表现主义从来不是一个完全统一协调的运动，其成员的政治信仰和哲学观点之间存在着很大的差异。但他们大都受康德哲学、柏格森的直觉主义和弗洛伊德精神分析学的影响，强调反传统，不满于社会现状，要求改革，要求“革命”。在创作上，他们不满足于对客观事物的摹写，要求进而表现事物的内在实质；要求突破对人的行为和人所处的环境的描绘而揭示人的灵魂；要求不再停留在对暂时现象和偶然现象的记叙而展示其永恒的品质。它在诗歌、小说和戏剧领域都产生了一批有影响的作家和作品。其诗歌的主题多为厌恶都市的喧嚣，或暴露大城市的混乱、堕落和罪恶，充满了隐逸的伤感情绪或是对“普遍的人性”的宣扬。它的特点是不重视细节的描写，只追求强有力地表现主观精神和内心激情。代表人物有奥地利的特拉克尔和德国的海姆、贝恩等。其小说的人物和故事都是现实生活的异乎寻常的变形或扭曲，用以揭示工业社会的异化现象和人失去自我的严重的精神危机。代表人物有奥地利的卡夫卡等。其戏剧内容荒诞离奇，结构散乱，场次之间缺少逻辑联系，情节变化突兀，生与死、梦幻与现实之间没有明确的界线 。多用简短、快速、高声调、强节奏的冗长的内心独白来表现人物的思想感情。同时也大量运用灯光、音乐、假面等来补充语言的效果。代表人物有瑞典的斯特林堡、德国的托勒尔、美国的奥尼尔、捷克的恰佩克、英国的杜肯、衣修午德以及爱尔兰的奥凯西等。

表现主义这个词一般用来描述19世纪末、20世纪初德国反对学弗兰茨·马尔克的《林中鹿》术传统的绘画和制图风格，它是20世纪初至30年代盛行于欧美一些国家文学艺术流派。第一次世界大战后在德国和奥地利流行最广。它首先出现于美术界，后来在音乐、文学、戏剧以及电影等领域得到重大发展。
表现主义一词最初是1901年在法国巴黎举办的马蒂斯画展上茹利安·奥古斯特·埃尔维一组油画的总题名，用来与自然派和印象派相区别。
1911年希勒尔在《暴风》杂志上刊登文章，首次用“表现主义”一词来称呼柏林的先锋派作家。
1914年后，表现主义一词逐渐为人们所普遍承认和采用。
在德国1905年组织的桥社、1909年成立的青骑士社等表现主义社团崛起。它们的美学目标和艺术追求与法国的野兽主义相似，只是带有浓厚的北欧色彩与德意志民族传统的特色。表现主义受工业科技的影响，表现物体静态的美。
尼采通过对古风艺术的批评在表现主义形成的过程中起了一个疏导和关键的作用。在他的《悲剧的诞生》中，尼采将古代艺术分为两类，阿波罗式的艺术是理智、秩序、规则和文雅的艺术；狄俄尼索斯式的艺术是恶毒、混乱和疯狂的艺术。阿波罗式的艺术代表着理智的理想，而狄俄尼索斯式的艺术则来自于人的潜意识。这两种艺术形式与代表它们的神一样：两者都是神的儿子，互不相容，又无法区分。尼采认为任何艺术作品都包含这两种形式。表现主义的基本特征是狄俄尼索斯式的：鲜艳的颜色、扭曲的形式、绘画技巧上漫不经心、平面、缺乏透视、基于感觉，而不基于理智。
广义地说表现主义是指任何表现内心感情的艺术。当然所有的艺术品都表现艺术家的感情，但是有些作品尤其强调和表达艺术家的内心感情。尤其在社会动乱的时期这样的作品尤其常见，而在欧洲历史上从15世纪开始这样的动乱时常重复：宗教改革、德国农民战争、八年战争等等，所有这些动乱和压迫均在印刷作品中留下了其痕迹。虽然这些作品一般从艺术角度不引人注目，但是它们通过它们所描述的恐怖始终能够在其观众中引起强烈的感情。

表现主义先驱：斯特林堡（1849——1912）[瑞典]代表作《鬼魂奏鸣曲》（1907）把梦魇，鬼魂搬上舞台，让死尸、幻影、亡魂、活人同时登场。被称为表现主义文学源头。
表现主义小说代表：弗兰茨·卡夫卡（1883——1924）[奥地利]。他是个生前无闻身后成名的人，善用象征、夸张、变形的艺术手法来揭示现代社会所面临的困境和“现代人的困惑”。作品情节荒诞不经却蕴涵深意。代表作：《变形记》（Die Verwandlung）
表现主义戏剧代表：尤金·奥尼尔（1888——1953）[美国]，主要代表作：《毛猿》（1917）、《琼斯皇》（1920），曾经先后四次获得美国普利策奖1936年，以“体现了传统悲剧概念的剧作所具有的魅力，真挚和深沉的激情”而获得诺贝尔文学奖。是美国当代戏剧的奠基者。
表现主义绘画代表：挪威的蒙克代表作《呐喊》，俄国康定斯基代表作组画《秋》、《冬》、《乐曲》、《即兴曲》、《构图2号》等。 格罗斯代表作：《夜》，《壕沟战》，《启程》。
表现主义音乐代表：阿诺尔德·勋伯格（Amold Schoenberg，1874—1951年），美籍奥地利作曲家、音乐教育家和音乐理论家，是二十世纪著名的现代音乐作曲家之一，“表现主义”乐派的主要代表人物。主要作品有：交响诗《光明之夜》、《佩列阿斯与梅丽桑德》、《室内交响曲》、歌剧《期望》以及为朗诵、男声合唱和乐队而写的《一个华沙的幸存者》。此外还有几首弦乐四重奏和许多钢琴、声乐作品等。

表现主义运动是在反传统的思潮中兴起的，在创作方法上它背弃了十九世纪前在欧洲长期占统治地位的“模仿论”或“反映论”美学，而崇尚“表现论”美学，也就是说，创作不再是描摹客观世界的过程，而是主观情感、意象幻想的表达，出于“内在的需要”。尽管表现主义者的创作主张和表现方法各有不同，但从主观、自我出发这一大前提则是共同的。同时，这一倾向与当时在欧洲盛行的尼采悲剧美学、柏格森的生命哲学和弗洛伊德的精神分析学发生交汇，形成了一种新颖奇诡的审美形态和艺术特征，具体说来，大致可以概括为以下几点：
A、强烈的激情。除了少数“为艺术而艺术”的鼓吹者外，多数表现主义者都把创作当作表达他们个人的反抗情绪的手段，或者说当作倾泻内心情感的突破口。卡夫卡说，创作乃是“内心世界向外部的巨大推进。”本世纪最有影响的表现主义作曲家勋伯格也认为：“一件艺术作品，只有当他把作者内心中的激荡的感情传达给听众的时候，它才能产生最大的效果，才能由此引起听众内心感情的激荡。”[①]被认为是本世纪艺术理论奠基者的俄国人康定斯基概括得更扼要：艺术是“内在需要的外在表现。”[②]不过，对表现主义的艺术特征概括得既扼要又形象的，当推德国文艺批评家赫尔曼的这句话：“灵魂的呼唤。[③]这可以说是表现主义的最基本的特征。呐喊，既是表现者的“内在需要”，又是他们的“行动”表现。表现主义作家玛·苏斯曼写道：“我们要行动，要发挥作用，要改变现状，怎么着手呢？只有一件事！我们只能呐喊，竭尽全力地用我们那可怜的、窒息得要死的人声呐喊，喊的声音盖过正在发生的事件的可怕的喧嚣声，喊得让人们、让上帝听到我们的声音。[④]但这不是一般的喊叫，而是大难临头时的垂死挣扎似的凄厉的叫喊。韦尔弗当年在为他的同仁卡尔·布兰特的遗著写的序言中写道：“你的遗训？——是一阵急促的、大声的呐喊，是一个被追逐得气喘吁吁的人在被压在一所房子的门下，自以为还有片刻的安全的人发出的呐喊。”[⑤]因此这种变态的呐喊对于表现主义者与其说是“内在需要”，毋宁说是一种美学追求，为的是把“巨大的、包容一切的感情”和思想传达给读者，以取得惊世骇俗的效果。早期是表现主义者的德国大诗人贝歇尔说：“在神魂颠倒中紧张地张大嘴巴。”这可谓表现主义的自画像。当时以“呐喊”作为剧名、诗名、小说名以及画名的相当普遍（我认为当年鲁迅把他的第一本小说集题为《呐喊》都跟这一思潮有关）。于是，像贝歇尔有的诗一连串的排句和惊叹号到底，就不奇怪了，甚至有的戏剧如施特拉拇的《力》全部是惊叹句的对话，也可以理解了！无论哪种体裁，追求力度感、运动感和节奏感都是共同的。为了达到强烈的艺术效果，手法上好用扭曲的线条、异常的色彩、急促的节奏、酷烈的画面，对比强烈的反差，等等，正如表现主义理论家埃德施密特所说的，在表现主义者的笔下，“感情得到无限的扩张。”[⑥]
B、再造“世界图像”。既然“模仿论”遭到抛弃，那么创作就不能像以往的方法那样去写了。表现主义作家A·沃尔夫施坦说：“艺术与生活的统一将不再像以往时代那样由自然决定艺术的方式去达到。”埃德施密特有句名言：“世界就存在在这里，仅仅再现它是毫无意思的。”怎么办呢？他的回答是：“必须创造一个新的世界图像”，他甚至认为“重新创造乃是艺术的最伟大任务。”[⑦]因为，一般表现主义者都认为，真理是主观的。按照另一位表现主义理论家品图斯的说法，艺术“不是现实，而是精神”。这就是说，艺术作品是作家主观的产物，作家根据自己对外部世界的观察、体验、认识和想象，重新构想一个能表达他认为是精神实质的世界模样来。卡夫卡也说过，他的作品“仅仅是图像”，甚至是他
自己的“象形文字”。因此，对于表现主义作家来说，创作就意味着把他的感情或激情转化为幻象，这幻象便是作家“内在需要的外在表现”，或者说是作家内心体验的外部投影。凯瑟认为，这种再造的世界图像的幻象必须成为作品的基础。这一创作信条直到二次大战后，仍被不少西方作家奉行着。例如，著名瑞士作家迪伦马特就认为，戏剧表演就是“呈示一个世界图像”。但构想这样一个图像并不是轻而易举的事情，对迪伦马特来说，他必须把素材“捣碎”，让其“发酵”、酝酿，从而使其变为另一种形态的东西，一种“非形象的形象”。
C．抽象的概括。这是哲学广泛渗入文学的结果，这一现象始于象征主义运动，表现主义继续加以发扬，进行更自觉的、更广泛的追求。这也是对自然主义运动热衷于琐碎的描写的一种反拨。托马斯·曼曾指出：1914至1923年的“世界性历史转折”以空前力量使当代人尖锐地意识到认识时代的必要，“这个过程消除了科学和艺术的界限，把新鲜的活的血液输入了抽象的思维中，使鲜明的形象获得了灵魂，创造出一种特殊种类的作品，这种作品……不妨称之为理智小说。”[⑧]也就是哲理小说，诗歌和戏剧也不例外，尤其是后者。二十年代后期到三十年代初期，几乎所有的德国戏剧流派的作品，其共同特征都是哲理化的加强。皮兰德娄说：“他们之所以写剧本，是因为感到一种深刻的精神上的需要……更确切地说，这是一些富有哲学意味的的作家。不幸的是，我就是这样的作家。”[⑨]布莱希特说得更干脆：“戏剧成了哲学家的事情了……也就是说，戏剧被哲理化了，含有教诲意义了。”[⑩]因此德国马克思主义文艺评论家汉斯·考夫曼指出：“艺术领域以外的大量材料渗入了文学的思想内容，艺术家需要科学。如果不考虑到作家力图把科学思想引进艺术表现的领域，并为此寻求适当的表现方式和手段，那么对二十年代文学中一些重大成就和创新因素，也就无从理解。”[11]一点不错。你看，表现主义者所强调的“精神”指的就是具有普遍性、规律性的东西。乌迪茨的这句话非常有代表性，他说，要写的“不是落下的石头，而是万有引力的定律。”品图斯则是另一种表达：“不是个人的，而是所有人所共有的东西。”表现主义作家普遍追求一种所谓“持久的艺术”，其主要标志是作品的哲学品格。陶醉于表现主义时期的德国小说家弗拉克曾告诫人们说：“要用观点来克服和代替浮面的观察”，要把观察到的事物经过沉思，“升入哲学的领域”。[12]因为只有哲学才能把握事物的“定律”，从而才能使艺术持久。但作品里如果赤裸裸讲哲学也许是失算的（事实上在某些作品中常有大段的哲学插话）。因此象征、譬喻、寓言等表现手段得到广泛的采用，这些在卡夫卡、德布林、韦尔弗、勃洛赫、穆西尔等作家的作品中者是屡见不鲜的。这里不妨引用一段苏联科学院编的《德国近代文学史》中关于这一现象的描述：“从许多作家的创作中可以看到，他们力求最大限度地缩短从观察具体的、富有鲜明形象的现实现象到做出抽象的论断和概括的过程。这样一来，往往会使情节具有哲学讽谕性质，而人物形象也作为一定政治及文化历史的思想的观念的体现，具有了第二生命。情节的哲学内容往往通过与一定历史事件，与神话和过去文学中的传统情节的互相比较，获得充分的表现。直接的内容成了某种被隐喻的更普遍的内容的模特儿。寓意性，讽喻性，双重性，象征性成为现实主义方法中风格构成上的重要因素。”[13]（这里讲的是二十年代的“现实主义”，显然，它已与传统现实主义大相径庭。实际上它们是经过与表现主义嫁接过的变种，有的根本就是表现主义作家的作品，因为不少表现主义作家也是现实主义者）。象征性、譬喻性的作品，因其喻示的对象往往不确定，因而获得双重性或多义性的意蕴，其概括性一般比叙述性作品要大。
正如托马斯·曼在谈到他的《魔山》中的人物时所说：“他们中每一个人身上的东西都比乍看之下要多，因为他们都是使者和代表者，都体现着一定的精神领域。”[14]你看托勒《转变》中写的新人成长道路就是带概括性的，人物放弃了性格典型的塑造，而代之以某种观念或感情的代号、符号，常以身份代替姓名，如司机、校长、厨师等等。时间、地点也不确定：时间——今天，地点——世界。如此等等。
D、非理性思维。
非理性思维是十九世纪下半叶开始兴起于西方的一股哲学思潮，它是对于人类有史以来，特别是资本主义制度建立以来的理性原则（包括伦理、道德、法律、宗教等）的怀疑和否定。这股哲学思潮对文学艺术创作的影响不小，它主要是由尼采的强力意志论，弗洛伊德的精神分哲学和柏格森的生命哲学汇合而成的，尼采的哲学小说《查拉图斯特拉如是说》一书最初描绘了非理性人格的形象。文学中的非理性表现手段大致有以下几种：
⑴直觉。这一理论的倡导者主要是柏格森，他认为在理性观念覆盖下的现实是不真实的，必须通过直觉的方法才能掀去这层覆盖物，从而才能揭示事物的本来面目。因为直觉乃是“生命冲动”的显现，人在这种时刻才能发现他的本体即那个“基本的自我”，而推开理性支配下的那个不真实的“寄生的自我”。因此他认为创作就是捕捉那被必然性所遮盖的瞬间出现的偶然性的过程，达到物我相融的境界，也就是达到那种自在的意识与稍纵即逝的精神之流，与难以言传的特殊感受和事物的内在生命浑然一体的地步。所以卡夫卡说：创作意味着“无限地敞开自己”，达到“灵魂裸露”、“身心交浑”状态。他的短篇小说名作《判决》、《乡村医生》等就是这种“忘我”状态的产物，尤其是前者，那根本就是“一个夜晚的魔影”，是从头天晚上至次日凌晨“一气呵成”的，以致过了五个月，在看校样的时候，才弄明白其中的人物关系。[15]因此，表现主义者强调的是瞬间的感受、想象的体验，而不是逻辑推理或分析。费歇尔有篇小说叫《脑海中闪过的一秒钟》，写一建筑工人从脚手架上摔下来的那一瞬间的思想活动和感受，这是个较为典型的例子。
⑵．意识流。这可以说是柏格森的直觉论与弗洛伊德的“潜意识论”合流的产物，它作为一种艺术表现手段，被表现主义作家自觉地引进了文艺创作之中。但在理论上明确提出这概念的是美国哲学家和心理学家威廉·詹姆斯，他在《多元化的宇宙》一书中认为，逻辑不能使他从“理论上认识现实的真正本质”，因为现实生活即使不是完全由非理性构成的，至少也是由无理性构成的。他指出“有一种分散的、串连起来的、流动型的现实。我们这些有限的人就是游动于这样的现实之中”，而“这种类型的现实是无法用逻辑来估量的”。詹姆斯的这一观点在西方文艺界被广泛接受，首先为他弟弟亨利·詹姆斯所实践。无独有偶，宣称在生活的“表面底下”“发现有一股连续不断的流”的柏格森的学说也为他的妹夫普鲁斯特所应用，并且他与爱尔兰的乔伊斯、英国的伍尔芙、美国的福克纳、奥地利的勃洛赫等成了本世纪最重要的意识流大师。
意识流写法的特点是：不按逻辑法则的规定，不受时空观念的牵制，摆脱因果关系的考虑，而遵照“心理时间”的概念，进行“放射性”的“自由联想”、闪回，或对直感、直觉的瞬间情绪进行细致入徽的状描等，故事和意念跳跃、多变，而不通过有线可循的情节来串连。乔伊斯的《尤利西斯》、勃洛赫的《维吉尔之死》等被认为是意识流小说的经典之作，但意识流在卡夫卡、德布林，韦尔弗等人笔下只是局部现象。弗洛伊德的学说曾一度引起他们的关注，但浅尝辄止。
⑶梦幻。梦幻作为一种艺术表现手段古已有之，但那多半都是在理性范围被使用的。梦幻的非理性审美价值在表现主义中作为现代美学原则提了出来。尼采于1871年写成的美学著作《悲剧的诞生》中，把艺术的渊源归纳为“日神”和“酒神”二元系统。而“日神”管辖的是“幻象”领域，即“梦的美丽世界”。尼采称梦是“一切造型艺术的前提”，“也是诗的（泛指文学创作――引者）重要部分”，是“诗人（泛指作家――引者）的灵感秘密”之所在。不久，梦的意义在弗洛伊德那里又得到心理学上的论证：梦乃是人的潜意识的一种活动形态。这两位思想家的观点给了表现主义创作及其美学以很大的影响。从此，梦境经历不仅是作为一般的段落或插曲形式在作品中出现，而且成了整个作品的题材或素材。最早起来响应的是斯特林堡，他于1902年就写了以梦为内容的《梦幻剧》，为这一创作主张开了先河。在表现主义高潮中，这一手法使用得相当普遍。卡夫卡的小说有不少都跟梦有关，他的日记里有许多梦的记录，他的短篇小说中有一篇就叫作《梦》。超现实主义兴起以后，这一非理性的创作主张受到进一步的强调，成了这个流派的主要的美学原则。
