Author(s)

Cunjiu Kuang

Corresponding Author

Cunjiu Kuang

Abstract

Jonathan Culler has been profoundly influenced by Austin’s and Searle’s speech act theory and Jacque Derrida’s deconstructive speech act views. Since the 1970s, he has introduced the speech act view of “speeches are performances of acts” into American literature, regarded literature as a “world-making” and “world-transforming” “act or event”, and especially expounded poetry as a special speech act. His concept of “literary competence” has absorbed elements from the speech act theory, and refers to some institutions or conventions in literary forms, instead of traditional institutions in literary contents such as themes and subjects, adding unique significance to literature.

Keywords

Culler, speech act, literary theory