Abstract
We need a theory of what literature is, only when we have some problem with our own intuitive or commonsense notion of literature. Thus most people are never moved to inquire what literature is: they have a rough notion which suffices. Without a specific problem with our present notion of literature we are not only not moved to ask what it really is, but if by some chance we were so moved, we would have a difficult time answering the question, for in order to recognize a superior theory of what literature is, we need to know what is wrong or problematic about the notion we already have. The kind of answer we want depends upon the kind of problem we want to solve. How do problems with a commonsense notion of literature arise?
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Rererences
Northrop Frye, The Well-Tempered Critic (Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press, 1963), p. 113.
Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1957), p. 26.
“The Objectivity of Criticism of the Arts”, Ratio, No. 1, Volume 9. (June, 1967). 67–83 (in this volume pp. 201–216).
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© 1987 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht
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Davenport, E. (1987). What is Literature?. In: Agassi, J., Jarvie, I.C. (eds) Rationality: The Critical View. Nijhoff International Philosophy Series, vol 23. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3491-7_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3491-7_14
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-247-3455-9
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