⑷荒诞。荒诞是存在主义哲学的一种世界观，也是现代主义文学的一种审美观。作为审美观，它原于现代悲剧美学，具有悲喜剧的审美效应。在创作上，荒诞作为一种讽刺的表现手段被使用。作为一种创作倾向，这也是表现主义开的先河，而在卡夫卡那里十分突出。在他笔下往往是以细节的真实支撑主体事件的荒诞，关键的技巧是破坏某一些生活逻辑链条的环节，使中心事件变得绝对不可能。如《变形记》，除了人变虫这一环，其他人情世态有哪一处不跟现实生活一样？小说家德布林的笔下也不乏荒诞的事件，如长篇幻想小说《山、海和巨人》就是一部荒诞作品。至于作为局部手段那就更常见了。
⑸悖谬。哲学上叫“悖论”、“反论”，物理学上叫“佯谬”，即一件事物在逻辑上的自相矛盾或互相抵消，如“建设即破坏”。这也是属于悲剧美学的概念范畴，创作上作为非理性艺术表现手段之一种，如使用得当，具有强烈的悲喜剧审美效果，这一思维方法在卡夫卡那里无处不在，既体现在他的生活行为里，也表现在他的作品中。如他的短篇小说《饥饿艺术家》，主人公以饥饿为表演手段，对艺术有无限的追求，一心想达到“最高的艺术境界”，这就发生矛盾：他的艺术越高，意味着他付出的肉体损失越大。于是他的艺术达到最高境界之日，也就是他的肉体彻底毁灭之时，这是无法克服的灵与肉、精神与物质之间的矛盾。穆西尔也酷爱这一手段，他的长篇小说巨著《没有个性的人》就是贯彻这一思维方法的杰作。
以上这些所谓非理性、非逻辑的表现方法都出自理性很强、也具有逻辑思维能力的作家们的笔下。所以决不能认为那些荒诞的、或局部使用了荒诞手段的作品是无稽的呓语，相反，它们往往能启发人们从另一个透视角度去观察和思考事物。所以从某种意义上说，这种表面的非理性外衣里面，可能寓有更理性的因素。当然，非理性的作品往往是在“直觉”的状态下写出来的。但“冰冻三心，非一日之寒”，“直觉”——灵感爆发的形式的突现，也是意识长期被压抑的一种歪曲的涌流。所以，在表现主义时期虽然有一些作家对这些手段操作不太熟练，使用得不甚恰当，甚至太滥，但经过几十年的沉淀，到本世纪下半叶，它们都被证明是有效的表现手段而普遍地被作家们所接受和掌握，对于这一点，我们只要考察一下美国的“黑色幽默”小说、拉美的“魔幻现实主义”作品以及其他当代第一流的小说家如美国的索尔·贝娄、欧茨，奥地利的卡奈蒂（英籍）、联邦德国的伯尔、瑞士弗利施、意大利的莫拉维亚，日本的川端康成等等就会获得深刻的印象。
E．爱好怪诞。表现主义者心目中的世界都已被理性法则造成的人们的习俗观念所覆盖，换句话说来，在他们看来，现实的事物的人性均已被非人的力量所歪曲，事物并不是象它的表面所呈现的那么和谐、美好，人实际上已变为被动的机器，或论为失去人的尊严与价值的动物，但这不是每个人都已洞察到了的。所以他们采用了将客体加以破坏使之变形的手法来揭示这种所谓本质的真实，并引起人们的惊异、或距离感，从而使人们改变观察事物的习惯和角度，这在美学上叫“怪诞”，戏剧术语习惯称“间离法”或“陌生化技巧”、“陌生化效果”。怪诞在传统文学中，可以上溯到浪漫主义，尤其是17世纪的巴罗克艺术。但是它们与表现主义的怪诞有显著的区别。浪漫主义和巴罗克艺术虽然主观成份也相当重，但人们的世界观总体上是能够溶入习俗观念之中的，也就是不是从根本上乖离流行的价值观的。所以浪漫主义的变形是以整体上不破坏客体为前提的，可以说是一种“有限的破坏。”而表现主义的变形则往往将客体破坏得“面目全非”，是一种整体性破坏，破坏后往往呈现为“幻象”。
怪诞是一种视觉效果，原来出现于艺术作品中较多，表现主义兴起后被广泛使用于文学创作中，往往通过破坏客体的状貌或协调感而取得一种滑稽的、讽刺性的艺术效果：或者改变正常的罗辑，使之乖张；或者将美丽与丑陋、崇高与卑下等等加以对照，使之产生强烈的反差；或者将事物进行极度的夸张，使之奇特不堪，等等。卡夫卡的《变形记》大家是熟悉的，主人公由人变成了虫，是个怪诞的故事。他晚年写的两个短篇小说《饥饿艺术家》和《歌女约瑟芬或耗子民族》的主人公都是怪诞的形象（后一篇连题目都是怪诞的）。歌女约瑟芬为了在嘁嘁喳喳的鼠众中声音高过一切，使尽“浑身解数”来演唱，以致“这个纤弱的家伙，胸脯以下抖动得尤其厉害，令人不禁要为她担心，仿佛她在使出浑身解数来歌唱，仿佛她把任何一点不直接有利于歌唱的一切都舍弃了，仿佛她压根儿被榨干了，唯有善良的神灵在保护着她，当她如此付出整个身心，忘情于歌唱时，仿佛一丝儿冷风吹过都会使她一命归天似的。”在韦尔弗的笔下，常出现情绪极度紧张、混乱，内心崩溃，绝望主宰一切的人物，与此相适应，笔调节奏急促，紧张率极高，充满动感。魏德金德笔下有的女性感情极其强烈，且富有肉欲主宰力，怪得像恶魔的形象。德伯林的作品中也常出现怪诞场面，他的幻想小说《山、海、巨人》尤其典型，那里压坏的、折断的肢体纵横交错地长在一起，眼睛的窟窿变成了嘴巴，上颚和下颚各长出了一条腿。在那里，在自然界，活的和死的，有机的和无机的……谁也分辨不清。
有些基本上是写实主义的作家也常采用怪诞手法，如雷马克的《黑色方尖碑》，情节怪诞而没有中心，观察事物的视角异常特别，人物是些速写式的漫画，显然作者有意使小说所有的投影变得弯弯曲曲。在著名作家图库尔斯基那里，怪诞常常成为他嘲笑和揭露资本家的手段。
怪诞是“间离法”的重要手段，迪伦马特十分推崇这个手段，称它是一种“风格的极致”。因此它的美学品格越来越获得承认，并在现代美学中取得了一席之地。美国著名美学家桑塔耶那称怪诞是一种“重新创造”，因为它“背离了自然的可能性，而不是背离了内在的可能性。”，正因为如此，假如缺乏足够的机智和幽默感而滥用怪诞，那肯定是适得其反的。
F、追求神奇.这主要表现在故事情节中，其次细节中。既然否定了理性世界的真实性，那就只有在违背常理、常规中去寻找真实，割断因果联系的逻辑线索，这使表现主义与神秘主义涉缘。埃德施密特说：“对经验的东西进行盲目的描绘激发不起我们的兴趣，但在盲目状态下展示深度、真实和精神中的奇妙却使我们随时充满着新的兴味和感悟”。[18]德伯林的《山、海、巨人》就很典型。小说的情节假设在2700——3000年的未来幻想背景里，那时人类随着科技的巨大进步具有极大的征服自然的能力，甚至能令极地冰山溶化，但同时却引起了自然的总报复，于是意外的可怕情景出现了：埋在冰山下的无数远古生物的遗骸开始复活了起来，只见奇形怪状的活物成堆地向人走来，一路上吞食着一切……。神奇性在卡夫卡的作品里更为普遍：一个上了年岁的单身汉，突然两个乒乓球出现在寂寞中的他跟前，不停地蹦跳着（《一个上了年岁的单身汉》）；乡村医生在一个风雪之夜要出村急诊，自己的马倒毙了，焦急中突然从猪圈里奔出两匹高头大马来。（《乡村医生》）；一条绿色的巨龙去他人家拜访，爬得肚皮都磨破了，到达时却夹在门框里，怎么也挤不进去——这头巨怪一点也没有表现出它应有的力量，却只有善良人的温和的口吻《绿龙的拜访》；一个来路不明的“土地测量员”突然出现在城堡管辖下的村子里，通过村民的眼睛，我们看到的是这位主人公的神秘莫测的行径；通过主人公的眼睛，我们却看到了一个稀奇古怪的世界（《城堡》）……。
表现主义这一艺术上的特征与十九世纪初的浪漫派文学特别是德国的浪漫派文学是一脉相承的。例如在德国的后期浪漫派小说家E.T.A.霍夫曼的长篇小说《雄猫穆尔的生活观》、中篇集《谢拉皮翁兄弟们》和短篇《金罐》等作品中那种神秘莫测的古怪事件随处可见，在德国浪漫派的另两位作家克莱斯特、阿尼姆的某些作品中也有类似的现象。再往上追溯，还可以在十八世纪美国作家理查逊等人的“哥特小说”中找到渊源。
G、“多声部交响”。表现主义，就像它队伍的混杂、思想的混乱一样，在作品的艺术构成上也不是单手段、单风格的，它追求一种综合的审美效应，称为“多声部交响”。同一部作品，往往同时采用梦幻、意识流、象征、荒诞等手法。作为创作主张，恐怕当推斯特林堡提出的时间最早，他在《梦幻剧》中的序言中就有这么一段话：
作者在模仿梦境中状似逻辑、实则支离破碎的形式。无事不能发生，万事皆为可能、可信，时空界限并不存在；想象力在一个无意义的现实背景上设计、润饰崭新的图像：一个记忆、经验、自由幻想、荒谬以及即兴的大杂烩。
