midterm for lit theory kms

Pederasty

Homosexual relationship between a man and a younger man (a boy) in Ancient Greece, where the man imparts knowledge and philosophy onto the boy, who is expected to sexually please the man.

Epidiectic

Technique in which a rhetorician shows their rhetorical skills by making a serious argument out of a seemingly ridiculous or inarguable subject.

Metaphysics

Branch of philosophy concerned with spirituality and ideas, that which goes beyond the material world.

Allegory of the Cave

Created by Plato, it is a story of a reality not actually being real, where the material world is false and misleading, and a prisoner goes out into the real world while others think he's crazy.

Law of Noncontradiction

States that two contradicting statements cannot be true at once.

Socratic Irony

Rhetorical technique used by Socrates in which a rhetorician pretends not to know what their opponent is talking about ('playing dumb') to reveal flaws in their argument.

Socratic Method (Dialectic)

Rhetorical technique pairing a thesis with an antithesis to come to a synthesis, or compromise of two opposing ideas.

Semiotics

Study of signs/symbols and their meanings.

Comic protagonist

A lower class character instead of a higher class character in a comedic narrative.

Comic error

A mistake that leads to humorous situations in a narrative.

Reversal of fortune

A change in circumstances, often from good to bad or vice versa, typically in a comedic context.

Catastrophe

The final resolution or outcome of a narrative, often involving a disastrous event.

Schadenfreude

Spectator's pleasure in the comic protagonist's misfortune, characterized by disidentification as opposed to the emotional identification of a tragic hero.

Return of fortune/marriage

A common resolution in comedic narratives where characters return to a state of happiness or unite in marriage.

Death of the Author

Concept developed by Roland Barthes, which suggests not centering all attention on the author and their intentions when analyzing a text.

Defamiliarization/estrangement

Making what is familiar appear new and strange in literature.

Fabula

The actual events of a story.

Syuzhet

The arrangement of events in a story.

Diachronic linguistics

Considers the development and evolution of language through history over a long period of time.

Synchronic linguistics

Considers the development and evolution of language through time without considering historical context.

Paroles

Created by Saussure, refers to the concrete instances of the use of langue (i.e., speech).

Langue

Created by Saussure, refers to the abstract, systematic rules of a signifying system (language).

Base

Economic foundations of society, including economics, means of production, and relations of production.

Superstructure

Systems influenced by the economic base.

Canon

Collection of widely praised and studied works of literature central to a cultural or social identity.

Transcendental Universal Tendency

States that literature must be universal (Matthew Arnold backed this).

Historical/Local Tendency

What a text reveals about a certain time period or place.

Essentialism

Philosophy that boils down a subject to unchanging, innate properties, its essence.

Liberal Humanism

Philosophy centered around free will and agency, as opposed to determinism.

Subjectivity

Personal feelings, biases, and emotional responses of a reader that affect their analysis of a text (invalid, affective fallacy).

New Criticism

Literary theory that emerged in the 1920s that emphasized close reading of texts and analyzing texts without context.

Modernism

Early 20th century philosophical, literary, and artistic movement marked by alienation from society, depression, fractured identity, breakdown of metanarratives (i.e.: religion).

Transmigration of Souls

Platonic philosophy that all beings were once souls, and that one came into being if a soul fell from the heavens and inhabited a body.

Arborescent Organizations

Idea that knowledge has one origin, like a tree branching out, and therefore each concept/skill must be learned/acquired in a specific order.

Rhizomatic Organizations

Idea that there is one central system of learning knowledge that isn't connected in a specific order.

Sophist

Paid teacher of philosophy and rhetoric in Ancient Greece.

Tragic hero

Upper-class protagonist of tragedy that spectator empathizes with.

Hamartia

Fatal flaw.

Peripeteia

Reversal of fortune.

Anagnorisis

Recognition of fatal flaw.

Catharsis

Emotional purging of spectator's pity or fear.

Restoration of social order

According to Boal.

Compromise formation

The mind allowing repressed material to be expressed in a way that compromises with the ego's repression of it.

Manifest content

The actual events in a dream, according to Freud.

Latent Content

The hidden, personal meaning behind the occurrences of a dream, according to Freud.

Primary narcissism

Occurs when an infant is not yet individuated, is connected to a whole, they don't know where they start and end (omnipotence).

Narcissism of Small Differences

A person or group setting themselves apart from another person/group for a minor reason.

