Models and/as/of Literature

Abstract

Abstract Models have evolved into a major tool to analyse, understand and shape the world we live in. Ubiquitous as they are in the sciences, engineering and in public discourse, models are rarely reflected on or even used in literary studies, as testified by their conspicuous absence in most dictionaries of literary and cultural theory. This essay, first of all, provides a rough survey where models have been applied in literature, literary studies or theory. It traces the use of models from a strong start with the rise of formalism and structuralism in the twentieth century to some occasional resurfacing in the context of narratological research and literary pedagogy which, however, appears to be restricted to German academia. After a brief evaluation of these instances, new departures in the use of models in literary studies are charted before a general assessment of the prospects and profits of bringing models into the field of literature brings a conclusion with the hope of opening up new lines of research.1