Literary Theory and Criticism Research Papers (original) (raw)

Re-framing the concepts of utopia and allegory in the twenty-first century.

- by
- •
- History, Comparative Literature, Art History, Modernism (Literature)

JULIO CORTÁZAR, LITERATURA ARGENTINA, DOBLE, FANTASÍA

- by L. Patrik Baka
- •
- Lady Gaga Studies, Literary Theory and Criticism, Popculture

ES:
La Galatea, al ser una novela pastoril, formalmente adopta el modelo de la Arcadia de Sannazaro, ya seguido en España por Gil Polo, Montemayor o Gálvez de Montalvo, e intercala en la narración múltiples cantos de los pastores. Sin embargo, esta obra presenta ante el lector una trama desconcertante, en la que se cuestionan los ideales de la bucólica. Así, el propósito del presente artículo es estudiar la función que tienen los poemas de los protagonistas, Elicio, Erastro y Galatea, en esta puesta en cuestión. A partir de un análisis formal de los poemas se mostrará cómo los cantos de los personajes dialogan entre sí y anticipan la transformación de los protagonistas y de sus realidades.
EN:
Being a pastoral novel, La Galatea formally adopts the model of Sannazaros’s Arcadia, followed in Spanish by Montemayor, Gil Polo or Gálvez de Montalvo, and inserts different songs of the shepherds into the prose. Nevertheless, this novel shows the reader an unexpected plot that denies the ideals of the bucolic tradition. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to analyse the function of the main characters’ poems (Elicio, Erastro and Galatea) within this questioning of the bucolic ideals. A formal analyse of the poems will be carried out to show how the shepherds’ songs dialogue and anticipate the transformation of the characters and their world. |
FR:
Comme roman pastoral, La Galatea de Miguel de Cervantès adopte le modèle de l’Arcadie de Sannazaro qui a déjà donné lieu à des adaptations en Espagne (Gil Polo, Montemayor, Gálvez de Montalvo). Sont insérés dans la trame narrative de nombreux chants de bergers, ce qui semble ajouter une complexité supplémentaire à une œuvre dont la trame déconcerte le lecteur par sa remise en question de l’idéal bucolique. Le présent article étudie la fonction des poèmes d’Elicio, Erastro et Galatea dans cette remise en question. A partir de l’analyse formelle de ces poèmes insérés, on montre comment les personnages dialoguent entre eux et préparent leur transformation.

- by Sara Santa-Aguilar
- •
- Miguel de Cervantes, Cervantes, Literatura, Literary Theory and Criticism

«Atheism and writing in Maurice Blanchot». In: Miriam Díez Bosch, Jordi Sánchez Torrents (eds), Atheism and literature in Europe. Blanquerna Observatory on Media, Religion and Culture – School of Communication and International Relations... more

- by Joan Cabó Rodríguez
- •
- Atheism, Literary Criticism, Literary Theory, Maurice Blanchot

Aijaz Ahmad’s highly influential essay “‘Indian Literature’: Notes towards the Definition of a Category” was first published as a chapter in his seminal book In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures (1992). Many of the essays published in this book, notably “Jameson's Rhetoric of Otherness and the "National Allegory””, “Salman Rushdie's Shame: Postmodern Migrancy and the Representation of Women” and “Orientalism and After: Ambivalence and Metropolitan Location in the Work of Edward Said” were first published in various reputed journals. By Ahmad’s own admission, the chapter“Indian Literature” too has its basis in seminar presentations held at Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University in 1988. Ahmad’s essay is concerned with several issues of importance pertaining to the unwieldy category of Indian literature. Ahmad discusses theoretical and institutional problems encountered while talking of a separate entity such as ‘Indian Literature’. The essay is written from...

- by Girija Suri
- •
- Indian Literature, Literary Theory and Criticism
- by Gyöngyvér Horváth
- •
- Critical Theory, Visual Studies, Art History, Art Theory
- by Jan Mieszkowski
- •
- Critical Theory, American Literature, German Literature, English Literature

