Jonathan Culler
Encyclopedia
Jonathan Culler is a class of 1966 Harvard graduate and Professor of English at Cornell University. He is an important figure of the structuralism
movement of literary theory
and criticism
.
in history
and literature
in 1966. After receiving a Rhodes scholarship
, he attended St. John's College
, Oxford University, where he earned a B. Phil in comparative literature
(1968) and a D.Phil in modern languages (1972). His thesis
for the B. Phil., on phenomenology and literary criticism, recorded Culler's first experiences with structuralism. The thesis explored the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty
and the criticism of the "Geneva School" using the ideas of Claude Lévi-Strauss
, Roland Barthes
, and Ferdinand de Saussure
. His D. Phil. thesis, "Structuralism: A Study in the Development of Linguistic Models and their Application to Literary Studies", formed the basis of his later prize-winning book, Structuralist Poetics. By the mid-1970s, Jonathan Culler became the voice of structuralism in America.
Culler was Fellow in French and Director of Studies in Modern Languages at Selwyn College
, Cambridge University, from 1969–1974, and Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford and University Lecturer in French from 1974-77. He was Visiting Professor of French and Comparative Literature at Yale University
in 1975. He is a past president of the Semiotic Society of America
(1988).
Currently, he is Class of 1916 Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Cornell University
. Culler is married to deconstruction
ist critic Cynthia Chase.
and the methodological essays of Claude Lévi-Strauss
, Culler wrote Structuralist Poetics: Structuralism, Linguistics and the Study of Literature, which won the James Russell Lowell Prize from the Modern Language Association
of America in 1976 for being an outstanding book of criticism. Structuralist Poetics was one of the first introductions to the French structuralist
movement in English.
Culler’s contribution to the Very Short Introductions
series, Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction, has received praise for its innovative technique of organization. Rather than dedicate chapters to schools and their methods, he divides into eight chapters the issues and problems that literary theory approaches.
In a book recently published in 2007, The Literary in Theory, Culler responds to the greater notion of Theory
and the history of literature’s role in the larger realm of literary and cultural theory. He defines Theory
as an interdisciplinary body of work including structuralist linguistics, anthropology
, Marxism
, semiotics
, psychoanalysis
, and literary criticism
.
in structuralism
than his predecessors. The linguistic model can help “formulate the rules of particular systems of convention rather than simply affirm their existence". He posits that language and human culture operate in similar ways. In Structuralist Poetics, however, Culler warns against the error of applying the technique of linguistics directly to literature. Rather, the "'grammar' of literature" is converted into literary structures and meaning within a competent reader. He defines structuralism
as a theory which rests on the realization that if human actions or productions have meaning there must be an underlying system which makes this meaning possible. An utterance has meaning only in the context of a preexistent system of rules and conventions.
Culler proposes that we use literary theory not necessarily to try to understand a text but rather to investigate the activity of interpretation. We should give more weight to the active participation of the reader. In several of his works, he speaks of a reader who is particularly "competent". In order to understand how we make sense of a text, Culler intends to identify common elements that all readers immediately treat differently in different texts. He suggests there are two classes of readers, “the readers as field of experience for the critic (himself a reader)” and the future readers who will benefit from the work the critic and previous readers have done. Critics of Culler’s theories cite his lack of distinction between literature and the institution of writing in general.
Structuralism
Structuralism originated in the structural linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure and the subsequent Prague and Moscow schools of linguistics. Just as structural linguistics was facing serious challenges from the likes of Noam Chomsky and thus fading in importance in linguistics, structuralism...
movement of literary theory
Literary theory
Literary theory in a strict sense is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for analyzing literature. However, literary scholarship since the 19th century often includes—in addition to, or even instead of literary theory in the strict sense—considerations of...
and criticism
Literary criticism
Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...
.
Background and career
Culler attended Harvard for his undergraduate studies, where he received a Bachelor of ArtsBachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
in 1966. After receiving a Rhodes scholarship
Rhodes Scholarship
The Rhodes Scholarship, named after Cecil Rhodes, is an international postgraduate award for study at the University of Oxford. It was the first large-scale programme of international scholarships, and is widely considered the "world's most prestigious scholarship" by many public sources such as...
