Teorie lyriky

Jonathan Culler (* 1944) is one of the most prominent theorist of literature; his Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction (in Czech 2002, 2015) has been popular both in the US and here. The goal of Theory of the Lyric is to approach lyrical poetry in a flexible and non-dogmatic manner, while taking into account the rich inner connections of the tradition of writing poetry, listening to it and reading it, which stand the test of authors’ and readers’ experience and thus establish the unity of this genre. In contrast to the hermeneutical question about the meaning of poetic texts, Culler emphasizes what the language of poems strives for and what it achieves in its statement: focusing on addressing, praise and denigration, rhythm and ritual. Culler employs theoretical elements that can be found for example in the work of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Theodor W. Adorno and phenomenologist Käte Hamburger, while building his reasoning on specific examples and making sure the book can also serve as an introductory textbook.