This paper is intended as a personal inquiry on how the idea of immortality, necroaesthetics, and the concept of an afterlife came to be. We, as humans, are social and emotional beings. We create highly complex social circles and bond with one another in a close way. Thus, when we are grief-stricken after losing a beloved friend, partner, family member or a pet animal, we confide in the idea of immortality in the sense of 'an afterlife'. The magnitude of death is incomprehensible to us. In comparison to the infinite size and continuum of our universe, our individual existence is like fairy lights reflecting on glass; we suddenly pop up into existence and fade away in a measly second. Therefore, we have come up with various methods and belief systems in order to maintain our ontological security and change our perception of death. I will be drawing on certain literary materials, and Sir James George Frazer's Man, God and Immortality, in which he says: "Of all the many forms which natural religion has assumed none probably has exerted so deep and far-reaching an influence on human life as the belief in immortality and the worship of the dead." By the same token, we aestheticize and immortalize the dead. While its depiction differs among metaphysical models, most belief systems bring forward the idea that death is not the end of our existence. Some of us believe in an afterlife while some of us believe in reincarnation of the soul. Also, another related theme is necroaesthetics. We find a certain aesthetic appreciation in death. There are such examples as taxidermy, the art of preparing, stuffing, and mounting dead animals for decoration, or beautifully decorated funerary urns. Furthermore, this appreciation reflects in our works of art, i.e. John Keats' Ode on a Grecian Urn, or various sculptures and paintings, for which various images and information are provided in the presentation file.

- by Mert Başoğlu
- •
- Philosophy, Ontology, Aesthetics, Philosophy Of Religion

Louis Owens: Writing Land and Legacy explores the wide-ranging oeuvre of this seminal author, examining Owens’s work and his importance in literature and Native studies. Of Choctaw, Cherokee, and Irish American descent, Owens’s work includes mysteries, novels, literary scholarship, and autobiographical essays. Louis Owens offers a critical introduction and thirteen essays arranged into three sections: “Owens and the World,” “Owens and California,” and “The Novels.” The essays present an excellent assessment of Owens’s literary legacy, noting his contributions to American literature, ethnic literature, and Native American literature and highlighting his contributions to a variety of theories and genres. The collection concludes with a coda of personal poetic reflections on Owens by Diane Glancy and Kimberly Blaeser. Libraries, students, scholars, and the general public interested in Native American literature and the landscape of contemporary US literature will welcome this reflective volume that analyzes a vast range of Louis Owens’s imaginative fictions, personal accounts, and critical work.

- by Joe Lockard
- •
- American Literature, Native American Studies, American Studies, Indigenous Studies

Настоящият текст е част от по-голямо изследване на непубликувани до този момент и системно оповестявани епистолари в сп. „Септември“ в периода след Априлското размразяване. Тъй като те участват в реабилитацията на писатели – в една или друга степен - идеологически санкционирани заради „буржоазно“ минало, индивидуализъм, идеализъм, символизъм, заради споделяне на модерни тенденции отвъд „лявата“ и „пролетарската“ литературна линия. Докладът конкретно се спира на манипулативните практики и техните механизми в конструирането на социалистическата рецепция на д-р Кръстев, Петко Тодоров и Пенчо Славейков чрез публикувани писма от Ив.Вазов, Ив. Франко и Ст. Михайловски.

Feminist literary criticism is a literary criticism knowledgeable by feminist theory, or, more broadly, by the politics of feminism. It uses feminist principles and ideology to critique the language of literature. This school of thought seeks to analyze and describe the ways in which literature portrays the narratives of male domination by exploring the economic, social, political, and psychological forces embedded within literature. Feminism emerged as an important force in the western world in 1960s when women realized the attitude of their male colleagues who swore about equality, was actually the strategy used by them to keep women subservient, then a revolution by women to fight against them, and against racism and sexism was felt. This awakening spread over and as a result feminist criticism emerged on as an off –shoot of women’s Liberation Movement. Beginning with the interrogation of male-centric literature that portrayed women in a demeaning and oppressed model, theorist su...

In his essay, The Language of Paradox, Cleanth Brooks argues that although we tend to see poetry more so as " the language of the soul " rather than " the language of sophistry, " the poet is inevitably forced to approach his truth, " …only in terms of paradox " (Brooks 3). This doesn't mean Brooks sees poetry as dealing exclusively in paradox or that poetry involving paradox eschews any sort of emotional outpouring. Rather, he sees paradox as revelatory, insofar as it exposes a new meaning hidden underneath the apparent tension stemming from its configuration. Brooks maintains that by delving into existing paradoxes within a poem, a reader may potentially discover the thrust behind a poem's fervency. Building on this notion, I will argue that not only is there an existing paradox in Browning's " My Last Duchess, " but that beneath the apparent discordance exists the very power by which the reader is affected. Before providing an example to substantiate his case, Brooks concedes that Wordsworth's poetry is known for its simplicity and for its candidness. Few would argue, after a first reading of Wordsworth's oeuvre, that his poetry deals in anything sophistical. Yet Brooks contends that underpinning the typical, simplistic Wordsworthian poem is, " a paradoxical situation " (Brooks 4). He gives us " Composed upon Westminster Bridge " as an example that, through its underlying paradox, we can understand its power and account for its success. On its surface, Worthsworth's poem seems devoid of any paradoxical language. We see the speaker construct a metaphor at the poem's beginning, noting how London's skyline, its,

