“You can’t understand any text without a knowledge of its literary and cultural history.” Discuss
This essay will discuss the hypothesis that ‘you cannot understand any text to its fullest potential without at least a basic knowledge of its literary and cultural history’. There are three main areas of this discussion, the first being that you need some degree of knowledge of the texts cultural and literary history, whether that be a little or a lot, in order to understand what the author truly meant to the fullest potential, the second being that some texts can be read and enjoyed or appreciated without any knowledge of cultural or literary history, but they are unlikely to be understood with any great depth, and the reader is unlikely to take
…show more content…
It has used My Last Duchess by Robert Browning to suggest that knowing about the context of a literary text can inhibit the readers ability to interpret the text in an individual way, Waiting for the Barbarians by J. M. Coetzee to suggest that a knowledge of literary and cultural history is not entirely necessary, but having knowledge of it is more useful than not, and finally A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift to suggest that knowledge of cultural and literary history is a necessity when reading a literary text. The main argument in this essay was the counter argument which went against the hypothesis to say that some texts can be read and understood on their own without any need for cultural or literary knowledge because of Barthes idea of the ‘Death of the Author ’. To finalise, from this essay the conclusion can be drawn that, whilst it is true for a lot of literary texts that they cannot be understood to their fullest potential without the reader having at least a basic understanding of the cultural and literary history of the text, this cannot be used as an all-inclusive statement. A more accurate statement to make would be that a knowledge of the literary and cultural history of a text may allow the reader to gain a greater, or just a different understanding of the
Throughout literature and novels we can find authors who will reference history, other authors works and most often the Bible. One may ask themselves the reasoning behind allusions and how it can affect our perspective and the authors meaning when reading the novel. In the late sixties, Julia Kristeve, who studied the elements of literature and other communication systems, introduced the word “Intertextuality”. In Kristave’s essay “Word, Dialogue, and Novel” she went into deep analysis of an authors work and its text, “A literary work, then, is not simply the product of a single author, but of its relationship to other texts and to the strucutures of language itself. Any text," she argues, "is constructed of a mosaic of quotations; any text
An example of literature is brought up, where for no apparent reason the historical novel became a popular genre and everyone was reading and writing them despite the fact that the genre had been around for a very long time. He used this example to give a concrete example if his idea, and it appeals to the audience’s
Knowing about the writer of a literary text can shape significantly the way that it is read. Consider the effect of the writer’s context on your understanding of The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum.
" Literature and Its Times: Profiles of 300 Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events that Influenced Them. Joyce Moss and George Wilson. Vol. 1. Ancient Times to the American and French Revolutions.
Sorting through all the possible beliefs of an author may be problematic, and may also be a reason why many are exclusive readers to a certain author or specific genre. In both cases, the reader is able to extract some external information from knowledge of an author’s previous work or from other works that incorporate similar ideas. This is an effective way of deciding which beliefs the author wants to be adopted, by making relations between a present story and ones previously written. It may also be helpful to know the time and place the story was written. Sometimes present-day knowledge can contradict the content of stories written in the past. It is thus pertinent that one keeps the story’s context at the fore front of thought when trying to extract the underlying content.
Parker, Robert Dale. How to Interpret Literature: Critical Theory for Literary and Cultural Studies. New York: Oxford, 2011. Print.
L’Engle, L'Engle. “Focus On The Story, Not Readers…” Writer Apr 2010: p. 24-25. MAS Ultra-School Edition. EBSCOhost. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.
First, I have read most of Jane Austen’s books, and have enjoyed her writing. Immersing myself into her book’s culture has made me want to learn more about who else has been impacted by her writing. To clarify, by “book culture,” I mean everything outside surrounding the text. More specifically, what social conventions made these texts possible, as well as the culture that the novel constructs. Lastly, readers should want to know more about who came before them in regards to whom that book was read by, and who these books inspired. Understanding a book’s history is essential when opening up an old text for leisure reading or analysis. By understanding the history of a book’s readers, one might go into a reading with a clear idea of different perspective to take. This is not to say that every reader should have the same interpretation of Austen’s texts. However, knowing how someone else felt about her work might help one come to their own
The “hermeneutic activity –the practice of close reading” (373) is what Love evaluates next. The practice of close reading became the framework of hermeneutics in the early 20th century and has been the foundation of text evaluation since then, no matter what different literary approaches and cultural changes were present, since “the richness of texts continues to serve as a carrier for an allegedly superannuated humanism”(373). Her own assertion regarding the interpretation of texts can be interpreted in sev...
“Books are the carriers of civilization” (ThinkExist, 2010, para. 1). The first part of a quote from Barbara W. Tuchman cannot be truer. It is why students study America’s classic novels to learn about the time period. Many authors intend writing for the future, while others just write for fun. They use literary techniques that are popular to the time period, making it obvious when the pieces were written. With the history, you also get the sentiment of the writer that only the novel can give you. The result of this is a great fusion between literature and history, and has its roots since the beginning of America.
Throughout this year, I have read many different works of early English literature. From reading these works and following the rules of Vladimir Nabokov, I have grown tremendously as a reader since the beginning of this year. From reading Alice in Wonderland to now, I have grown to appreciate literature much more. I have developed a better sense of the English language through the use of a dictionary and the difficult sentence structure of works such as the Canterbury Tales, Beowulf, Le Morte D’Arthur, and the Fairie Queene. Because of the difficult sentence structures, the different word usages, and the deeper meanings wrapped in each of these works, I have learned to reread to better my understanding of the text and to see if I missed anything the first or second time through. I have also learned to not only read a novel or poem just for its story but to look deeper into it while considering its context and purpose. By following Nabokov’s simple rules, I have become a better reader and re-reader.
In conclusion, I would say that the power of literature is connoted exactly in this unparalleled symbolic order of language that can never produce or pin down a definite meaning but nevertheless passes on "the desire and curse of meaning”. It is what the transcendent signification of the text that leaves the reader always anticipating and curious and at the same time delighted from the pleasure this play of the authors brings to her/him. On the other hand there is always this uncanny component of meaning that cannot be clarified or rationalized but nevertheless is an intrinsic part to our reading experience.
“A Tale Intended to be After the Fact…” is how Stephan Crane introduced his harrowing story, “The Open Boat,” but this statement also shows that history influences American Literature. Throughout history, there has been a connection among literary works from different periods. The connection is that History, current events, and social events have influenced American Literature. Authors, their literary works, and the specific writing styles; are affected and influenced by the world around them. Authors have long used experiences they have lived through and/or taken out of history to help shape and express in their works. Writing styles are also affected by the current trends and opinions of the period they represent. By reading American Literature, we have seen the inhumane treatment of slaves, we have seen the destruction caused by wars, and we have seen the devastation of eras such as The Great Depression.
If a class were given the assignment to read Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, they would discover how gifted Chaucer was in the art of social commenting. After reading the tales, the class would now have knowledge on the inner workings of a medieval society. However, if students were to read the Canterbury Tales just for pure entertainment, they would be neglecting to understand why Chaucer was imparting this knowledge through his texts. Literature, as a whole, is a main part of our cultural make up. Through literature we are able to view our customs and traditions in many different ways. Some words that can help emphasize the way in which literature shapes culture are words
The study of Literature lends to an understanding of our history, our society and sometimes ourselves. With Literature, we see the Countries and People as they were. We experience the different climates,language and tone.