Baština (Jan 2015)
Social and cultural meaning of literary criticism: Addendum to theoretical discussion on the literary criticism notion and its being
Abstract
The paper aims to define the literary criticism notion and its being within the historical chronotope. The literary criticism has a two-way approach to a work of art: internal and external. Both of the approaches bring about its esthetical, ethical and social function. Although it is not easy to define a basic notion, such as the notion of criticism in literary science, the defining of the notion and contents of the being of criticism is a prerequisite of enlightening one of its dimensions, namely its social function and significance. Definitions presented in the paper imply that it is not strictly a science or an art or it is both at the same time. Criticism writes about literature in literary manner. Literature is its subject and not its purpose. Criticism treats literature, as suggested by N. Frye, the way history treats events or the way philosophy treats wisdom. The paper implies that criticism in Serbian literary science is synchronously: search for aesthetic essence of a composition and opinion which gives meaning to human experience and culture. In both planes criticism has its utmost social function. In this context the question of value is the question of frontier between the literary science and literary criticism.
