ABriefAnalysisofJonathanCuller's

ABriefAnalysisofJonathanCuller's

ChenTaiwei（QingdaoUbiversity

[Abstract]Wheneverwerefertothewesternliterarytheoriesofthetwentiethcentury,peoplealwaysthinkofthepropositionsofdifferenttheories,whicharemutuallyagitating,questioning,conflictingorinclusive.Therefore,literarytheorytendstobewrittentointroducedifferentschools,suchasTerryEagleton's<LITERARYTHEORY:AnIntroduction>.JonathanCuller(1944-)wrote<LITERARYTHEORY>withabriefdescriptionofdifferentschoolsinappendices.Startingfromallkindsofissuesanddebateswhichareveryimportantinthecontemporaryera,itiseasytounderstandbutprofoundtodifferentiateandanalyzethecontemporarytheory,whichshowsatheorist'smeticulousthinkingandskillfulmasteryoftheory.

Language-centeredLiteraryView

Thebasicquestionofliterarytheory,"Whatisliterature",Cullerthought,wasnotsoimportant.Weshouldunderstandwhatmakesliteraturedifferentfromotherhumanactivities,andwhatarethefundamentalcharacteristicsofliteraryworkscomparedwithothertexts?【1】Butsuchquestionsarestilldifficulttoanswerbecauseliteraryworksdifferinformandlength,andmostofthemseemtohavemoreincommonwithwhatisusuallynotconsideredaliterarywork.Wecaneasilyfindouttheliterarinessofnon-literarytexts.Forexample,non-literarytextsareincreasinglyusingrhetoricaldevices.Advertisementsorproductslogansoftenusemetaphors,personification,parallelismandothermeanstoachieveconsumerresonance.Itwouldbemorecomplicatedifwetookthisissueintoaccountinthehistoricalcontext.Differentsocialgroupsindifferenttimeshavedifferentstandardsfordefiningliterature,andtheydiffergreatlyfromeachother.Cullertemporarilyconcludedthat"Literatureisanyworkthataparticularsocietyconsiderstobeliterature,thatis,anytextthatculturalauthoritiesbelievecanbecountedasliteraryworks.”【2】Cullerstillfindssomeimportantfeaturesofliterature,whicharealsotheconceptsoftenappearinginthisbook,namely"conventionsofliterature".Hebelievesthattheuniquenessofliteraryworksliesintheprocessofpublishing,reviewingandreprinting."Thereaderreadstheseworksbecausehebelievesthatothershavefoundthemingeniouslyconceivedand'worthreading'."【3】Thatistosay,literatureisaconventionalsymbol.Althoughheispuzzling,weknowthatitisaliteraryworkandwilltrytofinditsmeaning.Therefore,itcanbeconcludedthat"literatureisaspeechactortextthatcanarousesomeconcern."【4】Hefurtheranalyzedanddiscussedtheimportantcharacteristicsofliterature:1.Literatureastheforegroundingoflanguage;2.Literatureastheintegrationoflanguage;3.Literatureasfiction;4.Literatureasaestheticobject;5.Literatureasintertextualorself-reflexiveconstruct.ItisnotdifficulttoseethatwhenCullerdefinesthecharacteristicsofliterature,hestartsfromthelanguageitself.Here"literatureasfiction",whichisdefinedas"thereisaspecialrelationshipbetweentheexpressionofliteratureandtheworld,whichwecall”fiction”【5】Thatistosay,fictionisformedbytheincompletecorrespondencebetweenlanguageandtheworld.Thecharacters,events,timeandplaceofliteraryworksonlyexistintheworks,notthedescriptionofsomethingintherealworld.Andtheconceptof"literatureistheaestheticobject",CullerquotedKant'sdefinitionofaestheticobject:"aimlesspurposefulness",theconstructionofliteraturehasapurposefulness,eachpartofthecoordinatedrealizationofacertainpurpose,andthispurposeistheworkofartitself,nottheexternalpurpose.Therefore,thepracticalsignificanceofliteraryworksisits"narratability",anditistheresultoflaterinstructionorinspirationtoreaders,notthedefinitionofliteraryworks.

TheSwisslinguistSaussure(1875-1913)pideshumanlinguisticphenomenaintolanguageandparole,theformeristherulesystemofhumanlinguisticphenomena,andthelatteristheconcretereflectionoftheactualspeakingsituationinthelanguagesystem.Saussureholdsthattheobjectoflinguisticstudyshouldbelanguage,whichistheunifiedrulebehindallspeechacts,anditisnotinterferedbyspecificspeechacts.Inspiredbythis,structuralismtriestofindafundamentalstructurebehindliterature,whichexcludestheauthor'slife,heart,motivation,anddoesnotexaminethebackgroundofthetext,butreturnstothetextitselfandexaminestherelationshipbetweenvarioustextunits.

