Text (literary theory)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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A text, within literary theory, is a coherent set of symbols that transmits some kind of informative message. Other ideas related to this have specific meanings within literary theory.
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Authorship
The author of a "text" is defined within literary theory as "A statement, transcribed from the item being described, relating to persons responsible for the intellectual or artistic content of the item".Text can also refer to writing in a book or manuscript. Text formally refers to writing.
History of the text
Since the history of writing predates the concept of the "text", most texts were not written with this concept in mind. Most written works fall within a narrow range of the types described by text theory. The concept of "text" becomes relevant if/when a "coherent written message is completed and needs to be referred to independently of the circumstances in which it was created."
Other media as texts
In Film theory, film is referred to a "text".
Text may also refer to
In books:
In unit of study:
- hermeneutics
- philology
- Semiotics, the study of signs and symbols, both individually and grouped into sign systems
- cultural studies, the unit of discourse
In writing:
- a piece of writing
- Textual criticism
See