Discourse Networks

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Deborah Griggs (The University of Maryland)
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That Friedrich Kittler's concept of the

discourse network

was perceived as a provocation by a significant number of German literary scholars may be explained by the inherent challenge that this concept represented for the hermeneutic tradition. As David Wellbery stated in the foreword to the English translation of

Discourse Networks

, Kittler used “poststructuralist tools” to question a premise of textuality and interpretation that had at the time of the book's first publication become self-evident in most German universities.

The German title, Aufschreibesysteme or “systems of notation” reveals the shift from a focus on the interpretation of texts as the basis for discovering the nature of meaning to a focus on systems for “writing down” culture or, as Kittler puts it,

2396 words

Citation: Griggs, Deborah. "Discourse Networks". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 February 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1649, accessed 19 March 2024.]

1649 Discourse Networks 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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