The Literary Text as a Vehicle for Knowledge Production Gerhard van der Linde
(Pretoria)
The paper argues that the idea of knowledge outputs as the result of a
production process suggests that the process has certain characteristics
with which the literary text is not completely aligned. The paper outlines
two models of knowledge production, termed the business model and the communication
model, which accommodate these characteristics, and seem to exclude the
literary text as a vehicle for knowledge production. However, a pluralistic
conception of knowledge itself should leave room for multiple models of
knowledge production. Two alternative models are proposed and outlined,
termed the text model and the narrative model, and the compatibility of
the literary text with these two models is established. Some of the ways
are indicated in which the literary text uses factual information, and
the capacity of the text to interrogate extra-textual realities, rather
than merely conveying facts, is emphasised. Thus, many literary texts deal
with aspects of the cognitive dimension, such as problemsolving and objective
knowledge. This is exemplified with reference to texts by Lem and Simenon.
The capacity of the literary text to raise questions and open up discourses
also operates in the ethical dimension. In this regard, it primarily acts
as a framework within which possible responses to ethical issues are played
out, without treating such issues systematically or presenting reasoned
solutions. It is argued that literary treatment of both the cognitive and
the ethical can best be explored through interdisciplinary readings within
multidisciplinary communities of readers. Finally, the paper suggests that
the literary text can offer powerful metaphors for the world as enigma,
that which lies beyond knowledge and the knowable. It is precisely this
awareness of mystery, intuitively grasped, which lies at the basis of the
quest for knowledge, for making sense of the world.
Papers held at the conference "Knowledge Networking in Cultural
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