“The point is to change it”: The Imperative for Activist Literary Studies

The task undertaken in this paper is to discover a means by which the practice of literary criticism can derive an imperative for activism that confronts and changes the social conditions it critiques. The case of Karl Marx’s use of world literature in his critique of capitalism and the state, set within the history of the development of continental philosophy, is explored through a close-reading of its interterxtuality. Particular attention is paid to Marx’s use of quotations from and allusions to world literature, including Homer, Sophocles, Virgil, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Goethe and Heine, to register the harmful inversions caused by an economy based on money and commodities. If literature registers the contradictions of its time in its form and content, then the urge to resolve those contradictions sits restless in literature. When Marx inserts literature into his theoretical texts, he transfers into his text the impulse of the contradiction to resolve itself. Similarly, literary criticism is well-placed to unfold clear, obvious and necessary logic which leads to activism

Reflexiones acerca de la posición de las Tradiciones en la Literatura Universal

The article reflects on the inconsistencies that Ricardo Palma had to overcome, essentially the internal ones in his beginnings, and then makes general mention of the contradictions he had to face with the detractors of the community, in his adulthood. The contradictions, in this case, are those of a literary and cultural nature, affecting literary creation and historical research, as essential elements for the writing of traditions. Keywords: romanticism, self-criticism, literary tradition, article of customs, historical novel.Partiendo del concepto de Weltliteratur propuesto por Goethe, en el presente trabajo pretendemos hurgar críticamente en las causas de la injustificada ausencia de las obras de Ricardo Palma en el listado del patrimonio literario universal. Estado de su recepción, causas y posibles soluciones a una recepción deficitaria son temas que ocupan estas reflexiones. Palabras clave: Canon, Tradiciones peruanas, literatura comparada, costumbrismo.   Abstract The article reflects on the inconsistencies that Ricardo Palma had to overcome, essentially the internal ones in his beginnings, and then makes general mention of the contradictions he had to face with the detractors of the community, in his adulthood. The contradictions, in this case, are those of a literary and cultural nature, affecting literary creation and historical research, as essential elements for the writing of traditions. Keywords: romanticism, self-criticism, literary tradition, article of customs, historical novel

Rumbo a las tradiciones

The article reflects on the inconsistencies that Ricardo Palma had to overcome, essentially the internal ones in his beginnings, and then makes general mention of the contradictions he had to face with the detractors of the community, in his adulthood. The contradictions, in this case, are those of a literary and cultural nature, affecting literary creation and historical research, as essential elements for the writing of traditions. Keywords: romanticism, self-criticism, literary tradition, article of customs, historical novel.En el artículo se reflexiona sobre las contradicciones que debió superar Ricardo Palma, esencialmente las interiores en sus inicios, haciendo luego mención general sobre las que debió enfrentar con los detractores del medio, en su madurez. Las contradicciones, en este caso, son las de orden literario y cultural, incidiendo en la creación literaria y la investigación histórica, como elementos esenciales para la escritura de las tradiciones. Palabras clave: romanticismo, autocrítica, tradición literaria, artículo de costumbres, novela histórica.   Abstract The article reflects on the inconsistencies that Ricardo Palma had to overcome, essentially the internal ones in his beginnings, and then makes general mention of the contradictions he had to face with the detractors of the community, in his adulthood. The contradictions, in this case, are those of a literary and cultural nature, affecting literary creation and historical research, as essential elements for the writing of traditions. Keywords: romanticism, self-criticism, literary tradition, article of customs, historical novel

A LITERATURA COMO LABORATÓRIO: a crítica literária de Benjamin e suas correspondências nos ensaios de Adorno e Schwarz

The aim of this article is to present Walter Benjamin’s epistemological program of literary criticism and its correspondences in the works of Theodor W. Adorno and Roberto Schwarz. As an epistemological critique program, the Benjaminian literary criticism proposal aims to rehabilitate the attributes of the literary text as a source for aesthetic and social-historical reflection. Such a perspective of literary criticism has as its principle the concepts of constellation and fragments. In Adorno’s work, literary criticism is intertwined with the essay form to consolidate an idea of a philosophical style that contemplates the fragmentary condition of knowledge. In Schwarz’s essays, literary criticism pursues aspects of the contradictions of Brazilian social-historical formation from an examination of the interactions of ideology with literary form. Finally, we propose an intellectual lineage of literary critics committed to examining the contradictions of modernity and the interactions between aesthetics and social history.O objetivo do artigo é apresentar o programa epistemológico de crítica literária de Walter Benjamin e suas correspondências nas obras de Theodor W. Adorno e Roberto Schwarz. Como um programa de crítica epistemológica, a proposta de crítica literária benjaminiana visa a reabilitar os atributos do texto literário como fonte para reflexão estética e histórico-social. Tal perspectiva de crítica literária tem como princípio os conceitos de constelação e fragmentos. Na obra de Adorno, a crítica literária se entrelaça à forma ensaio para consolidar uma ideia de estilo filosófico que contempla a condição fragmentária do conhecimento. Nos ensaios de Schwarz, a crítica literária persegue os aspectos das contradições da formação histórico-social brasileira a partir de um exame das interações da ideologia com a forma literária. Propomos por fim uma linhagem intelectual de críticos literários empenhados no exame das contradições da modernidade e das interações entre estética e história social