- by Matthew Casey
- •
- Poetry, English, Literary Theory, Robert Browning

Following Wolfgang Iser’s studies, literary criticism could no longer avoid a confrontation with the phenomenology of the act of reading. This has led the analysis of a literary text towards new researches regarding the reader’s response theory . In particular, it is impossible to define the field of literary investigation, its coordinates and characteristics, without considering the anthropological dimention which defines the epistemological nature of literature itself. We propose in this study a new approach that we call “neurohermeneutic approach”. Unlike an analytical or descriptive approach, the neurohermeneutic approach investigates broth the relations that the reader’s mind establishes with the text figurations and how these figurations stimulates the reader’s mind in that inexhaustible, always new and surprising act of the reading. A partire dagli studi di Wolfgang Iser, la riflessione critica non ha piu potuto evitare il confronto con la fenomenologia dell’atto della lettur...

- by Renata Gambino
- •
- Cognitive Science, Anthropology, Philosophy of Mind, Art

AUGUSTO MONTERROSO, LITERATURA MEXICANA, LITERATURA GUATEMALTECA, SÁTIRA, SATIRE, GUATEMALAN LITERATURE, MEXICAN LITERATURE, LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURE, SPANISH LITERATURE

Eén van de mogelijke vragen over de invloed van de psychoanalyse op de literatuur is of het lezen van psychoanalytische geschriften merkbare gevolgen heeft voor de psychologische aspecten van een literair oeuvre, zoals een overtuigende en levensechte weergave van gedrag en beleven van personages. In de literatuurwetenschap lijkt men daar vaak van uit te gaan, maar er zijn redenen om daaraan te twijfelen.

- by Walter Schönau
- •
- Creativity, Writing, Psychoanalysis And Literature, Literary Theory and Criticism

Michel Foucault (1926-84) was a philosopher, social scientist and historian of ideas. He died as professor of the History of Systems of thought at the college De France in Paris. He has exerted an enormous influence on many branches of thoughts in the later twentieth century, including what is broadly known as ‘Cultural Studies’. The paper aims to highlight that he has a seminal impact on the New Historicism that was initiated by Stephen Greenblatt, as well as on queer theory. The central theme of most of Foucault’s works is “the methods with which modern civilization creates and controls human subjects through institutions such as hospitals, prisons, education, and knowledge. The corollary to these investigations was Foucault’s examination of power, its execution and distribution” (Habib, 766). His works offer a characterization of the growth of knowledge in the modern western world as manifested in the emergence of disciplines such as linguistics, economies and biology.

- by Richa Langyan
- •
- Gender Studies, English Literature, Literary Criticism, Michel Foucault

Warum dichten Menschen als einzige uns bekannte Lebewesen? Und zu welchem Zweck tun sie dies, müssen sie es vielleicht sogar tun? Und wie wird aus Nichtkunst eigentlich Dichtkunst? Gibt es etwa grundlegende, poetogene Strukturen, die Poesie bedingen und gar erzwingen?
Die Beiträge des vorliegenden Bandes behandeln solche und ähnliche Fragen aus kulturwissenschaftlicher und biopoetischer Sicht und beschreiten damit insgesamt Wege zu einer empirischen Anthropologie der Literatur.

- by Manfred Engel
- •
- Cultural Studies, German Studies, Comparative Literature, German Literature

Reseña de Daniela Paolini de Silva, Guadalupe (coord.). Literatura y representación en América Latina. Buenos Aires: NJ, 2012.

عندما دارت النقاشات واحتدم الجدل حول حقيقية الإعجاز القرآني، وفهم النص الشرعي، كان المدخل لفهم الإعجاز القرآني، وفهم مقاصد التشريع، ينطلق من فهم العلاقة بين اللفظ والمعنى، فعُني بالنظر في هذه العلاقة علماء الأصول، والمفسرون، وكانوا أول من أثار هذه القضية واشتغل بها، وكان البحث على أيديهم موجهاً -في المقام الأول- إلى استكناه العلامات الدالة واستكشاف دلالاتها. ثم امتد الجدل والنقاش حول علاقة اللفظ بمعناه إلى الحقل النقدي، فأضحى الوقوف على طبيعة العلاقة بين الألفاظ والمعاني في النص الأدبي هو المدخل إلى فهم النص الأدبي وتذوقه، وكشف أسرار قوَّته، ومعرفة أسباب ضعفه، واستشعار مظاهر تأثيره في نفوس متلقيه، وكان من نتائج ذلك ظهور طائفةٍ من النقاد اختصوا بالأدب ودراسته، وعمِلوا على بيان خصائصه، فوضعوا الأسس التي تقوم عليها بلاغته، وحددوا المقاييس التي يتم على ضوئها نقده. وهذا الكتاب يرصد تلك المعايير البلاغية والمقاييس النقدية التي وضعها أرباب البيان وجهابذة البلاغة لثنائية اللفظ والمعنى استناداً إلى أساليب أهل اللغة الفصيحة والسليقة الصحيحة.

