Object Lessons
The Novel as a Theory of Reference
A good novel brings to life not only the nature of its characters, but also the physical presence of all of the things surrounding them, from the smallest trinkets to entire landscapes".Object Lessons" explores this phenomenon and addresses a fundamental question about literary realism: how can language evoke that which is not language and render objects as real entities? Drawing on theories of reference in the philosophy of language, Jami Bartlett examines novels by George Meredith, William Makepeace Thackeray, Elizabeth Gaskell, and Iris Murdoch that provide allegories of language use in their descriptions, characters, and plots. Bartlett shows how these authors depict the philosophical complexities of reference by writing through and about referring terms, the names and descriptions that allow us to "see" objects. At the same time, she explores what it is for words to have meaning and delves into the conditions under which a reference can be understood. She demonstrates, for example, how the daydreamers of Gaskell's "Cranford", confronted with objects that they will never have access to and lives they will never lead, build semantic associations between familiar and unfamiliar objects in order to grasp references they otherwise could not. Ultimately, "Object Lessons" reveals not only how novels make references, but also how they are about referring.
About the Author
Jami Bartlett is associate professor of English at the University of California, Irvine.
Reviews
"'Object Lessons' is fascinating and powerfully argued. Bartlett's understanding of contemporary work on reference is impeccable, and she uses the theory of the novel to articulate new insights into the nature of reference itself. This book carves out an important possibility for putting philosophy and literary studies in touch with one another" – John Gibson, University of Louisville
"'Object Lessons' is a tightly argued set of reflections on reference and the novel form. It is also a refreshing, original, and insistently smart example of interdisciplinary scholarship, bringing tools from the analytic philosophy of language to literary study seriously and without compromise. The result is an altogether new account of the way that the novel stands in relation to the world" – Jonathan Kramnick, Yale University
"The novel has perhaps always wanted to refer; critics have balked. In Bartlett's application of language philosophy to fiction, and of fiction to language philosophy, we have a chance to reconsider the problematic inheritances of both 'the referential illusion' and 'thing theory'. This will be a highly generative work" – Elaine Freedgood, New York University
