Print Culture, Digital Culture, Poetics and Hermeneutics: Discussion with J. Hillis Miller.

Print culture; Poetics; Culture; Hermeneutics

This paper is a response to Hillis Miller's query on the author's essay "Hillis Miller on the End of Literature." The author basically agrees with Miller's view on the shift from print culture to digital culture, explaining the special cultural context under which Chinese scholars emphasize the visual turn. Based on the rapid development of Chinese online literature, the author points out that print culture does not rival but coexists with digital culture. On the other hand, drawing on Aristotle's Poetics and insights of several leading figures of contemporary hermeneutics, the author contends that Miller's dichotomy of poetics (form) and hermeneutics (content) is one-sided, since the two are compatible and integral, with concern for both content and form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]