Jonathan Culler | Cornell University (original) (raw)

Papers by Jonathan Culler

PMLA/Publications of the Modern Language Association of America

La structure fondamentale de la poésie lyrique serait l’adresse triangulée (triangulated address)... more La structure fondamentale de la poésie lyrique serait l’adresse triangulée (triangulated address): le lecteur donne voix à un discours qui s’adresse aux lecteurs par l’intermédiaire d’un tiers – quelqu’un ou quelque chose qui est adressé. La version la plus frappante de ce phénomène – figure qui résume tout ce qu’il y a de plus prétentieux et de mystificateur dans la poésie lyrique – serait la figure vatique de l’apostrophe: à savoir, l’interpellation d’un interlocuteur fictif (une urne, un oiseau, la Mort, la Beauté). L’adresse directe faite au lecteur est assez rare, et comporte souvent ce qu’on pourrait appeler un «vous flou» qui désigne le lecteur, ou tout le monde, ou encore le poète lui ou elle-même. C’est l’adresse lyrique qui fait du poème un événement. Mots-clés: ADRESSE. APOSTROPHE. EXPRESSION. INVOCATION. TRIANGULATION.

The Journal of Aesthetic Education, 2002

Structuralist Poetics, 1975

Comparative Literature, 1980

But to answer for methodological giddiness, even strabismus, by invoking science perhaps involves... more But to answer for methodological giddiness, even strabismus, by invoking science perhaps involves some fraud. I will there fore plead the same case differently: perhaps the real relation ship between "theoretical" dryness and critical meticulousness is one of refreshing rotation and mutual entertainment. May the reader also find in that relationship a sort of periodic diversion, like the insomniac turning over and over in search of a better position: amant altema Camenae. 2 2 [Translator's note.] "Alternate strains are to the Muses dear." Virgil, Ec logues, III.59, trans. James Rhoades, The Poems of Virgil (Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1952). should be recounted sometimes by Homer and sometimes by Ulysses himself. Yet we know (and I will return to this later) that Plato long ago found this subject worth his attention. As its title indicates, or almost indicates, my study basically has to do with the most widespread meaning of the term narra tive, that is, with narrative discourse, which in literature, and particularly in the case that interests me, happens to be a narra tive text. But, as we will see, analysis of narrative discourse as I this point Genette speaks of the acceptability of his terms with respect to current French usage, and apropos of histoire ("story"), he refers to Tzvetan Todorov's by now "fairly well accepted. ,. proposal to differentiate 'narrative as discourse' (first meaning) and 'narrative as story' (second meaning)." He also explains his use of a term generally unfamiliar in America but used frequently in this book: "With the same meaning ["story"!, I will also use the term diegesis; which comes to us from the theoreticians of cinematographic narrative." 1 Order Narrative Time? Narrative is a ... doubly temporal sequence .... There is the time of the thing told and the time of the narrative (the time of the signified and the time of the signifier). This duality not only ren ders possible all the temporal distortions that are commonplace in narratives (three years of the hero's life summed up in two sentences of a novel or in a few shots of a "frequentative" montage in film, etc.). More basically, it invites us to consider that one of the functions of narrative is to invent one time scheme in terms of another time scheme. 1 28 RH \, 4401P I, 578. 29 "Girl-cousin (a little one), My initiator: I, 578 [pIRH I, 440]," imperturbably and precisely notes the Clarac and Ferre index of the names of the characters, 30 It is true that she has two adjoining rooms, and goes into one while the other is being aired out (RH I, 37-38iP I, 49). But if that were the situation, the scene becomes extremely hazardous, On the other hand, the relationship is not clear between this "sofa" and the bed described on p. 38 (RH IIP I, 50), with its flowered quilt having a "nondescript, resinous, dull, indigestible, and fruity smell" where Marcel when very young, "with an unconfessed gluttony," always returned to "bury" himself. Let us leave this problem to the specialists, and remember that in the "Confession d' une Jeune FilIe" of Les Plaisirs et les jours the "initiation" involves the fourteen-year-old heroine and a "cousin, a boy of fif teen ... already very depraved" (Pleiade, p. 87; Pleasures and Regrets, trans, Louise Varese l)Jew York, 1948l, p. 34).

