Clifford Geertz's Ritual Theory And Its Significance For Literature Research

Clifford Geertz is seen as an outstanding representative of interpretative anthropologies.His theories on "thick description" and "local knowledge" become important concepts in the field of anthropology.His ritual theory has far-reaching and unique significances for literature research.Culture is a symbolic system and a meaningful model of symbols,which adopted from generation to generation in history.The ritual is the symbol of cultural system. During rituals,the living world is connected with the symbolic world by a set of single symbols,so that people change their senses on reality.It can be read as a conversion form living world to symbolic world and from the side to the other side. At the same time,it becomes the "call" to a virtual social structure,which help us understand social structure.Ritual embodies the cultural significances.It is a practice of specific acts.Ritual provides the cognitive framework of the universe and carries forward the specific meaning of people's community lives,so it is the best text for decoding culture.Geertz's ritual theory has a strong function for explaining and provides new resources for literature Research.It presents as cultural performances.Its symbolic and semiotic nature is the key to understand rituals in literary texts and relates to the nature of literature.His unique perspective "local knowledge" and "the native's point of view" broaden the vision of literature research and help to promote a comparative study of literature.The method "thick description" is not only literary practices,but also a way to understand literature research.