ENG 388 Final Exam Terms

Russian formalism

A school of criticism active in Russia and Czechoslovakia in the early part of the twentieth century that worked to establish a scientific basis for explaining how literary devices produce aesthetic effects. Its members advocated examination of the linguistic and structural elements of a work, rejecting methods or knowledge from other fields of study as extraneous to literary scholarship. Its leaders included Viktor Shklovsky and Roman Jakobson. It was abolished by the Soviet government in 1930 when its followers refused to examine literature through the lens of its political ideology. In the 1940s and 1950s it indirectly influenced the development of the New Criticism.

poetics

A general descriptive theory of literature. It does not refer solely to poetry or verse alone. Instead, it tries to define and describe the elements that create a work's "literariness." The earliest such study was Aristotle's Poetics. More recently it has been carried on in the work of the structuralists. The Russian formalists considered poetics to be the proper subject of literary study.

defamiliarization

A term coined by the Russian formalists to refer to the artful aspects of a work that, by making the familiar seem strange, awaken the reader to new experiences and understandings. They change a reader's perception of even an ordinary object so that he seems to be seeing it as if for the first time.

dialogism

The belief that language (all forms of speech and writing) is always a dialogue consisting of at least one speaker, one listener/respondent, and a relationship between the two. It opposes the view that language is an utterance that issues from a single speaker or writer, that is, being monologic. Dialogism is a key concept in Mikhail Bakhi's theory of language.

unfinalizability

Mikhail Bakhtin's term for ongoing changes that occur in an individual, making it impossible to fully understand him or her. Because it is language that defines a person, and language is dialogic, one is always in a process of becoming and can never be completely known.

heteroglossia

Mikhail Bakhtin's term for the interplay of the numerous forms of social speech that people use as they go about their daily lives. It refers to the manner in which their diverse ways of speaking--their varied vocabularies, accents, expressions, and rhetorical strategies--mix with each other. It can be described as living language because it features multiplicity and variety, as well as suggestions of different professions, age groups, and backgrounds.

dialogized heteroglossia

A characteristic of prose in general and the novel in particular, according to Mikhail Bakhtin. The novel features a diversity of voices in ongoing responses to each other. It recounts multiple experiences and worldviews in frequent interactions, some of them actual and some of them fictive.

image

A mental picture created by references to the senses: visual auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory, thermal, and kinesthetic.

polyphony

Mikhail Bakhtin's term for novels that depict a world in which the dialogue goes on ad Infinium without reaching a conclusion or closure. Its structure is not predetermined to demonstrate the author's worldview, nor are the characters drawn to exemplify it. It is typified by the novels of Dostoyevsky, in which the reader hears many voices uttering contradictory and inconsistent statements in the context of a real-life event.

carnival

Mikhail Bakhtin's term for a social practice that mocks authority and reverses hierarchies. It challenges traditional power bases and opens the way to a new social order. he sees the novel as carnivalesque because it has the ability to challenge restrictive social forces, obliterate social hierarchies, and blur distinctions among social classes. It can reverse the traditional systems of authority and order.

affective fallacy

Concern for the effect a work has on the reader.

allusion

A brief reference to a character, person, object, event, or situation outside the work in which it is made.

ambiguity

Wording that suggests more than one meaning or interpretation.

connotation

secondary meanings and feelings associated with a word in addition to its denotative, or dictionary meaning.

denotation

The core or specific meaning of a word, without any associated or suggested meanings.

etymology

the study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history

figure of speech

Words used in more than their literal sense. They may appear as similes, metaphors, synecdoches, metonymies, or other forms.

intentional fallacy

Concern for the author's purpose in writing the work. To formalists, this way of determining the meaning and effectiveness of a work is erroneous because it is based on information outside the text.

irony

a statement or situation in which the intended meaning is the opposite of what is literally said, done, or expected.

motifs

a recurring phrase, image, scene, or theme in a work. Unifies a piece.

paradox

A statement that seems to contradict itself but is actually true.

Paraphrase

A reworded version of a passage or work, usually made by someone other than the original writer.

point of view

the perspective from which a story is told

structure

how a work of literature makes a statement

symbol

someone or something that is a literal presence but is also a representation of something beyond himself, herself, or itself.

tension

the energy created by conflicting elements in a work, usually appearing in the form of ambiguity, irony, paradox

unity

the coherence of the elements of a work that creates a sense of an organic whole.

Androcentric

A term used to describe attitudes, practices, or social organizations that are based on the assumption that men are the model of being.

essential

the idea that a person's true identity is composed of fixed and unchanging properties.

gynocriticism

a movement that examines the distinctive characteristics of the female experience

heterosexual priviledge

the assumption that heterosexuality is the standard by which sexual practice is measured.

homophobia

dislike of or prejudice against homosexual people.

