Creating States: Studies in the Performative Language of John Milton and William BlakeAlthough the concept of the performative has influenced literary theory in numerous ways, this book represents one of the first full-length studies of performative language in literary texts. Creating States examines the visionary poetry of John Milton and William Blake, using a critical approach based on principles of speech-act theory as articulated by J.L. Austin, John Searle, and Emile Benveniste. Angela Esterhammer proposes a new way of understanding the relationship between these two poets, while at the same time evaluating the role of speech-act philosophy in the reading of visionary poetry and Romantic literature. Esterhammer distinguishes between the 'sociopolitical performative,' the speech act which is defined by a societal context and derives power from institutional authority, and the `phenomenological performative,' language which is invested with the power to posit or create because of the individual will and consciousness of the speaker. Analysing texts such as The Reason of Church-Government, Paradise Lost, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, and Jerusalem, Esterhammer traces the parallel evolution of Milton and Blake from writers of political and anti-prelatical tracts to poets who, having failed in their attempts to alter historical circumstances through a direct address to their contemporaries, reaffirm their faith in individual visionary consciousness and the creative word – while continuing to use the forms of a socially or politically performative language. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 61
... Genesis 1-3 in the Philosophy of Language 44 Phenomenological Performatives : The ' P ' Myth 48 Sociopolitical Performatives : The ' J ' Myth 54 Scenes of Creation in Philosophy and Literature 58 3 The Language of Inspiration in ...
... Genesis , a text that has even more relevance than has been supposed for the development of a visionary tradition in Western literature . The remainder of the book seeks to illustrate the significance of the sociopolitical and ...
... Genesis . If the Bible as a whole is precisely concerned with the Word's entry into , its actions in and on , human society - a process which , I shall argue , begins as early as the second chapter of Genesis it nevertheless opens with ...
... Genesis which have had the strongest influence on the history of philological thought : cre- ation by the word , and acts of naming . Why does the Judeo - Christian account of human history begin with Searle's two non - institutional ...
... Genesis 1-3 in the Philosophy of Language Searle is hardly alone among philosophers of language in looking to Gene- sis for instances of language use . Until the nineteenth century , while philol- ogy was still largely directed toward a ...
Contents
10 | |
16 | |
23 | |
31 | |
42 | |
48 | |
The J Myth | 54 |
3 | 65 |
5 | 119 |
Relations in the State of Innocence | 132 |
Relations in the State of Experience | 143 |
Naming in The Book of Urizen | 152 |
The Argument of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell | 158 |
A Song of Liberty | 167 |
Statements and States | 174 |
A Revision | 184 |
General and Special Inspiration | 70 |
Miltons Promise | 77 |
The Elision of the Performative | 85 |
The Performativity of Divine Speech | 99 |
Naming and Subjectivity | 110 |
A Division | 191 |
Creating States | 201 |
The Community of Phrases | 216 |
Index | 239 |
Other editions - View all
Creating States: Studies in the Performative Language of John Milton and ... Angela Esterhammer No preview available - 1994 |