坪内逍遥在明治初期出版的《小说神髓》中所概括的文学理论对日本近现代小说的兴盛发展起到了巨大的推动作用。其具体文学价值为:该理论将小说的文体地位从低俗层次提升到艺术高度,并将小说体裁置于文学的中心地位,彻底否定了旧时代对小说的偏见;打破了旧有文学劝善惩恶观念的束缚,提倡近代意义上的写实主义创作手法,为近现代小说拓宽了无限发展空间。作为日本近代文学史上最早的一部文学理论著作,《小 The literary theory outlined in “Miracle of the novel” published by Meiji in the early Meiji era has played a huge role in promoting the flourishing development of Japanese modern novels. Its specific literary value is as follows: This theory elevates the literary and genre status of the novel from the vulgar level to the artistic level, places the genre of the novel in the center of literature, completely negates the prejudice against the novel in the old age, and breaks through the old literature to persuade and punish Evil concept of restraint, to promote modern sense of realistic writing techniques, broaden the infinite space for the development of modern novels. As the earliest Japanese literary history of a literary theory books, "small