Overcoming
De-humanization and Constructing a new Order
De-humanization is a common theme in literature. If
we follow Richard Rorty, all literature is essentially an attempt to bring
to light a common humanity. But of course, there are some novels who
try this less sublime than others. And there are those novels who have
as their specific theme de-humanization - such as Beloved
and Maus.
Literature may, in these cases, be the way to reconstruct
a humane order from the ruins of inhumane chaos.
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I understand de-humanization as the destruction of any humane
order that gave physical security as well as intellectual or spiritual
security (called sense), and thereby accorded a proper place to an individual
in relation to the world around him.
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Humanization through literature - through
a novel - would then be the attempt to re-construct, or construct anew,
this humane order, and thus, overcome prior de-humanization.
a) The reader who sees the struggles to make sense, understands
the common humanity of other people.
b) The writer who may write for a therapeutic effect, and to
overcome de-humanization, tries to make sense for herself.
Humanization through literature, then, is about
making sense of the world, and to give the preceding
de-humanizing experience an order through re-description. This task
is accomplished by the use of anchor-terms.
* Five novels as tools of
humanization * - * Depicting de-humanization
* - * Overcoming de-humanization *
Overview Over Project:
Themes and Links