Reuven Tsur
Encyclopedia
Reuven Tsur (born 1932) is professor emeritus
of Hebrew literature
and literary theory
at Tel Aviv University
. He was born in Nagyvárad
, Transylvania
and his mother tongue is Hungarian
.
, linguistics
, psychology
, and philosophy
. It explores the relationship between the structure of the text and the human qualities perceived in it, and the mediating processes that take place in the reader's mind. He applied Cognitive Poetics to rhyme
, sound symbolism, poetic rhythm
, metaphor
, poetry
and altered states of consciousness, period style, genre
, archetypal patterns, translation
theory, the implied critic's decision style, critical competence and literary history. In his books and articles he applied his theories to English
, French
, German
, Hungarian
, Italian
, Spanish
, and Hebrew poetry, ranging from the Bible
, through the eleventh, sixteenth and seventeenth century, to the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth century.
His theory of metaphor has two facets: the creation and understanding of novel meanings (based on the "controversion" and "feature deletion" theories), and perceived qualities. In his criticism of George Lakoff
's claim that a road mentioned in a poem must be interpreted in light of the "life is a journey" conceptual metaphor he argued that in various works "road" may assume an indefinite number of unforeseen meanings (one of which may be "life is a journey").
In his study of poetic rhythm he argues that no rules of metricalness have yet been devised that have not been violated by John Milton
and Percy Bysshe Shelley
, who are usually regarded as exceptionally musical poets. This required to shift the focus of investigation from what deviations are permissible in metrics to the question whether a performance can be imagined or secured in which the conflicting patterns of language and versification can be perceived at the same time. He has developed a theory that enables him to investigate the auditory information that affects the reader's or listener's impression ("what our ears tell our mind"). This theory includes a theory of rhythmical performance, submitting recorded readings to an instrumental analysis.
For his work in Cognitive Poetics and poetic rhythm Tsur was awarded the 2009 Israel Prize in general literature. In its reasons, the Prize committee states that "he is one of the outstanding, internationally renowned scholars of literature in Israel, who has the reputation of an exceptionally original researcher and theoretician of literature".
Emeritus
Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...
of Hebrew literature
Hebrew literature
Hebrew literature consists of ancient, medieval, and modern writings in the Hebrew language. It is one of the primary forms of Jewish literature, though there have been cases of literature written in Hebrew by non-Jews...
and 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...
at Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University is a public university located in Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel. With nearly 30,000 students, TAU is Israel's largest university.-History:...
. He was born in Nagyvárad
Oradea
Oradea is the capital city of Bihor County, in the Crișana region of north-western Romania. The city has a population of 204,477, according to the 2009 estimates. The wider Oradea metropolitan area has a total population of 245,832.-Geography:...
, Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
and his mother tongue is Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
.
Scientific Contribution
In his doctoral dissertation (Sussex University, 1971) Tsur developed an approach which he later called "Cognitive Poetics". This is an interdisciplinary approach that combines literary theoryLiterary 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...
, linguistics
Linguistics
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....
, psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, and philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
. It explores the relationship between the structure of the text and the human qualities perceived in it, and the mediating processes that take place in the reader's mind. He applied Cognitive Poetics to rhyme
Rhyme
A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds in two or more words and is most often used in poetry and songs. The word "rhyme" may also refer to a short poem, such as a rhyming couplet or other brief rhyming poem such as nursery rhymes.-Etymology:...
, sound symbolism, poetic rhythm
Rhythm
Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...
, metaphor
Metaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
, poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
and altered states of consciousness, period style, genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
, archetypal patterns, translation
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
theory, the implied critic's decision style, critical competence and literary history. In his books and articles he applied his theories to English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, and Hebrew poetry, ranging from the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, through the eleventh, sixteenth and seventeenth century, to the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth century.
His theory of metaphor has two facets: the creation and understanding of novel meanings (based on the "controversion" and "feature deletion" theories), and perceived qualities. In his criticism of George Lakoff
George Lakoff
George P. Lakoff is an American cognitive linguist and professor of linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 1972...
's claim that a road mentioned in a poem must be interpreted in light of the "life is a journey" conceptual metaphor he argued that in various works "road" may assume an indefinite number of unforeseen meanings (one of which may be "life is a journey").
In his study of poetic rhythm he argues that no rules of metricalness have yet been devised that have not been violated by John Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
and Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron...
, who are usually regarded as exceptionally musical poets. This required to shift the focus of investigation from what deviations are permissible in metrics to the question whether a performance can be imagined or secured in which the conflicting patterns of language and versification can be perceived at the same time. He has developed a theory that enables him to investigate the auditory information that affects the reader's or listener's impression ("what our ears tell our mind"). This theory includes a theory of rhythmical performance, submitting recorded readings to an instrumental analysis.
For his work in Cognitive Poetics and poetic rhythm Tsur was awarded the 2009 Israel Prize in general literature. In its reasons, the Prize committee states that "he is one of the outstanding, internationally renowned scholars of literature in Israel, who has the reputation of an exceptionally original researcher and theoretician of literature".
Selected works
- A Perception-oriented Theory of Metre (Tel Aviv: The Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics, 1977)
- What is Cognitive Poetics (Tel Aviv: The Katz Research Institute for Hebrew Literature, 1983)
- On metaphoring (Jerusalem: Israel Science Publishers, 1987)
- Toward a Theory of Cognitive Poetics (Amsterdam: ElsevierElsevierElsevier is a publishing company which publishes medical and scientific literature. It is a part of the Reed Elsevier group. Based in Amsterdam, the company has operations in the United Kingdom, USA and elsewhere....
, 1992) Review. Second, expanded and updated edition (Sussex Academic Press, 2008). - Poetic Rhythm: Structure and Performance—An Empirical Study in Cognitive Poetics (Bern: Peter Lang, 1998)
- "Kubla Khan"—poetic Structure, Hypnotic Quality, and Cognitive Style (John BenjaminsJohn BenjaminsJohn Benjamins Publishing Company is an independent academic publisher in social sciences and humanities with its head office in Amsterdam. Its North American office is in Philadelphia, United StatesIt is especially noted for its publications in linguistics...
, 2006) - On the shore of nothingness: space, rhythm, and semantic structure
External links
- Reuven Tsur — personal website