J.HILLIS MILLER - The Future of Literary Theory英文学习资料.pdfVIP

J . H I L L I S M I L L E R The Future of Literary Theory The future of literary theory, its ‘whither’, depends on the future of litera- ture. Let me explain what I mean by that. Literary theory is a secondary, subordinate discipline, as is ‘theoretical physics’. Literary theory is ancil- lary. It is a handmaiden to literary study proper, just as theoretical physics depends on the empirical data gathered by physicists. People will need literary theory only as long as literature continues to exist and to have importance for societies and for individuals in those societies. If litera- ture ceases to have great importance in a given society, literary theory will continue to be necessary to account for literature of the past. This will happen when new media become dominant, as, it can be argued, is currently happening, at least in the West. If literature becomes less a central social force, we will still need literary theory. We will need literary theory, however, more for antiquarian purposes, that is, to help understand Professor J. Hillis Miller literature of past centuries. In those past Department of English and Comparative centuries, receding further from us every Literature, University of California, Irvine, day, literature still had a central cultural USA and individual role in the formation of E-mail: jhmiller@uci.edu citizens. Victorian novels, for example, CAS Fellow 2005/2006 played that role in Victorian England. Literature will go on being written and read for a good while yet. Nevertheless, film, television, popular music, video games, the Internet, and other tele-technological prestidigitizing media are replacing literature. What might be called (though with great caution) the ‘literary’ use of words or other signs is migrating to these new media. I say “with great caution” because any features of ‘the literary’ that I can think of also charac