A speculation on the nature of texts
Year: 1992
Type: article
Abstract: Summary This essay briefly rehearses the argument for thinking of texts as culture‐bound phenomena which exist only in the value‐laden act of reading. It discriminates between the material world and the knowable world, and situates writing in the first and text‐production in the second. It suggests limits to the relativity of text‐production in terms of the limited cultural contexts in which it takes place. On the basis of these ideas it goes on to consider the practice of teaching literature in South Africa today and argues against the notion that relatively uninformed readings by South African students are less valid than conventionally informed Eurocentric readings. Finally it draws conclusions about the validity of the demands university teachers of literature sometimes make on their students.
Source: Journal of Literary Studies
Author: Alan Brimer
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $388
OpenAlex ID: W2019533943