Abstract
Primitive ritualistic activity is the matrix in which literature and art are produced. In these ritualistic activities, the concept of deities formed, and the spiritual space of the human world was then constructed, and provided the decisive condition for the primitive symbolic imagery activities to evolve into literature and art activity. In the primitive ritualistic activities, the distinction between the performers and the audience, together with the centralization, intensification and generalization of ritualistic activities, help to establish literature and art as a separate activity from those ritualistic sacred world. Devoid of the existence of the deities, the theme of literature and art become concerned with the world of "nothingness" instead of the world of "divinity," which means that the world of literature and art turns to an imaginary world of uncertainty. The world of "nothingness" inherits some threshold phenomena from the sacred world, and the orders and standards external to the world are dissolved in its nothingness and limitlessness, setting people free from them. The imaginary world of literature and art lies in the tension between the ritualistic sacred world and the world of everyday life, and despite its struggle for independence, it is still subject to the influence from both of the two worlds, thus forging its characteristics and changes.
First Page
115
Last Page
126
Recommended Citation
Ma, Dakang. 2012. "From the Sacred World of Rituals to the Imaginary World of Literature and Arts." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 32, (3): pp.115-126. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol32/iss3/6
