English 3554E Lecture Notes - Hans-Georg Gadamer, Chinese Whispers, Rela
10 Dec 2012
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Document Summary
Thesis of course: loss in relationship to melancholy and mourning; and the crisis of language. Eliot argues that modern lit. has to be difficult because our culture is a difficult/complex one. Barthes says there are texts of pleasure and bliss. The text that imposes a state of loss, the text that discomforts (unsettles the readers historical, cultural, psy- chological assumptions, the consistency of his tastes, values, memo- ries*) brings to a crisis his relation with language barthes. *text of bliss somehow disrupts your own memories, makes you rethink your past, rethink the story that you have told of your own life. disrupt the way you"ve been led to believe things about yourself. Interpretation is a way of working through loss so it is mourning. Modern text will make us feel anxious: intensely self aware that we"re read- ing and that we"re up against the thickness of a certain kind of language. They don"t invite themselves easily to be in- terpreted.
