Literary theory

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Literary theory (rarely: literary philosophy) is the scientific or philosophical justification of literary interpretation , literary criticism , literary history and the concept of literature (' literary ', ' poetic ', the literary , its determination as poetry , poetry, etc.) in general. Literary theory is a branch of literary studies and has a central position especially in comparative literature .

According to the traditional distinction, sub-areas of literary theory are literary aesthetics , literary stylistics and literary rhetoric . In addition to these text-immanent analysis fields, numerous other approaches have been established, so that today a distinction is made between text, author, reader and context-oriented literary theories.

Overarching topics are the text , the author , the reader , the epoch , the canon and ( fictionality ).

Literary theory is sometimes used synonymously with poetics . Since poetological questions can themselves be questioned, compared, systematized, etc., and these practices can in turn be given a theoretical foundation, it makes sense to separate the two disciplines. In the English-speaking world, literary theory is often equated with (literary) criticism . The same applies here: Attempts at interpreting literature can themselves again become the object of theory.

methodology

There is no independent 'literary scholarly' method; however, there are a number of lines of tradition in the humanities that are historically closely related to literary studies . Literary theories have scientific theory , softer 'standards than those of the natural sciences suffice. The basic and indispensable components are always:

  • Interpretation theory: Every theory of literature can claim to be a basic model of comprehensible interpretations of individual literary texts.
  • Modeling: Every theory must offer a number of more or less standardized procedures, according to which such interpretations can come about again and again, even for previously unknown texts.
  • Terminology: the results obtained in the model must be traceable to a number of general terms.

A literary theory is only generally valid until a literary text appears that no longer fits into the scheme. Then the theory has to be adapted to the new circumstances. However, literary theory still tries to come to statements that apply to all texts, i.e. to show ahistorical constants. Structuralism, for example, has tried to analyze narrative texts in such a way that criteria can be found that apply to all narrative texts (a narrator tells an event, with the narrator and the narrated together making up the basic structure of all narrative texts). Other narrative theories see other elements as typical of narrative texts (perspective, narrative situation, etc.).

The main task of literary theory is therefore basically to give the interpretation and history of literature as general a conceptual apparatus as possible. These terminologies can be broken down according to the subject area of ​​literature they refer to, which, according to Jakobson's model, can be either the sender ( author ), message ( text ), recipient ( reader ), code or context of a literary communication act.

Typology

Text-oriented theories

All theories that understand the literary text as a specific, independent structure, d. H. do not derive it from social contexts or conditions of origin. These include genre theory and its subspecies - narrative theory , plot models, drama theory , lyric theory -, the theory of intertextuality , formalism and its varieties ( close reading ), hermeneutics , literary semiotics and, more recently, deconstruction through their influence there has been a convergence between text and context-oriented theories.

Author-oriented theories

This group includes biographically , psychologically or psychoanalytically inspired approaches and the production theories of empirical literary studies. The focus is mostly on the attempt to correctly grasp the intentions of a text ('what does the author mean by this'), to infer the work (or vice versa) from the author's personality, the assessment of the relationship between the individual work and the complete work and the presentation recurrent motifs in such work contexts ('parallel point method'). A distinction has long been made here between theories of the historical author, the implicit author ( Wayne C. Booth ) and the author function ( Michel Foucault ). This is where transitions to context theories take place: what is viewed as an author is historically variable.

Reader-Oriented Theories

All theories that deal with the effects or intentions of the literature. Examples are rhetoric-analytical models, reception aesthetics and reception research in empirical literary studies . In recent years, a neurologically sound branch of reader theory has developed in conjunction with cognitive science .

Context-oriented theories

All approaches that understand texts primarily as expressions of historical and social contexts. Examples are Marxist literary theory , New Historicism , cultural studies , gender-theoretical analysis, post-colonialism , systems- theoretical literary studies , the theory of the literary field, and ecocriticism .

In this area, numerous interdisciplinary approaches have emerged, which ask about the social function ( literary sociology ), the psychological function ( literary psychology ) and the anthropological condition of literature ( literary anthropology ).

history

It is generally difficult to detach the history of literary theory from that of philosophical aesthetics , poetics , hermeneutics and rhetoric . Literary theoretical questions often arise in the 'fairway' of such larger units of the history of ideas, but can nevertheless be abstracted from them.

In general, literary theory is located in classical Greek poetics and rhetoric ; especially with Gorgias by Leontinoi , Plato and Aristotle . The norms of religious textual interpretation, as represented by the Mishnah (repetition) and midrash (interpretation) of the Jewish Torah , are important historical roots of modern literary theory. Aristotle's poetics , which was influential into the 18th century, is generally considered to be the first theory of poetry . Up to this point in time, poetics are rulebooks, instructions for correct poetry in the rhetorical tradition. Only with the emergence of the idea of genius in the 18th century and the idealistic ideas of the romantics is poetry no longer seen as an activity bound by clear rules (normative poetics), but as an individual achievement. As a result, poetry is later analyzed to determine how it works and what it does, not whether it adheres to given norms and conventions.