L'arte orale, 2020

Le convenzioni sono la realtà con cui si ha a che fare 3. Ma abbiamo inteso lavorare sulle conven... more Le convenzioni sono la realtà con cui si ha a che fare 3. Ma abbiamo inteso lavorare sulle convenzioni (i nomi, le etichette) in maniera euristica: è utile pensare una-se non unica, almeno unita-arte orale? La questione andava messa alla prova; e data l'attuale specializzazione e suddivisione disciplinare del sapere, la risposta doveva essere cercata dai rappresentanti degli studi sulle varie arti orali distinte, sia pure in una prospettiva comune garantita da alcune discipline ad esse trasversali come estetica, semiotica, scienze della comunicazione, antropologia ecc. Pronunciava il già citato dépliant: «Improntato a una forte vocazione interdisciplinare, il convegno chiama a dialogare studiosi di diversa estrazione: estetica, teoria letteraria, poe sia contemporanea, metrica, linguistica, etnomusicologia, analisi musicale, drammaturgia musicale, storia del teatro, performance studies. L'interazione dei vari punti di vista consentirà di affrontare l'oralità nella sua valenza trasversale e, allo stesso tempo, negli aspetti specifici relativi a ciascuna espressione artistica». Oggi sottoscriviamo ancora quella scelta, anzi rilanciamo soggiungendo che studiosi di ulteriori diverse discipline si potrebbero proficuamente convocare, per integrare il quadro. Quello che fin qui abbiamo denominato convegno fu in verità un evento significativamente più ricco. Ospitò infatti anche una serie di performance artistiche 4. Nell'occasione esse furono definite "sessioni performative", a indicarne la differenza specifica rispetto alle concomitanti ordinarie "sessioni accademiche". Anche in questo senso il nostro intento era promuovere la trasversalità degli approcci: non solo discutere teoricamente l'arte orale, ma pure realizzarla concretamente. Anche il sapere sull'arte (o sulle arti) travalica confini che, come quelli tra i generi artistici, 3. In quanto "oggetti sociali"; cfr. M. Ferraris, Documentalità. Perché è necessario lasciar tracce, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2009. 4. Per la cronaca: un recital di musica dotta contemporanea, strumentale ma paradossalmente emula della voce, pure parlata (con pezzi di Fabio Cifariello Ciardi e altri, al violoncello solo Michele Marco Rossi), tre performance di poe sia, ascrivibili rispettivamente alle sottospecie melologo (Rosaria Lo Russo con Francesco Casciaro), poe sia sonora (Giovanni Fontana) e spoken music (Lello Voce), un poe try slam (a cura di Michele Milani di Medium Poesia e Davide Passoni di SLAM srl, con

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature, 1981

This paper outlines the semiotic perspectives of Saussure and Peirce and the points at which thes... more This paper outlines the semiotic perspectives of Saussure and Peirce and the points at which these quite different theories intersect. It considers the implications of these points of intersection for literary studies and uses the example of Oedipus Rex to illustrate the semiotic character of acts and facts.

Nineteenth-Century Contexts

It is telling that Guest turns to "rhythm" to confl ate two metrical traditions now known to be r... more It is telling that Guest turns to "rhythm" to confl ate two metrical traditions now known to be radically diff erent: the alliterative corpus of Old, Middle, and Late Middle English (roughly up to the court of James VI of Scotland), and the accentual-syllabic tradition whose fi tful beginnings Th ompson traces. See also Th omas Cable,

Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, 1984

The Modern Language Review, 1976

Supplied by the British Library Document Supply Centre eBooks, 1972

Fordham University Press eBooks, Dec 3, 2018

Oxford University Press eBooks, Jul 28, 2011

PMLA/Publications of the Modern Language Association of America

La structure fondamentale de la poésie lyrique serait l’adresse triangulée (triangulated address)... more La structure fondamentale de la poésie lyrique serait l’adresse triangulée (triangulated address): le lecteur donne voix à un discours qui s’adresse aux lecteurs par l’intermédiaire d’un tiers – quelqu’un ou quelque chose qui est adressé. La version la plus frappante de ce phénomène – figure qui résume tout ce qu’il y a de plus prétentieux et de mystificateur dans la poésie lyrique – serait la figure vatique de l’apostrophe: à savoir, l’interpellation d’un interlocuteur fictif (une urne, un oiseau, la Mort, la Beauté). L’adresse directe faite au lecteur est assez rare, et comporte souvent ce qu’on pourrait appeler un «vous flou» qui désigne le lecteur, ou tout le monde, ou encore le poète lui ou elle-même. C’est l’adresse lyrique qui fait du poème un événement. Mots-clés: ADRESSE. APOSTROPHE. EXPRESSION. INVOCATION. TRIANGULATION.

