9: Augustine of Hippo

Welcome to the ninth episode of A History of Literary Criticism. Today’s episode concerns two sections from Augustine of Hippo’s works On Christian Doctrine and The Trinity. I’ll discuss a little of the author biography first, then the main part of the episode is divided into four parts: Augustine’s theory of interpretation, the relationship between intention and language outlined in the texts, the importance of knowledge to Augustine’s theorisations, and the role of communication. Then, to Abrams’ triangle! And the implications of Augustine’s work for Ferdinand de Saussure’s theory of language. Next week’s episode will be dedicated to Macrobius’ Commentary on the Dream of Scipio.