Abstract
In the context of the dispersion of meta-narrative and the break-up in modernity, the paradigm of essentialist thinking faces the increasing crisis of representation of knowledge. The history of "big theory" is coming to an end, and the "post-theory" emerges as a new paradigm of discourse and system of knowledge. Post-theory takes on an anti-essentialist, non-centralist, pluralistic and historized standpoint of knowledge to reconstruct the validity of legitimacy, opposing rigid essentialism, logocentrism and the logic of totality and identification. With the advent of post-theory, the discourse paradigm of essentialist literariness and the essentialist poetics are faced with the question over the legitimacy of knowledge. This paper aims at a reflective critique of the discourse of literariness and attempts to anticipate some possible developments of literary theory in the era of post-theory.
First Page
183
Last Page
192
Recommended Citation
Li, Yanfeng. 2016. "Reflections on the Literariness in the Post-Theoretic Era: The Dispersion of Meta-Narration and the Plight of Essentialist Poetics." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 36, (1): pp.183-192. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol36/iss1/14