Inthisbook,CullermakesadetailedanalysisofSaussure'slinguistics.Languageisbasedondifferences."Saussureemphasizesthatalanguageisnotasystematicnomenclaturethatprovidesnamesforcategoriesthatexistoutsidethelanguage.Thisisacrucialpointformoderntheory.【6】Asfarasliterarytheoryisconcerned,literaryworksarethemostprominentmanifestationoflanguage,exploringvariousthinkinghabits,andoftentryingtochangeorreshapethem.Therefore,"languageisnotonlytheconcretemanifestationofideology,thecategoryofspeaker'sthinkingbasedonit,butalsothebaseforquestioningordispellingit.”【7】

TheMethodofInterpretingText

Intermsoftextinterpretation,Cullersuggestsfourelements:intention,text,contextandreader.Thesefourelementsinteracttoproducemeaning,andmeaningitselfisaverycomplexconcept."Itisnotonlytheexperienceofasubject,butalsotheattributeofatext.Itisnotonlyourknowledge,butalsotheknowledgewetrytogetinthetext.”【8】Thedefinitionofmeaningitselfiscontroversialandinconclusive.Ifwehavetofindacriterion,thenmeaningisdeterminedbycontext,whichincludeslinguisticrules,thecontextoftheauthorandthereader,andanythingthatcanbeimaginedtohavesomethingtodowithit.Therefore,fromacertainpointofview,thetheoreticalchangesofliteraryinterpretationcanbeseenastheexpansionofcontext.

Intermsofinterpretationmethods,Cullerdistinguishesbetween"poetics"and"hermeneutics",theformerbeing"theprovenmeaningoreffectasthestartingpointtostudyhowtheyachievedit".【9】Andthelatteris"tostudythemeaningofthetextandtrytofindnewandbetterinterpretationsbasedonthetext.”【10】Traditionalinterpretativeliteraryworksaredominatedbyhermeneutics,whilelinguisticmodelcriticismholdsthatliteraryresearchshouldadoptapoeticapproach,whichdoesnotrequireustounderstandthemeaningofawork,buttoexplainvariousliteraryeffectsthatwecanprove,suchaswhytheendofapoemismoresuccessfulthantheotherone.Oracombinationofimagesinapoemismeaningful,butnotinanotherpoem.WhatCullerwantstohighlighthereisthepoeticapproachasalinguisticmodel.However,ashehasobserved,today'sliterarycriticismismostlyacombinationoftwokinds.Ontheonehand,itstudiesthespecificliteraryeffect,ontheotherhand,themeaningofstylisticwriting.

EnlightenmentasMethodology

Domesticliteraryresearchisdeeplyinfluencedbythewesterntrendofthought.Whenitsmethodordomainchanges,domesticresearchwillfollowsuit.Whenthe20thcenturyliteraryresearchturnstoculturalresearch,somepartofitismissing,thatis,textcriticismwithlanguageasthemainbody.Thedifferenceinresearchmethodsbetweendomesticandwesternacademiccirclesisrevealed.Influencedbythetraditional"literaturecarriesTaoism"andlaterMarxistsociologicalcriticism,mostofthedomesticcriticsdiscusstheircriticismofsocietyfromtheauthor'sintentionorthecontentoftheworks.SimilarlyaMarxist,Eagletonstillbeginswithaclosereadingofthetext.HisbookOnEvil-AMeditationofTerroristActs,whichexploresthedefinitionof"evil"anditsinfluenceonthecontemporaryera,isamonographofculturalcriticism.However,thefirstchapterofthisbook,"EvilinLiteraryClassics",stillstartsfromthetext.IncludingWillamGolding(1911-1993),LordoftheFlies,JohnWyndham(1903-1969),Medvedev'sCuckoo,Hamilton'sParadiseLostandSartre'sLuciferandGod,andsoon,discusstheevilsofdifferentroles.

Asatheoreticalbasis,thediscussionofvarioustechniquesandaestheticeffectsoflanguageintheworksalsoarousedalotofdiscussionatthattime,butitwasaflashinthepan.Withtheturningofthefieldofdiscourse,domesticscholarshaveabandonedtextinterpretationandturnedtosocial,historicalandculturalstudies.Fordomesticliterarycriticism,Carl'sIntroductiontoLiteraryTheoryundoubtedlyprovidesawaytosolvethecontradictionbetweenliteraryandculturalstudies,sothattheycancoexistpeacefullyandcomplementeachother.

[Citations]

[1]—[10]JonathanCuller.LiteraryTheory:AVeryShortIntroduction.London:OxfordUniversityPress,1997：26，23，27，29，32，61，63，70，64，64

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