Text (literary theory)

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Various examples of texts in different languages

In literary theory, a text is any object that can be "read", whether this object is a work of literature, a street sign, an arrangement of buildings on a city block, or styles of clothing.[ citation needed ] It is a set of signs that is available to be reconstructed by a reader (or observer) if sufficient interpretants are available.[ citation needed ] This set of signs is considered in terms of the informative message's content, rather than in terms of its physical form or the medium in which it is represented.[ citation needed ]

Contents

Within the field of literary criticism, "text" also refers to the original information content of a particular piece of writing; that is, the "text" of a work is that primal symbolic arrangement of letters as originally composed, apart from later alterations, deterioration, commentary, translations, paratext, etc. Therefore, when literary criticism is concerned with the determination of a "text", it is concerned with the distinguishing of the original information content from whatever has been added to or subtracted from that content as it appears in a given textual document (that is, a physical representation of 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 and when a "coherent written message is completed and needs to be referred to independently of the circumstances in which it was created."[ citation needed ]

Etymology

The word text has its origins in Quintilian's Institutio Oratoria , with the statement that "after you have chosen your words, they must be weaved together into a fine and delicate fabric", with the Latin for fabric being textum .

Uses of the term for analysis of work practice

Relying on literary theory, the notion of text has been used to analyse contemporary work practices. For example, Christensen (2016) [1] rely on the concept of text for the analysis of work practice at a hospital.

See also

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In literary theory, textuality comprises all of the attributes that distinguish the communicative content under analysis as an object of study. It is associated with structuralism and post-structuralism.

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References

  1. Christensen, L.R. (2016). On Intertext in Chemotherapy: an Ethnography of Text in Medical Practice. Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW): The Journal of Collaborative Computing and Work Practices. Volume 25, Issue 1, pp 1-38

Further reading