Contemporary Western Poetics In Later Wittgenstein's Horizons

The development of contemporary western poetics has two striking features:one is its background of the linguistic turn, another is its integrating with other disciplines(especially philosophy).Wittgenstein, undoubtedly, is one of the key figures who helped to shape the linguistic turn in the field of philosophy. Later Wittgenstein's investigations on the meaning of words are full of insights, so if we examine contemporary western poetics in his horizon, we will discover some significant theoretic mistakes of contemporary western poetics. This is of great significance for clarifying the developmental track of contemporary western poetics and deepening the understanding of later Wittgenstein.This paper summarizes the main ideas of later Wittgenstein, extracts the key words of reference, understanding and so on from the main clues of development of contemporary western poetics, and compares them with the views of later Wittgenstein. On this basis, this paper further shows that the linguistic philosophy of later Wittgenstein itself has a dimension of poetics. In this sense, the basic views of later Wittgenstein can be seen as an indispensable part of the process of development of contemporary western poetics.Later Wittgenstein puts forward the concept of language game on the basis of his criticism of referential theory, he holds that the meaning of a word is its use, the use of language always intermingles with certain circumstance and act, and there is only family resemblance but no common essence among different language games. Understanding or grasping a word consists in using that word properly by rule in certain language games. Understanding rules is not a premise of following rules, rules are rooted in our way of life, are given. Examine contemporary western poetics by using above views of later Wittgenstein, we will find out that major poetic schools since Saussure's structural linguistics such as structuralism poetics, deconstructionism poetics, hermeneutic poetics, reader response criticism, etc. are either closely related to referential theories or are denials of certainty of meaning, thus are misled in understanding meaning.The significance of later Wittgenstein is also reflected in his philosophical methods of linguistic criticism through his earlier and later philosophy, which is more illuminating than his concrete views. The linguistic criticism of earlier Wittgenstein is reflected in logical analysis, finally points to the proper attitude towards the unsayable such as ethics, aesthetics and so on; and the linguistic criticism of later Wittgenstein is reflected in grammatical research, which represents a strong dimension of poetics, finally points to elimination of our impulse to theorization and of deep anxiety, by which the peace of mind can be accomplished. As a philosopher with the soul of a poet, later Wittgenstein gives contemporary western poetics rather a significant inspiration in this poetic dimension:world is there as it is, so we have to see it rather than to analyze it speculatively, reject theories and go back to world and life themselvesTherefore, this paper examines contemporary western poetics in the horizon of later Wittgenstein from two aspects of contents and methods, and its main points are deep understandings of meaning of words centered on language games and grammatical researches with poetic dimension. This study makes us aware the theoretical limits of contemporary western poetics, and has a unique inspirational value for reflecting the theoretical framework and the development trend of contemporary western poetics.