"Sketch for a Self-Analysis" : Self-Reflexive Aspects of Contemporary Literary Theory

Abstract

The paper focused on the notion of self-reflexivity in contemporary literary theory and theory of cultre. The principal example of the self-reflexive research in this domain was the work of Pierre Bourdieu who in many ways subscribes to the idea of self-reflexive approach of the researcher; however, this ambition is not always successfully fulfilled.

From this point of view, especially problematic seems to be his theory of the literary field where the figure of the researcher is epistemologically dominant. Bourdieu's approach was compared with a different type of self-reflexivity in the work of Raymond Williams.

Keywords

• literary theory
• theory of culture
• sociology of culture
• theory of science
• self-reflexivity
• Pierre Bourdieu
• Raymond Williams