Rationality Is . . . The Essence of Literary Theory

Rationality Is . . . The Essence of Literary Theory PDF Author: Norm Klassen
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1666730181
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 172

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Book Description
A culturally influential sub-discipline within literary studies, literary theory has developed in parallel form in other arts and social science disciplines, so that one might refer to “cultural theory” or “social theory” as well, or even just to “theory.” It’s as familiar as the word “postmodern” and as tricky as “deconstruction.” What is it about? What is at stake? Theory is about rationality. This book’s title invites two different interpretations of what it might mean to say so. For many, the essence of literary theory is the unmasking and redescription of rationality in other terms. Put ironically, rationality is male; rationality is white; rationality is repression.... The book’s title, however, can also be read in a second way. On this reading, rationality itself is the essence of literary theory and central to literature, art, and society. Certain conceptions of what it entails can be problematic; the critique in the first way of reading the title remains relevant. Yet one can affirm rationality as integral to human flourishing, including the processes of producing, analyzing, and enjoying literature, art, and culture. This book provides readers with a clear overview of theory’s development and the abiding presence of its concern with the status of rationality across its forms.

Rationality Is . . . The Essence of Literary Theory

Rationality Is . . . The Essence of Literary Theory PDF Author: Norm Klassen
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1666730181
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 172

Get Book Here

Book Description
A culturally influential sub-discipline within literary studies, literary theory has developed in parallel form in other arts and social science disciplines, so that one might refer to “cultural theory” or “social theory” as well, or even just to “theory.” It’s as familiar as the word “postmodern” and as tricky as “deconstruction.” What is it about? What is at stake? Theory is about rationality. This book’s title invites two different interpretations of what it might mean to say so. For many, the essence of literary theory is the unmasking and redescription of rationality in other terms. Put ironically, rationality is male; rationality is white; rationality is repression.... The book’s title, however, can also be read in a second way. On this reading, rationality itself is the essence of literary theory and central to literature, art, and society. Certain conceptions of what it entails can be problematic; the critique in the first way of reading the title remains relevant. Yet one can affirm rationality as integral to human flourishing, including the processes of producing, analyzing, and enjoying literature, art, and culture. This book provides readers with a clear overview of theory’s development and the abiding presence of its concern with the status of rationality across its forms.

Literature and Literary Theory in Contemporary China

Literature and Literary Theory in Contemporary China PDF Author: Zhang Jiong
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1317482751
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 211

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Book Description
Marxism initiated a new era not only for people to fight for socialist future, but also for each discipline of sciences to witness profound changes. In such a context, literature, which has always been closely related to politics, will inevitably move toward a new direction. This book is composed of two parts. Part One studies the development of literary theories in contemporary China from a Marxist perspective. It introduces the basic ideas of Marxist literary theories as well as their spread and development in China, such as the combination of the theories and Chinese revolutionary literature. Moreover, it discusses the challenges facing Marxist literary theories in the 21st century under the background of diversification of literature and art, in terms of theory and practice, and high technologies which brought about electronic writing and digital communication of literary works. The second part elucidates the author’s insights into major issues concerning literary theories (e.g. the relationship between literature and people, literature and reality, perception and rationality in literary creation, etc.) This book will appeal to scholars and students of literary aesthetics and Chinese literary and cultural studies. People who are interested in history of contemporary Chinese literature will also benefit from this book.

The Gift of Creation

The Gift of Creation PDF Author: Mátyás Szalay
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1666796190
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
What does it mean to consider creation as a divine gift? In the post-Laudato Si' era, it has become more important than ever to rediscover and further develop a Catholic philosophy and theology of creation. To that end, a diversity of scholars has produced this collection of essays that examine our relationship with the creator and the created world through a variety of lenses. The authors of these chapters engage timeless visionaries, such as St. Augustine and St. Hildegard of Bingen, as well as more contemporary voices, like Edith Stein (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross) and Ferdinand Ulrich, as they endeavor to deepen our understanding of Catholic teaching on creation and the nature of being. Featuring contributions from internationally recognized philosophers and theologians--including Rocco Buttiglione, William Cavanaugh, Salvador Antunano Alea, and others--this volume seeks to challenge the reader in an examination of what it means to receive the gift of creation.

IS THE AUTHOR REALLY DEAD?

IS THE AUTHOR REALLY DEAD? PDF Author: Zhang Jiang
Publisher: American Academic Press
ISBN: 1631815482
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
Roland Barthes declared that “the author is dead.” Professor Zhang Jiang challenges this statement by asking “is the author really dead?” In contemporary Western theories of literature and art, the relationship among the author, the text and the reader is not only a theoretical issue, but a matter of epistemology and philosophy with a broad background and rich connotations. Is the Author Really Dead? Textual Research into Contemporary Western Literary Theories analyzes the inadequacies and problems of contemporary Western literary theory and calls for realignment in this field. It argues that the root of the insurmountable conflict between Western literary theory and Chinese literary theory lies in what Professor Zhang terms “compulsory interpretation,” the recognition and repudiation of which should form the cornerstone of reconstructing contemporary Chinese literary theory.

Critical Theory

Critical Theory PDF Author: Max Horkheimer
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 0826400833
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
These essays, written in the 1930s and 1940s, represent a first selection in English from the major work of the founder of the famous Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt. Horkheimer's writings are essential to an understanding of the intellectual background of the New Left and the to much current social-philosophical thought, including the work of Herbert Marcuse. Apart from their historical significance and even from their scholarly eminence, these essays contain an immediate relevance only now becoming fully recognized.

The Fellowship of the Beatific Vision

The Fellowship of the Beatific Vision PDF Author: Norm Klassen
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1498283691
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 159

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Book Description
In The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer asks a basic human question: How do we overcome tyranny? His answer goes to the heart of a revolutionary way of thinking about the very end of human existence and the nature of created being. His answer, declared performatively over the course of a symbolic pilgrimage, urges the view that humanity has an intrinsic need of grace in order to be itself. In portraying this outlook, Chaucer contributes to what has been called the "palaeo-Christian" understanding of creaturely freedom. Paradoxically, genuine freedom grows out of the dependency of all things upon God. In imaginatively inhabiting this view of reality, Chaucer aligns himself with that other great poet-theologian of the Middle Ages, Dante. Both are true Christian humanists. They recognize in art a fragile opportunity: not to reduce reality to a set of dogmatic propositions but to participate in an ever-deepening mystery. Chaucer effectively calls all would-be members of the pilgrim fellowship that is the church to behave as artists, interpretively responding to God in the finitude of their existence together.

A Reader's Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory

A Reader's Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory PDF Author: Raman Selden
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
Unsurpassed as a text for upper-division and beginning graduate students, Raman Selden's classic text is the liveliest, most readable and most reliable guide to contemporary literary theory. Includes applications of theory, cross-referenced to Selden's companion volume, Practicing Theory and Reading Literature.

Literary Theory

Literary Theory PDF Author: Johannes Willem Bertens
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 0415186641
Category : Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
This accessible guide provides the ideal first step in understanding literary theory.

Towards a Christian Literary Theory

Towards a Christian Literary Theory PDF Author: L. Ferretter
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230006256
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
Most modern literary theory is explicitly anti-theological. This book states the case for a contemporary literary theory whose principles derive from Christian theology. Ferretter argues that it remains rationally and ethically legitimate to use theological language in literary theory despite the objections to such a theory posed by deconstruction, Marxism and psychoanalysis. He concludes with an assessment of how such a theory can be formulated and used in contemporary cultural analysis.

Literary Criticism and Theory

Literary Criticism and Theory PDF Author: Pelagia Goulimari
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135053014
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 437

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Book Description
This incredibly useful volume offers an introduction to the history of literary criticism and theory from ancient Greece to the present. Grounded in the close reading of landmark theoretical texts, while seeking to encourage the reader's critical response, Pelagia Goulimari examines: major thinkers and critics from Plato and Aristotle to Foucault, Derrida, Kristeva, Said and Butler; key concepts, themes and schools in the history of literary theory: mimesis, inspiration, reason and emotion, the self, the relation of literature to history, society, culture and ethics, feminism, poststructuralism, postcolonialism, queer theory; genres and movements in literary history: epic, tragedy, comedy, the novel; Romanticism, realism, modernism and postmodernism. Historical connections between theorists and theories are traced and the book is generously cross-referenced. With useful features such as key-point conclusions, further reading sections, descriptive text boxes, detailed headings, and with a comprehensive index, this book is the ideal introduction to anyone approaching literary theory for the first time or unfamiliar with the scope of its history.