For Friday: Culler, Chapter 1: "What is Theory?" (from Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction)

Answer any TWO questions in a short response, at least a few sentences, but try to avoid simple yes/no questions, or restating the question. You might not really know the 'answer' to any of these  questions, so try to think out loud on paper. These questions are geared to help you work through tough readings and ideas rather than prove mastery of a subject (which according to Culler, is impossible to do with theory anyway!). 

Bring your responses to class on Friday; I'll take them up in class for your first response grade (see syllabus for details). 

Q1: One of Culler’s most important points about theory is that “works regarded as theory have effects beyond their original field” (3). What do you think this means? Related to this,  how could literary texts also become theories? For example, could The Hobbit be a theory? Jane Eyre?

Q2: How can writing about a thing create a thing? The book uses the example of sex and sexual relations; how can writing about marriage (for example) actually create the social codes of marriage?

Q3: Why do many theorists suggest that writing is more than a supplement (or duplication) of speech? Is it possible for something to be truly original, and not a copy of a copy of a copy?

Q4: Quoting the famous (and famously difficult) French theorist, Jacques Derrida, Culler writes, “There is no outside-of-text’: when you think you are getting outside signs and text, to ‘reality itself,’ what you find is more text, more signs, chains of supplements” (12). What do you think he means by this? Can you give an example of this in the ‘real’ world?