这种写法，表现主义戏剧多于小说，凯瑟的《从凌晨到子夜》、托勒的《转变》等都是很好的例子。但这种例子在卡夫卡的小说中却几乎找不出来，较有代表性的倒是德伯林和莱昂哈特·弗兰克的作品，他们的作品往往在叙述时突然插入梦幻，激越的语气中常出现怪诞的画面等等。表现主义高潮过去以后，他们的作品仍保留着这种特色，如弗兰克写于二十年代前期的小说《一伙强盗》和德布林写于二十年代后期的名著《柏林——亚历山大广场》等都是明显的例子。这些作品由于“多声部”音响所造成的多意象、多意蕴的内涵，令人感到它所表现的生活的晦暗不明和深不可测。
h.蒙太奇结构。表现主义为了拒绝传统的写作技巧，对一切新奇的表现手法都采取“拿来主义”，包括其他门类的艺术方法它也照搬不误，只要它认为有用的话。当时电影业正在兴起，电影的“蒙太奇”技巧令许多表现主义者为之吸引，他们很快在创作实践中加以采用，并作为作品的结构原则。德布林在1919年写的《驱除魔影》一书中，发表了这样一种观点：长篇小说的主题不应靠情节安排为基础，他认为长篇叙事作品中的各个部分和各个别场面都有其本身的独立意义，因为人类生活总是矛盾重重的，而这种矛盾的每一分钟都有它的意义。因此长篇小说的特性在于它能分割，分割开来后它们能彼此独立存在；它“应该象蚯蚓那样，切成几十段后，每一段仍能独立活动。”人们认为德布林自己的长篇小说《柏林——亚历山大广场》和美国多斯·帕索斯的《曼哈顿》（1925）可以看作是蒙太奇结构的样板。在《柏林》中，没有贯穿情节的中心事件，情节没有开头，也没有结尾，在时代气氛的描绘中，不时插入记实性事件，笔调幽默、讥讽，作者却退出事件之外。但因为时代气氛是统一的，所以各个部分仍能构成生活的有机体。《曼哈顿》写了一批职业不同但都不得志的中小资产者人物，他们互相间毫无关系，只是在某些场合偶尔相遇，其中没有一个贯穿始终的主人公。整部小说可以说是“杂凑的一锅”。但从小说整体上看，它反映了被资本主义所排挤的那些形形色色失意者的生活。多斯·帕索斯于三十年代陆续出版的《美国》三部曲仍在实验这一方法，而且有了发展，作者试用了“新闻短片”、“人物传记”和“摄影镜头”这三大块状组合成全书，每个大“块”又包含着许多小“块”，即具体的生活片断，它们构成现代资本主义社会那种五光十色、瞬息万变的“万花筒”式的全景风貌。
在戏剧中，表现主义者不仅把蒙太奇观念运用于剧本创作中，而且运用于舞台实践上；他善于调动多种审美功能，加以合成，使其发挥出综合的审美效应。例如，他们对舞台进行机械化的改造，采用最新的声、光技术，更新造型艺术的观念和方法，使舞美构成变得丰富而新颖。错乱的时空意识。本世纪西方现代文学中普遍表现出的反传统的时空观念，以流派看，可以说表现主义开了先河。表现主义者为了使自己的主观想象自由驰骋，也为了使自己的艺术赢得普遍性和恒久性，取消了时间的限界和空间的疆界，从而便利了创作中对人的“内宇宙”的开掘，并适应了哲学对文学的渗透。这种错乱的时空观念在意识流的创作中人们见识得很多了，其实在表现主义一般作品中也是相当普遍的。卡夫卡的一些小说虽有早、晚、昼夜之分，但都不写明事件的年、月、日，一般也不指出具体地点。例如《城堡》，由于没有历史背景的交代，它很容易令人想到中世纪的宗法社会，而主人公的思想和行为却具有现代人的特征。至于他是从哪里来的，人们不得而知。时间交错的常见现象是：“古今同现”和“同时叠映”。前者：有时是古人和今人一起对话，有时则同一个人既穿着古代服装，又有现代的穿戴；后者：同时互相窜跳着两地同时发生的不同事件。这种手法，在当代文学中也屡见不鲜，如瑞士弗里施的剧作《中国长城》和迪伦马特的剧作《天使来到巴比伦》、小说《希腊男人寻找希腊女人》，联邦德国伯尔的小说《卡塔琳娜·布罗姆》和《保护网下》等都是这样。
表现主义作家每个人的创作个性不尽相同，我们很难将之统一于一种或几种模式之中。表现主义在艺术上实验色彩很强，在当时是不定型的。但经过半个多世纪时间沉淀，它的许多艺术主张和表现方法已经得到公认。表现主义文学在形式和技巧上所进行的广泛的探索和革新是有成效的，它在很大程度上改变了人们的观念，对现代文学理论和文艺美学作出了重要贡献。

It is never a fully unified and coordinated movement, there are great differences between the members of the political beliefs and philosophy. However, most of them are influenced by Kant's philosophy, Bergson's intuitionism and Freud's psychoanalysis. They emphasize that they are not traditional, they are dissatisfied with the current situation of society, and they are required to reform". In the creation, they are not satisfied with the objective things of the copy, essence and performance requirements of things; describe breakthroughs in human behavior and human environment and reveal the soul of man; asked not to stay on a temporary phenomenon and occasional narrative phenomena show the eternal quality. It has produced a number of influential writers and works in the fields of poetry, fiction and drama. The theme of his poems are mostly hate the hustle and bustle of the city, big city or expose the chaos, corruption and evil, full of sad mood or a scene of "common humanity" to promote. It is characterized by not paying attention to the details of the description, only the pursuit of strong performance of the subjective spirit and inner passion. Representative of Austria and Germany, Bain Trakl's etc.. The characters and stories in the novel are the abnormal deformation or distortion of the real life, to reveal the alienation of the industrial society and the serious spiritual crisis of the human being. Representatives of Austria, such as Kafka. The theatre of absurd contents, structure disorder, lack of logical connection between screenings, abrupt change of plot, there is no clear boundary between life and death, dream and reality. Use