##ism In Annete-Huelshoff's 'Das Spiegelbild'?

A text offers much potential for the reader to reconcile all the possibilities to get a clear unified sense. The reader compares different parts of the texts to gain achieve this consistency, through the illusions that the text creates. This unity is not inherent in the text but lies somewhere between the text and the consciousness of the reader. Readers’ constructions of the same text will necessarily vary but within the limits imposed by the written text. The reader is invited to exercise his imagination upon those as yet unwritten and indeterminate elements. In the essay Iser states that “with the literary text we can only picture things which are not there; the written part of a text give us the knowledge, but it is the unwritten part that gives us the opportunity to picture things. Without the element of indeterminacy, the gaps in the text, we should not be able to use our imagination”. Readers require and impose consistent patterns that are coloured by their own “characteristic selection process” that derives from the reader’s own “particular history of experience, its own consciousness, and its own outlook”. It forms a gestalt of consistency that is not identical to the true meaning of the text and which remains rather a configurative meaning. Comprehension is referred to

  The first segment of this essay aims to define the main views of structuralism, one of these theoretical approaches. Structuralism, in particular the work of Ferdinand de Saussure, created controversy as it directly challenged some of the values of the everyday reader in the way it attempts to disregard the actual content of writings, and instead concentrates on form and diagrammatics. As the name suggests structuralism is

The multiplicity of meanings and (re)interpretations informing critical studies of The Awakening reveal a novel ripe for deconstructionist critique. Just as Chopin evokes an image of the sea as symbolic of Edna’s shifting consciousness (“never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude,”138), likewise the deconstructionist reading of a text emphasizes fluidity over structure: “A text consists of words inscribed in and inextricable from the myriad discourses that inform it; from the point of view of deconstruction, the boundaries between any given text and that larger text we call language are always shifting,” (297). From this

Brave souls seek to define life: a subject so broad it seems nearly impossible to define by any means. However, there exists a set of human beings who seek to uproot any conventional thought on the definition of life. Friedrich Nietzche is one of those daring souls who sees life as a bleak, ephemeral, meaningless, and deceptive time from birth until death as he explains masterfully in the essay “On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense.” One of the subjects he especially focuses on is the topic of metaphors in language and naming empirical objects that surround us. In summary, languages only give metaphors for physical objects or approximate the essence of things. One word does not represent the infinite variations of things that one can

Throughout his life’s work, Roland Barthes has expressed a wide range of diverse views on various aspects of literary theory and formulating important analysis techniques; initially exploring and redefining structuralism, and eventually defining post-structuralism.

On a first commentary regarding her writing practice, Tamara Kamenszain stated that her approach to literature was framed by the study of philosophy. She highlighted the influence that Lezama Lima’s work had on her writing, suggesting that he facilitated the bridge between literature and philosophical reflection. However, in thinking of such reflection, it could perhaps be considered as one that does not fully encapsulate the “I” because, as we have clearly seen, the poetry of the Neobaroque—as well as of the Baroque—is marked by the absence of the subject. Kamenszain spoke briefly of Roland Barthes and his contention that the writers of his generation suffered the censorship of the subject. The author even shared a story of a work of hers that was rejected because the referent was clearly distinguishable. Taking into consideration both Kamenszain’s poetry reading and her visit to our class, ¬I am interested in reflecting on the interplay between this idea of the censorship of the subject and the term Neoborroso, proposed by the author herself.

In his essay, “Found in Translation,” Michael Cunningham describes the process of translation in writing. In the essay, Cunningham describes translation as much more than a simple change of language but rather the different forms writing can take. Cunningham defines the original idea of the writer that encapsulates his or her true vision as the cathedral of fire. But, during the translation process, “[the work of art] does not remotely resemble a cathedral made of fire” (Cunningham 3). He explains that these translations create a whole new meaning to the text, meaning a lack of definitive text. This idea puts emphasis on the relationship between the reader and the writer because the reader has the responsibility to translate the writing in his or her own perspective. Cunningham concentrates on the

The daily ritual of leaving work in the city to arrive home in the suburbs has been masterfully depicted in the poem, The Inhabitants. By taking the New Critical analysis approach in using scientific theory, we can unpack its meaning through a defined system self-contained within the text. In our analysis of The Inhabitants we take a structuralism approach. Structuralism as defined by Mary Klages, in her book Literary Theory: A Guide for the Perplexed, is a way of thinking that works to find the fundamental basis units or elements of which anything is made.” (p 31). The number 5 is a very powerful prime number. Taking a closer look at the poem, we see the power of the 5 paradigm and how it plays a crucial role in unlocking the poem’s very meaning.

