Hybrid literature, hybrid agency. The status of the literary text in Edward Said’s cultural analysis

Start - End 
2013 - 2017 (ongoing)
Type 
Research Focus 
Research Period 
Additional tags 
Literary theory
Critical theory

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Abstract

In this project the status of literary artifacts in Edward Said’s theory and reading practice and his correlating conceptualization of agency is investigated. Previous scholars have identified an irreconcilable tension in Said’s oeuvre between concepts from two supposedly opposing philosophies: humanism and anti-humanism. Instead of foregrounding this dichotomy and takings its irreconcilability for granted, the focus is on literary texts as a critical locus and entry-point to investigate the concept of agency in Said’s cultural analysis.This project does not continue the previous oppositional logic in which humanism and anti-humanism are seen as mutually exclusive positions but to reconstruct their shifting meanings as well as Said’s attempt to redefine these terms and their function. Said’s intertexts and the application of these texts in his approach to contrapuntal reading are studied: how Said’s reading strategy and theoretical models influence the conceptualization of literature and agency in his critical theory.

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Phd Student(s)