The Journal of Aesthetic Education, 2002

Structuralist Poetics, 1975

Comparative Literature, 1980

But to answer for methodological giddiness, even strabismus, by invoking science perhaps involves... more But to answer for methodological giddiness, even strabismus, by invoking science perhaps involves some fraud. I will there fore plead the same case differently: perhaps the real relation ship between "theoretical" dryness and critical meticulousness is one of refreshing rotation and mutual entertainment. May the reader also find in that relationship a sort of periodic diversion, like the insomniac turning over and over in search of a better position: amant altema Camenae. 2 2 [Translator's note.] "Alternate strains are to the Muses dear." Virgil, Ec logues, III.59, trans. James Rhoades, The Poems of Virgil (Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1952). should be recounted sometimes by Homer and sometimes by Ulysses himself. Yet we know (and I will return to this later) that Plato long ago found this subject worth his attention. As its title indicates, or almost indicates, my study basically has to do with the most widespread meaning of the term narra tive, that is, with narrative discourse, which in literature, and particularly in the case that interests me, happens to be a narra tive text. But, as we will see, analysis of narrative discourse as I this point Genette speaks of the acceptability of his terms with respect to current French usage, and apropos of histoire ("story"), he refers to Tzvetan Todorov's by now "fairly well accepted. ,. proposal to differentiate 'narrative as discourse' (first meaning) and 'narrative as story' (second meaning)." He also explains his use of a term generally unfamiliar in America but used frequently in this book: "With the same meaning ["story"!, I will also use the term diegesis; which comes to us from the theoreticians of cinematographic narrative." 1 Order Narrative Time? Narrative is a ... doubly temporal sequence .... There is the time of the thing told and the time of the narrative (the time of the signified and the time of the signifier). This duality not only ren ders possible all the temporal distortions that are commonplace in narratives (three years of the hero's life summed up in two sentences of a novel or in a few shots of a "frequentative" montage in film, etc.). More basically, it invites us to consider that one of the functions of narrative is to invent one time scheme in terms of another time scheme. 1 28 RH \, 4401P I, 578. 29 "Girl-cousin (a little one), My initiator: I, 578 [pIRH I, 440]," imperturbably and precisely notes the Clarac and Ferre index of the names of the characters, 30 It is true that she has two adjoining rooms, and goes into one while the other is being aired out (RH I, 37-38iP I, 49). But if that were the situation, the scene becomes extremely hazardous, On the other hand, the relationship is not clear between this "sofa" and the bed described on p. 38 (RH IIP I, 50), with its flowered quilt having a "nondescript, resinous, dull, indigestible, and fruity smell" where Marcel when very young, "with an unconfessed gluttony," always returned to "bury" himself. Let us leave this problem to the specialists, and remember that in the "Confession d' une Jeune FilIe" of Les Plaisirs et les jours the "initiation" involves the fourteen-year-old heroine and a "cousin, a boy of fif teen ... already very depraved" (Pleiade, p. 87; Pleasures and Regrets, trans, Louise Varese l)Jew York, 1948l, p. 34).

L'arte orale, 2020

Le convenzioni sono la realtà con cui si ha a che fare 3. Ma abbiamo inteso lavorare sulle conven... more Le convenzioni sono la realtà con cui si ha a che fare 3. Ma abbiamo inteso lavorare sulle convenzioni (i nomi, le etichette) in maniera euristica: è utile pensare una-se non unica, almeno unita-arte orale? La questione andava messa alla prova; e data l'attuale specializzazione e suddivisione disciplinare del sapere, la risposta doveva essere cercata dai rappresentanti degli studi sulle varie arti orali distinte, sia pure in una prospettiva comune garantita da alcune discipline ad esse trasversali come estetica, semiotica, scienze della comunicazione, antropologia ecc. Pronunciava il già citato dépliant: «Improntato a una forte vocazione interdisciplinare, il convegno chiama a dialogare studiosi di diversa estrazione: estetica, teoria letteraria, poe sia contemporanea, metrica, linguistica, etnomusicologia, analisi musicale, drammaturgia musicale, storia del teatro, performance studies. L'interazione dei vari punti di vista consentirà di affrontare l'oralità nella sua valenza trasversale e, allo stesso tempo, negli aspetti specifici relativi a ciascuna espressione artistica». Oggi sottoscriviamo ancora quella scelta, anzi rilanciamo soggiungendo che studiosi di ulteriori diverse discipline si potrebbero proficuamente convocare, per integrare il quadro. Quello che fin qui abbiamo denominato convegno fu in verità un evento significativamente più ricco. Ospitò infatti anche una serie di performance artistiche 4. Nell'occasione esse furono definite "sessioni performative", a indicarne la differenza specifica rispetto alle concomitanti ordinarie "sessioni accademiche". Anche in questo senso il nostro intento era promuovere la trasversalità degli approcci: non solo discutere teoricamente l'arte orale, ma pure realizzarla concretamente. Anche il sapere sull'arte (o sulle arti) travalica confini che, come quelli tra i generi artistici, 3. In quanto "oggetti sociali"; cfr. M. Ferraris, Documentalità. Perché è necessario lasciar tracce, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2009. 4. Per la cronaca: un recital di musica dotta contemporanea, strumentale ma paradossalmente emula della voce, pure parlata (con pezzi di Fabio Cifariello Ciardi e altri, al violoncello solo Michele Marco Rossi), tre performance di poe sia, ascrivibili rispettivamente alle sottospecie melologo (Rosaria Lo Russo con Francesco Casciaro), poe sia sonora (Giovanni Fontana) e spoken music (Lello Voce), un poe try slam (a cura di Michele Milani di Medium Poesia e Davide Passoni di SLAM srl, con

