The World, the Text, and the CriticThis extraordinarily wide-ranging work represents a new departure for contemporary literary theory. Author of Beginnings and the controversial Orientalism, Edward Said demonstrates that modern critical discourse has been impressively strengthened by the writings of Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault, for example, and by such influences as Marxism, structuralism, linguistics, and psychoanalysis. He argues, however, that the various methods and schools have had a crippling effect through their tendency to force works of literature to meet the requirements of a theory or system, ignoring the complex affiliations binding the texts to the world. The critic must maintain a distance both from critical systems and from the dogmas and orthodoxies of the dominant culture, Said contends. He advocates freedom of consciousness and responsiveness to history, to the exigencies of the text, to political, social, and human values, to the heterogeneity of human experience. These characteristics are brilliantly exemplified in his own analyses of individual authors and works. Combining the principles and practice of criticism, the book offers illuminating investigations of a number of writersSwift, Conrad, Lukacs, Renan, and many others-and of concepts such as repetition, originality, worldliness, and the roles of audiences, authors, and speakers. It asks daring questions, investigates problems of urgent significance, and gives a subtle yet powerful new meaning to the enterprise of criticism in modern society. |
Contents
Secular Criticism | 1 |
The World the Text and the Critic | 31 |
Swifts Tory Anarchy | 54 |
Copyright | |
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activity actual affiliation appear attention authority become beginning called century complex Conrad consciousness considered contemporary course criticism culture deal Derrida described detail discourse effect English English studies essay European example existence experience expression fact force Foucault given gives hand human ideas important instance institutions intellectual intention interest interpretation Islam kind knowledge language later less linguistic literary literature Lukacs Marxism material matter means method mind narrative nature never notion novel object once Orientalism originality particular perhaps period philosophy play political position possible practice present Press problem produced question reader reading reality reason reference Renan repetition represent result role scholar Schwab seems sense situation social society sort speak Swift textual theoretical theory things thought tion tradition true turn understand University values Western whole writing written York