Essays on aesthetics, poetics and terminology of literary studies

ESSAYS ON
AESTHETICS, POETICS AND TERMINOLOGY OF
LITERARY STUDIES

Wolfgang Ruttkowski

Preface

The following essays were written over the course of half a century. The early ones, written on a typewriter, had to be scanned and reformatted. Some were published in German, some in English. Many were published in Japan where I taught for twenty - two years and some in the USA where I worked for sixteen years. Publish - on - demand is ideally suited to make my publications accessible in English and in German. The bibliographies do not include any recent publications since I did not want to create the impression that I knew these when the articles were written. For the same reason the table of contents is organized chronologically.

I am confident that specialists will be able to judge to what extent my insights were, or possibly remain, original. Since I have always been interested in “eccentric” topics, my essays may be still of interest and relevant. For example, I wrote the first study of the four main types of the literary chanson, representing an expansion of Emil Staiger’s ‘basic concepts of poetics’ thus including the audience centered stance where all genres excluded by Staiger’s categories can be subsumed that are; presented a systematic comparison and synthesis of Ingarden’s and Hartmann’s literary strata and its usefulness in the psychology of art; provided analysis and integration of literary concepts such as ‘stratum,’ ‘structure,’ and ‘genre;’ wrote an extensive comparative study of literary terminology expanding its scope beyond the European realm; undertook a stratum analysis of musical art forms, and attempted a description of the degree of abstraction in Asian painting and non - representational art. I was never interested in writing “yet another book about Goethe”.

Most of my articles written in German are being published simultaneously by the same publisher, except for those concerning the teaching of literature and cultural studies. My tri - lingual (German/English/Japanese) homepage composed by my students includes a list of my publications. It can be found under http://www.cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp/~wolf . My emigrant existence led to my working as if in a sound - proof chamber. I never had reverberations, stimulation, or criticism from colleagues, except for reviews - and they were too late. I do, however, want to thank my friend Ginzo Kobayashi for unselfish assistance in all technical matters. WR

Contents

Foreword ...page 2

1) “Stratum, Structure, and Genre” In: Publ. of the University of Tokyo, Lang. and Lit. Series (1973) 153 - 164. ...page 4

2) “The Strata - Model in Poetics” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Germanistics in Tokyo (20. 5. 1989) ...page 14

3) “The Main Differences Between Roman Ingarden′s and Nicolai Hartmann′s Strata - Systems” In: Acta Humanistica 19/3, For. Lang. and Lit. S. 17 (June 1990) 64 - 82. ...page 31

4) “On Beardsley′s View of the Artistic Process” In: Acta Humanistica 24/1, Human. S. No. 21 (1994) 334 - 340. ...page 44

5) “Our Concept of Art in Light of the Strata Theory” In: Acta Humanistica 26/3, For. Langs. and Lit. S. 23 (1996) 50 - 61. ...page 49

6) “Interactive Fiction: What Does it Want to Be, What Can it Be?” In: Acta Humanistica 27/4, Human. S. No. 24 (1997) 98 - 129. ...page 59

7) “Central Concepts of Aesthetics: A Proposal For Their Application” In: Acta Humanistica, Humanities S. No. 26 (1999) 203 - 222. ...page 84

8)„On the Relationship of Comparative Literature to ‚Strata Poetics’, and Fundamental Poetics’“ in: Acta Humanistica et Scientifica Universitatis Sangio Kyotiensis, Humanities Series No. 27 (March 2000) 221 - 241. ...page 99

9) “Cabaret Songs” In: Popular Music and Society, Vol. 25 3/4 (2001) 45 - 71. ...page 115

10) “East And West And The Concept of Literature” In: Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics, Vol. XXIV, Nos. 1 - 2 (2001) 89 - 125. ...page 140

Stratum, Structure, and Genre; Interrelation of the Terms

Abstract

The concept of genre can be satisfactorily explained only in comparison with the concepts of stratum and structure. Proceeding from this conviction we shall try here to establish a demarcation of these often used terms and at the same time prove their interdependence.

Stratum

The strata - model has been fully and consistently developed only in Nicolai Hartmann′s ontology [1], which also represents a synthesis of all prior strata - conceptions. Since we do not attempt a historical survey a summary of his main ideas may suffice here:

The world is stratified. The strata, however, should not be confused with the classes of animals. "The higher forms, out of which the world consists, plant, animal, man and nation, are stratified also; the strata that constitute the world can also be shown in them. In this respect man is a material an organic, an emotional and an intellectual being: he consists of four levels. The community of humans, e. g. the Greek polis, also has in its geographical situation a material structure. It has its organic life, its drives and needs, from which its economical sphere arises, and also an emotional and intellectual life. Higher animals and the spiritless prehistoric consciousness of man have three levels; lower animals and plants have only two. In its extension the material stratum is the largest. The higher the level the less far spread it is. Only on a small part of inorganic existence is the organic built, and only in the most highly developed of these organic forms do we find emotions. Only one kind of creature has mind. " [2]

When all structures of a lower level become elements constituting a higher one, Hartmann speaks of "over - molding" (Überformungsverhältnis), which applies to the step from the material to the organic stratum. The "overbuilding - relation" (Überbauungsverhältnis) of the next two strata differs from it in that only some of the categories of the lower level enter the higher one. "The principal difference between the psychic level and the two lower ones lies in the spacelessness and the inwardness of the psychic contents (′psycho - physical demarcation line′). The spiritual stratum again differs from the emotional mostly in its supra - individuality. " [3]

As opposed to the simple categories the fundamental ones determine all four strata. From the latter the "categorical laws" are derived, the fixation of which is one of the main achievements of this system. In the last analysis it is not important for us, whether we agree with Hartmann in every single point or whether we further subdivide his strata. However, from his "Laws of categorical dependency" it follows, that the four basic strata may not be re - arranged, even if they may be subdivided in different ways (as Hartmann himself does in his Ästhetik). For the lower stratum is always stronger ("law of strength") and autonomous ("law of independence"), but supplies the matter for the higher level ("law of matter"), which in its turn has room for higher principles ("law of freedom").

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