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature, 1981

This paper outlines the semiotic perspectives of Saussure and Peirce and the points at which thes... more This paper outlines the semiotic perspectives of Saussure and Peirce and the points at which these quite different theories intersect. It considers the implications of these points of intersection for literary studies and uses the example of Oedipus Rex to illustrate the semiotic character of acts and facts.

Nineteenth-Century Contexts

It is telling that Guest turns to "rhythm" to confl ate two metrical traditions now known to be r... more It is telling that Guest turns to "rhythm" to confl ate two metrical traditions now known to be radically diff erent: the alliterative corpus of Old, Middle, and Late Middle English (roughly up to the court of James VI of Scotland), and the accentual-syllabic tradition whose fi tful beginnings Th ompson traces. See also Th omas Cable,

Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, 1984

The Modern Language Review, 1976

Supplied by the British Library Document Supply Centre eBooks, 1972

Fordham University Press eBooks, Dec 3, 2018

Oxford University Press eBooks, Jul 28, 2011

NOT “WHAT IS the lyric?” — but rather, “How does the lyric work?” That is the question Jonathan C... more NOT “WHAT IS the lyric?” — but rather, “How does the lyric work?” That is the question Jonathan Culler poses in his "Theory of the Lyric," published by Harvard University Press in 2015. After decades of relative neglect, the last few years have seen a resurgence of interest in the theory of the lyric, and Culler’s wide-ranging study is undoubtedly a milestone in this complicated process. The leading critic and theorist — and Class of 1916 Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Cornell University — will also be one of the keynote speakers at the first biennial conference of the recently founded International Network for the Study of Lyric, to be held at Boston University on June 7–11, 2017. In the following conversation, Culler not only explains the main premises and results of his work, but also suggests potential further directions for the investigation of this apparently ungraspable genre, probably the most continuous in Western literature. The title of this interview references to his 2006 book "The Literary in Theory" (Stanford University Press), in which he charts the places of literature and the literary in contemporary theory.

‘Why do I tell you these things? | You are not even here’, John Ashbery writes. Answering this qu... more ‘Why do I tell you these things? | You are not even here’, John Ashbery writes. Answering this question, as Jonathan Culler highlights, might be what studying the lyric is all about. Elegy is marked by its primarily lyric mode and its generic features. The term elegy has been often used as a sub-genre of lyric poetry. If the process of ‘lyricization of poetry’, to use Virginia Jackson words, involves the fading of the specificities of elegiac poetry, does the elegy maintain its characteristic markers? Or is it such a malleable term that it can now accommodate any type of poetry relating to mourning? Genre has been at the center of recent scholarship’s attempts at defining lyric poetry, including the elegy. Nonetheless, definitions have been fading or, at least, have been problematized since the introduction of the different strands of ‘studies’. The questioning of genre does not pair with an actual disappearance of certain types of traditions, cultural postures, and stylistic forms. This is the case with elegy. Even if rooted in classical legacy, elegy still constitutes a problematic, and yet highly fertile term. Indeed, elegy and elegiac are terms that continue to be used today. This suggests the need to consider whether it is still helpful to provide an all-encompassing definition of the elegy or whether its current hybridity and attempts to blurred boundaries between genres is in tune with current trends in genre studies.

This Seminar will be chaired by Prof. Jonathan Culler (Cornell University)