Word and Object

Postmodernism and Literary Interpretation
Three basic principles underlie the post-modernistic critique of literary interpretation (and, by extension, other social sciences).
First Principle
The first is that one should have no compunctions about taking a philosophical approach.  There is no point simply in juxtaposing one text against another.  This does not however invalidate the need for, or the utility [...]

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In this essay I will advance an interpretation of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick based on the work of the Weimar-era philosopher Martin Heidegger. I have no compunctions about taking such an approach. It is unlikely one can say anything completely new about Moby Dick, much less some of the other texts I examine herein (such [...]

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Charles Bukowski recently released (posthumously, that is), a new book of poetry entitled The Pleasures of the Damned. It was poorly reviewed by somebody named David L. Ulin in the Los Angeles Times (Nov. 25, 2007). Mr. Ulin states, “it’s impossible not to ask some hard questions about his status and whether it [...]

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What is the world’s most boring novel? Easy! It’s Swann’s Way, the first volume of Remembrance of Things Past, by Marcel Proust. The main reason why is, nothing happens. The narrator (Proust) waits for his mother to kiss him goodnight. Everybody sits around waiting for dinner at the Verdurins. [...]

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Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov unquestionably is one of the greatest novels of Western literature. I would not rank it as “the” greatest, as some do, because that spot is reserved for James Joyce’s Ulysses. Even so, I probably have read it a dozen times since first coming across it in high school. It’s one [...]

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