short, fast, loud, powerful, long and lengthy internal monologue to express the character's thoughts and feelings. At the same time, the use of a large number of light music, mask and to supplement the language effect. The representative of Sweden, Germany, the United States Strindberg talleur O'neal, Capek of Czech, British Duquesne, Christopher Isherwood and Ireland Okesi etc..This word is used to describe the expressionism in late nineteenth Century and early twentieth Century in Germany against Franz Marc "forest deer" operation the traditional drawing and painting style, it is the beginning of the twentieth Century to 30s prevalent in some countries in Europe and America literature and art schools. The most popular in Germany and Austria after World War i.. It first appeared in the fine arts, and later in music, literature, drama and film and other areas of major development.
The term expressionism was first held in 1901 in France Paris Matisse Exhibition on Julien August Herve a group of paintings used with general title, natural and Impressionist phase difference.
In 1911, Hillel in the "storm" magazine published an article, called the Berlin avant-garde writers first "Expressionism" is a word.
After 1914, the term expressionism gradually recognized by people and the.
In 1905 the German organization agency, in 1909 the establishment of the Green Bridge Club Community rise of expressionism knight. Their aesthetic goals and artistic pursuits are similar to those of the French, but they are characterized by a strong Nordic color and the German tradition. Expressionism influenced by industrial science and technology, the performance of object static beauty.
Play a key role in the process of counseling and Nietzsche through on ancient Chinese art criticism in the form of expressionism. In his "the birth of tragedy", Nietzsche's ancient art will be divided into two categories, Appollo's art is the reason, order, rules and elegant art; the Dionysian art is a vicious, chaos and madness of art. Appollo's art represents the rational ideal, and the Dionysian art comes from the subconscious. These two forms of art are the same as those of God, both of whom are sons of God, incompatible with each other and unable to distinguish. Nietzsche believes that any art works contain these two forms. The basic characteristics of expressionism is Dionysus: bright colors, distorted forms, painting skills, casual and lack of perspective, based on the plane feeling, and not based on reason.
In general, expressionism is any showing feelings of art. Of course, all the works of art show the artist's feelings, but some of the works in particular emphasize and express the artist's inner feelings. Especially in the period of social unrest such work is especially common in European history from the beginning of fifteenth Century such unrest often repeats: the reformation, the German peasant war, eight years war, leaving traces of all these upheavals and oppression in printing works. Although these works are generally not noticeable from the artistic point of view, they are always able to arouse strong feelings in their audience through the horrors they describe.Pioneer of expressionism: Strindberg (1849 - 1912) [Sweden] masterpiece "the ghost sonata" (1907) the nightmare, the ghost on the stage, let the dead, dead, living at the same time, the phantom. Known as the source of expressionism literature.
