Literary Theory
By ThomasWest3
@ThomasWest3 (36)
United States
October 3, 2009 5:58pm CST
Since it has been a while since anyone started a discussion on Literary Theory, I thought I'd start another one. What types of Theory are people interested in? Do you think it's relevant to today's world? Why or why not? Feel free to comment as you feel appropriate.
2 responses
@loudcry (1043)
• India
4 Oct 09
Literary theory is definitely is relevant today. This is how I see things. Study of literature is essentially a branch of philosophy, because literature is a form of art. Analysis of any art will draw disciplines from philosophy. To elaborate, lets pick two genres of fiction:Romanticism and Determinism.
In my head thse two are near opposites. I'll just give a very short and reductionist definition of these two genres here. In works of fiction belonging to the romantic genre the protagonists are ideal human beings who triumph over great odds. In deterministic works the heroes are ideal but they fail to triumph in the end.
Wheather a person likes romanticism or determinism is dependent on his very sense of life. A person who likes romantic works of fiction views man as a heroic being and is also likely to beleive that he himself can beat all odds and write his own destiny. On the other hand, a person who prefers determinism is likely beleive man is incapable of fighting odds.
I hope I have made a coherent argument here. You have not written about what you think about literary theory. Do write.
@ThomasWest3 (36)
• United States
4 Oct 09
Theory for me is a way of destabilizing what are considered common sense ways of viewing the world. Rather than just accepting ideas, concepts, opinions without any consideration, Theory urges us to challenge what we hold most dear. In the end, Theory is about changing the world, about impacting the lives of those who need it most. Women, the GLBT Community, the poor, all of these are groups that stand to gain by the effective use of Literary Theory in the world that we live in.
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
5 Oct 09
Thomas, what you are describing sounds to me exactly what we social scientists call deconstructionism, and while literary theory, about which I admittedly know less than nothing, may utilise deconstructionist theory, it is more likely to have borrowed that tool from sociology than developed its own theory.
Lash
@jsilver09 (117)
• United States
4 Oct 09
I am not aware of this term or it's meaning... I know that Literate is best at the Classic deffinition. Current literature I do of know could be poetry. That interests me somewhat. Reading up on genre magazine of this title is a good way to learn who writes and how they do it. What is the meaning of : Theory in literary terms?
