31st Annual Student Research Conference
In The Middle of Things--A Reading of Simplicius Simplicissimus
Phillip A. Dryden
Dr. David Partenheimer, Faculty Mentor
The challenge of a literary critic is to comprehend a text in a meaningful context. Defining this context arguably has been the central pursuit of modern literary theory. I assert that the quintessential skill of a literary scholar is the ability to consider the structure and function of an idea—of any kind, literary or otherwise—in the context defined by the idea without immediately asking about veracity. I will use excerpts from my essay on Simplicius Simplicissimus, a 17th century novel by Hans Grimmelshausen, to demonstrate the reading of a text in the context it establishes for itself. Simplicius is an obscure novel of an obscure genre with bizarre content. If a reader cannot look beyond their own expectations and take cues from the text, they will never perceive Grimmelshausen’s earnest religious and existential themes because they come packaged in a bizarre swashbuckling adventure.
Keywords: Literary, Reading, Context, Novel, Conceptual, Analysis, Simplicius, Grimmelshausen
Topic(s):English
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 301-5
Location: MG 1000
Time: 2:00