Expressionism: representative novels and Franz Kafka (1883 - 1924) [Austria]. He is a person who has not been known to fame after death, and uses the symbolic, exaggerated and deformed artistic techniques to reveal the dilemma faced by modern society and the confusion of modern people". The plot is a purpose be a wild legend. Masterpiece: "Metamorphosis" (Die Verwandlung)
Expressionist drama: Eugene ONeil (1888 - 1953) [America], the main representative: "The Hairy Ape" (1917), "emperor Jones" (1920), has four times won the Pulitzer prize in 1936, "reflects the traditional concept of tragedy plays with charm, sincere and deep passion" and won the Nobel prize for literature. The founder of American contemporary drama.
Expressionist painting on behalf of Norway Monck representative "shouting" Kandinsky, the Russian representative series "autumn", "winter", "music", "impromptu", "2" composition etc.. Gross representative: "night", "trench warfare", "departure".
Expressionist music representative: Arnold Schonberg (Amold Schoenberg, 1874 - 1951), American Austria composer and music educator and music theorist, is one of the most famous modern music composer in twentieth Century, "the main representative of expressionism music. The main works are: the symphonic poem "bright night", "perre and Sander", "Aspen Meryl Symphony", "indoor opera" as well as the expectations of recitation, male chorus and Orchestra and wrote "a Warsaw survivor". In addition, several String Quartets and piano, many vocal works etc..

This movement is the rise in anti traditional thoughts and methods in the creation of it abandoned the long dominant in Europe in nineteenth Century before the "imitation theory" or "theory of reflection" aesthetics, and advocating "on the performance of aesthetics, that is to say, the creation process is no longer describe the objective world, but the subjective emotion the image expression of fantasy, the need for" inner". Although the creative ideas and methods of expressionism are different, but from subjective, self starting this premise is common. At the same time, the tendency of aesthetics, and then in Europe, Nietzsche's Bergson's philosophy of life and Freud's psychoanalysis has formed the intersection, aesthetic and artistic features of the novel strange, in particular, can be roughly summarized as follows:
A, strong passion. In addition to a small number of "art for art", advocating "the most expressionist creation as the expression of their personal opposition means, or as a breach of pouring feelings. Kafka said that the creation of the inner world is a huge push to the outside." Schoenberg is the most influential of the century expressionist composer also said: "a piece of art, only when he convey the author heart of the surging feelings to the audience when it can have the greatest effect, resulting in the audience to agitate the heart." Kandinsky, who is regarded as the founder of the theory of art in this century, is more general: art is the external expression of inner needs." [2] However, the artistic features of expressionism is briefly summarized and the image of this sentence, when pushing German literary critic Herman: "the call of soul. [3] this can be said to be the most basic features of expressionism. Shouting, both the performance of the "internal needs", but also their "action" performance. Expressionist writer Mar Sussman wrote: "we have to act, to play a role, to change the status quo, how to start? Only one thing! We can shout, to use our wretched, choking to death of people shouting, shouting over what is happening a terrible noise, let people shout, let God hear our voice. [4] but this is not a cry, but when a shrill A great calamity is at hand. give dying kicks. Werfe wrote in his colleague Karl Brant's writing in the preface: "your teachings? There was a loud, loud cry, the cry of a man who was chased by a man who was under pressure at the door of a house and thought he had a moment of security." [5] this metamorphosis for expressionist rather than shouting "internal needs", it is a kind of aesthetic pursuit, as is the "large and all inclusive to convey feelings and ideas to the reader, in order to obtain the shock effect. Early German expressionist poet Becher said: "the big mouth in nervously entranced in." This is a self portrait of expressionism. At that time, the "cry" as the title, the name of the poem, the name of the novel and the name of the painting is quite common (I think that Lu Xun put his first novel entitled "scream" are related to this trend). So, like a row of Becher some poem sentences and exclamation point in the end, it is not surprising, even some dramas such as Stella's thumb "power" are all amazing sentence dialogue, can also understand! No matter what kind of genre, the pursuit of strength, sense of movement and rhythm are common. In order to achieve a strong artistic effect, good practices of twisted lines, abnormal color, quick rhythm, cruel picture, contrast strong contrast, and so on, as Ed Schmidt said, the theorists of expressionism, expressionism in the pen, "feelings get unlimited expansion." [6]B, reinventing the world image". Since the "imitation theory" has been abandoned, then the creation can not be written in the same way as before. Expressionist A Wolf Stein said: "the unification of art and life will no longer as in the past era as determined by nature art to achieve." Ed Schmidt famously said: "the world is here, it is no fun to reproduce it." What shall I do? His answer is: "it is necessary to create a new image of the world", he even believes that "re creation is the greatest task of art." [7] because the general expressionist believe that truth is subjective. According to another product that expressionism theorist Tucci, "art is not reality, but the spirit of". That is to say, the work of art is the product of the writer's subjective. The writer, according to his observation, experience, understanding and imagination of the outside world, can reconstruct a world which can be expressed as the essence of spirit. Kafka also said that his work "is just an image", even his
My own hieroglyphs". Therefore, for the Expressionists, creation means his emotions or passions into the illusion, the illusion is the author of "external manifestation" intrinsic need, or is the external projection writer inner experience. Kaiser believes that this image of the image of the reconstructed world must become the basis of the work. It was not until after the two world war that it was pursued by many Western writers. For example, the famous Swiss writer Dylan, Matt, said that the theatrical performance is "showing a world image". But the idea of such a thing is not an easy job to do the image of Dylan, Matt, he must be "broken", let the material "fermentation", brewing, to turn it into another form of things, a "non image image".
C. Abstract summary. This is the philosophy widely infiltrated literary results, this phenomenon began in the symbolism movement, Expressionism to continue to carry forward, more conscious, more extensive pursuit. This is also a kind of reversal of the naturalistic movement to the trivial description. Thomas Man pointed out: 1914 to 1923 "world history turning to unprecedented power to contemporary people is acutely aware of the need to know the times," this process eliminates the boundaries between science and art, the fresh blood input abstract thinking, make clear image was to create a soul. A special type of work, this kind of works...... A novel of reason." [8] is a philosophical novel, poetry and drama is no exception, especially the latter. In the late 20s to the early 30s, almost all the works of German drama school, the common features of the philosophy is to strengthen. "They wrote the script because they felt a deep spiritual need," said lou...... To be more exact, it is a writer of philosophical significance. Unfortunately, I am such a writer." [9] Bly Hitt said more simply: "drama became a philosopher thing...... That is to say, the drama is philosophical, containing the meaning of education." [the] so the German Marx's literary critic Hans Kaufman pointed out: "the art outside the field of a large amount of material into the ideological content of literature, artists need science. If you don't consider the introduction of scientific thought writers sought to field of art, and to seek ways and means appropriate, so on some major achievements and innovation in 20s literature factors, also cannot understand."A bit of good. You see, expressionist emphasized "the spirit" refers to the universality and regularity of things. Uditz is very representative of this sentence, he said, to write "is not a falling stone, but the law of gravity." Tucci product is another kind of expression: "not personal, but common to all things." Expressionist common pursuit of a so-called "lasting art", its main symbol is the philosophical character of works. Revel in the expressionist period of German novelist Flach once said: "to warn people with a view to overcome and observe" instead of moving, to observe things through meditation, "to the field of philosophy". [12] because only philosophy can grasp the law of things, so as to make art lasting. But if the works about naked philosophy might control (in fact in philosophy there is often a large section in some works in). So the symbol, metaphor, allegory and the means of expression is widely used, in which Kafka, German, Bloch, Musial, Sergey welver and other writers who are It is often seen.. Here to quote the description of the phenomenon of a series of the Soviet Academy of Sciences "German modern literature history": "from many writers, we can see that they strive to minimize the reality phenomenon from the specific and distinctive image observation to make abstract judgment and summary. As a result, often make the plot with philosophical allegorical nature, and characters as the embodiment of certain political and cultural history of the thought idea, has second life. The philosophical content of the plot is often obtained through the comparison with the traditional events in the past and the literature through a certain historical event. The direct content becomes a model of a more general content of the metaphor. The implication, allegory, duality, symbolic style has become an important factor in the composition of the realistic method." [13] (here is the 20s "realism", apparently, it has been very different from traditional realism. They are actually after grafting and expressionism variants, some simply expressionist works, because many expressionist writer and realist). The symbolic and metaphorical works, because the objects of metaphor are not determined, thus obtaining double or polysemy meaning, its generality than the general narrative works to be big.
