A S L 3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Postcolonialism, Working Class Culture, Exegesis
Document Summary
Literary and cultural studies #3 literary theory. Wed, 24th october 2018: what is theory, theory in natural sciences and humanities. You can"t separate them completely (psychology, geography,) Different types of questions, methods, aims and theories: approach method theory. Approach: general, not necessarily theory-based (author-oriented, text-oriented, context- oriented, reader-oriented) Method: a mode of reading, technique of interpretation. Plato (479-347 bce): poets don"t need a reason to compose (inspiration, poetry doesn"t care what it teaches (ignorant and could be false, poetry encourages emotions in the audience (not only the right one) Poets as liars, leading further away from the truth. Aristotle (c. 384-322 bce): -> rebuts plato"s critique: poetry is not (only) inspiration; inspiration as skill ( techne") Mimesis" (imitation) is natural: poetry as a source of universal knowledge of human behaviour, poetry not only encourages good emotions, but purges audiences of harmful emotions ( catharsis") Hermes -> greek messenger of gods (mediator)
