The Return Of Literature In Theory:Study On Jonathan Culler's Meta-theory

Jonathan D.Culler is one of the most influential American literary critics in the 20 th century.As an all-round player in literary theory,Culler witnessed and participated in the evolution of literary theory since the 1960 s.His own academic course embodies the clues of Theory--starting from literature,it expands with multi-line parallel ideas and finally returns to literature,or should we say The Literary.This paper divides into three chapters.The chapter one begins with the introduction of Culler‘s previous poetry studies,such as his views in Structural Poetics and other articles,reviewing its limitations.In Theory of the lyric,after clarifying and commenting on the history and theories of lyric,Culler yields four parameters to help investigated further.Chapter two is arranged to organize Culler‘s views on the Theory in his studies.Culler uses the ?New Genre‘,quoted from Richard Rorty,to clarify its historical evolution in America as well as the world,on this basis,Culler analyzes the importance of "theory" in literary studies and the inevitability of the theory,although it has retired behind the scenes but has not left the scene.Responding with "the literary in theory",he believes that literature has entered other research disciplines and provides reference for those in terms of research perspectives and methods.Chapter three of the paper is designed to analysis Culler‘s points on the relation between lyric and society,as well as Eagleton‘s statements on the need of historical perspective of Formalism in How to Read Poem to explain the current direction of literary research on humanities and moral education Secondly,taking Meetings of the Mind as example to show the fusion of theory and literature,demonstrating the possibility of letting the theory participate in life and solve the human crisis.