Chapter Five
Contemporary Literary Theory and Culture
The main aim of this study is to identify and evaluate Althusser’s thoughts on art, literature and criticism so as to determine his position as a literary critic in the context of Marxist literary theory and criticism. Apart from his socio-political and economic thoughts, Althusser, as we observe, possesses the significant attributes of a literary critic. The close analysis of this study opens up a number of possibilities for the new identification of Althusser as a literary critic. Since he is largely known as a philosopher and Marxist thinker, it seems that despite his lack of primary interest in literary studies, his fragmented yet significant thoughts on art, literature, criticism,
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The second chapter brings out a collection of annotated quotations from Althusser on art criticism and literature while the third chapter exemplifies some literary work to analyze from Althusserian critical approach. Montag in his writing seems to have found problems with Althusser’s views on the meaning of function of art. Montag interprets Althusser’s art in these words, “this art is not a passive representational medium. To the contrary, great art…carries out a displacement of the ideology, it presents to us and allows it not simply to be seen as ideology but to be felt or experienced as such”- an achievement, Montag emphasises, that may erase the distinction between art and philosophy, which both come to name a similar event of insight” (35).
Although Montag in his study, reflects a difference in his interpretation of the Althusser’s concept of art, he fails to understand that the presence of ideology in art is quite inherent. The very creation of art itself is ideological since it holds in its base, the false knowledge. Althusser believes, “seeing, feeling and perceiving is not
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Sartre ,thus questions the meaning, purpose and significance of writing in his famous work “Literature and Existentialism” . the critical inquiry has always been quite natural to the style of Sartre in his writings. His investigations often begin with questions. Sartre, in his essay “What is Literature?” displays this trait again, he asks, “What is writing? Why does one write? For whom? The fact is, it seems that nobody has ever asked himself these questions”(24). Sartre draws a parallel with Althusser’s in his attempt to integrate psychoanalytic and sociological perspectives into a Marxist analysis .Consequently, each begins with a conception of human nature and then constructs a theory of human social practice, which is based on both an ontological conception of human nature and a theory of institutional
Reading these works without the help of Langer’s introduction would be enlightening, but his statements should be considered and remembered during the “venture into disorientation” of mind and soul. Since the writers of these works were brave enough to release their experiences using an art, the reader should be brave enough to briefly imagine their experiences without transforming them into a type of fiction.
Books are more than simple stories, they have a message to send, whether it be in a direct or indirect way. Books can also tell us about the author’s life, beliefs, inner ambitions and fears; Moreover, they often project the writer’s vision about their environment, reflecting their society in which they lived. Writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernesto Guevara were capable, not only of portraying the society in which they are immerse, but also to convey them in an exquisite social critique. Such literary pieces of art do not criticize in a direct way, nor to specific people or events. They, however, present the vision of the author’s concern with social issues of injustice, misguided values and loss of direction.
Deep-seated in these practices is added universal investigative and enquiring of acquainted conflicts between philosophy and the art of speaking and/or effective writing. Most often we see the figurative and rhetorical elements of a text as purely complementary and marginal to the basic reasoning of its debate, closer exploration often exposes that metaphor and rhetoric play an important role in the readers understanding of a piece of literary art. Usually the figural and metaphorical foundations strongly back or it can destabilize the reasoning of the texts. Deconstruction however does not indicate that all works are meaningless, but rather that they are spilling over with numerous and sometimes contradictory meanings. Derrida, having his roots in philosophy brings up the question, “what is the meaning of the meaning?”
In existential thought it is often questioned who decides what is right and what is wrong. Our everyday beliefs based on the assumption that not everything we are told may be true. This questioning has given light to the subjective perspective. This means that there is a lack of a singular view that is entirely devoid of predetermined values. These predetermined values are instilled upon society by various sources such as family to the media. On a societal level this has given rise to the philosophy of social hype. The idea of hype lies in society as the valuation of something purely off someone or some group of people valuing it. Hype has become one of the main driving forces behind what society considers to be good art and how successful artists can become while being the main component that leads to a wide spread belief, followed by its integration into subjective views. Its presence in the art world propagates trends, fads, and limits what we find to be good art. Our subjective outlook on art is powered by society’s feedback upon itself. The art world, high and low, is exploited by this social construction. Even when objective critique is the goal subjective remnants can still seep through and influence an opinion. Subjective thought in the art world has been self perpetuated through regulated museums, idolization of the author, and general social construction because of hype.
