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Robert E Innis

The making of the literary symbol: Taking note of Langer

Keywords: symbol, semblance, primary illusions, virtual experience, Langer

Why, in light of the multiple approaches to literature that mark the various semiotic traditions and their complex intertwinings, would one turn to Susanne Langer's seemingly ‘marginal’ or idiosyncratic semiotic theory of art for conceptual resources? I argue that the conceptual core of the answer is found in Langer's notion of a ‘symbol of feeling,’ which is connected with her notion of ‘semblance,’ the imaginal power of art symbols to construct and present their own ‘primary illusions.’ Works of literature — of the poetic art — do not follow a discursive, but rather a presentational logic, giving us access to ‘virtual experience.’

Semiotica, Walter de Gruyter

Print ISSN: 0037-1998
Volume: 2007, 06/2007
Pages: 91 - 106

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