Class Notes on Eagleton's aesthetic theories

(Originally written March 20, 2007 in Book 16)

Class Notes

Terry Eagleton

What is literature?

1) Literature is essentially imaginative
problem - some literature is historical. Some imaginative works are not literature.

2) Russian Formalism - we should define literature as that which transforms and intensifies language.
problem - we must presuppose what is literary language and ordinary language is

3) Literature is non-useful writing

4) Literature is valued writing

Where is the meaning?

4 Views:
1) Authorial Intention - meaning resides in the author's mind
2) Structuralism (semantic autonomy of language) meaning resides in the text
3) Post-Structuralism (reader response theory, deconstructionalism) - meaning resides in the reader's understanding
4) "Reflective equilibrium" - a combination of all other tree with a heavier emphasis on authorial intention and structuralism.

Problems

With Authorial intention - it implies that once the author is dead we'll never know what the text meant

With Structuralism - the author's intent is rendered completely irrelevant

With Post-Structuralism - it removes all meaning from the author and his/her text