Literary Theory and Linguistics
Literary Theory and Linguistics

Summary/Abstract: A topic of discussion among us that has recently become more and more frequent is the influence that linguistics exerts and has exerted on literary theory. Scientifically based literary theory as an autonomous discipline has only recently begun to come into being. Always before it was under the influence of those other sciences on which it so closely borders. Sociology, psychology, psychoanalytical theories, history, theories of figurative arts, philosophical aesthetics are some of the disciplines by means of which, or perhaps in the shadow of which, newly emergent forms of literary theory have tried to find a place of their own, but with no lasting success. To approach a literary work from the point of view of any of those disciplines was hardly to produce firm methodological grounds as in most cases such approaches did not touch upon the true subject of literary theory - a piece of art realized in words. For however indispensable sociological, historical, and psychological considerations may be for any scholarly study of literature, they cannot provide a literary theory if they lose sight of the fundamental characteristics of their subject and if they are not equipped with methodological tools necessary for striking into the very essence of the art of words.

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