As Thomas Man said in his "Magic Mountain" in the figures: "what everyone of them are more than at first glance, because they are the angels and the representative, embodies a certain spiritual field." [14] you see "changes" written in the Tuole new growth path is broad, people give up the typical character shape, and replaced with some ideas or feelings, often with identity code symbols instead of names, such as drivers, principals, cooks and so on. Time and place are uncertain: Time - today, place - the world. So and so on.
D, irrational thinking.
Non rational thinking is the second half of nineteenth Century began to rise in the west of a philosophy, it is the history of mankind, especially the capitalist system since the establishment of the rational principle (including ethics, morality, law, religion, etc.) suspicion and denial. This influence of philosophy on literary and artistic creation is not small, it is mainly made up of Nietzsche's strong will of the spirit of Freud's philosophy of life, confluence of philosophy and Bergson and Nietzsche's philosophical novel "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" a book originally portrayed the irrational personality. There are several kinds of non rational expression in literature:
The intuition. Advocates of this theory is Bergson, he believes in the rational concept under the cover of reality is not real, must pass the intuitive way to lift to the layer of mulch, which can reveal the truth of things. Because intuition is the manifestation of the "impulse of life", one can find his body at that moment, the "basic self", and push the irrational "parasitic self" under the control of reason". Therefore, he believed that the creation is to capture the accidental process that is covered by the inevitability of the moment, I reach the realm of harmony, is to ease the transient consciousness and spirit, inner life and special feelings and unspeakable things of the integrated point. So Kafka said: the creation means to open their own unlimited, to achieve the soul naked, physical and mental state of muddy. His short story masterpiece "the verdict", "country doctor" is the "selfless" state of the product, especially the former, that is "a night in the dark night, is from" one "to the next morning, resulting in over five months, in view of the school, only to understand the relationship between the characters. [15] therefore, expressionist emphasis is the feelings of the moment, imagine the experience, rather than logical reasoning or analysis. Fischer has a novel called "a flash in my mind," and it is a typical example of the thought and activity of a building worker who fell from a scaffold.The stream of consciousness. This can be said to be the product of combined Bergson's intuition of Freud with the theory of "subconscious theory", it is used as a means of artistic expression, is expressionist consciously introduced literary creation. But in theory, clearly put forward the concept of the American philosopher and psychologist William James, he believed in the "Pluralistic Universe" in one book, the logic can make him from the "theory of real nature of reality, because real life even if it is not composed entirely of non rational, at least by no reason. He pointed out that "there is a flow of decentralized, linking, reality. Those of us who are finite are those who walk in such a reality, "and this kind of reality cannot be measured by logic". James's view is widely accepted in the western literary and art circles, first of all for his brother, Henry James. Coincidentally, claimed in life "beneath the surface" and "found there is a continuous stream of" the doctrine of Bergson for his brother-in-law Proust, and he and Joyce of Ireland, Britain, the United States Faulkner Woolf and Austria Boluohe into this century, the most important sense of the master stream.
The characteristics of the stream of consciousness writing is not according to the provisions of the laws of logic, not contain the concept of space-time, get rid of causality to consider, and in accordance with the concept of "psychological time", "radioactive" and "free association", or on the integrity, flashback, intuitive moment in detail into the emblem like emotion description etc. stories and ideas, jumping, changeable, and not to follow the plot to connect via cable. Joyce "Ulysses" Bloch, "Virgil's death" is considered to be a stream of consciousness novel classic, but the stream of consciousness in Kafka de Werfe, Brin, et al. The writing is only a partial phenomenon. Freud's theory had attracted their attention, but a little.
The dream. Dream as a means of artistic expression since ancient times, but that is mostly used in the rational range. Dream of the non rational aesthetic value in Expressionism as a modern aesthetic principle put forward. Nietzsche's aesthetic works written in 1871 "the birth of tragedy", the origin of art into the "Apollonian and Dionysian" two element system. "Apollonianism" is under the jurisdiction of the "illusion", "dream of a beautiful world". Nietzsche said the dream is the premise of all art, "is also a poem (refers to literary creation -- cited) is an important part of", "the poet (refers to the writer -- cited) the secret of inspiration". Soon, the meaning of the dream in Freud where there is a psychological argument: the dream is an activity of the human subconscious. The two thinkers' views to expressionism creation and aesthetics with great influence. Since then, the dream experience not only as a general paragraph or episode in the form of works, but also became the theme of the entire work or material. It is the earliest response of Strindberg, in 1902 he wrote the dream for the content of the "fantasy drama", open the door for the creative ideas. In the expressionism climax, this technique is quite commonly used. Many of Kafka's novels are related to dreams. There are many records of dreams in his diary. After the rise of surrealism, the irrational creation of the proposition has been further emphasized, has become the main aesthetic principles of the school.
The absurd. Absurdity is a kind of world view of existentialism philosophy, and it is also a kind of aesthetic view of modernism literature. As an aesthetic concept, it is originated from the modern tragic aesthetics, and has the aesthetic effect of tragedy and comedy. In the creation, absurdity is used as a means of irony. As a kind of artistic tendency, which is the forerunner of expressionism, which is very prominent in Kafka. In his writing is often the details of the real support of the main event of the absurd, the key is to destroy some of the skills of the chain of life logic, so that the central event becomes absolutely impossible. Such as "Metamorphosis", in addition to become an insect this ring, there are other ways of the world which is the real life? Novelist Doblin's writing is also a lot of absurd events, such as fantasy novel "mountain, sea and giant" is an absurd work. As for the local means it is more common.The paradox. Philosophy is called "paradox" and "anti physics theory", called the "paradox", one thing contradictory in logic or cancel each other, such as "construction damage". This also belongs to the category of tragic aesthetics, creation as one kind of non rational means of artistic expression, such as the use of properly, with a strong tragicomic aesthetic effect, this way of thinking is everywhere in Kafka, not only reflected in his life behavior, but also in his works. In his short story "a hunger artist", the protagonist to hunger for performing means, endless pursuit of art, wanted to reach the highest realm of art ", this conflict: his art is high, means that he paid the greater the loss of flesh. Therefore, when his art reached the highest level, that is, when his body was completely destroyed, it was an insurmountable contradiction between spirit and flesh, spirit and material. Musial is also fond of this means, his novel masterpiece "no personality" is to carry out this way of thinking masterpiece.
