Ethical Literary Criticism: Oral Literature and the Formation Mechanism of Brain Text

Zhenzhao Nie

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.13185/KK2021.003719
Published Date: Aug 31, 2021

Abstract

In the conceptual system of ethical literary criticism, the existence of all literatures relies on what is called a text; it includes oral literature, a term that largely refers to literature disseminated orally. Before its dissemination, however, the text of oral literature, which can be properly termed as “brain text,” is stored in the human brain. By brain text, what is referred to is the textual form used for storytelling before writing symbols were created and used to record information; it has continued to exist even after the creation of such symbols. Other types of texts exist apart from brain text, such as written and electronic text; but brain text, in particular, consists of brain concepts, which, depending on its different sources, can be divided into picture concepts and abstract concepts. Brain concepts are tools for thinking that derive from understanding and applying brain concepts; in this sense, brain text is the carrier of thought. Once brain concepts stop being made, it means thinking has been completed. Thinking produces thoughts that can be stored in the brain in the form of brain text, which determines thinking and behavioral patterns that not only communicate and disseminate information but also guide a person’s ideas, thoughts, judgments, choices, actions, and emotions. To some degree, brain text affects a person’s lifestyle and ethical behaviors. In fact, brain text can control people’s thoughts and actions and most importantly, determine who they are.

Keywords

brain text, brain concepts, ethical literary criticism, spoken literature, written literature, written symbols

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Kritika Kultura
Department of English
School of Humanities
Ateneo de Manila University

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International Board of Editors

Jan Baetens
Professor
Faculty of Arts
Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven (Belgium)

Joel David
Professor of Cultural Studies
Inha University (South Korea)

Michael Denning
Professor of American Studies and English
Department of English
Yale University (US)

Faruk
Faculty of Cultural Sciences
Universitas Gadjah Mada (Indonesia)

Regenia Gagnier
Professor of English
University of Exeter (UK)

Leela Gandhi
John Hawkes Professor of the Humanities and English
Brown University (US)

Inderpal Grewal
Professor of Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies
Professor of South Asian Studies, Ethnicity, Race and Migration Studies
Yale University (US)

Peter Horn
Professor Emeritus and Honorary Lifetime Fellow
University of Cape Town (South Africa)
Honorary Professor and Research Associate in German Studies
University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa)

Anette Horn
Professor of German Studies
University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa)

David Lloyd
Distinguished Professor of English
University of California, Riverside (US)

Bienvenido Lumbera
National Artist for Literature
Professor Emeritus
University of the Philippines

Rajeev S. Patke
Director of the Division of Humanities
Professor of Humanities
Yale NUS College (Singapore)

Vicente L. Rafael
Giovanni and Amne Costigan Endowed Professor of History
University of Washington (US)

Vaidehi Ramanathan
Department of Linguistics
University of California, Davis (US)

Temario Rivera
Professorial Lecturer
Department of Political Science
University of the Philippines

E. San Juan, Jr.
Philippines Studies Center (US)

Neferti X.M. Tadiar
Professor of Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies
Barnard College (US)
Director of the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race
Columbia University (US)

Antony Tatlow
Honorary Professor of Drama
Trinity College Dublin (Ireland)