Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
(Introduo)
Metodology:
Description: using Mimesis The Representation of Reality in Western Literature and
Spatiality Studies
Definitions and concepts: reality, realism, mimesis/representation, space (vs. place),
history, time
Research hypothesis - Can literature map reality? An approach through Auerbach's Mimesis and
the Spatiality Studies
1.An overview of time, space and the the representation of reality in Western literature
1.Mimesis in Plato /Aristotle/etc
2.Mimesis in Auerbach
2.The "spatial turn" in the 20th century
1.Space in Auerbach
2.Spatiality Studies in literature: social space, mental space and the space of the
body
3. The Brown Stocking: a practical case
1.Auerbach's reading of an excerpt from Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse
2.A possible reading of the above excerpt using the Spatiality Studies
(Conclusion)
1. An overview of time, space and the the representation of reality in Western literature
a)Mimesis in Plato /Aristotle/etc
b)Mimesis in Auerbach
a)
According to Plato in The Republic Book 10, poetry violates the principles of mimesis in
the sense of the production of similarity: e.g. , in the Platonic conception, gods cannot be
bad and heroes cannot be weak, if they are represented some other way, the criterion of
similarity between what is represented, the gods and heroes, and the representation is
violated. The poet's mimetic representation thus transgresses the truth - violation of ethical
postulates.
Plato denies that painting and poetry are capable of imitating the Ideas, they produce only
the phenomenal form of things:
God creates the Idea,
By beholding the Idea, the demiurge produces objects - his ability is
exhausted in the imitation of na Idea;
The painter creates his pictures neither by seeing the Idea not from a more
precise substantive knowlegde of the object - he produces nothing but
phenomena
Republic 10: copy-making
In all Plato develops three theses during this first half of Book 10:
1. Poetic mimsis, like the kind in a painting, is the imitation of appearance alone and its
products rank far below truth. (596e602c)
1. Therefore poetic mimsis corrupts the soul, weakening the rational impulse's
control over the person's other drives and desires. (602c608b)
2. It should therefore be banned from the good city.
The words imitation of appearance in thesis (1) follow from Plato's three-way
differentiation:
1.Form (of couch, of table) made by a god.
2.Individual things (couches, tables) made by humans.
3. Paintings (of couch or table) made by imitators.
Second three-way distinction (601c-602a) that criticizes imitation from another
perspective:
1.User (of a flute or bridle) who knows.
2.Maker (of flute or bridle) who has correct belief.
3.Imitator (of flute or bridle) who is ignorant.
Concept of mimesis in the Aristotle's Poetics:
Production of images (takes up from Plato)
Creation of a fable or a plot
Universalization: mimesis is not mere copying of the externalities of nature or the
individual features of someone - art and poetry aim at "beautifying" and "improving",
c. Figura: to identify the conception of reality in late antiquity and the Christian Middle
Ages
i. Figural interpretation: "establishes a connection btw two events or persons in
such a way that the first signifies not only itself but also the second, while the
second involves or fulfills the first. The two poles of a figure are separated in
time, but both, being real events or persons, are within temporality. They are
both contained in the flowing stream which is historical life, and only the
comprehension, the intellectus spiritualis, of their interdependence is a
spiritual act." - e.g. episodes of the Old Testament are interpreted as figures
or phenomenal prophecies of the events of the NT., such as, the sacrifice of
Isaac prefigures the sacrifice of Christ, so that in the former the latter is as it
were announced and promised, and the latter "fulfills" (figuram implere) the
former, then a connection is established btw two events whic are linked
neither temporally nor causally - a connection which it is impossible to
establish by reason in the horizontal dimension (if I may be permitted to use
this term for a temporal extension) (ver p.73) - continuar p. 73
ii. Na occurrence on earth signifies not only itself but at the same time another:
b)
What is space?
Foucault:
Central idea: the modern novel has changed the way stories are told
And this is because we are too aware of what is continually
traversing the storyline laterally. ()
Such awareness is the result of our constantly having to take into account the simultaneity and
extension of events and possibilities. (Berger 1974: 40)
Prophecy now involves a geographical rather than historical projection; it is space not time that
hides consequences from us (ibidem)
The Look of Things (1974), New York, The Viking Press.
Edward W. Soja:
Spatial turn: term introduced by Soja
Space is simultaneously real and imagined (third space) - it is a link btw
physical, geographical spaces (first space) and mental, cultural
constructions of space (second space) - he draws on Lefebvre
a)
"The Brown Stocking"
To the Lighthouse
Disappearance of objective facts
Statements as reflection in the consciousness of the characters
House: not given what the author thinks, but how Mrs Ramsay perceives it
b)
Use Indifferent Boundaries by Kathleen Kirby