Paul de Man e a Teoria da Linguagem

Abstract

This Master’s Thesis aims at studying the stance adopted by the US-based Belgian literary critic Paul de Man regarding the theory of language, and to demonstrate what type of treatment thus emerges regarding language and literature. For that, I have read and analyzed the texts written by de Man during his time of teaching in United States universities, as well as the relevant critical bibliography. I argue that such a posture owes to a philosophical approach derived from the very material examined by the author, albeit in its modus operandi, rather than its thematics. I also intend to show the specificity and importance of such a stance, in addition to commenting on its validity for the study of literature and language in general. I understand that, besides implying in a rereading of various central concepts in literary theory and the theory of language, this stance also implies a particular materialism, whose consequences and relevance to theory shall be constantly disclosed and revisited.