1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910813473303321

Autore

Martin Thomas L. <1960->

Titolo

Poiesis and possible worlds : a study in modality and literary theory / / Thomas L. Martin

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Toronto, [Canada] ; ; Buffalo, [New York] ; ; London, [England] : , : University of Toronto Press, , 2004

©2004

ISBN

1-282-02270-9

9786612022708

1-4426-7857-7

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (209 p.)

Disciplina

801

Soggetti

Literature - Philosophy

Semantics (Philosophy)

Possibility

Electronic books.

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 and index.

Nota di contenuto

""Contents""; ""Acknowledgments""; ""PART ONE: PARADOXES""; ""1 The Paradox of the Many: Post-Structuralism and Zeno""; ""Zeno's Paradox of Plurality""; ""Post-Structuralism and the Paradox of Plurality""; ""Derrida and Multiplicity""; ""Different Kinds of Differences?""; ""There and Back""; ""2 The Paradox of the One: Language as Universal Medium""; ""The Matter of Analytical Philosophy""; ""The Force of Continental Philosophy""; ""Syntax in Structuralism and Post-Structuralism""; ""New Historicism and Culture as Universal Medium""; ""The Death of the Code""; ""PART TWO: POSSIBLE WORLDS""

""3 Talk of Possible Worlds: Language as Calculus""""One-World Semantics versus Possible-Worlds Semantics""; ""Words and Worlds""; ""What Is Metalanguage?""; ""Baudrillard's Virtual Reality""; ""Kinds of Language Theory""; ""Language as Calculus""; ""4 The Poiesis of Possible Worlds: A Theory of Possibility for Literature""; ""Scepticism about Possible Worlds""; ""The Logical Triviality of This World""; ""Intellectual Models""; ""Modelling Worlds""; ""Possible Worlds a



Philosophy?""; ""Relation of Language to Possible Worlds""; ""A Way of Meaning Functions""

""The Problem of Logical Omniscience""""Related Theories of Possibility""; ""A Qualified Theory of Possible Worlds for Literature""; ""PART THREE: POIESIS""; ""5 From Models to Metaphors: Possibility, Aesthetics, and Literary Theory""; ""The Critical Heritage""; ""What Do We Mean by Literature?""; ""An Approach to Metaphor""; ""Metaphor as Epistemology""; ""The Varieties of Literary Theory""; ""Articulating Possibility in Poetic History""; ""Models of Literature, Modes of Reading""; ""Notes""; ""Works Cited""; ""Author Index""; ""A""; ""B""; ""C""; ""D""; ""E""; ""F""; ""G""; ""H""; ""I""

""J""""k""; ""l""; ""m""; ""n""; ""o""; ""p""; ""q""; ""r""; ""s""; ""t""; ""u""; ""v""; ""w""; ""z""

Sommario/riassunto

In Poiesis and Possible Worlds, Thomas L. Martin makes a highly focused intervention in the debate about poststructuralist and postmodern theorizing and offers a philosophical approach to some of the controversial tenets of recent theorists. The result is an important addition to the existing literature on the usefulness of possible worlds theory for literature.Martin argues that literary studies remain mired in the anomalies of a linguistic methodology derived from early twentieth-century language philosophy, a view challenged not only by theoretical physics, but also by compelling advances in philosophic semantics. The possible-worlds theory of this book moves beyond the understanding of language as an inescapable medium and toward a view of language as calculus, a theoretical outlook that provides richer means to model a wide range of literary worlds. These possible-worlds insights apply to several fundamental issues in literary and critical theory: not to a theory of fiction as other possible-worlds theorists have suggested, but at a lower level to the definition of literature, to verbal figuration in the theory of metaphor, and to models of reading.Well written and argued, Poiesis and Possible World will be of particular interest to literary critics, aestheticians, and philosophers of language.