Alfred Schutz’s “Sociological Aspect of Literature”: Construction and Complementary Essays

272 Pages·1998·8.41 MB·English

by  Lester Embree (auth.)

ALFRED SCHUTZ'S "SOCIOLOGICALASPECTOF LITERATURE"
CONTRIBUTIONS TO PHENOMENOLOGY
INCOOPERATIONWITH
THECENTERFOR ADVANCED RESEARCHIN PHENOMENOLOGY
Volume31
Editor:
JohnDrummond,MountSaintMary'sCollege
Editorial Board:
Elizabeth A.Behnke
DavidCarr,Emory University
Stephen Crowell,Rice University
LesterEmbree,Florida Atlantic University
J.ClaudeEvans,Washington University
Jose Huertas-Jourda, WilfridLaurierUniversity
JosephJ.Kockelmans,ThePennsylvaniaStateUniversity
WilliamR.McKenna,MiamiUniversity
AlgisMickunas, OhioUniversity
J.N.Mohanty,TempleUniversity
TomNenon, TheUniversity ofMemphis
Thomas M.Seebohm, Johannes Gutenberg-Universitat,Mainz
ElisabethStroker,PhilosophischesSeminariumderUniversitatKoln
RichardM.Zaner.VanderbiltUniversity
Scope
The purpose of this series is to foster the development of phenomenological philosophy through
creative research. Contemporary issues in philosophy, other disciplines and in culture generally,
offeropportunitiesfortheapplicationofphenomenological methods thatcallforcreative responses.
Although theworkofseveralgenerationsofthinkershasprovided phenomenologywithmanyresults
withwhichtoapproach thesechallenges,atrulysuccessful response tothem willrequirebuildingon
thiswork withnewanalyses andmethodological innovations.
ALFRED SCHUTZ'S
"SOCIOLOGICAL ASPECT
OF LITERATURE"
CONSTRUCTION AND COMPLEMENTARY ESSAYS
editedby
LESTER EMBREE
Florida Atlantic University,
Boca Raton,FL,U.S.A.
Springer-Science+Business Media, B.V.
A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-90-481-4947-6 ISBN 978-94-015-9042-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-015-9042-6
Printed on acid-fru paper
AII Rights Reserved
© 1998 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Origina11y published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1998.
Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover Ist edition 1998
No pact of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.
To the Memory of
Maurice Natanson,
American Phenomenologist
Table ofContents
Preface ix
s
I.LesterEmbree:A Construction ofAlfredSchutz
"SociologicalAspectofLiterature"
Editor's Introduction 3
Author's Introduction 15
1. Language 20
2. Author-Listener.......................................... 24
3. Situation 34
4. Relevance 37
5. Reality ................................................. 41
6. Motive ................................................. 53
7. TimeDimension......................................... 56
8. Relation ofPoet tohis Work. ............................... 63
9. Relation ofPoemtoListener. ............................... 67
Conclusion 71
II.ComplementaryEssays
1. I1jaSrubar: TheConstruction ofSocialReality
andthe Structure ofLiterary Work 75
2. Michael McDuffie:Literature,Music,and
theMutual Tuning-inRelationship 89
s s
3. Martin EndreJ3:AlfredSchutz Interpretation ofCervantes
Don Quixote andhisMicrosociological View0/Literature. .. 113
4. Hisashi Nasu:Amplifyingthe 'SociologicalAspectofLiterature'
withthe ConceptofSocialRelationship 129
5. Fred Kersten:Some Reflectionson theGroundfor
Comparison ofMultipleRealities 149
6. Lewis Gordon:Meta-ethicalandLiberatory
Dimensions ofTragedy:A Schutzean Portrait 169
7. Daniel Cefai:TheEthnographicTextasLiteraryForm 181
8. Stanford M. Lyman: Dramas,Narratives, and
thePostmodern Challenge 197
9. GeorgePsathas:OnMultipleRealitiesandthe WorldofFilm 219
10. MichaelBarber:Autobiography:Precarious Totality 237
Notes on Contributors 261
Index 265
Preface
Themaintextinthepresentvolumehasbeenconstructedoutofpassagesfound
scatteredaboutinthirty-fiveyearsofAlfredSchutz'swritings,andithasbeen
constructedbyfollowingapageofnotesforalecturethathegavein 1955under
thetitle"SociologicalAspectofLiterature."Theresultcanbeconsideredthe
substanceofSchutz'scontributiontothetheoryofliterature.Moredetailabout
howthisconstructionhasbeenperformedisofferedintheEditor's Introduction.
ThecomplementaryessaysarebyscholarsfromGermany,Japan,andtheUnited
States, from severalgenerations, andfromthedisciplines of anthropology,
philosophy,andsociology.Theseresearcherswereinvitedtoreflectintheirown
perspectivesonthemaintextandinrelationtomattersreferredtowithinand
beyondit.Draftversionsofmostofthesecomplementaryessayswerepresented
forcriticaldiscussioninaresearchsymposiumheldattheGraduateFacultyof
