Chapter 3 is Reading for form II - French Structuralism (1950-1975)
"Structuralism has its origin in the thinking of the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure(1857-1913) who in the early 20th century revolutionized the study of language".
Saussure felt that language should be seen as a system of signs. By 'signs', he meant words that we use like 'way', 'yard', 'yarn' etc. 'Way' is 'weg' in Dutch and German.
In 1950, Dr. Seuss introduced a new word, nerd, in 'If I Ran the Zoo.'. Now, it has become commonplace, but at that time, his illustrations that came along with the story alone helped people understand its meaning.
Linguistic Determinism
"The position which claims that our reality is determined by language is called linguistic determinism.'
Levi-Strauss felt the structure of primitive thinking was binary. He said our ancestors defined the word in opposites - light/darkness, human-made/natural, above/below etc.
According to Jakobson's distinctive feature theory, "the smallest sound units in any language - the so-called phenomes- have developed as binary opposites.Vowels have become contrasted with consonants, unvoiced consonants with voiced ones, and so on..."
Literary Structuralism
In literary studies, the term structuralism denotes those approaches to literature strongly influenced by linguistics.
Model proposed by A.J Greimas
Greimas presents six actants or basic elements, two of which are the subject and the object. The subject is the central element in the action of a story( mostly, a person) and the object is the objective that the subject wants to achieve.Other 'actants' include a 'helper' and an 'opposer'
Narratology
Focuses on the structure of narration, the way stories are told. Henry James has written at length about the narratological possibilities that writers have. 'The Rhetoric of Fiction', by Wayne Booth, published in 1961, reveals technical strategies.
The goal of narratology is to find a common model of storytelling that will result in meaning. Gerard Genette's Narrative Discourse (published in 1972 and translated in 1980) is an important contribution to narratology.
In a first-person narrative, the narrator is one with the character - the narrator tells us about himself or herself( a first person): homodiegetic
In a third-person narrative, the narrator is not identical with one of the characters - the narrator tells us about third persons: heterodiegetic
Focalization
If the narrator reveals the views of one of his characters, even if that perspective is described by the narrator - the narrative takes place through a 'focalizer'. The process is called 'focalization'.
'Narrative Discourse'
'Narrative Discourse' is a work of structuralist literary theory. It also discusses the narrative strategies of Marcel Proust's 'A remembrance of things past' ( 1913- 1927)
"Structuralism has its origin in the thinking of the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure(1857-1913) who in the early 20th century revolutionized the study of language".
Saussure felt that language should be seen as a system of signs. By 'signs', he meant words that we use like 'way', 'yard', 'yarn' etc. 'Way' is 'weg' in Dutch and German.
In 1950, Dr. Seuss introduced a new word, nerd, in 'If I Ran the Zoo.'. Now, it has become commonplace, but at that time, his illustrations that came along with the story alone helped people understand its meaning.
Linguistic Determinism
"The position which claims that our reality is determined by language is called linguistic determinism.'
Levi-Strauss felt the structure of primitive thinking was binary. He said our ancestors defined the word in opposites - light/darkness, human-made/natural, above/below etc.
According to Jakobson's distinctive feature theory, "the smallest sound units in any language - the so-called phenomes- have developed as binary opposites.Vowels have become contrasted with consonants, unvoiced consonants with voiced ones, and so on..."
Literary Structuralism
In literary studies, the term structuralism denotes those approaches to literature strongly influenced by linguistics.
Model proposed by A.J Greimas
Greimas presents six actants or basic elements, two of which are the subject and the object. The subject is the central element in the action of a story( mostly, a person) and the object is the objective that the subject wants to achieve.Other 'actants' include a 'helper' and an 'opposer'
Narratology
Focuses on the structure of narration, the way stories are told. Henry James has written at length about the narratological possibilities that writers have. 'The Rhetoric of Fiction', by Wayne Booth, published in 1961, reveals technical strategies.
The goal of narratology is to find a common model of storytelling that will result in meaning. Gerard Genette's Narrative Discourse (published in 1972 and translated in 1980) is an important contribution to narratology.
In a first-person narrative, the narrator is one with the character - the narrator tells us about himself or herself( a first person): homodiegetic
In a third-person narrative, the narrator is not identical with one of the characters - the narrator tells us about third persons: heterodiegetic
Focalization
If the narrator reveals the views of one of his characters, even if that perspective is described by the narrator - the narrative takes place through a 'focalizer'. The process is called 'focalization'.
'Narrative Discourse'
'Narrative Discourse' is a work of structuralist literary theory. It also discusses the narrative strategies of Marcel Proust's 'A remembrance of things past' ( 1913- 1927)
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