以使其變得荒謬不堪，都可以超越它， 都可以用一種向其合理性和充分性提出質疑的方式改變它。通過與那些人類智慧啟迪者的思想和言語進行交流，我們的心與整個人類的感情合奏一個節拍。在人類憂慮、經營和爭吵的低級生活的煙霧和動蕩之上，在一片喧囂和混亂之上有一個清澈而又明亮的地方，那就是真、善、美存在的地方，所有人都在那裏相會，並以同樣的方式交談。
因此可以說，一切優秀的文學都在宣揚與體現人的規律，都在歌頌和傳播著真、善、美，從而不斷促進真正的人類文明。
1. We should note all the complexity and diversity of literature as a long social practice and institutionbased on the possibility of saying anything you can imagine. For any orthodoxy， any belief， any value， aliterary work imagine some different and monstrous fictions to mock it and parody it. Literature has possessedthe possibility of fictionally exceeding what has previously been thought and written， for example， Journeyto the West which has caused so much outrage for its use of sacred names and motifs in a context of satireand parody. For anything that seemed to make sense， literature could make it nonsense， go beyond it， andtransform it in a way that raised the question of its legitimacy and adequacy. By converse with the thoughtsand utterances of those who are intellectual leaders of the race， our heart comes to beat in accord with thefeeling of universal humanity. Above the smoke and stir， the din and turmoil of man’s lower life of care，business and debate， there is a serene and luminous region of truth， goodness and beauty where all may meetand expatiate in common. Therefore， it may be said that all good literature preaches and embodies humanlaw， praises and spreads truth， goodness and beauty， and consequently keeps promoting the real civilizationof human being.
2．一部文學作品，比如《哈姆雷特》，就其特點而言，是一個虛構人物的故事，而這個故事本身又在某些方麵具有代表性（不然，你為什麼想讀它呢），但同時它拒絕界定那個有代表性的領域或範圍——正因為如此，讀者和批評家們才能如此輕鬆自如地談論文學的“普遍性”。正是文學作品的這種結構才使我們比較容易把它們看做是在普遍意義上向我們講述“人類境況”，而不是局限在它們所描述或者說明的具體範疇之內。《哈姆雷特》僅僅是關於王子的故事嗎？僅僅是描述文藝複興時期人物的故事嗎？或者僅僅是有關喜歡內省的年輕人的故事？僅僅是關於那些父親死因不明的人們的故事？既然所有這些都不是令人滿意的答案，所以對讀者來說，還是不回答更容易些，因此便默認了它的普遍性。我們中國讀者，正如世界各國的讀者一樣，可以用不同的方式，在不同的層次上把《哈姆雷特》與真實的世界聯係起來。我們發現《哈姆雷特》的故事與我國《西遊記》中烏雞國太子的故事非常相似，為什麼呢？通過比較《哈姆雷特》和《西遊記》生成的時代背景、作家的生平和作品的主題，不難看出英國人莎士比亞和中國人吳承恩對人性、人的生死和人生意義的認識相同。由此可見，文學可以促進國際交流，避免因語言文化差異而引起的誤會或矛盾衝突，從而起到維護或保持世界和平的作用。
2．A literary work， for instance， Hamlet， is characteristically the story of a fictional character： itpresents itself as in some way exemplary (why else would you read it？) but it simultaneously declines todefine the range or scope of that exemplarity—hence the ease with which readers and critics come to speakabout the“universality”of literature. The structure of literary works is such that it is easier to take them astelling us about“the human condition”in general than to specify what narrower categories they describe orilluminate. Is Hamlet just about princes， or men of the Renaissance， or introspective young men， or peoplewhose fathers have died in obscure circumstances？ Since all such answers seem unsatisfactory， it is easierfor readers not to answer， thus implicitly accepting a possibility of universality. We Chinese readers， just likeall readers throughout the world， can relate Hamlet to the real world in different ways at several differentlevels. We have found that the story of Hamlet and the story of the Crown Prince of Wuji State in our Journeyto the West very much alike. Why？ By comparing the times and background of writing Hamlet with thatof writing Journey to the West， Shakespeare’s life with Wu Cheng’en’s life， the theme of Hamlet with thetheme of Journey to the West， it’s not difficult to find out the reason： the Englishman Shakespeare and theChinese Wu Cheng’en are identical in the views on human nature， the question“to be or not to be”and thesignificance of life. From here we can see that literature may promote international communication and avoidmisunderstandings or conflicts because of different languages and cultures， hence performs the function ofmaintaining or keeping the world peace.