Co-option is I argue most clearly defined by Veronica Forrest-Thomson’s Poetic Artifice. A text, that pushed back against critics of the previous generation and endeavoured early on to integrate structuralist thought with post structuralist. This integration between structuralism and post-structuralism can be seen as an attempt to get at the importance of poetry. In an attempt to stress and illuminate poetry’s unique ability to be “transformative of both language and the world.” Forrest-Thomson in Poetic Artifice demands an intense focus on “all the rhythmic, phonetic, verbal and logical devices which makes poetry different from prose” to best consider this ‘transformative’ nature. It is in this distinguishing of poetry from prose, and the highly formalist manner and “structuralist distrust of language’s transparency” in which she follows that one can also see a similar differencing between the broader spectrum of literature with the sciences. There is no need in Forrest-Thomson's work for differing areas to be inclusive of one another, to the point of loss of individuality, because of a homogenizing of methodology and epistemic reasoning. Throughout both Poetic Artifice and her thesis Poetry as Knowledge: The Use of Science by Twentieth Century Poets, Forest-Thomson can be seen to put forward a new structure, in which separation is crucial for any kind of interrelation between the two fields of knowledge. She follows a similar stance as that of Kelly

While one cannot correctly adjudge one definition as superior, better or more comprehensive than another, it is true that each of them has its point of emphasis which in turn places it in one or the other of the great literary creative debate over content, style, and effect. It is thus clear that Edgar Allan Poe’s conception of poetry as expressed above emphasizes style or form over content and effect while, on the other hand, both William Wordsworth and Edwin Arlington Robinson focus more attention on content and effect in their definitions to reflect their English and American Romantic pedigrees respectively. In this regard, you should take particular note of Emily Dickinson’s own idea of poetry whose essential criterion is the effect it has on her and is capable of having on a reader. In a final analysis, one cannot fault any one of these definitions given the special interests and period fascinations that shape

The metaphysical poets have immense power and capability to wonder the reader and cajole inventive perspective through paradoxical images, subtle argument, innovative syntax and imagery from art, philosophy and religion implying an extended metaphor known as conceit. The term “metaphysical” broadly applied to English and European poets of the seventeenth century was used by Augustan poets John Dryden and Samuel Johnson to reprove those poets for their “unnaturalness”. John Dryden was the first to use the term metaphysical in association with John Donne as he “affects the metaphysics.” Goethe, likewise, wrote, “the unnatural, that too is natural” and metaphysical poets are studied for their intricacy and originality. It will not be irrelevant and absurd to say, “Metaphysics in poetry is the fruit of the Renaissance tree, becoming over-ripe and approaching putrescence” (C. S. Lewis). Scholars described the characteristics of metaphysical poetry from different point of view. They, in fact, lay out the essence of metaphysical poem, as does R.S. Hillyer to call “ Loosely, it has taken such meanings as these--metaphysical poetry as difficult, philosophical, obscure, ethereal, involved, supercilious, ingenious, fantastic and incongruous.”

A third prominent mode of practice that has arisen through the renewed interrelation between the sciences and poetry is what I describe as unconscious resistance. That is poetry that arguably is written in either a conciliant manner that is working within the concept of epistemological understanding and equality between the fields, or in a manner of co-option. Unconscious resistance appears on the thematic surface to align with and wish to conform to consilience, or co-option, but consistently illustrate an inability to do so. As Walpert advises this resistance “to the notion that science provides the fullest understanding of the world” is related to the particular foundational aesthetics of the forms of poetry. As such, the resistance to science, whilst also using it and its language-games becomes a “means of elevating…poetry itself as knowledge.” Or alternatively, to assume a conscious level of co-option whilst through its language and structural make up is working against this surface thematic mode of thought. It is the Avant Garde, contemporary poets that perhaps best illustrates this unconscious resistance. In response to the binarism of separate spheres, and epistemic claims within the sciences which is seen through these poet’s tendency to focus intensely on the “materiality of language.” This intense focus on language opens up internalised discord within the poetry, which whilst using a scientific linguistic system, also

“Literature is where I go to explore the highest and lowest places in human society and in the human spirit, where I hope to find not absolute truth but the truth of the tale, of the imagination and of the heart”.

Writing about poetry can be one of the most demanding tasks. It is intellectually challenging since it requires to play close attention to the language. We can elaborate an interesting thesis by rereading, taking notes, annotating the text, and writing down ideas. In order to analyze a poem first we need to enjoy and not worry about the interpretation on a first reading; then, on the next readings we must ask several questions in order to appreciate how the poem works. Some important questions that Meyer points out are: who is the speaker? Is the speaker addressing anyone in particular? How do we respond to the speaker? Is there a specific setting of time and place? What does the title emphasize? Is the theme presented directly or indirectly? Do any allusions enrich the poem’s meaning? How does diction reveal meaning? Are many words repeated? Are figures of speech used? Do any objects, persons, places, events, or actions, have allegorical or symbolic meaning? Is irony used? What is the tone? Does the poem use onomatopoeia, assonance, consonance, or alliteration?

3. Concurrently with my anthropological interests and in spite of them, for a number of years, I practised the poetics and the theory of the literary history process in the area of teaching (seminars and lectures) using the traditional structuralist approach. This allowed me to maintain a rigorous methodological basis, even when I was inclined towards anthropological questions.