A Theory of Resonance

Abstract

Does a literary text remain the same object across time? This essay answers no and bases a defense of literature on that answer. Temporal extension, a phenomenon neglected in contemporary literary studies, makes some meanings unrecoverable and others newly possible. A text endures as a nonintegral survivor, an echo of what it was and of what it might become, its resonance changing with shifts in interpretive contexts. Since this resonance cannot be addressed by synchronic historicism, I propose an alternative, diachronic historicism, inspired especially by scientific theories on background noise, by Einstein's account of the relativity of simultaneity, and by critiques of the visual bias in Western epistemology. I try to theorize the text as a temporal continuum, thick with receding and incipient nuances, exercising the ears of readers in divergent ways and yielding its words to contrary claims. Literature thus encourages a semantic democracy that honors disagreement as a crucial fact of civil society.

Crafting resonance: Empathy and belonging in ancient Rajasthan

“…The idea that texts (as material) might have an immaterial/intangible affect through time and that diachronic affect may code as resonance is a useful approach to thinking through intergenerational and generally diachronic approaches to the longevity of form within archaeology (for resonance and text, see Dimock, 1997). Resonance has also been strategically employed to discuss how social policy may be influenced; however, it is often glossed and under theorized (Ferree, 2003).…”

How, Then, Might the Transsexual Read?

“…In "A Theory of Resonance," Wai Chee Dimock (1997) takes as her epigraph the novel's last line: "Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?" (Ellison [1952(Ellison [ ] 1995.…”

Postkritisk kritikk av kritikken

“…Resonnementet trekker på Wai Chee Dimocks «A Theory of Resonance». Dimock bruker den auditive metaforen resonans på sin definisjon av kontekst som «a diachronic relation: extending beyond the originating circumstances of a text and moving on to engage the circumstances that give birth to a semantic life at the moment of reading» (Dimock 1997(Dimock , 1062. En teksts etterliv blir en funksjon av dens evne til å vekke resonans hos leseren, og av at tekst og kontekst inngår i samme nettverk.…”