Through this sympathetic faculty, a writer is able to give flesh, authenticity and a genuine perspective to the imagined. It is only in this manner that the goal of creating living beings may be realized. Anything short of this becomes an exercise in image and in Kundera’s words, produces an immoral novel (3). The antithesis of liv... ...
In order to explicate Sartre’s notion of intersubjectivity I will follow the progression that Sartre takes in Being and Nothingness. I will first distinguish between “being-for-itself” and “being-for-others”. Second, I will provide an explication of the subject’s encounter with the Other as an object. Third, I will explain the significance of “the look”. Here I will show how the look provides the foundation for the self. I will also show how the look of the Other affects the subject’s freedom.
...ating Sartre's attitudes towards the constituents of human action, that which constitutes human being. Even though it may, in the final analysis, prove to be an unsatisfactory account of consciousness, it serves to illuminate some possible further lines of study, if only as a negative example.
The notion of the author has often been disputed when it comes to critical literary studies. The argument centers around one basic question: Should the author be considered when looking at a text? There are numerous reasons given as to why the author is important or why the ...
John Paul Sartre is known as one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century. He wrote many philosophical works novels and plays. Much of his work is tied into politics. The essay Existentialism is a Humanism is just one of his many works. Existentialism is a Humanism is a political essay that was written in 1945. Its purpose was to address a small public during World War II in Nazi occupied France. This essay stressed the public not to conform. Sartre introduced a great number of philosophical concepts in Existentialism. Two of these concepts are anguish and forlornness. They are simply defined, as anguish is feeling responsible for yourself as well as others and knowing that your actions affect others and forlornness is realizing that you are alone in your decisions. These two concepts are interwoven throughout the essay and throughout many of Sartre's other works. Sartre's view of anguish and forlornness in Existentialism is a Humanism addresses his view of life and man.
Man goes through life, waking each day and participating in his own existence without truly existing. He is always in search of a greater meaning, and in the process fails to find one as he is on a constant search for something that cannot be grasped by the normality that is the human psyche. A similar example can be found in the capitalistic work force of modern day. Man works the majority of his life, always training and aiming for more, only to retire and live on a portion of what he was making. During his time working he lost out on his family, his sleep, often times his own enjoyment, for an ideal that often times is never achieved. This is a trivial situation, yet it is painted in a rather angelic light in our society. Why is it, then, that Sartre can be dismissed as trivial when trivialities exist in nearly every day to day life? Quite likely, this is because Existentialism is an “on-paper theory” so to speak, and in theory is looks quite differently than in reality. Man, as in this case, does not realise that he often follows the rules which he opposes. In addition, much of today’s society exists under a form of organized religion, a society with which Existentialism exists in
Sartre, Jean-Paul. “Existentialism is Humanism.” Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre. Ed. Walter Kaufman. Meridian Publishing
Literature plays an important role as a part of the cultural heritage. Thus, literature is the soul of our civilization, the center of our religion, and the machine we can travel back in the time of our old civilizations. In addition, literary works are able to take the readers beyond the limited experiences of readers’ lives. They show the lives of others. The literary works covey the social, political, and cultural backgrounds of the time when the stories or novels were written. The author of the book, “The Death of the Author,” Roland Barthes expresses that authors are always the agents of their times. According to the statement conducted by Roland, to get the fully understanding of the text, he recommends
In the first half of his essay “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses”, Althusser says that, “the resistances of the exploited classes is able to find means and occasions to express itself there” (99), by which he means in the Ideological State Apparatuses. In the second half of the essay, Althusser argues there are places that can be found in the ISA that allow expression of the exploited class, but this expression is an illusion as they can only express themselves in terms of being subjects.
...took place. Through , an area of its own had been set aside for man’s artistic creativity. Now independence turned into domination, and the tendency towards differentiation gave way to desire for total inclusiveness. Art, after liberating itself from service under alien powers, (namely the repression of artists and their art, or the lack of education in the arts) aspired in its turn to embrace life in its entirety. In everything, there is art, and in art, there is everything. Or so it was in German romantic thought.
Sartre, Jean-Paul. “Existentialism is Humanism.” Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre. Ed. Walter Kaufman. Meridian Publishing