Signifiers under control: quotations in literary history

摘要

A quotation in literary history is usually situated in a frame that directs the reader’s attention and defines the possibilities of their interpretations in advance. A literary historian keeps quotations under control and breaks the literary text’s impetus of meaning making. Although literature seems to have the opportunity to sound its own voice in a quotation with the possible ambiguities and endless potentials, the literary historical frame, which introduces and then usually explains the quotations, suspends ambiguities and tries to stop the free play of the signifiers. First of all it fixes a viewpoint from where the text should be looked at, and then explains what is its sense and significance.