The temptation of Don Quixote. -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, [2] ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 07:09:42 01/18/08 Fri
Author: j.jackson
Subject: The temptation of Don Quixote.

From p. 16 in "Triangular Desire":
"The reader, who is usually convinced of his own spontaneity, applies to the work the meanings he already sees in the world. . . . The romantic reader, by a marvellous misinterpretation which fundamentally is only a superior truth, identifies himself with Don Quixote, the supreme imitator, and makes of him the model individual."

One of the points being made here: if we pay attention to the misreadings of our beloved literary critics, we often find that literature may already be reading the reader and that literature can offer a corrective to our misreadings (which are really only extensions of our misperceptions of the world/relationships in which we inhabit/participate).

So literary study is important. And, no, we don't "ruin" literature when we analyze it. In fact, we may learn through analysis that it was analyzing us--400 years before the fact.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

Re: The temptation of Don Quixote. -- Erin Risch, 19:31:51 01/20/08 Sun
Re: The temptation of Don Quixote. -- Kiernan, 07:29:33 01/21/08 Mon