- by Milood Ashur
- •
- Literary Criticism, Literary Theory and Criticism

The aim of this study is to set out a relevant contextual framework for interpreting poetry published on (Czech) Instagram. The author looks at the material under study from a number of perspectives, including generational, economic and especially media perspectives, ultimately finding adequate contextualization outside the Framework of literary discourse and actually within the aesthetics and communication practice of Instagram, while drawing key methodological inspiration from the reflections of new media theorist Lev Manovich. In conclusion, Instapoetry is characterized as a paraliterary phenomenon situated on the margins of the literary system, combining elements of literary and Instagram aesthetics and guided by hybrid economics principles.

- by Karel Piorecký
- •
- New Media, Social Networks, Literary Criticism, Literary Theory
- by Robert C . Evans
- •
- Literary Criticism, Literary Theory, Rebellion, Revolution
- by Anil Awad
- •
- Literary Theory and Criticism

Even after 150 years in print, George Eliot’s Middlemarch still abides as one of the most socially and psychologically perceptive works of the English literary canon. Eliot masterfully showcases her ability to see deep into her character’s thoughts and paradoxical motivations, evoking nuances and layers of flaw and grace that render each character delicately human. Her keen eye for detail and subtlety enable the reader to observe with greater perception than most people are able to see in their everyday lives. And with this aid, the reader may even learn to perceive with greater acuity the provincial characters that populate their daily experience. Chapter 33 of Middlemarch provides a keen example of Eliot’s powers of perception and description as it recounts a short but significant moment in the life of one of Eliot’s most perceptive characters: Mary. In this chapter, the reader observes in detail Mary’s ruminative personality at work, as she enjoys the company of her own percipient mind while seated by the fire during Mr. Featherstone’s last hours (314). But as Featherstone forces her into an impulsive choice to reject his command to burn the will, she finds herself by the end of the chapter doubting her powers of perception (318-19). Upon further exploration, this chapter in all its subtle detail and description seems to be one of the pivotal moments in Mary’s life, revealing her complex relationship with her own perspective of herself, others, and the course of things.

- by Nathan Johnson
- •
- English Literature, Victorian Studies, Literature, English language
- by Len Gutkin
- •
- Sociology, Constitutional Law, Aesthetics, Literary Theory

Sketches the basics of a cultural and literary history, distinguishing it from the approach of an analyst to literature (example: Wilhelm Stekel) and that of the psychoanalytical approach practise by some literary critics (example: Carl... more

- by Manfred Engel
- •
- Cultural History, Cultural Studies, German Studies, Comparative Literature

J.M. Coetzee's The Childhood of Jesus and The Schooldays of Jesus typify the concerns of his later writings. These concerns are crystallized around the concept of life and the dynamic relation between a post-secular valorization of life as sacred and the risk of sacrifice inherent to any attempt to both count, or account, for life. This dynamic is not simply thematized. Rather, through what I am terming Coetzee's literary thinking, the ethico-political import of ‘life’ in Coetzee's late works is bound up with the question of their meaning as literary works. Accordingly, Coetzee's literary thinking helps to address the interaction of life and form that is at the center of debates about affect and the body, animal and posthuman life, and the formal distinctiveness of the literary work.