Example of Narcissism of Small Differences

Football team preference, taylor ham vs. pork roll (but it's obviously taylor ham).

Semiotics

Study of signs/symbols and their interpretation (science of language).

Sign

Combination of signifier (physical object) and signified (mental concept).

Signifier

Physical object (a sound, printed word).

Signified

Mental concept/meaning conveyed by signifier.

Referent

What both signifier and signified refer to (the actual thing).

Pleonasm

Saying something in more words than necessary.

Polysemy

Many possible meanings for one word; a word doesn't have an essential meaning.

Transparent Theory of Language

States that the meaning of words are obvious and self-evident; words have meaning.

Constitutive Theory of Language

States that what we say is a product of how we say it; words constitute meaning.

Transmigration of Souls

Platonic philosophy that all beings were once souls, and that one came into being if a soul fell from the heavens and inhabited a body.

Superstructure

Systems influenced by base (law, politics, philosophy, religion, art)

Commodity fetishism

Social relations with material objects, and material relations with people, too much desire connected to one object

German idealism

Philosophical movement in late 18th/early 19th century Germany, states that the mind shapes our experience of the world

Dialectical Materialism

Stresses importance of real-world conditions and presence of contradictions within and among social relations (i.e. social class, labor economics, and socioeconomic interactions)

Contradiction

Relationship in which two opposing forces lead to mutual development

Dialectics

A compromise of two opposing ideas

Alienation

Separation of people from their work, the world, and themselves, a consequence of the division of labor in a capitalist society

Repressive State Apparatus (RSA)

Institutions that control a society through threat of force/coercion (i.e.: police, ICE, judges, anyone in legal system, prisons, tax collectors)

Ideological State Apparatus (ISA)

Institutions that influence through ideology (i.e.: schools, family, religion, communication, culture)

Interpellation

Process by which individuals are 'hailed' and recognize themselves as a subject within a society, leads them to adopt certain roles in the society

Omission

Deliberately leaving out details to alter meaning of a story/fact

Projection

Freudian defense mechanism, attributing one's own unacceptable thoughts and feelings to another person

Sublimation

Channeling unacceptable impulses into socially acceptable activities

Repression

Freudian defense mechanism in which distressing or unacceptable thoughts, memories, impulses, or emotions are unconsciously pushed into the unconscious mind

Regression

Freudian defense mechanism in which a person reverts to an earlier, more childlike state to cope with anxiety or trauma (i.e.: an adult throwing a temper tantrum)

Wish fulfillment

Freudian theory that dreams fulfill a person's desires that are unsatisfied during the day, often in a disguised/symbolic form for adults

Free association

Psychoanalytic technique in which a person says the first thought that comes to their mind without censoring themselves, in order to tap into the unconscious mind

Dream work

Process in which a dream's latent content (the deeper meaning) is transformed into its manifest content (the dream's actual events)

Hegemony

Ruling class dominates and shapes society, so the worldview of the ruling class becomes the accepted social norm

Positivism

Scientific inquiry & reason to explain the world, the entire world is 'knowable,' can be understood through cause and effect

Ideology (Althusser definition)

Unconsciously held beliefs that shape individuals into subjects who accept their place in a social order

Displacement

Freudian defense mechanism in which emotions/impulses are given a new aim/object to act on, as they are dangerous/unacceptable in their original form

Substitution

Freudian defense mechanism in which a repressed idea/emotion is unconsciously replaced by a more acceptable one

Condensation

Process of combining multiple thoughts and desires into a single image/symbol in a dream, according to Freud

Revision

Process of reworking one's perception of the manifest content of the dream to make it more logical

Id

Unconscious, impulsive, driven by instinct and pleasure principle (the cartoon devil on the shoulder)

Ego

Rational, realistic component that mediates id and superego

Superego

Moralistic component of consciousness that represents internalized social rules/standards (cartoon angel on shoulder)

Winnicott's Transitional Objects

An object (such as a blanket or stuffed toy) used by an infant to cope with the loss of being 'one with everything' and search of autonomy that comes with the mirror stage

Mirror Stage (Lacan)

Occurs when an infant reorganizes themself in the mirror as a unified whole. They gain autonomy apart from their primary caregiver(s) and no longer feel 'one with everything.'

Erotic Fetishism

Freudian concept in which sexual desire is attached to a non-genital, often inanimate object

Manifold Determination

Freudian concept that the manifest content is not chosen at random, and is determined by multiple connections to latent dream thoughts