Book contents
- Wittgenstein and Literary Studies
- Cambridge Studies in Literature and Philosophy
- Wittgenstein and Literary Studies
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Abbreviations of Wittgenstein’s Major Works
- Introduction
- 1 Writing after Wittgenstein
- 2 A Wittgensteinian Phenomenology of Criticism
- 3 Appreciating Material
- 4 A Vision of Language for Literary Historians
- 5 Wittgenstein and the Prospects for a Contemporary Literary Humanism
- 6 Storied Thoughts
- 7 Wittgenstein and Lyric
- 8 Life, Logic, Style
- 9 Wittgenstein’s Apocalyptic Subjectivity
- Index
5 - Wittgenstein and the Prospects for a Contemporary Literary Humanism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2022
- Wittgenstein and Literary Studies
- Cambridge Studies in Literature and Philosophy
- Wittgenstein and Literary Studies
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Abbreviations of Wittgenstein’s Major Works
- Introduction
- 1 Writing after Wittgenstein
- 2 A Wittgensteinian Phenomenology of Criticism
- 3 Appreciating Material
- 4 A Vision of Language for Literary Historians
- 5 Wittgenstein and the Prospects for a Contemporary Literary Humanism
- 6 Storied Thoughts
- 7 Wittgenstein and Lyric
- 8 Life, Logic, Style
- 9 Wittgenstein’s Apocalyptic Subjectivity
- Index
Summary
According to Rita Felski, literary studies have for too long been restricted to what Paul Ricoeur famously called the “hermeneutics of suspicion.” It should now return to the text itself as a locus not only of power, interest, and domination, but of literary value, inviting engagement intellectually, emotionally, and imaginatively. Via a reading of Wittgenstein’s work on aesthetics, including his conception of aspect-perception, this chapter reflects on Felski’s proposal, arguing that its opposition between suspicion and humanism might be too simple. While Wittgenstein offers a powerful defense of a humanist view according to which a literary text encourages responsiveness to expressive meaning, it is argued that his view can be extended to include meaning constituted in various historical contexts as well. As a result, the text, as Adorno and Said claim, can never escape its dual determination as both worldly and inherently meaningful.
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- Wittgenstein and Literary Studies , pp. 104 - 125Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023