consider the mimesis of literature thus:

Consider the following:

“…literature would be incomprehensible if it did not give a configuration to what was already a figure in human action.”

So what does this say of our world? That action, any action, in order to be accomplished, must already have an aim, an object to it. I write in order to be read. I dance in order to enjoy myself, raise my heartbeat, get exercise…etc…

BUT, in this prefiguring of an object to one’s action, there is the element of a proto-narrative, an evolving story in miniature that were our action non-existent, so too would be the story. So, literature is only conceivable within a social context, ok, but also, literature forecloses the possibility of understanding life that hasn’t happened–that is, of actions never committed. So there is no literature that is not already in the past tense.

~ by hmkedar on November 27, 2007.