Literary Studies and Cognitive Poetics

Abstract

The present study is a general description of the theoretical project of cognitive poetics and its implications for the study of literature. The main hypothesis is that cognitive poetics is the contemporary continuation of the analytical project of Poetics, with its rich tradition stretching from Aristotle to French Structuralism. As cognitive poetics is principally concerned with the relationship between texts and reading experience, it has contributed significantly to the evolution of literary studies. In this light, the paper identifies the following analytical and theoretical innovations of cognitive poetics: 1) restoring the connection between literary and "natural" languages; 2) removing the politicized dimension of literary studies, influenced by post-structuralism and critical theory (while maintaining, in an exploratory and explanatory sense, a critical perspective on language and literature); 3) elevating the reading experience and the potential variations of "meaning"; 4) establishing connections between the humanist "universalism" of the traditional perspective on literature and modern and postmodern relativism, by assuming a cognitive and cultural explanation of literature; 5) exploring the context and the historical and cultural determinations of literature; 6) innovating upon notional language, necessary for text analysis.