Literary Theory, Theory, and Post-Theory

Abstract

By tracing the development of literary studies in the 20th century, this article distinguishes “Theory of Literature” (or “Literary Theory”), “Theory” and “Post-theory” by their distinctive attributions in varied historical and cultural contexts, and then further demonstrates their theoretical paradigms, namely, the modern paradigm of formalism, the post-modern paradigm of French Theory, and the post-theory paradigm after theory. The author argues that the “literary theory” was formed in the framework of modern humanities, emphasizing the linguistic and aesthetic aspects of literary studies, and therefore it was actually a product of modern disciplinary differentiation and specialization. As for “Theory”, it emerged in the context of human sciences and was beyond the boundaries of the literary studies. With “Politics of Theory” as its core, it gave rise to a “grand theory”. Compared with them, “post-theory” seems even more complicated. Through the theoretical development of the two former phases, it is characterized by both reflexivity and multiplicity.

Keywords

literary theory / post-theory / human sciences / modernity / post- modernity