3. The
Philosophy of Literary Form, p.
1-3, 8-18.
Situations
and Strategies
Words
assume more than just the words themselves. They depend on and exist in situations and strategies. They depend
on and exist in contexts and motives. The particular, insofar as it is particular, relates to
the universal because it is a part of the whole. Situations also overlap with one another. Proverbs, for
example, are strategies that apply in specific instances but are "universal" because they can apply in many different contexts. “And in all work, as in proverbs, the naming is done ‘strategically’
or ‘stylistically,’ in modes that embody attitudes, of resignation, solace,
vengeance, expectancy, etc.” (3). Speech carries with it attitudes.
Symbolic
Action
Any
verbal act is symbolic action. “The symbolic act is the dancing of an attitude” (9). Our body reveals who we are. The
entire body acts. Richard Paget: when we grip something with our hands, if we
really grip it, we grip it all over our body. The dentist: a man was "dancing" calmness as he sat in the dentist chair, but his glands betrayed his nervousness, and the dentist saw. Even the way we speak and use words
is influenced by our attitude. Even our accent gets involved. Style is symbolic
of burdens and burdens of style (17).
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