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1、J.HILLISMILLERTheFutureofLiteraryTheoryThefutureofliterarytheory,its‘whither’,dependsonthefutureoflitera-ture.LetmeexplainwhatImeanbythat.Literarytheoryisasecondary,subordinatediscipline,asis‘theoreticalphysics’.Literarytheoryisancil-lary.Itisahandmaidentoliterarystudyproper,justastheoret
2、icalphysicsdependsontheempiricaldatagatheredbyphysicists.Peoplewillneedliterarytheoryonlyaslongasliteraturecontinuestoexistandtohaveimportanceforsocietiesandforindividualsinthosesocieties.Iflitera-tureceasestohavegreatimportanceinagivensociety,literarytheorywillcontinuetobenecessarytoacco
3、untforliteratureofthepast.Thiswillhappenwhennewmediabecomedominant,as,itcanbeargued,iscurrentlyhappening,atleastintheWest.Ifliteraturebecomeslessacentralsocialforce,wewillstillneedliterarytheory.Wewillneedliterarytheory,however,moreforantiquarianpurposes,thatis,tohelpunderstandProfessorJ.
4、HillisMillerliteratureofpastcenturies.InthosepastDepartmentofEnglishandComparativecenturies,recedingfurtherfromuseveryLiterature,UniversityofCalifornia,Irvine,day,literaturestillhadacentralculturalUSAandindividualroleintheformationofE-mail:jhmiller@uci.educitizens.Victoriannovels,forexamp
5、le,CASFellow2005/2006playedthatroleinVictorianEngland.Literaturewillgoonbeingwrittenandreadforagoodwhileyet.Nevertheless,film,television,popularmusic,videogames,theInternet,andothertele-technologicalprestidigitizingmediaarereplacingliterature.Whatmightbecalled(thoughwithgreatcaution)the‘l
6、iterary’useofwordsorothersignsismigratingtothesenewmedia.Isay“withgreatcaution”becauseanyfeaturesof‘theliterary’thatIcanthinkofalsocharacterizenon-literaryusesofwordsorothersigns.Tocallsomething‘literature’isaspeechact:“Ideclarethisislite-rature.”IfShakespearewerealivetoday,Iwouldwagertha
7、thewouldbewritingfilmortelevisionscripts,wheretheactionis,justashewouldhavewrittennovelsifhehadbeenaVictorian,orpoetryifhehadlivedintheRomanticperiod.Shakespearewasaprofessionalwriterwhowantedtomakemoneyandinfluencepeople.ThefunctionofliterarytheoryThetheoreticalcom
