也许,未来艺术史家在总结二十世纪艺术时,会不约而同地将象征手法的广泛采用,视为我们这个世纪的最大成就。虽然人们不难从荷马史诗或《诗经》中找到若干象征出来,但世界作为“象征的丛林”,象征作为一种有意乃至刻意经营的艺术表现手段,确实又是本世纪艺术家的集体冲动。无论卡夫卡的“城堡”、普鲁斯特的“教堂”,还是托马斯,曼的“时间”,都凝聚了作家最隐秘的创作企图和艺术抱负。1998 Perhaps, in the course of summing up the art of the 20th century, art historians in the future will invariably regard the widespread adoption of symbolism as the greatest accomplishment of our century. Although it is not difficult to find some symbols from Homer's epic or The Book of Songs, the world as a “jungle of symbols” symbolizes as a collective artistic impulse of artists in this century as a means of artistic expression that is consciously and deliberately managed. Regardless of Kafka's “Castle”, Proust's “Church”, or Thomas, Man's “time”, all embodies the writer's most secret creation and artistic aspiration. 1998