The Power of Tautology: The Roots of Literary Theory

Drawing upon thinkers like Wittgenstein, Quine, and Van Fraassen, this study begins with an investigation into the logical status of the tautologies that ground literary theories. The first theory dealt with is Marxism, which defines economic necessity as the root of all other relations in society. This definition is coupled with a metaphysical definition to totality that allows the scaffolding of a series of deductions. Historicism occupies a central position in recent developments of literary theory, exemplified by Heidegger and Foucault. They are, respectively, right- and left-wing examples of the desire to define whatever occurs in history as a product of history. Heidegger and Foucault also represent versions of the widespread belief that history should be viewed as a form of conspiracy. Another example studied is the structuralism that has developed from Saussure through Roland Barthes. Structuralism has defined all products of the human mind to be "systems" that can be reduced to the system of language. Finally, the author examines the theories of Lacan and Derrida. Lacan's brand of psychoanalytic theory combines his rather original definitions of the psyche with the definitions of structural linguistics and thereby produce a theory that defines the human subject as an effect of language. Derrida's deconstruction draws upon Heidegger's conspiracy tautology and upon the definitions of structural linguistics to define literary language as the eternally self-referential language of language speaking itself. Though conceptually tonic, these last theories probably mark the end of the influence of literary theory as a totalizing theory of human culture.