Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T12:10:16.158Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

“GENRE” AND “DISCOURSE” IN VICTORIAN CULTURAL STUDIES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 1999

Carolyn Williams
Carolyn Williams
Affiliation:
Rutgers University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

By what criteria is one to isolate the unities with which one is dealing . . . What is the legitimate level of formalization?

—Foucault, The Archaeology of Knowledge

BOTH “DISCOURSE” AND “GENRE,” like all constructed and generalizing categories, have a purely formalizing aspect as well as a historical, effective (or political) aspect. They name and group things abstractly, but those names themselves are shaped and precipitated in history and, in turn, they exert a powerful shaping force on historical life.

Type
Research Article
Information
Victorian Literature and Culture , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , September 1999 , pp. 517 - 520
Copyright
© 1999 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)