Jonathan Culler and Introduction to Literary Studies: What is Literature?

Perspective of Literary Studies: There is no simple, static definition for what constitutes "literature." Instead, the field treats literature as a matter of analysis rather than a clear-cut category.
Analytical Questions: To understand literature, one must move beyond the simple answer of "stories, poems, and plays" and ask: - What distinguishes texts known as literature from non-literary texts (e.g., the difference between a novel and an autobiography)? - Are there essential, distinguishing features shared by all literary works (e.g., common characteristics between a Shakespearean sonnet and a Hemingway short story)?

Co-Study of Literary and Non-Literary Texts: Texts from different domains can be studied together using similar analytical frameworks.
Case Study: Virginia Woolf vs. Sigmund Freud: - Classification: Woolf’s novels are classified as "literary" (fictional, non-pragmatic, experimental style). Freud’s writings are classified as "non-literary" (non-fictional, "scientific," pragmatic aim to provide knowledge rather than aesthetic pleasure). - Historical Interest: Both were contemporaries in the early 20th century. Freud’s psychological insights influenced modernist writers like Woolf. Both addressed the traumatic experience of World War I ( $\text{WWI}$ ). They can be contrasted regarding their differing ideas on sexuality and women. - Theoretical Interest: Freud’s psychoanalytic theory provides a lens/framework for reading Woolf. - Shared Methodologies: Both employ storytelling and can be studied as narrative examples. Both use rhetorical devices, suggesting that non-literary texts often contain elements of "literariness."

The Modern Definition: The Western sense of literature as "imaginative writing" (distinct from general "writings" or "book knowledge") only emerged in the late 18th century, notably within the Romantic movement.
Jonathan Culler’s Argument: What belongs to the category of "literature" is subject to historical changes.
Functional Definition: Literature is essentially whatever a society treats as literature, which makes context a primary factor in identification.

Attention to Language: Analysis shifts from asking "What does the speaker mean?" to "How does the language work?"
Reflection on Meaning: Meaning is not taken for granted; it is reflected upon critically.
Decontextualization: Language is treated as literature when it is detached from an immediate, practical purpose.
Complexity: This process involves searching for implicit meanings and inherent potential complexities within the text.

The Role of Conventions: Interpretation requires understanding the specific convention a text belongs to. This includes assumptions about the text and the interpretive methods applied to it.
The Concept of Utterance ( $\text{Aeusserung}$ ): This refers to words spoken, statements in speech or writing, or vocal expressions.
Contextual Interpretation: Every utterance must be interpreted within its relevant context (e.g., expectations of the audience and applicable rules). - A statement in court carries different weight and rules than a statement made to a friend in private. - Publicly published and reviewed texts gain institutional status ( $\text{bookstores, literary magazines, university classes}$ ) that marks them as "worthy" of attention.

Jonathan Culler identifies five key ways literature is organized as language:

Definition: Literary language is organized to make it "strange," deviating from ordinary uses of language.
Russian Formalists: A group of scholars in the 1920s who focused on "form" rather than content or the author’s biography. They prioritized the study of literary devices.

Definition: Different components (syntax, meaning, themes) are brought into complex relations.
Examples: Syntax and themes can correlate. A text dealing with confusion may use fragmented syntax or frequent ellipsis.
Case Study: Melville’s Chimney: Rasmus Simonsen (2015) in "Melville's Chimney: Queer Syntax and the Rhetoric of Architecture" argues that Herman Melville uses "backward" syntactical devices (periodic sentences and hypotaxis) to reflect unspoken queer desire and disrupt forward plot motion.

Author vs. Narrator: In fiction, the author and the narrator are distinct entities.
Point of View: A character’s perspective may differ significantly from the narrator’s.
Interpretive Gaps: The author’s personal thoughts and the relationship between fictional and real-world events (e.g., Hamlet as a reflection of late Medieval politics vs. Renaissance concerns) are matters of interpretation.

Definition: It connects sensuous experience with ideas.
Sensory Effects: Form can provide pleasure (harmony) or initial displeasure leading to a sense of magnitude and eternity.
Immanuel Kant’s Philosophy: - Purposiveness without purpose ( $\text{Zweckmaessigkeit ohne Zweck}$ ): The parts of a work work together toward an end (not by chance) but serves no practical purpose like information delivery. - Disinterested satisfaction ( $\text{Interesseloses Wohlgefallen}$ ).

Intertextuality: All literary texts are made of or relate to existing texts; there is no truly "original" work.
Historical Dialogue: - 19th-century Realism relates to 18th-century Sentimentalism/Gothic. - Modernism (early 20th c.) breaks from 19th-century Realism. - Postmodernism uses Modernist techniques while reintroducing elements of 19th-century Romance/Gothic and rejecting Realism. - 21st-century novels use Postmodern techniques but challenge Postmodern irony and cynicism.

Humanistic Function: Relates to the "Human Condition" and universality across cultures.
Political Function: Creates "Imagined Communities" and constructs national identity.
Ideological Function: Provides ways for people to acquiesce to or accept existing social conditions.
Social Capital: Allows readers to mark themselves as "educated" or "cultured" by displaying specific literary knowledge.
Subversive Function: Encourages a complex view of the world, promotes sympathy for the disenfranchised (e.g., "Uncle Tom’s Cabin"), and encourages the questioning of authority.

Possible Exam Question: What, according to Jonathan Culler, is involved in treating a text as literature? Give two examples and explain them. (5 points)