Sunday, September 20, 2009
Look at the Cute Little Theories
As I was completing this first reading in Barry, I was continually amazed to see just how new these theories of criticism are. There is such a strong contrast between the age of the Greek and Roman rhetoric that we began with and the newer forms of literary criticism that it makes them seem like infants in the world of thinking. Even the oldest of these forms, the new or practical criticism, is under 100 years old. I have studied these theories before, but never in the context of the ancient origins. When we consider theories like Marxism or feminism, it is easy for us just to assume that these methods of seeing the world have always been around. They don’t seem like the recent developments that they really are. It has put into perspective what will follow in this course. It has also piqued my own interest in what will be coming soon in the world of literary theory. If we have seen so many developments in the last 30 years, what can we expect next? It seems to be taking less time for new theories to be introduced and then accepted into the ‘hour’ of theory.
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Do you suppose there are so many theories because science is being brought into the mix with brain research. Now scientists can "see" what happens in the brain as a result of a particular stimulus. It creates interesting possibilities in the study of semiotics and syntax, I think. I would expect a new wave of literary theories in the very near future.
ReplyDeleteActually, Nic, I was thinking how very similar the theories were to the ancient Greeks. And, these are the theories that have survived. Who knows what was lost in the destruction of the great libraries. The ancients seems to have great insight into how humans are "wired". Science may finally offer proofs as to the biology, but I think that whatever new approaches surface (in all their multitudes)none of them will be far from what the ancient mind already concluded: man's (and woman's) thought can be manipulated by words.
ReplyDeleteI agree; it seems that if there was a period when rich people had the time and inclination to wax philosophically about the nature of literature it was during the time of Aristotle. My question in this same vein of thought is, if the ancients didn’t quibble about these specifics of criticism, what was stopping them? It doesn’t appear that they had any problem disagreeing with each other, but I don’t recollect any piece where Aristotle attacked Isocrates’ opinion of a play by Sophocles.
ReplyDeleteIt is also interesting how certain theories are "revolutionary" like structuralism when it met the UK and the US. Still, it seems the essence of our study of rhetoric has been rearticulated and refashioned through the centuries, but many core tenants remain as strong as they were from the time of Aristotle.
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