Problems of Literary Theory
The Problem of Meaning
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3132598 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Catherine Belsey (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1982 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 175 |
| Publication date | 1982-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | New Literary History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0028-6087 • E-ISSN: 1080-661X |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/468964 |
| OpenAlex | W2329640044 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
O N THE EVIDENCE of this issue of New Literary History, the central problem of literary theory is the problem of meaning. Even where meaning is not the central question posed, as in William C. Spengemann's essay on nineteenth-century English, a more than marginal concern is the matter of definitions, how they are arrived at and what they imply. Three of the essays problematize meaning explicitly; others take for granted quite distinct assumptions about meaning-its location, its importance, its use. This is no coincidence: to this important extent this collection of essays seems to me exactly representative of the current problems of literary theory. What divides empiricist criticism from formalism, and both from poststructuralism, is centrally a debate about meaning; and this debate cannot be resolved because what is at stake is a contest between the different theoretical frameworks within which each
Art · Epistemology · Linguistics · Literary criticism · Literary theory · Literature · Meaning (existential) · Sociology · Digital Humanities and Scholarship · Philosophy
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,06 |
| Citation span | 2010 - 2010 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |