Ghosh

The beauty of creative literature lies in its suggestiveness. It may open several meanings, when a Sahridaya Reader (connoisseur of art and literature) goes through it. Beneath the text, several layers of sub-text lie hidden. Imaginative literature or poetry has at least two meanings -- manifest meaning and latent meaning. Manifest or literal meaning is the meaning at the primary or external level of understanding. If we use the terminology of Chomsky, this literal, primary, manifest or external meaning refers to ‘competence’. Here, it must be stated that Chomsky had made a linguistic distinction between ‘competence’ and ‘performance’. While ‘competence’ is the standard version of the language, ‘performance’ refers to the deviation from the standard conventions and norms of language. A creative artist of literature is concerned with this deviation from the orthodox meaning of a word. This deviation or metaphorical twist to language is the very basis of all symbolism or indirect communication in literature. When Eliot began The Waste Land by pointing out ‘April is the cruellest month’, he was indicating at the sterility of the modern man. On the surface Eliot appears to be talking about April, but in reality it is the signifier of the contemporary degraded and apathetic society. This month has become ‘the cruellest month’ for us, which is generally considered a month of fertility, vegetation, fun and ecstasy. In a way, through this symbol of April, Eliot signifies that the values have gone haywire in the modern Europe, filled with eerie ennui.
      Thus, literature does consist of two types of meanings -- literal and figurative. This distinction between two kinds of meanings has parallels in Saussure’s classification of ‘langue’ and ‘parole’. ‘Langue’ is the ordinary and everyday use of language, while ‘parole’ is the creative deviation from the traditional language. R.S.Sharma in his discussion about I.A.Richards’ book The Philosophy of Rhetoric explains tenor as...