The ‘Ontology of Reading’: Beyond ‘Realism’ and the Problem of Reference Via Eliot and Swinburne

Abstract

This paper analyses the way in which T. S. Eliot criticized Swinburn's theory to propose a newer theory of language and reading. First of all we can appraise words more as 'views' than as 'sounds', superseding the structuralist approach of De Saussure, and its philosophical applications, to introduce an 'Iconic Turn' into the proper heart of linguistic theory itself. Secondly we may try to introduce a newer concept of 'reading' as 'ontological reading', to bypass the divide between traditional American Close reading and the 'Theory' as it has been introduced by Paul de Man.

Moreover the paper is a first attempt to redefine the problem of reference reframing the same matter of reference.

In this way a direct plunge into literary theory and literariness can bring a new light to the appreciation of their social and political impacts.

Keywords: Literary Theory, Eliot, Swinburn, Poetry, Close Reading, Reference, Language, Linguistics, Human Studies, Interpretation, Poetry, Law and LIterature

JEL Classification: Z00, K40