1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910777854003321

Autore

Quigley Austin E. <1942->

Titolo

Theoretical inquiry [[electronic resource] ] : language, linguistics, and literature / / Austin E. Quigley

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Haven, : Yale University Press, c2004

ISBN

1-281-73057-2

9786611730574

0-300-12981-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (1 online resource (xxii, 262 p.))

Disciplina

801

Soggetti

Philology

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 249-254) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. Literary Theory and Linguistic Theory -- Chapter 2. Saussure, Firth, and Bakhtin: Unity, Diversity, and Theory -- Chapter 3 .Chomsky and Halliday: Novelty, Generality, and Theory -- Chapter 4. Wittgenstein: Facticity, Instrumentality, and Theory -- Chapter 5. Literary and Cultural Studies: Theory, History, and Criticism -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Acknowledgments -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

In the aftermath of debate about the death of literary theory, Austin E. Quigley asks whether theory has failed us or we have failed literary theory. Theory can thrive, he argues, only if we understand how it can be strategically deployed to reveal what it does not presuppose. This involves the repositioning of theoretical inquiry relative to historical and critical inquiry and the repositioning of theories relative to each other. What follows is a thought-provoking reexamination of the controversial claims of pluralism in literary studies. The book explores the related roles of literary history, criticism, and theory by tracing the fascinating history of linguistics as an intellectual problem in the twentieth century. Quigley's approach clarifies the pluralistic nature of literary inquiry, the viability and life cycles of theories, the controversial status of canonicity, and the polemical nature of the culture wars by positioning them all in the context of recurring debates about language that have their earliest exemplifications in classical times.