Difference between revisions of "2007-08 BM1: Session 7"

From Angl-Am
Jump to: navigation, search
Line 19: Line 19:
 
==Second thoughts==
 
==Second thoughts==
  
Can modernism and postmodernism really be distinguished?
+
*Can modernism and postmodernism really be distinguished?
Progress of contents vs. progress of technique
+
*Progress of contents vs. progress of technique
  
This creates a set of convenient problems with a predictable set of topics for discussion and a predictable spectrum of possible positions.
+
This creates a set of convenient problems with a predictable set of topics for discussion and a predictable spectrum of possible positions. (examples…)
(examples…)
+
  
 
On the other hand, it leaves a great many factors out of consideration:
 
On the other hand, it leaves a great many factors out of consideration:
It does not reflect its own role (the role of the critical and scholarly discussion of literature) in relation to the production of fiction.
+
*It does not reflect its own role (the role of the critical and scholarly discussion of literature) in relation to the production of fiction.
In the 20c, the school syllabus makes English fiction into a central element of the secondary education system.
+
*In the 20c, the school syllabus makes English fiction into a central element of the secondary education system.
Universities begin to train the teachers required for this education system.
+
*Universities begin to train the teachers required for this education system.
National and international prizes that channel public attention.
+
*National and international prizes that channel public attention.
Transmedial presence of fictional works (adaptations)  
+
*Transmedial presence of fictional works (adaptations)  
 +
*Fiction becomes the core of literary production, the contemporary version of relevant production in world literature. Fiction is turned into an object of higher education, of higher culture.
 +
*(expansion of the anglosphere; English as global medium of communication, as the language of the internet)
 +
*The discussion enabled by the received notions occurs in a homogeneous setting which its controversial issues gloss over and do not take into account.
  
Fiction becomes the core of literary production, the contemporary version of relevant production in world literature. Fiction is turned into an object of higher education, of higher culture.  
+
==A more comprehensive view of fiction in the 20c==
 +
*would emphasise the homogeneity of the field, its continuity with 19c patterns. (e.g. signs of fictionality in ''Satanic Verses'' comp. to ''Middlemarch'')
 +
*The links between the scholarly, the educational, the general critical, approaches and exchanges.
 +
*Openness towards all sorts of texts, intertextuality, interdiscursivity.
 +
*Corresponding generalization of interpretive activity (poetics of culture).  
  
(expansion of the anglosphere; English as global medium of communication, as the language of the internet)
+
==What do we do with a 20c novel?==
 
+
*How does it exhibit its poetics? (narrative techniques etc.)  
The discussion enabled by the received notions occurs in a homogeneous setting which its controversial issues gloss over and do not take into account.
+
*Integration into wider cultural exchanges:  
 
+
:* by what topics or techniques does it aim at a “parallel discussion”, a wider contemporary debate, which it invites a chosen set of participants to engage in under special conditions. (Contrast Middlemarch und SV).
A more comprehensive view of fiction in the 20c would emphasise the homogeneity of the field, its continuity with 19c patterns. (e.g. signs of fictionality in Sat.Verses comp. to Middlemarch)
+
:* how is the discussion of this work positioned (what sustains it, who participates in it), how is this addressed.
The links between the scholarly, the educational, the general critical, approaches and exchanges.
+
 
+
Openness towards all sorts of texts, intertextuality, interdiscursivity.
+
Corresponding generalization of interpretive activity (poetics of culture).
+
 
+
 
+
What do we do with a 20c novel?
+
How does it exhibit its poetics? (narrative techniques etc.)  
+
Integration into wider cultural exchanges:  
+
a) by what topics or techniques does it aim at a “parallel discussion”, a wider contemporary debate, which it invites a chosen set of participants to engage in under special conditions. (Contrast Middlemarch und SV).
+
b) how is the discussion of this work positioned (what sustains it, who participates in it), how is this addressed.
+
 
How does it take a position towards a literary tradition, towards other traditions? (intextuality)  
 
How does it take a position towards a literary tradition, towards other traditions? (intextuality)  
  
 
+
==Conclusions reaching beyond the scope of this lecture==
 
+
*The retrospective homogeneity (anti-retrospective textualisation),
Conclusions reaching beyond the scope of this lecture:
+
*Different games, different constructions.
The retrospective homogeneity (anti-retrospective textualisation),
+
Different games, different constructions.
+
  
  

Revision as of 17:08, 16 October 2007

Back to 2007-08 BM1 Introduction to the Critical and Scholarly Discussion of Literature, Part 1


Received notions

First half of 20c:

  • aesthetic modernism, breaking with the general public and with representation; representing the fragmentation of modernity
  • modernism of contents: aesthetically conservative, but highly transgressive contents (especially sexuality)

Second half of 20c

  • Postmodernism: a playful and self-conscious use of aesthetic techniques, and attempt to “bridge the gap between high and popular culture by mixing elements of both”
  • Radical postmodernism in the US (Pynchon, Barth, ), moderate postmodernism in Britain
  • The emergence of Postcolonial fiction (Commonwealth literature, third-world literature), new questions, new perspective, new options.
  • In contrast to the continent, the British market for fiction unites a potential wide popular appeal and the potential for high artistic achievement
Linda Hutcheon, Brian McHale, Postmodern Fiction (schaubild)

Linguistic turn: Undercutting of originality, language speaks us.

Second thoughts

  • Can modernism and postmodernism really be distinguished?
  • Progress of contents vs. progress of technique

This creates a set of convenient problems with a predictable set of topics for discussion and a predictable spectrum of possible positions. (examples…)

On the other hand, it leaves a great many factors out of consideration:

  • It does not reflect its own role (the role of the critical and scholarly discussion of literature) in relation to the production of fiction.
  • In the 20c, the school syllabus makes English fiction into a central element of the secondary education system.
  • Universities begin to train the teachers required for this education system.
  • National and international prizes that channel public attention.
  • Transmedial presence of fictional works (adaptations)
  • Fiction becomes the core of literary production, the contemporary version of relevant production in world literature. Fiction is turned into an object of higher education, of higher culture.
  • (expansion of the anglosphere; English as global medium of communication, as the language of the internet)
  • The discussion enabled by the received notions occurs in a homogeneous setting which its controversial issues gloss over and do not take into account.

A more comprehensive view of fiction in the 20c

  • would emphasise the homogeneity of the field, its continuity with 19c patterns. (e.g. signs of fictionality in Satanic Verses comp. to Middlemarch)
  • The links between the scholarly, the educational, the general critical, approaches and exchanges.
  • Openness towards all sorts of texts, intertextuality, interdiscursivity.
  • Corresponding generalization of interpretive activity (poetics of culture).

What do we do with a 20c novel?

  • How does it exhibit its poetics? (narrative techniques etc.)
  • Integration into wider cultural exchanges:
  • by what topics or techniques does it aim at a “parallel discussion”, a wider contemporary debate, which it invites a chosen set of participants to engage in under special conditions. (Contrast Middlemarch und SV).
  • how is the discussion of this work positioned (what sustains it, who participates in it), how is this addressed.

How does it take a position towards a literary tradition, towards other traditions? (intextuality)

Conclusions reaching beyond the scope of this lecture

  • The retrospective homogeneity (anti-retrospective textualisation),
  • Different games, different constructions.


Are we (still) postmodern? We accept the constructedness. We reject the arbitrariness, “anything goes”

In this, we go along with the cultural turn…