- by Marc Farrant
- •
- World Literatures, Death, Postcolonial Studies, Heinrich von Kleist

Análisis de la obra "El extraño caso del Dr. Jekill y Mr. Hyde", de Robert Louis Stevenson, desde el Formalismo y la Narratología. Se investiga el rol del significado de los nombres de todos los personajes y de la toponimia en la... more

- by Sebastián Barbará
- •
- English Literature, Literary Theory and Criticism

The History of Mary Prince was published by 1829 under the supervision of Thomas Pringle and Susanna Strickland, two white members of the Anti-slavery Society. When reading the text, it is clear a great amount of rhetorical devices are being deployed, by Prince, but mostly by the editors of her book, in order to appeal to the white English majority. The book uses religion as ethos and moral credibility, tracking Prince’s journey to religious conversion in a way that seems to parallel her journey through slavery to freedom. The book also uses white, English gender expectations and projects them onto the novel, significantly altering the lived experiences of Prince in order to project a credible, “appropriate” abolitionist narrative. Although this book is an important biography promulgating a first hand account of the horrors of slavery and marks an important event in the history of the abolition movement, the strategic rhetorical devices of the book can be used to illuminate to the audience how it also is entrenched in the same presuppositions and assumptions of white supremacy in certain ways and cater to a white audience, ironically censoring a black woman.

- by Abbie O'Hara
- •
- British Literature, Literature, Literary Criticism, Rhetorical Analysis

На VI Меѓународна научна конференција „Меѓународен дијалог: Исток – Запад“ што се одржа во Свети Николе на 17 и 18 април 2015 година во организација на Меѓународниот славјански универзитет „Гаврило Романович Державин“, Ранко Младеноски учествуваше со секциско предавање на тема „Дијалогизмот и интертекстуалноста во македонскиот роман“. Во текот на излагањето беа презентирани резултатите од извршените анализи на неколку македонски романи како илустрација за значајната улога на дијалогизмот и интертекстуалноста во историскиот развој на македонската романескна продукција.

- by Ranko Mladenoski
- •
- Cultural History, Cultural Studies, Comparative Literature, Literacy

Modernism is one of the most significant and informative books written in the field of literary theory and criticism. It is an easy-access, wide-ranging and efficient book that tries to explore different aspects of Modernism and its neighboring concepts. Despite its limited space, it has fully rendered the humongous burden of Modernism and demonstrating its various aspects. The book comprises an introduction and three main chapters. It starts off with a set of definitions for Romance, Realism, Modernism, and Postmodernism. Childs endeavors to approach the discussion in a comparative light, particularly the comparison between Modernism and Postmodernism in the introduction. The book is more concerned with the close analysis of movements in contexts and literary works rather than entangling with pure abstract definitions. The discussion about Modernism is accompanied by adjacent movements such as Postmodernism and Realism and marginalized points are included as well. Instead of coming...

- by Zohreh Ramin
- •
- Art History, Art, Literary Theory, Modernist Literature (Literary Modernism)

This book is designed for the students of undergraduate and postgraduate levels of English literature and language. It helps the students to understand the complex and obscure theoretical framework of different critical literary theories. It is expected that the book will provide a deep and clear understanding to them and make them familiar with theories.

- by Dr. Yogesh Kashikar
- •
- Postcolonial Studies, Post-Marxism, Literary Theory, Postmodernism

Working on reconstructing the rhetorical system of cultures outside the traditional western system, especially for the more ancient cultures, is faced by many complexities. Some of which relate to the philological methodology of investigating the different elements of oral and written traditions in those cultures via its surviving written documents i.e. the methodological approach within the discipline itself. But the most difficult struggle that those voiceless cultures are facing is related to the Euro-centric approach which mainly represents and examines the other based on its Western concepts, retheorizing and reconceptualizing the other’s image for their own western audiences.

Wole Soyinka's Death and the King's Horseman has been much discussed as a clash of tradition and modernity, with the Colonial District Officer, Mr Pilkings projecting British sensibilities as right reason itself, and can find nothing in him to rouse sympathy for the local people's traditional culture in which the King's Horseman is required to follow the king he serves in death. His sympathy towards them is the patronizing kind, which knows what is best for them, and would take the necessary steps to procure it for them, even against their strong opposition. However, despite the playwright himself suggesting that Mr Pilkings is a catalyser rather than a protagonist, he is clearly entangled as a participant in the relationships of struggle the drama unfolds, which comprise its internal driving force. The main struggle is of course between Elesin, the King's Horseman, and Iyaloja, 'Mother' of the Market, and 'mother of multitudes', the one antagonist pushing the movement of change by default, not by intention, the other demanding total compliance with the cultural tradition. Iyaloja's 'cultural resistance' burgeons with new and unchallengeable energy in the appearance of Olunde the Eleson's son, and by metonymical substitution, the King's faithful Horseman. It will be argued in this paper that the community had come to a threshold that would have led to a cultural revolution-as elaborated by Fredric Jameson-an abrupt and disorientating transition from one mode of production, one social practice to another. It remained only the successful withholding of sacrifice of a life. But the movement of change is interrupted by the almost magical appearance of Olunde.