Culture

Culture
The concept of culture is central to the study of language and literature. It raises the question of how a text relates to the context of its production and reception, and to the respective values, beliefs and attitudes prevalent in them. This concept also plays an important role with regards to the relationship that is established between an individual text and the writing tradition that precedes it. In both senses, the application of this concept to the study of a text should prompt reflection on the extent to which it is the product of a particular cultural and literary context and how it interacts with it.

Culture is a notoriously complex concept. Its meaning is contested and has been used to meaning different things at different times and in different places. In the English A: Language and Literature course culture may refer to contexts of production and reception, and to the interplay of values and beliefs that exist in and may influence how texts are written and received. Notions of genre and intertextuality are also relevant to the concept of culture; individual texts can be said to exist within traditions, and it is interesting to explore how one text intertextually relates to (and may deviate from) texts which predate it.