"To dash out reasons brains" : a post-structuralist inquiry into Edward Taylor's Preparatory meditations /

This study seeks to read the text of Preparatory Meditations in a post-structuralist context for the following reasons: one, since the re-discovery of Taylor's poetry in the 1930s, mainstream criticism has established a "preferred" view of Taylor's poetry and all but exhausted mo...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Leung, Yan-wing
Other Authors: Taylor, Edward, 1642-1729, Bailey, Guy H. (degree committee member.), Harner, James L. (degree committee member.), Price, Kenneth M. (degree committee member.)
Format: Thesis Book
Language:English
Published: 1990.
Subjects:
Online Access:Link to OAKTrust copy

MARC

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099 |a 1990  |a Dissertation  |a L653 
100 1 |a Leung, Yan-wing. 
245 1 0 |a "To dash out reasons brains" :  |b a post-structuralist inquiry into Edward Taylor's Preparatory meditations / 
264 1 |c 1990. 
300 |a vii, 181 leaves ;  |c 29 cm 
336 |a text  |b txt  |2 rdacontent 
337 |a unmediated  |b n  |2 rdamedia 
338 |a volume  |b nc  |2 rdacarrier 
500 |a Typescript (photocopy). 
502 |b Ph. D.  |c Texas A & M University  |d 1990 
500 |a Vita. 
504 |a Includes bibliographical references. 
500 |a "Major subject: English." 
520 3 |a This study seeks to read the text of Preparatory Meditations in a post-structuralist context for the following reasons: one, since the re-discovery of Taylor's poetry in the 1930s, mainstream criticism has established a "preferred" view of Taylor's poetry and all but exhausted motivations for further critical inquiry; two, both passive and corrective traditions of reading have obscured some of the radical aspects of textuality in Taylor's poetry best analyzed from a post-structuralist perspective; and three, it is time to critically re-examine the theoretical dilemma of a deconstructive "method" of "interpretation." The study begins by establishing the current need for a different approach to Taylor's text and discusses the general post-structuralist conditions (with a deconstructive emphasis) which will radically challenge the customary reading of Taylor's text, leading up to some aspects of the poetry not previously fully recognized (Chapter Two). Using Taylor's sermons and anti-Stoddard writings as partial evidence, Chapter Three examines the epistemological "de-center" his poetic persuasion by shoving that his logic inevitably gives way to a quantitative rhetoric. Chapter Four analyzes the post-structuralist dilemma and argues that there cannot be a deconstructive "method" of interpretation but only a deconstructive perspective which authorizes a heuristics for a "methodological" understanding of the semiotic implosion of the text. The study ends with a tentative placement of Preparatory Meditations (which I consider to be the center of Taylor's writing microcosm) within the greater Textual Coordinate defined by the Writing (Textual) and Reading (Historical) dimensions. Firmly situated on a rational communicative circuit rather than granting general authority to the deconstructive view of language, this study is basically a hypothesis presented dialectically. 
600 1 0 |a Taylor, Edward,  |d 1642-1729  |x Criticism and interpretation. 
650 0 |a Christian poetry, American  |x History and criticism. 
650 0 |a Structuralism (Literary analysis) 
600 1 7 |a Taylor, Edward,  |d 1642-1729  |2 fast  |0 (OCoLC)fst00002652 
650 7 |a Christian poetry, American.  |2 fast  |0 (OCoLC)fst00859377 
650 4 |a Major English. 
655 7 |a Criticism, interpretation, etc.  |2 fast  |0 (OCoLC)fst01411635 
655 7 |a Academic theses  |2 lcgft 
700 1 |a Taylor, Edward,  |d 1642-1729.  |t Preparatory meditations. 
700 1 |a Meserole, Harrison T.,  |e degree supervisor. 
700 1 |a Bailey, Guy H.,  |e degree committee member. 
700 1 |a Harner, James L.,  |e degree committee member. 
700 1 |a Price, Kenneth M.,  |e degree committee member. 
710 2 |a Texas A & M University,  |e degree granting institution. 
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