WHY WRITE ? Jean Paul Sartre

WHY WRITE?

Jean Paul Sartre

Critical summary by Dr. S. Sreekumar

Biographical note

Sartre is known for his famous philosophical work—Being and Nothingness—which expounds atheistic existentialism. [Atheistic existentialism (of Sartre and Camus) excludes all metaphysical and religious beliefs. Sartre and Camus believed that there is nothing that transcends (that is beyond) human existence].

Sartre thought that the individual is autonomous (a self -contained being who/which does not need either God or Nature for its existence) and at the same time responsible for his actions.

Sartre’s relationship with the Communist Party had been stormy and contentious. But he was always a man with extreme left ideologies. The present piece, ‘Why Write’, is the second chapter of his What is Literature. In ‘Why Write’ Sartre adopts a phenomenological view of a work of literature as existing by virtue of an agreement between writer and reader. 

WHY WRITE?

Some believe that art is a form of escape.  Others see it as a means of conquering. Sartre says that there are other means of escape than through art. For example, a person can escape into a hermitage or can escape into madness or death. [Madness and death are seen as ways of escaping from the world]. Similarly, one can conquer through arms.  Thus Sartre believes that for escaping from the world or for conquering it, art is not necessary.  He believes that there is a deeper motive behind the aims of authors.

THE FOUR KINDS OF MEANING—I A RICHARDS

THE FOUR KINDS OF MEANING—I A RICHARDS

 

 

A revised version, (11th Feb 2021).

 

S.Sreekumar

 

The following is an attempt to analyze The Four Kinds of Meaning (Practical Criticism, Part III, Chapter I). 

 

This blog is more of a compilation rather than an original critical commentary. The sole intention here is to help the students/research scholars with a quick overview of Richards.  

 

Introduction—background

 

Richards is a unique figure in English literary criticism because of the originality of his ideas. Moreover, like Coleridge, Richards was also interested in philosophy. His works in literary criticism helped to lay the practical foundations and methodology of New Criticism. The close reading of texts is the strategy of New Criticism. It got its first extensive practitioner in Richards.

FEMININITY , NARRATIVE AND PSYCHOANALYSIS--Juliet Mitchell

FEMININITY, NARRATIVE AND PSYCHOANALYSIS
Juliet Mitchell

[ This post is an attempt to explain the essay to undergraduate students of Indian Universities. ]
Dr. S. Sreekumar

Juliet Mitchell——a brief biographical note

Juliet Mitchell was born in New Zealand in 1940. Later her family moved to London. She read English at Oxford and taught at the universities of Leeds and Reading. In the 1960s, Mitchell was actively involved in politics and was on the editorial committee of the journal, New Left Review. In 1974 she published Psychoanalysis and Feminism and subsequently trained at the institute of Psychoanalysis. At present she works as a psychoanalyst in London.

Feminism and Psychoanalysis——certain issues

THE DECONSTRUCTIVE ANGEL--M.H.ABRAMS

THE DECONSTRUCTIVE ANGEL

M.H.ABRAMS

Critical summary by Dr. S. Sreekumar for students of Indian Universities

[The PAPER is closely linked to ‘The Critic as Host’ by J. Hillis Miller, the summary of which is available in this blogspot]

M.H.Abrams——a brief biography

Meyer Howard Abrams (M.H. Abrams) was an American literary critic known for his works on English Romanticism. He was also the editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature.  

Abrams was born on July 23, 1912, in New Jersey as the son of East European Jewish immigrants. He was the first in his family to go to college. He entered Harvard University as an undergraduate in 1930. After earning his bachelor’s degree, Abrams won a Henry Fellowship to Magdalene College, Cambridge, where his tutor was I. A. Richards. He returned to Harvard for graduate school and received a master's degree and a Ph.D.

THE CRITIC AS HOST--J. HILLIS MILLER

THE CRITIC AS HOST

J. Hillis Miller

[Critical summary and analysis by Dr. S. Sreekumar. Exclusively meant for students of Indian Universities]

J. Hillis Miller

Biographical note

Joseph Hillis Miller, Jr. (1928) is an important humanities and literature scholar. He was among the pioneers in introducing phenomenology and deconstruction to Anglo-American audience.

From 1952 to 1972, Miller taught at Johns Hopkins University. In 1972, he joined Yale University where he taught for fourteen years. At Yale, he worked alongside prominent literary critics like Paul de Man and Geoffrey Hartman, where they were collectively known as the Yale School of deconstruction¹.