February 24, 2006

Sri Aurobindo, Sartre and Derrida

I find some aspects of literary theory very attractive, but like many others, feel that it is saddled with the weight of too many compartments and ‘isms’...I am not sure why you should feel hollow, considering the very purpose of a lot of modern literary theory could be to help you rid of any hollow feeling, to reject the literary base of an unfamiliar, narrow western philosophical thought and possibly supplant it with a more universal one. I suppose you are not helped by the many people who write about what they think Derrida was thinking when he wrote on a particular topic or issue!
I think this is when you must be able to articulate your perspective of Derrida, although I must say that Derrida is quite formidable to comprehend at places, his basic thesis is not very difficult to 'deconstruct'...well, "Good Luck" if you wish, but I think it shouldn't be very difficult if the pile of interpretations of Derrida can be avoided or if that is not possible, sifted through with a fine sieve!!!...
I think Aurobindo's "Future Poetry" represents a rather good example, in riveting language and style, of an atypical Indian view of literary criticism of English poetry. Sartre's "What is Literature?" is a great essay, extremely well-written and illustrated like many of his other work. Thejaswi Shivanand Location: Bangalore, India posted by Dumaketu Saturday, October 29, 2005 @ 11:43 AM 14 comments

No comments:

Post a Comment