
Literature as Equipment for Living by Malcolm Cawood.
Â
In 1938, literary critic and cultural theorist, Kenneth Burke, wrote a short essay called "literature as equipment for living", where literature (and other cultural texts) function like proverbs, providing "strategies for dealing with situations". This, says Burke, is basically a "sociological" view of literature. This strikes me as being about "sense-making" where literary texts (and the arts generally) shape attitudes, which in turn, shape how you act in the world.
As usual, there are three sections. In part 1, I'll look at sociological models of communication, where a "message" (or content) is always a context-dependent. In parts 2 and 3, I use Shelley's 1818 poem, "Ozymandias", as a practical example for exploring these ideas. In short, think of literature as "models to think with" or (reframing Burke's article) as "equipment for enquiry".
Below time zone is Hong Kong Time (HKT). Check your local time zone.
Are you trying to make sense of the world around you?
Â
To make sense of what is happening at the workplace and the world around us, Dr. Richard Claydon and I have hosted weekly global dialogues since 2020, engaging participants from over 43 different countries. We appreciate your participation in our free Dialogic Drinks sense-making sessions, however to sustain our dialogues, we depend on your support. If you can, we encourage you to consider a membership allowing you to rewatch over 120 different sessions. Join and support a global community of like-spirited thinkers who challenge conventions and deepen your understanding of the world around you.
Â
SUPPORT US >