
Literary Discourse
A Semiotic-Pragmatic Approach to Literature
Jorgen Dines Johansen(Author)
University of Toronto Press
Will be published approx. on 7. September 2002
Book
Hardback
448 pages
978-0-8020-3577-6 (ISBN)
Description
At a moment when 'literature' threatens to be collapsed into other discourses, or to be subsumed by such terms as 'narrative' and 'genre,' Jurgen Dines Johansen, although he recognizes its protean nature, focuses on literature itself as it relates to other discourses. Using the semiotic theory of the American philosopher Charles S. Peirce as the principal influence, Johansen applies, in a highly erudite fashion, psychoanalysis, psychology, literary hermeneutics, literary history, Habermasian communication, and discourse theory to literature, and, in the process, redefines it.
The text is divided into three major sections: an introductory exposition of the Peircean sign concept and the concept of discourse; an extensive discussion of various apexes of the semiotic pyramid; and a semiotic analysis of the hermeneutic problems of interpreting literature based on the theoretical work of Peirce, Habermas, and Gadamer. Such an ambitious project provides scholars not only with a pragmatic, multi-functional definition of literature but also with a thorough examination of the applicability of theory as it relates to analytic procedures.
The text is divided into three major sections: an introductory exposition of the Peircean sign concept and the concept of discourse; an extensive discussion of various apexes of the semiotic pyramid; and a semiotic analysis of the hermeneutic problems of interpreting literature based on the theoretical work of Peirce, Habermas, and Gadamer. Such an ambitious project provides scholars not only with a pragmatic, multi-functional definition of literature but also with a thorough examination of the applicability of theory as it relates to analytic procedures.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Toronto
Canada
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
With printed dust jacket
Dimensions
Height: 220 mm
Width: 175 mm
Thickness: 43 mm
Weight
903 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8020-3577-6 (9780802035776)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Jorgen Dines Johansen is Professor of General and Comparative Literature and Chair of the Center for Literature and Semiotics at the University of Southern Denmark, Odense.