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Nanda Golden
Philosophy

John Lysaker, Mentor

The World of the Text in Theoretical Texts

The world of the text, as described by Paul Ricoeur, is a “proposed world” in which the engaged reader becomes a part when s/he engages a work of literature or poetry. This world of the text is often opposed to reality, creating stories that are believable, though they defy experience. In literature and poetry, where no claim is made about the truth of the world of the text, this is unproblematic. But what if similar worlds are created by theoretical texts that claim to explain the real world? This essay, through rhetorical analysis of three texts, asks: 1) Whether theoretical texts create similar worlds to those created in fictional texts and 2) What is at stake if they do? The author expects to find imagistic theoretical texts can create worlds that are believable though they don’t correspond to the truths of the reader’s real life.