, he attended St. John's College
St John's College, Oxford
__FORCETOC__St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, one of the larger Oxford colleges with approximately 390 undergraduates, 200 postgraduates and over 100 academic staff. It was founded by Sir Thomas White, a merchant, in 1555, whose heart is buried in the chapel of...
, Oxford University, where he earned a B. Phil in comparative literature
Comparative literature
Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the literature of two or more different linguistic, cultural or national groups...
(1968) and a D.Phil in modern languages (1972). His thesis
Thesis
A dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...
for the B. Phil., on phenomenology and literary criticism, recorded Culler's first experiences with structuralism. The thesis explored the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
Maurice Merleau-Ponty was a French phenomenological philosopher, strongly influenced by Karl Marx, Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger in addition to being closely associated with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir...
and the criticism of the "Geneva School" using the ideas of Claude Lévi-Strauss
Claude Lévi-Strauss
Claude Lévi-Strauss was a French anthropologist and ethnologist, and has been called, along with James George Frazer, the "father of modern anthropology"....
, Roland Barthes
Roland Barthes
Roland Gérard Barthes was a French literary theorist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. Barthes' ideas explored a diverse range of fields and he influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiotics, existentialism, social theory, Marxism, anthropology and...
, and Ferdinand de Saussure
Ferdinand de Saussure
Ferdinand de Saussure was a Swiss linguist whose ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in linguistics in the 20th century. He is widely considered one of the fathers of 20th-century linguistics...
. His D. Phil. thesis, "Structuralism: A Study in the Development of Linguistic Models and their Application to Literary Studies", formed the basis of his later prize-winning book, Structuralist Poetics. By the mid-1970s, Jonathan Culler became the voice of structuralism in America.
Culler was Fellow in French and Director of Studies in Modern Languages at Selwyn College
Selwyn College, Cambridge
Selwyn College is a constituent college in the University of Cambridge in England, United Kingdom.The college was founded by the Selwyn Memorial Committee in memory of the Rt Reverend George Selwyn , who rowed on the Cambridge crew in the first Varsity Boat Race in 1829, and went on to become the...
, Cambridge University, from 1969–1974, and Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford and University Lecturer in French from 1974-77. He was Visiting Professor of French and Comparative Literature at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1975. He is a past president of the Semiotic Society of America
Semiotic Society of America
The Semiotic Society of America is an interdisciplinary professional association serving scholars from many disciplines with common interests in semiotics, the study of signs and sign-systems. It was founded in 1975 and includes members from the United States and Canada. Its official journal is The...
(1988).
Currently, he is Class of 1916 Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
. Culler is married to deconstruction
Deconstruction
Deconstruction is a term introduced by French philosopher Jacques Derrida in his 1967 book Of Grammatology. Although he carefully avoided defining the term directly, he sought to apply Martin Heidegger's concept of Destruktion or Abbau, to textual reading...
ist critic Cynthia Chase.
Major works
Inspired by the monumental linguistic theories of Ferdinand de SaussureFerdinand de Saussure
Ferdinand de Saussure was a Swiss linguist whose ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in linguistics in the 20th century. He is widely considered one of the fathers of 20th-century linguistics...
and the methodological essays of Claude Lévi-Strauss
Claude Lévi-Strauss
Claude Lévi-Strauss was a French anthropologist and ethnologist, and has been called, along with James George Frazer, the "father of modern anthropology"....
, Culler wrote Structuralist Poetics: Structuralism, Linguistics and the Study of Literature, which won the James Russell Lowell Prize from the Modern Language Association
Modern Language Association
The Modern Language Association of America is the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature...
of America in 1976 for being an outstanding book of criticism. Structuralist Poetics was one of the first introductions to the French structuralist
Structuralism
Structuralism originated in the structural linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure and the subsequent Prague and Moscow schools of linguistics. Just as structural linguistics was facing serious challenges from the likes of Noam Chomsky and thus fading in importance in linguistics, structuralism...
movement in English.
