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Literary Theory: Introduction and Greek Origins

January 1989
SSRN Electronic Journal

DOI:10.2139/ssrn.2419920

Authors:

José Angel García Landa

University of Zaragoza

This paper defines the concepts of literary theory and literary criticism as dialectically related activities, and puts forward a semiotic classification of literary theories. To conclude a preliminary approach to literary theory, it sketches out the origins of literary theorizing and critical practice in pre-philosophical thought and in the Greek writers and philosophers before Plato and Aristotle's foundational works.

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