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| Post Graduate Diploma in Translation Studies |
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| UNIT 422-1: INTRODUCTION TO CONTEMPORARY LITERARY THEORIES |
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| It may be noted here that an art-work occupies space in a number of ways. Its inclusion of human experiences received through sensory perceptions results in its musicality or metrical form; its responses to the objective condition of humans lend it a core. Briefly speaking, every art-work, by all its facets of the flux (that includes various feats like music, rhythm, form and style) and of the core (that includes the propensity of content and theme, plot and coherence) covers a certain part of the space and thereby covers or is covered by infinity. Sounds, for example, recreated through a musical or a poetic form have access to a part of the space, and while doing so, sounds (sometimes by dint of 'meter' in poetry, sometimes by the simple words, morphemes or linguistic forms) pass into infinity. In the meantime, through passage of sounds, suggestions of the past, present and future, of every other language system and sound system occur and re-occur for the recipient. |
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| This holds good for imagistic art too. Obviously it is a visual manifestation of the occupation of space when a painting is displayed or a drama is performed on the stage. A dance recital is an excellent example of this manifestation. Situations in a Bharatnatyam recital sometimes occupy the totality of a given space. Let us illustrate it with a familiar sequence: Sankuntala offering Dusyanta a fruit. Here, all the perceptions artists on the Bharatanatyam canvas which accepts prototype history and mythology (in such a sequence, a reference to the Christian myth of eating forbidden fruit is also possible for the viewers), anticipates a certain format of man-woman relationship, and by taking the present through the whole space of perceptible experience spreads itself into past and future. The folk form of cho, Bhadu, Tusu or the ones based on the RaamaayaNa and Mahaabhaarata' tales can of course be more illustrate to offer new patterns in space. |
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| QUESTIONS |
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| A. |
Answer the following questions |
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| 1. |
What are the major dimensions in which literature can be studies? |
| 2. |
Can we measure dimensions of literary space? |
| 3. |
Critically comment on the following statement: |
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"Literary theory… is interested in discovering the general laws of creative
writing or the structured of literature". |
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| 422.1.3. LITERARY HISTORIOGRAPHY |
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| 422.1.3.1. THE BEGINNING |
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| When did the literary-theory building begin? This is a difficult question which can only have controversial answers. But what is less debatable is the realization that literary theory developed as a part of creation and building of myths. The Vedic texts dating back to several centuries B.C., or the Chinese text 'Shu Ching' (dating somewhere between 12th to 5th century B.C.) or the eighth Century B.C. Greek epics have had comments art passages on judgments about art. In the western tradition, however, it all started with Aristotle's 'Poetics', 'Rhetoric' and 'Metaphysics'. Along with these, Horace's 'Art of Poetry', Quintilian's 'The training of an Orator' or the works of Cicero and his contemporaries provided impetus to literary studies, and generated a lot of debates and discussions. But soon they became more like normative texts. It was only during the 3rd and 2nd century B.C., during the Hellinistic era, literary theory and literary criticism got separated from philosophy to create a place for itself. It was at this time that comparative historical studies also arose. The Indian tradition, evidence by Bharata ('NaaTyashaastra') and Ananadavardhana ('Dhvanyaloka'), in the beginning of the Christian era and the Chinese work on aesthetic theory done by the Taoist school, especially by Lao-tzu (6th cent B.C.) and later within the Confucian tradition, by Hsun-tsu (298-238 B.C.) or the Byzantium encyclopedia studies (e.g. Photius' work dating to 9th century) enriched the field of literary studies in the ancient period. |
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| Coming to the later period, we are aware that great works on literary studies that were to emerge in the 17th-18th century, including works of Johnson, Diderot, Lessing, Dubos, Joung, Dryden, Herder, Schiller and Toraboschi. It was also at this time that the philosophical concerns became the most important ones for literary theoreticians who followed the foot-steps of works of Hegel and Kant.
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