Culler’s contribution to the Very Short Introductions
Very Short Introductions
The Very Short Introductions series is a book series published by the Oxford University Press publishing house since 1995. Books in the series offer concise introductions to particular subjects, intended for a general audience but written by experts in the field. The Very Short Introductions...
series, Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction, has received praise for its innovative technique of organization. Rather than dedicate chapters to schools and their methods, he divides into eight chapters the issues and problems that literary theory approaches.
In a book recently published in 2007, The Literary in Theory, Culler responds to the greater notion of Theory
Theory
The English word theory was derived from a technical term in Ancient Greek philosophy. The word theoria, , meant "a looking at, viewing, beholding", and referring to contemplation or speculation, as opposed to action...
and the history of literature’s role in the larger realm of literary and cultural theory. He defines Theory
Theory
The English word theory was derived from a technical term in Ancient Greek philosophy. The word theoria, , meant "a looking at, viewing, beholding", and referring to contemplation or speculation, as opposed to action...
as an interdisciplinary body of work including structuralist linguistics, anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
, Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
, semiotics
Semiotics
Semiotics, also called semiotic studies or semiology, is the study of signs and sign processes , indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication...
, psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
, and literary criticism
Literary criticism
Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...
.
Contributions to critical theory
Culler proposes that he can provide a more thorough account of the use of linguisticsLinguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
in structuralism
Structuralism
Structuralism originated in the structural linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure and the subsequent Prague and Moscow schools of linguistics. Just as structural linguistics was facing serious challenges from the likes of Noam Chomsky and thus fading in importance in linguistics, structuralism...
than his predecessors. The linguistic model can help “formulate the rules of particular systems of convention rather than simply affirm their existence". He posits that language and human culture operate in similar ways. In Structuralist Poetics, however, Culler warns against the error of applying the technique of linguistics directly to literature. Rather, the "'grammar' of literature" is converted into literary structures and meaning within a competent reader. He defines structuralism
Structuralism
Structuralism originated in the structural linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure and the subsequent Prague and Moscow schools of linguistics. Just as structural linguistics was facing serious challenges from the likes of Noam Chomsky and thus fading in importance in linguistics, structuralism...
as a theory which rests on the realization that if human actions or productions have meaning there must be an underlying system which makes this meaning possible. An utterance has meaning only in the context of a preexistent system of rules and conventions.
Culler proposes that we use literary theory not necessarily to try to understand a text but rather to investigate the activity of interpretation. We should give more weight to the active participation of the reader. In several of his works, he speaks of a reader who is particularly "competent". In order to understand how we make sense of a text, Culler intends to identify common elements that all readers immediately treat differently in different texts. He suggests there are two classes of readers, “the readers as field of experience for the critic (himself a reader)” and the future readers who will benefit from the work the critic and previous readers have done. Critics of Culler’s theories cite his lack of distinction between literature and the institution of writing in general.
Sources
- http://www.mla.org/resources/awards/awards_winners/pastwinners_annual/pastwinners_lowell
- Beers, Terry. "Reading Reading Constraints: Conventions, Schemata, and Literary Interpretation" Diacritics: A Review of Contemporary Criticism 18 (1988): 82-93.
- Culler, J. The Literary in Theory Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2007.
- Culler, J. Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
- Culler, J. Structuralist Poetics: Structuralism, Linguistics, and the Study of Literature London: Routledge and Kegan Paul; Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1975. Revised edition: Routledge Classics, 2002
- Gorman, D. "Theory of What?" Rev. of Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction, Jonathan Culler. Philosophy and Literature 23.1 (1999): 206-216
- Schauber, E. & Spolsky, E. "Stalking a Generative Poetics" New Literary History: A Journal of Theory and Interpretation 12.3 (1981): 397-413.
- Schleifer, R. & Rupp, G. "Structuralism" The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism 2nd ed. (2005).