symbolism

[Garima Gupta]

I would really appreciate if somebody could volunteer some info on symbolism in lit,its beginnings,various movements,history etc.

[AbdoRinbo]

I would really appreciate if somebody could volunteer some info on symbolism in lit,its beginnings,various movements,history etc.

This is going to be really concise (for now, anyway), perhaps I can add more later when I am not so pressed for time. Symbolism began in Egypt (for obvious reasons, one of which is that the entire language is composed of hieroglyphics, which are symbols). The study of symbols (or, more precisely, signs) is called semiotics today. The field of semiotics stretches through everything from advertising to psychoanalysis (Freud and all that jazz). For a good introduction to semiotics, try reading a translation of anything by Roland Barthes, Jacques Derrida, or Jacques Lacan. They are difficult reads and the concept of 'Deconstruction' is a difficult one to grasp (and a waste of time, in my opinion, seeing as how it is--for all practical purposes--useless). But, at worst, you will find that they make good food for thought.

There is a good introduction to semiotics in the 'Introducing' series called 'Introducing: semiotics' (eh? eh?). I haven't read it, but I suppose it is easy to understand as are most of the 'Introducing' titles. What you'll find is that the study of signs didn't become a world-wide phenomenon until people started applying Freud to language. In other words, we began to understand that language is not a set of symbols that represent ideas that are above and beyond the symbols themselves; but rather, they symbols form their meaning based on their relationship to other symbols (a 'father' is a 'father' because he is not a 'son'; i.e., the differences are what form identities, not the contrary). Keep that in mind when thinking about symbols . . . the meaning of each one changes as it interacts with new symbols in different configurations.

[Tabac]

Man and His Symbols by Carl Jung is the most widely-read authoritative book on the subject, although it may not be the latest.