Lecture lack of pragmatic function plan: What is pragmatic function? Ambiguity

The reality-the image-the author relationship.

Both science and the arts aim at cognizing and interpreting the world we live in. Stated in general terms the relation between reality and literature is essentially that of an object and its image.

An image is always similar to its object, for example, a painted portrait of a person is similar to the person himself. The similarity between an object and its image is conditioned by the fact that the latter is a representation of the former. It is implied in the word “image” itself, which is defined in the dictionary as “a likeness of a person, animal, or object”. The similarity between an object and its image may be barely traceable, but there will be a similarity. A picture or a portrait is always that of an object (a tree, a human being, an animal, and the like). Thus a portrait is always a representation of a certain person, never the person himself.

Turning now to the literary work, we may say that, regarded in terms of an object –image relationship, it is always a representation of a life situation, whose image it is. In other words, the literary work in its recreation of life gives images which are similar to, but not identical with life.

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