These so-called irrational and illogical expressions are derived from the writers who have strong reason and logical thinking ability. So never think those absurd, absurd or partial use of means of work is ridiculous nonsense, on the contrary, they tend to inspire people from another perspective to observe and think about things. So in a sense, the surface of the irrational coat, which may have more rational factors. Of course, irrational works are often written in a state of "intuition". But "three frozen heart, cold day", "intuition" -- inspiration form the emergent, a distorted sense of freshness is suppressed for a long time. So, in the period of expressionism although some writers of these means the operation is not very skilled, use is not very appropriate, even too freely, but after decades of precipitation, to the second half of this century, they are proved to be effective means of expression and is universally accepted and mastered by the writers, for this, we as long as the review of American black humor novels, Latin American magic realism and other contemporary works of first-rate novelist as America's Sol Bellow, Oates, Canati of Austria (British), Moravia of the Federal Republic of Germany, Switzerland, Italy burr flirsch, Japan Kawabata Yasunari will get a deep impression.The grotesque is a kind of visual effect, originally appeared in the works of art more, after the rise of expressionism is widely used in literary creation, often by destroying the object appearance or sense of harmony made a funny and ironic artistic effect: or change the normal logic, so perverse or beautiful and ugly; the noble and humble, and so on to control, to create a strong contrast; or things extremely exaggerated, so strange and unbearable, etc.. Kafka's "Metamorphosis" we are familiar with, the protagonist turned into a worm, is a strange story. Two short stories "he later wrote the Hunger Artist" and "singer Josephine or national hero" mouse is grotesque image (after a topic is weird). AlMe Josephine in order to sound in the buzz of the rats in high over all, make "to sing" exhaust all the skills "that this delicate guy, following chest shaking especially badly, it can not help but to worry about her, as if she were to exhaust all the skills to sing, as if she had any direct benefit to all singing they give up, as if she had been drained, only good spirits in protecting her, so when she paid the entire body and mind immersed in singing, as if a cold wind blowing will make her like a life death." Under Werfe's pen, often appear extreme emotional tension, confusion, inner collapse, despair dominate all characters, and adapt to the fast pace of tension, style, high rate, dynamic. Wedekind wrote some very strong feelings of women, and full of sensual dominance, strange like demons. Deblin's works often appear grotesque scenes, his fantasy novel "mountain, sea, giant" is typical, crushed, broken limbs was arranged in a crisscross pattern in long together, the eyes of the hole into the mouth, the mandible and the maxilla grow a leg. There, in nature, living and dead, organic and inorganic...... Who can not tell.
Some basically is realism writers often used grotesque, such as Remarque's "black Obelisk" plot, eerie and no center, observe things from the perspective of abnormal special characters are some sketch comics, apparently the author intends to make the novel all become curved projection. In the famous writer Tukur J Ki, the grotesque often became his means of ridicule and expose the capitalists.
The grotesque is important means of "alienation", Dylan Matt is very respected this means that it is a kind of "extreme style". As a result, its aesthetic character has been recognized more and more. The famous American aesthetics, the artist, is a kind of "re creation", because it "deviates from the possibility of nature, not from the possibility of internal." That's why, if you don't have enough wit and a sense of humor, you're going to have to do it.
F, the pursuit of magic. This is mainly manifested in the story, followed by details. Since denied the authenticity of the rational world, it is only in the contrary to common sense, to find the real routine, cut the causal logic clue of the expressionism and mysticism, involving the margin. Ed Schmidt said: "the experience of what inspires depictions blind does not interest us, but in the blind state display depth, real and wonderful spirit makes us always full of new and interesting insights". [18] Thomas forest hill, sea, "giant" is typical. The plot of the novel hypothesis in 2700 - 3000 years of future fantasy background, then human with great progress of science and technology has great ability to conquer nature, can even make the polar ice to melt, but caused a total of revenge of nature, so terrible scene accident occurred: countless ancient creatures buried in the iceberg the remains of the beginning of the revival of up, saw the creature to piles of odd shape along the way to eat everything....... Magic is more common in the works of Kafka: an elderly bachelor, suddenly two table tennis in the lonely him and kept jumping ("an elderly Bachelor"); out of the village to village doctors in emergency of a snowy night. His horse fell, anxiously suddenly rushed out from the pigsty to two tall and strong. ("country doctor"); a green dragon to visit his family, climb the belly are worn, can clip in the frame, do not squeeze into the head of a Johnson did not show its power, but only the kind-hearted gentle voice of the dragon "visit"; an unidentified "surveyor" suddenly appeared in the castle under the jurisdiction of the village, the villagers' eyes, what we see is the hero's mysterious ways; by the hero's eyes, we see a strange and eccentric world ("Castle").......In nineteenth Century the art features and expressionism of the early romantic literature especially German Romantic literature is the same. For example, in Germany the late Romantic novelist E.T.A. Hoffman's novel "Moore", Tom's view of life in the "Sheila P Von brothers" novella and short "pot of gold" and other works in that mysterious strange events can be seen everywhere, in the other two German romantic writer Kleist, some works in Nimes. A similar phenomenon. Back up, but also in the eighteenth Century American writer Richardson and other people in the Gothic novel to find sources.
G, "polyphonic symphony". Expressionism, mixed and thought as it team confusion, in the works of art which are not single, single means of style, it is the pursuit of a comprehensive aesthetic effect, known as the "multi voice symphony". The same work, often using the same dream, stream of consciousness, symbolism, absurdity and other techniques. As the creative ideas, I'm afraid when push forward the earliest time of Strindberg, in his "dream" in the drama in the preface so there is a paragraph:
The author imitates the dream in the form of logic, but actually fragmented. No, everything is possible and credible, spatial boundaries do not exist; no imagination in a realistic background, design new image retouching: a memory, experience, free fantasy, absurd and improvised a hodgepodge.
This kind of writing, expressionism drama than novels, Cather's "from early morning to midnight", "change" of the Ptolemy etc. are good examples. But this example in Kafka's novels is almost impossible, the representative is Thomas Lin and Leonhard Frank's works, their works are in the narrative when suddenly into fantasy, fantastic picture and so on often intense tone. After the climax of the past expressionism of their works, still retains the characteristics, such as Frank in the early 20s novel "a gang of robbers" and Doblin in the late 20s masterpiece "Berlin Alexander square" are obvious examples. These works as "polyphonic sound caused by multi image, multi implication connotation, it was expressed in the life of the dark and deep.
H. montage structure. In order to reject the traditional expressionistic writing skills are "used" of all new methods, including art methods of other categories also copy it correct, as long as it considers useful words. At that time, the film industry is on the rise, the film montage techniques make many expressionist to attract, they soon adopted in practice, and as a structural principle of work. In 1919 Doblin wrote a book "get rid of shadow", published such a view: the theme of the novel should not depend on the arrangement of the plot as the foundation, he thought has its own independent significance of each part of long narrative works and individual scenes, because human life is always full of contradictions, and this contradiction every minute has its significance. Therefore, the characteristics of the novel is that it can be divided, separated, they can exist independently of each other; it should be like earthworms, cut into dozens of segments, each segment can still be independent activities." Doblin believed his novel "Berlin square" and the United States -- Alexander Dos Passos's "Manhattan" (1925) can be regarded as the montage structure model. In the "Berlin", not through the center of the events in the plot, no beginning, no end, in depicting the era atmosphere, interspersed with documentary style events, humor, sarcasm, but the author exit event. However, because the atmosphere of the times is unified, so the various parts of the organism can still constitute life. "Manhattan" wrote a number of different occupation but are frustrated and bourgeois characters, they are not related, but in some cases occasionally meet, none of them throughout the hero. The novel can be said to be "one pot hash". But on the whole, it reflects the life of all kinds of people who are excluded by capitalism. In 30s Dos Passos published the "American Trilogy" is still in the experimental method, and with the development of the author tried "newsreel" and "biography" and "photography" of the three block into the book, each block contains many small "blocks", namely the fragments of life specifically, they constitute the modern capitalist society, changing the kind of resplendent with variegated coloration "Kaleidoscope" panorama style.