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    5 views9 pages

    Lec51 - Lec51

    Uploaded by

    sheeba b

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 9
    Literary Criticism (From Plato to Leavis) Doctor Merin Simi Raj, Department of Humanities and Social Science Indian Insitute of Technology Madras FR Leavis's “The Great Tradition” Session 1) (Refer Slide Time: 00:18) 1 2 THE GnEAT TRADITION ve iy ier ‘see re Tene ee rea seeitmcee ee Sauce Soleo saa tesco eben fet pred eae) Sr inet ieee tae Hello and welcome to this course on Literacy Criticism where we bogin discussing the final text Which is pat of this course FR Leavis's The Great Tradition. As we all know, FR Leavis was a rile who wrote aller TS Eliot and most of his critical notion also became canonical, they became literary yardsticks, they became frameworks of literary judgments which could not be questioned forthe longest time in the critical tradition of English language and litsrture, And instant, we also realize thet this is one ofthe ctliest processes of canon formation inthe 20° century; and being a very inuential efit, e also manages to make up a very white canon Which becomes part of ertcal tradition for the longest time, Whatever Leavis did inves of being foundational, also stayed for along time to dictate what went into the university sll domestic euricla. It also determined the ways in which other kinds of lieraes began to be included int this canonical space And itis very white way of looking at literature, as we would a soon realize as we are going trowel this work aad also realize that here ae eerain very dogmatic things that he sticks on to ‘Though he begins with this protestation with the quote from Johnson's Preface to Shakespeare “not dogmatically bu deliberately, there ean attempt being made to move away ftom dogma Bur atthe same time there is a very concerted effort to make something which becomes very so in that sense. So, the ‘whiteness ofthis, the racial supremacy, the imperialist Yhtorc that comes through this, i very English, very canonical, something which becomes very white, evident neverteles, it continues to be seen a8 one ofthe seminal texts, one of the inuential works of literary eritcsm produced inthe 20° century. Ins also very deliberate ashe says over here. There isa deliberteness trough wiich FR Leavis ‘vies to bring in particular kinds of works togesher, theres tradi that he sts in place and the ‘work is als tided, as you ean sce, The Grea Tradition. Thre is a way in which he attempts to make particular kind of writers sit together and they are being refered to as a great adiion ‘There are significant overlaps that one would ind inthe notions of triton when we ook at TS Lliot as well as later on FR Leavis, But what makes Leavis very di ‘ther white erties ie that he makes a deliberate effort to focus on particular kinds of writers, tive compared tothe particular kinds of writings, which is what Iohnson also di in his Preface to Shakespeare where ho was instating Wiliam Shakespeare and his writings into the canon. That was a very deliberate move (Refer Slide Time: 03:10) ae et ie 2 Tensioners jada anaes fetortanrabrs ny Sefer SAULT ite cineca, Focpt dja fcatedanasmert Set nt rae) Pietersen Sue eg ceeeia, SEE ceed aration Satine gata SEs ‘And we find similar deliberate move at work which also ells us, by an lange, that making a ‘canon is a very deliberate move. Thete is nothing organic, there is nothing incidental about it ‘There isa definite, deliberate move wihich goes into the making oa canon, making the making of tation, Here we find that in spite ofthe organic quality which is allegedly invested with ‘wadition, we find the wadition is something which could be made, which could be constructed, the histori inevitability off was pointed ot by in Flot’ work as well Here, we would Targely be focusing onthe firs chaper where hei laying down the tenes of this grat tation and trying fo engage wih his audience about the kind of yardsticks that he had in rind while he was sslcting particular kinds of writings and writer, Tis is how he begins itis 1 very deliberate pointed statement that he begins with: “The great English novelists are Jene ‘Austen, George Fliot, Henry James and Joseph Contad— to stop for the moment at that comparatively safe point in history And look atthe dtectess and the delberateness of it the reat tradition has been summed up in four English novelists. Tis is how he begins —Austen, ot, Henny James, Joseph Connad—two women and two men, and all of them white, very English and who bas writen canonical successful works, “Since Jane Austen for special reasons needs to be studied at considerable length I confine myself in this book othe las thee (Refer Side Time: 04:40) Ce 9 Spitting See z ‘Serustetedrtries Caskets, pagan eer Sioa miso mros “Cries have found me narrow ad Ihave no doubt that opening proposition, whatever I may sy 1 explain ad justify it, wil be edduced in reinforcement of their sectures, I pases a fat (in spite of the printed evidence) that! pronounce Milton negligible, dismiss ‘the Romantics’, and ‘that I bold that, since Done, there is no poet we need bother about except Hopkins and Eliot™ ‘Thete are many deliberate moves, there ate many controversial statements that he makes over Ire, According to him, afer Donne, the next important posts were Hopkins snd Eliot. After Donne, any poetry that we need fo deal with happens only inthe 20 century—that is FR LLeavis's view. And he is able to jgnore Milton, he dismisses the Romantics altogether, and does ‘ot engage with that time period at all, because, according to him, those are not the things which ‘would fi within the madtion that he is tying to delineate over here (Refer Slide Time: 05:34) gioiterete Seanad Shion Se Sapo ee ey seein ta {Sfrerereligemn gm, tee stint Sasetewcs Secon eet el Sas psa “The view, I suppose, wil be as confidently atbuted to me that, except Jane Austen, George lot, James and Conmd, there are no novelists in English worth reading.” And he is saying that this is not the way in which hes tying to interpret its but at he same time, most of his writings, ‘hen we look ati together, we realize that there is a certain kind of ation that he i tying to highlight There is only certain kinds of writings and writers that he is trying highlight, the ‘extent that hes been misrepresented which i a gross mistepresentation perhaps. He is being interpreted continually as someone who is always dismissing traditions which he does not approve of (Refer Side Time: 06:17) sentitiegnetzeee 9 saapsSienentras Eis hpeildmntoueies eee Eeeeieateet See 3 i eg ce Mvcinteneccntn depo Sia Earan le eh bed Fc ems “The only way to espe mistepresentation is never to commit oneself wo any critica judgment that makes an impact—that is never lo sey anything” There i certain eynical authority with ‘which he seems to claim over here that if one dares to say something, something substantial its joing tobe misconstrued itis also going tobe misinterpreted. And he seems tobe okay with that proposition as wel, “The only way to eseape misepresentatons is never to commit ones: ‘any rita judgment that makes an impct—that i never to say anything. Il, however, hike thatthe best way to promote profitable discussion is to be a clear as posible with oneself shout ‘what one sees and judges, to ty and establish the essential discriminations in the given field of interes, and to state them as clearly as one ean (for disagreement, if necessary.” He is opea to all kings ofertiquss that this sort of a notion might ivi “And it soems w me tha in the field of feton some challenging disesiminations are very much

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