Terry Eagleton’s ‘What is Literature?’
provides us with various definitions of literature which have been made.
Eagleton considers the different ways in which literature has been defined previously
and describes them in detail, after which he demonstrates where and how these
definition are lacking. The essay ends with Eagleton providing his own
definition of literature, which after reflecting on what has been stated before,
appears all encompassing.
After a critical reading of the essay in
class, it is concluded that the essay is a critique of the historical
definitions of literature by Eagleton who refutes all previous definitions
before introducing his own.
The second essay dealt with was by Peter
Burger’s ‘On the Problem of the Autonomy of Art in Bourgeois Society’. Burger
defines the autonomy of art and explains how art and the artist is affected by
social changes- from the early 16th century to the 18th
century where art is redefined by Kant and Schiller. Burger describes the
autonomy of art as a category of bourgeois society which is detached from the
context of practical life. The status of art in bourgeois society is attacked
by the Avant-Garde who did not like that art as an institution was disassociated
with the praxis of life and believed that it must be integrated into the praxis
of life.
The discussion of the essay centered on-
the Avant-Garde trying to abolish the autonomy of art; that they wanted the
pleasure of everyday life to be integrated; and that art was not about the
object but about the social function.
In the course fo discussion, three key aspects
of research were described: the concepts, the framework and how one must write
research.
Prepared by Naomi Eapen.
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