Abstract
As a key concept in literary theory, “text” has been discussed during different periods. Text presents an attitude towards language and a reference to meaning. Varied language forms and disparate interpretations of meaning have given rise to two types of text: closed text and dynamic text. From ancient Greece to early Christian society, people lived with consistent meaning and identity; their language was transparent and meaning was dictated by gods/the God. From the Renaissance onwards, human power was promoted to an unprecedentedly high level, and meaning was considered a display of humanity rather than divine revelation. Notwithstanding an absence of religious certainty, humanism still maintained its identity. In modern society, humanism is deconstructed, followed by the disintegration of external identity. As a result, language loses its transparency and turns obscure, and text research begins to seek its meaning from the inside. New critics and structuralists hold the view of a closed text and attempt to reveal its innermost contradictions and multi-layered structures through speech analysis. Their attempts, still aiming to locate a stable meaning, fail due to an absence of religious certainty. Although closed text deconstructs itself, this does not lead to nihilism. In contrast, it allows for a temporary presence of meaning, which requires the text to stay open to the other and infinity, pursuing a more communicative identity based on intertextuality. The text constructs a dynamic and fair field of dialogue that involves an ever-changing relationship between “you” and “I”. Meaning loses its stability but is redeemed in intertextuality.
Keywords
text, identity, closedness, deconstruction, intertextuality
First Page
201
Last Page
210
Recommended Citation
Fu, Changling. 2022. "A Genealogical Study of the Meaning Generation of Literary Text." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 42, (4): pp.201-210. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol42/iss4/21
