Universidad tecnológica nacional

Licenciatura en Lengua Inglesa

Estudios Culturales I

Alumna: Alberti, María Laura

Source Base Nº 5

Bibliography:
De man, P. (1982) The Resistance to Theory. In Lodge, D. (Ed.) (2000) Modern Criticism and

Theory. (pp. 331-347). The United Kingdom: Pearson Education.

Main idea: Resistance to theory cannot be avoided because theory is resistance itself.

Paul de Man starts his essay by pointing out that the strong interest in literary theory seen

over the last 15 to 20 years, seems to be receding now as if product of some feeling of

disappointment. He attributes this to a phenomenon he calls “shared resistance to theory” in

which all the so called “literary theories” are engaged in.

De Man explains this concept by embarking on a chain of references and its meaning is

transformed as you advance in the reading of the essay. In this way, the resistance to theory

is a resistance to the metalanguage about literature, therefore it is a resistance to reading

and to tropological language and, finally, theory is resistance itself.

First of all, he says that resistance to theory is a resistance to talking about language in a

different way from the classical schema of philosophy, history and aesthetics. This is caused

by the instability and unpredictability of the figurative dimension of language. Rhetoric is

continually threatening the abstract systems of grammar and logic.

Secondly, he claims that resistance to theory is a resistance to reading. He believes that

literature can only give us information about its language, thus the traditional concern of

literary studies to find the connection between the “real” world and the text is pointless. The

theories which claim to help us understand meaning from books are in fact misreadings since

meaning is produced by the text itself.

Next, he explains that theory is focused on the problem of language and on reading attentive

to the linguistic and rhetorical structures of a text. He explains that he sees a resistance to

this rhetorical or tropological dimension of language in all the theoreticians that dominate the

contemporary scene. Even rhetorical readings avoid the reading they advocate because no

one can overcome the resistance to theory since theory is itself this resistance.

In conclusion, we are faced with a paradox: we cannot do anything against the resistance to

theory because theory means resistance, it is not a flaw but an inherent characteristic of it.

De man exhorts us to continue reading and to question us any time we think we have

obtained some knowledge out of a text. He assures us that theory is in no danger of perishing

because the more it is resisted, the more it grows, since its language is that of self-resistance.

Concepts:
Theory: Paul de Man says that literary theory appeared when the approach to literary texts

stopped being based on historical and aesthetic considerations and the object of study was

the production and reception of meaning. It consists of the introduction of linguistic

terminology in the language used to describe literature.

Literature: Texts in which language is used in way that highlights the rhetorical over the

grammatical and logical function.

Language: De Man adopts the scholastic division of language into grammar, logic and

rhetoric. He sees language as a set of unresolved tensions in which rhetoric is constantly

undermining grammar and logic and thus, giving language its instable and unpredictable

character.