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Robert Young Research Paper

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In Response to Robert Young After reading Contemporary Literary Theory: Its Necessity and Impossibility, I find that I agree with most of what Robert Young says in regards to literary theory. The main point that really struck home with me was when he talked about theorists lacking the ability to connect with a wide audience. He states, “Literary theorists seem to speak and argue with each other in a private language, making little effort to address a wider audience” (Young 165). I could not agree more with this assessment. When we first read about Jacques Derrida and his theory of deconstruction I questioned my intelligence. It may as well have been written in Greek. It has been a very long time since I have encountered something that left me with absolutely nothing after reading it. I tend to agree …show more content…

I do not know if that is due to its own merit as a theory or the fact that I spent so many years studying psychology in my previous educational life. In future academic and professional endeavors, I will incorporate knowledge gained from this course by understanding that what is presented on the surface is rarely reality. This translates into so much more than literature. People are complex beings who rarely present their actual selves. They walk around with their projections out front for the world to see. Like Lacan, I do believe it is a struggle for people to present their actual, real selves to the world. By having this understanding of the actual and the projection, it will be easier to understand people and their idiosyncrasies. In addition, concepts from this class will help in my future writing. I will have a baseline of theory to pull from when working out plot and context (and everything else). It is actually a little frightening to think that someone may someday analyze my writing. What unconscious ideas will be lurking there in my

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