Words About Words: Theory, Criticism, and the Literary Text by Murray Krieger (review)

coupled with the fact that complementary colors can be used in a small quantity or at a low saturation, results in attractive color arrangements regardless of the original basis for the theory. WORDS ABOUT WORDS: THEORY, CRITICISM, AND THE LITERARY TExT by Murray Krieger, The johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD, U.SA., 1988.292 pp. Trade, $28.50. ISBN Q-8018-3534-8. ReviewedbyAllan Shields, 6506Jerseydale Road, Mariposa, CA 95338, U.S.A. Although I do not believe that author Murray Krieger himself is confused in this, his most recent work in literary theory, the book often left me confused , even after a second or third reading. Here is one representative sentence, not taken at random or taken out of context, that may forever elude my understanding: Its eschatological promise allows the work to become the emblem of the conquest ofalien elements by the imposition of form, the emblem-in other words-of the breakthrough to utopia, a microcosm ofsatisfied ends, difficulties overcome, and problems resolved, so that all that threatens as the random is now overwhelmed into an ultimate technology (p. 41). The individual terms used here are known to me, and English is my native language. Since early in my 70year earthly tenure, philosophy, aesthetics , literature and the arts generally have been a constancy in my life. Literary theory is not unknown to me, and I have written works in many forms of ecriture: poetry, novels, philosophic essays, articles, reviews, etc. Yet, although I have made a careful study of the content of this book, I have emerged troubled that I felt excluded and ignored, much as one feels in a group where a foreign language is being spoken. My puzzlement remains unsolved, though I now have a tentative explanation ofwhy I, and presumably other aestheticians, may feel put off by this work. But first, let me speak of the book itself. The title is not self-evident, even though the subtitle helps direct the reader to see a ladder of abstraction by reversing the order of the subtitle, beginning with the literary text, then moving to a critic's response to the text and on to a theoretical consideration of both readers' and critics' problems . However, Krieger is not content to remain on this third level of abstract theorizing, since current literary theory is engaged in a radical skepticism about literature based on new considerations of a linguistic kind. He is forced (by the criticism of criticism ) to a fourth level, to develop a theory about literary theory, a metacriticism . The book is aimed at Krieger's fellow literators, and I trust they are all privy to his language and style. Some advanced students of literary theory will profit by struggling with the author's hard-won results. I doubt whether students of philosophic aesthetics can emerge from it feeling instructed unless they, too, have firmly established backgrounds in recent literary theory and linguistics. The more one has labored with the New Criticism, decontructivism, postmodernism , poststructuralism-all ideologies of literature-the more likely one is to profit from this book. Conversely, the reader who knows less about these current controversies and debates is less likely to understand why Krieger obviously believes in rescuing the literary values of tradition. Krieger has won his debating points, his theoretical achievements, in the crucible of public, academic exchanges . Chapters 6 and 7 comprise a set of brilliant exchanges about poetics between Krieger and his European colleagues, all ofwhom seemed to grasp his meanings with clarity. Chapter 3, "From Theory to Thematics : The Ideological Underside of Recent Theory", contains some of his most trenchant observations and arguments about the most vociferous critics (literators) on the American scene. Chapter 9, "An E. H. Gombrich Retrospective: The Ambiguities of Representation and Illusion", in that he refers to Gombrich's "antagonistic answer" to his "Retrospective", lacks Gombrich's answer, though Krieger does give the reference. Part III contains five essays on essentially disconnected topics, all of some interest. Chapter 12, "A Humanity in the Humanities Literature Among the Discourses", contains many insights that bear careful scrutiny and thoughtful reconsideration. To return to why this aesthetician, yours truly, has trouble following a literator's earnest...