Conceptions of the text

pp. 145-162

in: Anders Pettersson, The concept of literary application, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012

Abstract

Those who theorize about literature do not normally doubt that readers can carry out what I call application or that they do so often. However, as I have emphasized repeatedly, many regard application as irrelevant from a purely literary point of view. One important motivation for such criticism is the idea that (i) literary values must be found in the text itself and (ii) application does not lead to the realization of such values. This line of reasoning underlies what I have called the textual-supremacy argument against application.