The literary image is a situational, historicizing phenomenon, not a timeless structure.

Evidence

A slightly different formulation of the same phenomenon may be found in Sartre’s theory of the “imaginary” as well, which he sees as a reorganization of the object in such a way that it is withdrawn from the time of praxis, as a transformation of an act into a gesture. Such analyses have in common a situational and historicizing logic: they do not imply a structure of the image which holds for all time and in all situations, but rather see the specific literary phenomenon as something which draws attention to its own peculiar structural characteristics, which identifies itself as a process of symbolizing, which is conscious of itself as “irrealizing” the world. — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 756

Categorization

• XREF: Sartre’s ‘imaginary’ vs. Lukács/Plekhanov on symbolism — the Adorno-Benjamin-Lukács-Sartre dialectical lineage the reader is tracing. Connects to Jameson’s later work on postmodernism’s historicity. — connects to: Historical fiction offers a subjective interpretation rather than a photographic replica — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 766; Postmodernism is best treated as a historical condition, not an ideas set. — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity: An…, 32; Woman is a historical situation, not an immutable essence — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 675 (+2 more)
• DEFINE: Defines the dialectical approach to imagery: not an eternal structure but a self-conscious, historical ‘irrealizing’ process.

Broader Connections

• Postmodernism is best treated as a historical condition, not an ideas set. #exemplifies (0.85) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 32
• Historical fiction offers a subjective interpretation rather than a photographic replica #exemplifies (0.82) — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 766
• Woman is a historical situation, not an immutable essence #exemplifies (0.78) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 675
• Literary periodization must rest on culture-wide material shifts, not chronology #exemplifies (0.78) — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 487
• Truth for critical theory is historically conditioned, not timeless. #qualifies (0.75)