Peculiar Language

by Attridge; Derek

• ISBN13: 9780415340588
• ISBN10: 0415340586
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2004-08-13
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

First published in 1988,Peculiar Languageis now established as one of the most important discussions of the language of literature. This thought-provoking book challenges traditional notions of literary criticism, arguing that all attempts by writers, critics and literary theorists to define the language of literature have involved self-contradiction. Through examination of key moments in literary history, Derek Attridge demonstrates that such contradictions in accounts of literary language are embedded in our cultural concept of "literature" and asserts that in order to appreciate the forces that determine the limits of literary language, we must look beyond the realm of the "literary" and embrace the wider political and social sphere. While key examples have been drawn from the Renaissance, Romanticism and the work of James Joyce, Attridge's unique application of deconstructive methods has ensured that the influence of this book has been felt across the entire field of literarystudies. Re-issued as a result of recent critical interest in the book, this edition includes a new preface by the author. Alongside his new book,The Singularity of Literature, Peculiar Languageconfirms Derek Attridge's place at the cutting-edge of contemporary critical theory.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. viii
References	p. x
Preface to the 2004 Edition	p. xi
Introduction: the Peculiar Language of Literature	p. 1
Nature, Art, and the Supplement in Renaissance Literary Theory: Puttenham's Poetics of Decorum	p. 17
Romanticism and the Language of Nature: the Project of Wordsworth's Preface	p. 46
Language as History/History as Language: Saussure and the Romance of Etymology	p. 90
Literature as Imitation: Jakobson, Joyce, and the Art of Onomatopoeia	p. 127
Literature as Deviation: Syntax, Style, and the Body in Ulysses	p. 158
Unpacking the Portmanteau; Or, Who's Afraid of Finnegans Wake?	p. 188
Deconstructing Digression: the Backbone of Finnegans Wake and the Margins of Culture	p. 210
Works Cited	p. 239
Index	p. 255
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