Oct 15, 2008

Symbolism | The Term and Concept of Symbolism in Literary History

In the following essay, Wellek explores the
idea of Symbolism as a literary period encompassing
much post-Realism Western literature, and
focuses on developing an accurate system of definition
for it.

The term and concept of symbolism (and symbol)
is so vast a topic that it cannot even be sketched
within the limits of this paper. The word goes back
to ancient Greece and, there, had a complex history
which has not, I suspect, been traced adequately in
the only history of the term, Max Schlesinger’s
Geschichte des Symbols, published in 1912.

What I want to discuss is something much
more specific: not even symbol and symbolism in
literature but the term and concept of symbolism
as a period in literary history. It can, I suggest, be
conveniently used as a general term...