PoliticalandSocialScienceoftheNewSchoolforSocialResearchonApril28-29,
1995underthesponsorshipofTheCenterforAdvancedResearchinPhenomen
ology,Inc.,FloridaAtlanticUniversity;TheDepartmentofPhilosophyofThe
GraduateFacultyoftheNewSchool,Richard1.Bernstein,Chair;andEvelyn
and GeorgeSchutz,the philosopher's children. Revised versions of these
presentationsandalsoseveralessayssubsequentlyrecruitedareofferedtobegin
yetanotherstageinthehistoryofscholarshiponSchutzandthephenomenological
researchinspiredbyhim.
NorthwesternUniversityPressisthankedforpermissiontoquoteextensively
fromAlfredSchutz,ThePhenomenologyoftheSocial World,trans.George
WalshandFrederickLehnert(Evanston,IL: 1967);Routledge& Kegan Paul
isthankedforpermissiontoquoteextensivelyfromAlfredSchutz,Life Forms
andMeaning Structure, ed. Helmut R. Wagner (London: 1982); and Yale
UniversityPressisthankedforpermissionto quoteextensively fromAlfred
Schutz,Reflectionson theProblem ofRelevance,ed.RichardM.Zaner(New
Haven, 1970).Dr.MartinEndreB,ProfessorFredKersten,andMs.EvelynSchutz
LangarethankedfortheirhelpwiththetranscriptionandtranslationofSchutz's
own expressions,andthephilosopher'sdaughterisfurthermore thankedfor
permissiontopublishthisconstruction.Finally, Dr.Kevin ThompsonandDr.
TheodoreToadvinearethankedfortheirworkastechnicaleditors.
LesterEmbree
DelrayBeach, February 1997
Part I
A Construction ofAlfred Schutz's
"Sociological Aspect ofLiterature"
edited
by
Lester Embree
Sources
ThepassagesextractedfromvariouswritingsinAlfredSchutz's oeuvreare
setoffbetweenquotationmarksandwithreferences accordingtothefollowing
abbreviations.
1= CollectedPapers,vol. 1,ed.MauriceNatanson(TheHague:Martinus
Nijhoff, 1962).
11=CollectedPapers,vol.2,ed.ArvidBrodersen(TheHague:Martinus
Nijhoff, 1964).
III=CollectedPapers,vol. 3,ed.liseSchutz(TheHague:MartinusNijhoff,
1966).
PSW= Phenomenology ofthe Social World, trans. GeorgeWalsh and
FrederickLehnert(Evanston:NorthwesternUniversityPress, 1967).
RPR=ReflectionsontheProblemofRelevance,ed.RichardM.Zaner(New
Haven:YaleUniversityPress,1970).
TSA=The TheoryofSocialAction,ed.RichardGrathoff(Bloomington:
IndianaUniversityPress, 1978).
LFMS=LiftFormsandMeaningStructure,ed.IIjaSrubarandtrans.Helmut
R.Wagner(London:Routledge&Kegan Paul, 1982).
PE= Philosophers in Exile:The Correspondence ofAlfredSchutz and
Aron Gurwitsch,1939-1959,ed. RichardGrathoffandtrans.1.ClaudeEvans
(Bloomington:IndianaUniversityPress,1989).
IV= CollectedPapers,vol. 4,ed.HelmutWagner,GeorgePsathas,and
FredKersten(Dordrecht: KluwerAcademicPublishers, 1996).
2
Editor's Introduction
AlfredSchutzspokealongwithProfessorsAlbertSolomonandHowardWhite
on a panelentitled"AspectsoftheSocialRoleofLiterature"attheAlumni
AssociationoftheGraduateFacultyof Political andSocial ScienceoftheNew
SchoolforSocialResearchonFebruary5,1955.Otherthantheinvitation,acopy
oftheletteracceptingtheinvitation,andwhatappearstobearoughdraft,only
asinglebutapparentlycompletesheetofhandwrittennotesinoutlineformhas
survived in the SchutzNachlass (SeeFrontispiece andFigure 1). The oral
presentationisofcourselost,butthesheetofnoteshasprovenwonderfully
effectiveasa"blueprint"or,better,an"architecturalsketch"toguidethefitting
togetherofmorethanahundredpassagesaboutliteraturefoundintheearliest
tothelatestofwritingsbySchutzthathavethusfarbeenpublished.
Schutz'sscatteredpassagesaboutliteraturewerewrittenoneachoccasionnot
forthesakeofanunderstandingofliteraturebutforotherpurposes.Thuseven
"DonQuixoteandtheProblemofReality" (1953),whichcontainsthehighest
proportionofpassagesrelatabletothe"architecturalsketch,"isnotareflection
onliterature,butinsteadusesanoveltoillustrateaphenomenologicalpsychology
of the experienceof reality. Other essays beginwith literaryallusions to
Sophocles,James,Whitehead,etc.(cf.PE68).
Thatthepassagesaboutliteraturecanbetakenoutoftheiroriginalcontexts
andputintoadifferentoneandtherebycontributetoanunderstandingofliterature
is shown bytheconstructionbelow.Thattheyfitsoeasilyintotheone-page
outlinesuggeststhatSchutzhadbeendevelopinghisfullpositioninthisarea
forthirty-fiveyears,eventhoughheneveractuallyexpresseditinwriting.
Giventhefactthatthemaintextherewasnot"constructed"previously, i.e.,
notwrittenoutbySchutzhimself,thepresenteffortisnota"reconstruction."
Rather,thepresenttextislikeanewbuildingbuiltbyfittingtogethercopiesof
clearlyrelevantpiecesofanarchitect'sotherbuildings intoadesignforwhich
heleftonlyasketch.
3
L.Embree(ed.),AlfredSchutz's "SociologicalAspectofLiterature", 3-71.
© 1998KluwerAcademicPublishers.