I will not speak for anyone else, as far as the aesthetical (word?)
studying of texts is concerned, but I believe that how a text (or anything
else artistic, for that matter) is studied depends upon the one who studies
it. What do I feel about "unity" or "beauty" or "great literature"? I feel
they are constructs that each person makes for him/herself. The culture in
which one is inculcated plays an important role in that construction and so
many characteristics of "beauty" or "great literature" are culturally
determined and what we tend to call "universal".
If, however, there are scholars with a more platonic sense of some
quintessential, transcendent thing like "beauty", then they would approach
literary studies from a more formalist point of view. Just a few thoughts
for general pondering.
Sara Hillis
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