Anti-Mimesis from Plato to HitchcockThe material elements of writing have long been undervalued, and have been dismissed by recent historicising trends of criticism; but analysis of these elements - sound, signature, letters - can transform our understanding of literary texts. In this 1994 book Tom Cohen shows how, in an era of representational criticism and cultural studies, the role of close reading has been overlooked. Arguing that much recent criticism has been caught in potentially regressive models of representation, Professor Cohen undertakes to counter this by rethinking the 'materiality' of the text itself. Through a series of revealing new readings of the work of writers including Plato, Bakhtin, Poe, Whitman and Conrad, Professor Cohen exposes the limitations of new historicism and neo-pragmatism, and demonstrates how 'the materiality of language' operates to undo the representational models of meaning imposed by the literary canon. |
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Common terms and phrases
aesthetic agent already American appears associated attempt Bakhtin Bartleby becomes begin called claim close Conrad's critical crossing dead death dialogue discourse double echoes effect emerges Emily empty face fact father figure future hear Hitchcock human implies inscription interiority interpretation involves language less letters linguistic linked literally logic machine marks Marxism material meaning Memory metaphor mimesis mimetic move narrative narrator nature never notes occurs once opening origin Othello perhaps person Plato play Poe's poem political position possible pragmatism precedes present Press problem production Protagoras question radical reader reading reference repeated repetition representation represents reversal rhetorical role scene seems sense signature signifying social Socrates sort sound space speaks story suggests symbolic takes tale term thing trope turn University voice Whitman writing
Bibliographic information
| Title | Anti-Mimesis from Plato to Hitchcock Volume 10 of Literature, Culture, Theory |
| Author | Tom Cohen |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press, 1994 |
| ISBN | 0521465842, 9780521465847 |
| Length | 266 pages |
| Subjects | › Literary Criticism / Semiotics & Theory |
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