Another early example is On the Sublime by Pseudo-Longinus . Elements of a literary philosophy can be found in Cicero and Quintilian . Horace 's Poetics is devoted to questions of genre theory.

In the Middle Ages , the orthodox theory of the fourfold sense of writing dominated , which strictly regulated the meaning of a statement in the Bible: it may be interpreted in literal, allegorical, moral and anagogical (salvation-historical) terms.

Literary theory in the modern sense has only been practiced since 1915 by the Russian formalism , which was the first school that specifically asked what the literary aspect of a literary text (literarity) was in contrast to everyday language texts. From about 1930, the Russian formalism was further developed, when the linguistic currents inspired by Ferdinand de Saussure collided with traditional academic philology and the project of structuralist literary research could be started, which began with the Prague literary structuralism and reached its peak in France in the 1950s and 1950s. Experienced 1960s.

Post- structuralist theorists ( Michel Foucault , Jacques Derrida , Gilles Deleuze , Paul de Man ) have been exerting increasing influence on literary theory since the 1970s .

literature

Anthologies

  • Dorothee Kimmich, Rolf Günter Renner, Bernd Stiegler (Hrsg.): Texts on literary theory of the present. Reclam, 2008, ISBN 978-3-15-018589-6 .
  • Vincent B. Leitch (Ed.): The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 2nd, expanded edition. 2010, ISBN 978-0-393-93292-8 .
  • Maria E. Reicher (Ed.): Fiction, Truth, Reality. Philosophical foundations of literary theory. 2., reviewed u. corr. Edition. mentis, Paderborn 2010, ISBN 978-3-89785-354-6 .

Introductions

  • Oliver Jahraus : Approaches to literary theory. 17 model analyzes for ETA Hoffmann's "The Sandman". (= Reclams Study Book German Studies ). Philipp Reclam jun., Ditzingen 2016, ISBN 978-3-15-011082-9 .
  • Christiane Ackermann, Michael Egerding (Hrsg.): Literary and cultural theories in German medieval studies. A manual . de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2015.
  • Jonathan Culler : Literary Theory . A brief introduction. Reclam, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-15-018166-6 .
  • Terry Eagleton : Introduction to Literary Theory . Metzler, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-476-14246-9 .
  • Oliver Jahraus, Stefan Neuhaus (ed.): Kafka's "judgment" and the theory of literature. Ten model analyzes. Reclam, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-15-017636-0 .
  • Oliver Jahraus: Literary Theory: Theoretical and methodological foundations of literary studies. UTB, 2004, ISBN 3-8252-2587-9 .
  • Ansgar Nünning (Ed.): Literary theories, models and methods. An introduction. Trier 2004.
  • Martin Sexl (ed.): Introduction to literary theory . UTB, Vienna 2004, ISBN 3-8252-2527-5 .
  • Thomas Homscheid: Intercontextuality. A contribution to neo-modern literary theory. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2008.
  • Oliver Simons: literary theories as an introduction. Junius, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-88506-662-0 .
  • Jan Urbich: Literary Aesthetics. (= UTB. 3543). Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2011, ISBN 978-3-8252-3543-7 .
  • Tilmann Köppe, Simone Winko: Newer literary theories . An introduction. 2., act. and exp. Edition. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2013, ISBN 978-3-476-02059-8 .
  • Hendrikje Schauer, Marcel Lepper : Theory. 100 books after 2001 . Stuttgart / Weimar 2017, ISBN 978-3-00-056131-3 . (with reading list, translations, chronology, register)

history

  • Jürgen Klein : History of Theory as a Critique of Science. On the genesis of the basic literary crisis in Germany . (= Monographs on philosophical research. Volume 201). Forum Academicum / Athenaeum, Hain, Scriptor, Hanstein, Königstein / Ts 1980, ISBN 3-445-02104-X .
  • The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism. Cambridge University Press, 1989. (9 volumes so far)
  • MAR Habib: A History of Literary Criticism and Theory: From Plato to the Present. Blackwell, 2007, ISBN 978-1-4051-7608-8 .
  • MAR Habib: Modern Literary Criticism and Theory: A History. Blackwell 2008, ISBN 978-1-4051-7666-8 .

Dictionary

  • Ansgar Nünning (Hrsg.): Metzler Lexikon literary and cultural theory. Approaches, people, basic concepts. 4th, act. u. exp. Edition. Metzler, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-476-02241-7 .

Web links

Remarks

  1. See for example René Wellek , Austin Warren: Theory of Literature. (1949) Frankfurt am Main / Berlin / Vienna 1963 (= Ullstein book. Volume 420-421).