Litterärt värde ur första- och tredjepersonsperspektiv

Literary Value Viewed from a First-Person Perspective versus a Third-Person Perspective This article investigates the logical differences between approaching, and trying to understand, literary value from a first-person and a third-person perspective, respectively. The article takes as its point...

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Main Author: Ingeborg Löfgren
Format: Article
Language:Danish
Published: Föreningen för utgivande av Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskap 2025-08-01
Series:Tidskrift för Litteraturvetenskap
Subjects:
Online Access:https://publicera.kb.se/tfl/article/view/55907
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author Ingeborg Löfgren
author_facet Ingeborg Löfgren
author_sort Ingeborg Löfgren
collection DOAJ
description Literary Value Viewed from a First-Person Perspective versus a Third-Person Perspective This article investigates the logical differences between approaching, and trying to understand, literary value from a first-person and a third-person perspective, respectively. The article takes as its point of departure an essay by Fredrik Hertzberg, ”Farväl kvalitet. Farväl konst.” Om litterärt värde (2023), that stirred a heated debate about literary criticism in Finland in the autumn of 2023 and spring of 2024. In his essay, Hertzberg critiques Barbara Herrnstein Smith’s seminal work, Contingencies of Value (1988), as well as scholarship and criticism that investigate literary value inspired by her theorizing. Hertzberg claims that Herrnstein Smith’s understanding of literary value is highly distortive. In this article, I argue that both Hertzberg and Herrnstein Smith (and those working within the tradition of her thought) make valid knowledge claims about literary value. But while Hertzberg approaches literary value from a first-person perspective, Herrnstein Smith (and scholars who follow her lead) is (mainly) interested in literary value as it appears from a third-person perspective. Both perspectives can yield important insights, but trouble ensues when we get these different perspectives mixed up. By appealing to Ludwig Wittgenstein’s notion of aspect-seeing, and Stanley Cavell’s discussion of aesthetic “fraudulence”, the article sets out to demonstrate how the first- and third-person perspectives elicit different aspects of literary value. It argues that as long as we are aware of the important logical differences pertaining to the two perspectives, we are enriched by thinking about literary value through both of them.
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spelling doaj-art-ece7a73507124809882098b3b5e39e132025-08-26T00:10:33ZdanFöreningen för utgivande av Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskapTidskrift för Litteraturvetenskap2001-094X2025-08-0155110.54797/tfl.v55i1.55907Litterärt värde ur första- och tredjepersonsperspektivIngeborg Löfgren0Mälardalens universitet Literary Value Viewed from a First-Person Perspective versus a Third-Person Perspective This article investigates the logical differences between approaching, and trying to understand, literary value from a first-person and a third-person perspective, respectively. The article takes as its point of departure an essay by Fredrik Hertzberg, ”Farväl kvalitet. Farväl konst.” Om litterärt värde (2023), that stirred a heated debate about literary criticism in Finland in the autumn of 2023 and spring of 2024. In his essay, Hertzberg critiques Barbara Herrnstein Smith’s seminal work, Contingencies of Value (1988), as well as scholarship and criticism that investigate literary value inspired by her theorizing. Hertzberg claims that Herrnstein Smith’s understanding of literary value is highly distortive. In this article, I argue that both Hertzberg and Herrnstein Smith (and those working within the tradition of her thought) make valid knowledge claims about literary value. But while Hertzberg approaches literary value from a first-person perspective, Herrnstein Smith (and scholars who follow her lead) is (mainly) interested in literary value as it appears from a third-person perspective. Both perspectives can yield important insights, but trouble ensues when we get these different perspectives mixed up. By appealing to Ludwig Wittgenstein’s notion of aspect-seeing, and Stanley Cavell’s discussion of aesthetic “fraudulence”, the article sets out to demonstrate how the first- and third-person perspectives elicit different aspects of literary value. It argues that as long as we are aware of the important logical differences pertaining to the two perspectives, we are enriched by thinking about literary value through both of them. https://publicera.kb.se/tfl/article/view/55907Literary valueStanley CavellLudwig Wittgensteinaspect seeingfirst- and third-person perspectiveaesthetic fraudulence
spellingShingle Ingeborg Löfgren
Litterärt värde ur första- och tredjepersonsperspektiv
Tidskrift för Litteraturvetenskap
Literary value
Stanley Cavell
Ludwig Wittgenstein
aspect seeing
first- and third-person perspective
aesthetic fraudulence
title Litterärt värde ur första- och tredjepersonsperspektiv
title_full Litterärt värde ur första- och tredjepersonsperspektiv
title_fullStr Litterärt värde ur första- och tredjepersonsperspektiv
title_full_unstemmed Litterärt värde ur första- och tredjepersonsperspektiv
title_short Litterärt värde ur första- och tredjepersonsperspektiv
title_sort litterart varde ur forsta och tredjepersonsperspektiv
topic Literary value
Stanley Cavell
Ludwig Wittgenstein
aspect seeing
first- and third-person perspective
aesthetic fraudulence
url https://publicera.kb.se/tfl/article/view/55907
work_keys_str_mv AT ingeborglofgren litterartvardeurforstaochtredjepersonsperspektiv