L'Ecriture feminine

A term used by French critics to designate women's writing

misogyny

dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women

oedipal attachment

children manifest erotically tinged desires for their opposite-sex parent, accompanied by feelings of hostility toward their same-sex parent

Performative

Typically used in discussion of gender, the idea that actions and speech acquire constitutive force and are used to create a particular gender identity.

social constructivist

one that supports the idea that human identity is formed by the culture into which one is born

symbolic order

belief systems set out an ideal of the significance and proper relations among people, actions, objects, nature

base

the method of production in a given society. determines the superstructure.

Bourgeoisie

The name given by Marx to the owners of the means of production in a society.

commodification

The process through which something is given monetary value; occurs when a good or idea that previously was not regarded as an object to be bought and sold is turned into something that has a particular price and that can be traded in a market economy.

conspicuous consumption

the act of buying and using products to make a statement about social standing

dialectical materialism

The idea, according to Karl Marx, that change and development in history results from the conflict between social classes. Economic forces impel human beings to behave in socially determined ways.

exchange value

an assessment of the worth of something based on what it can be traded or sold for

false consciousness

A term used by Karl Marx to describe an attitude held by members of a class that does not accurately reflect their objective position.

hegemony

domination over others

historical situation

the ideological atmosphere generated by material circumstances

ideology

a belief system

interpellation

the communication process by which one is pulled into the social forces that place people into a specific identity

material circumstances

the economic conditions underlying the society

production theory

the ability of literature and art to change the base of a society

Proletariat

Marx's term for the exploited class, the mass of workers who do not own the means of production

reflectionism

a theory that the superstructure of a society mirrors its economic base and, by extension, that a text reflects the society that produced it

sign value

An assessment of something based on how impressive it makes a person look.

superstructure

All noneconomic institutions in a society (e.g., religion, culture, national identity); These ideas and values derive from the base and serve to legitimize the current system of exploitation

use value

how useful/necessary something is

Vulgar Marxism

Another name for Reflectionism. Those who practice it try to determine the true and complete nature of a given society

Weltanschauung

a comprehensive conception or image of the universe and of humanity's relation to it.

Cultural Materialism

The British counterpart of new literary historicism, significantly influenced by Marxist principles.

cultural studies

focusing on the working of the marginalized, overlooked, and repressed group

culture

the sum of social patterns, traits, and products of a particular time or group of people.

discourse

ways of thinking, talking, and writing about the world

episteme

system that defines the conditions for how a particular age views its world

self-positioning

The announcement of one's own political and philosophical leanings.

subaltern

person of inferior status

subject

an ambiguous term that is used by postmodernists to refer to a person

thick description

collection of seemingly insignificant details that will reveal a culture.

postcolonialism

The study of the global effects of European colonization. It seeks to analyze cultures whose traditional language, laws, religion, and literature have been affected by domination from Europe.

colonialism

the subjection of one culture by another

cultural colonization

The imposition of the beliefs and social practices of a dominant power on a subjugated one resulting in loss or change of the native culture

demonic other

view that those who are different from oneself are not only backward but also savage, even evil

double consciousness

a concept conceived by W.E.B. Du Bois to describe the two behavioral scripts, one for moving through the world and the other incorporating the external opinions of prejudiced onlookers, which are constantly maintained by African Americans

double voicedness

The ability to communicate with both cultures

eurocentrism

the assumption that European ideals & experiences are a standard by which all other cultures are to be measured and judged inferior.

exotic other

the view that those who are different are more dignified and beautiful, perhaps because they are less developed (ie. more natural and primitive)

folk traditions

Customs, language, legends, beliefs, and attitudes characteristic of peoples generally regarded as unsophisticated, possibly unlettered.

hybridity

a postcolonial term referring to the quality of cultures that have characteristics of both the colonizers and the colonized.

mimicry

imitation of the dress, manners, and language of the dominant culture by an oppressed one

negotation

the relationship between a text and its context

neocolonialism

Domination by a powerful usually Western nation of another nation that's politically independent but has a weak economy dependent on trade with the Western nation.

other

reflection an infant mistakenly takes to be the self during the mirror stage of development.

Universalism

the belief that a great work of literature deals with certain themes and characters whose significance and appeal are not limited by time or place.

dark greens

deeply committed ecologists who advocate a complete return to nature, a move that is not feasible for most people.

empiricism

the belief that all knowledge is derived from life experiences, not from mot from moving emotions that are related to an idea or person to a less important object.

light greens

environmentalists who support conservation and limits

pastoral

the name given to a text that depicts rural life and people. The world it describes is characterized by simplicity and serenity

rationalism

a philosophical position that accepts reason as the source of all knowledge.

sublime

a state of being characterized by mobility and grandeur.