\u3cem\u3eFrankenstein\u3c/em\u3e, Feminism, and Literary Theory

Cave ab homine unius libri, as the Latin epigram warns us: beware the author of one book. Frankenstein has so overshadowed Mary Shelley\u27s other books in the popular imagination that many readers believe - erroneously - that she is a one-book author. While this is decidedly not the case, Frankenstein has figured more importantly in the development of feminist literary theory than perhaps any other novel, with the possible exception of Charlotte Bronte\u27s Jane Eyre. This essay will discuss the major feminist literary interpretations of the novel, beginning with Ellen Moers\u27s landmark reading in Literary Women and then move to the more recent approaches taken by critics engaged in post-colonial theory, cultural studies, queer theory, and disability studies. In the process we will explore the provocative claim made by Fred Botting, who noted, Frankenstein is a product of criticism, not a work of literature

El acto justo en «Justicia de Bolívar», según la tradición de Palma

The article reflects on the inconsistencies that Ricardo Palma had to overcome, essentially the internal ones in his beginnings, and then makes general mention of the contradictions he had to face with the detractors of the community, in his adulthood. The contradictions, in this case, are those of a literary and cultural nature, affecting literary creation and historical research, as essential elements for the writing of traditions. Keywords: romanticism, self-criticism, literary tradition, article of customs, historical novel.En el presente artículo se desarrolla el análisis literario de la tradición «Justicia de Bolívar», cuyo autor es Ricardo Palma y, simultáneamente, se estudia el contenido de dicha tradición, cuyo núcleo temático es la justicia como valor moral y que en el texto está presentada como virtud de la conducta del Libertador Simón Bolívar al administrar como autoridad político-militar, en un caso en el que se agravia el honor, la justicia conmutativa. Su decisión configura un acto justo que enaltece la personalidad del Libertador en cuanto autoridad que actúa con rectitud y justicia; lo hace respetado por los demás y afirma su prestigio. Palabras clave: Tradición, justicia, honor, autodefensa, vida, moral, agresión, agravio.   Abstract The article reflects on the inconsistencies that Ricardo Palma had to overcome, essentially the internal ones in his beginnings, and then makes general mention of the contradictions he had to face with the detractors of the community, in his adulthood. The contradictions, in this case, are those of a literary and cultural nature, affecting literary creation and historical research, as essential elements for the writing of traditions. Keywords: romanticism, self-criticism, literary tradition, article of customs, historical novel

The Written Orator of "Song of Myself": A Recent Trend in Whitman Criticism

Identifies "a recent trend in Whitman criticism" that emphasizes the poet\u27s orality, but which "goes beyond biographical and stylistic analyses" to explore Whitman\u27s "oratical presence" by way of extra-literary discourses including "nuclear physics, analytic philosophy, and cultural anthropology" (though the primary emphasis here is derived from linguistics); engages critics including John T. Irwin, Calvin Bedient, and especially C. Carroll Hollis, arguing against their oratorical emphases by stressing the inherent limits and internal contradictions that undermine such readings of Whitman\u27s poetry

A DECONSTRUCTIONIST ARRAIGNMENT OF READING

Deconstructive readers are interested in ironies, aporias, paradoxes, contradictions, conflicts, parenthesis, ambiguities, puns, multiple meanings, linguistic peculiarities, intertextuality, repetitions, etc. Deconstructive readers give you an idea about in the ways a text says something different from what it aims to imply or the ways texts do not always mean. According to Barbara Johnson, “The reader’s task is to read what is written rather than simply attempt to perceive what might have been meant” (25). In this regard, deconstruction is an analog of New Criticism and other formalisms. Deconstruction in some respects is merely a synonym for ‘analysis’, which means that the title of this research paper is a tautology. It is not a synonym for ‘destruction’. Though the American style of deconstruction as operational tenets for literary criticism has now lost its significance, the deconstructive strategies of critical analysis have been commonly used so far. Deconstructive criticism, as Culler concludes, is not the application of philosophical lessons to literary studies, but an exploration of textual logic in texts called literarily. This paper is essentially an analysis—a breaking down of a complex text into its various elements and a close assessment of those elements, especially the elements that most need examination because of the difficulties, ambiguities, or problems that they pretend