In Search for the Lost Connection: Hierarchical Tensions as a Unified Way of Deriving Meaning

Authors

  • Daniil Ozernyi Within English Department, Northfiled Mount Hermon, MA, USA, Linguistic Society of America, Complimentary Member

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.23918/ijsses.v6i2p102

Keywords:

Literary Theory, Open City, Post-Modernism, Authenticity

Abstract

The current study challenges the well-established close reading approach to teaching American literature. To establish the initial framework for analysis, a brief account of the role of the author in literary theory is given (Gadamer’s and Iser’s hermeneutics, Formalists, New Critics, and Post-Modernists). Thereafter, using the example of Teju Cole’s Open City, it is shown that the meaning of the work could be derived from building connections instead of assigning eclectic meaning to the eclectic fragments of the text. The offered approach both proves useful while teaching non-linear works of fiction and offers students an insight into authenticity of author’s work through its self-reflexivity.

References

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Published

11.09.2024

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Ozernyi, D. (2024). In Search for the Lost Connection: Hierarchical Tensions as a Unified Way of Deriving Meaning. International Journal of Social Sciences & Educational Studies, 6(2), 102-108. https://doi.org/10.23918/ijsses.v6i2p102

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