Literary Theory I: Text-oriented approaches (copy)

Russian Formalism: intrinsic approach

emphasis on formal analysis of texts, no interest in relations between the text and the external world

Russian Formalism: view of literature

literature as specific organisation of language - texts can be taken apart like machines, quasi-"objective" scientific approach to art

Russian formalism: deviation

literature uses language in a specific and unusual way that differs from everyday uses of language

Russian formalism: defamiliarisation

effect of deviation: the reader's perception is unsettled and changed, familiar things

appear as unfamiliar because of their presentation through literary language

Russian formalism: Jakobson's six functions of language

-> referential, phatic, cognitive, emotive, metalingual and poetic/aesthetic function; literature foregrounds the "poetic"/"aesthetic" function: literature is about more than the transmission of information (= "referential" function)

New Criticism: close reading

→ detailed formal analysis of a specific text, focusing mostly on formal/technical aspects (metre, rhyme, stanza, imagery, etc.

New Criticism: intrinsic approach

→ ideal of an objective and scientific method for the interpretation and teaching of texts: focus on the inner workings of the text → avoidance of affective and intentional fallacies

New Criticism: affective and intentional fallacy

→ the emotional effects of a text are irrelevant for its interpretation

the intention(s) of the author is/are irrelevant for a text's interpretation

New Criticism: denotations and connotations of words

interest in the tension/balance between primary and secondary meanings of words, e.g. In a poem

New Criticism: idealized view of literature

→ emphasis on unity and coherence of form and content

existence of "great" literature that communicates universal & timeless values

Structualism: heavily influenced by structural linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure

→ signifier/signified; langue vs. parole

meaning is relational: language as a system of differences that creates meaning, e.g. paradigmatic chains, binary opposition

structuralist approach: adaptation of Saussurean concepts

→ the world/reality consists of sign systems

language does not represent/reflect but constitute the world/reality; meaning is not universal or natural but the product of shared systems of signification

structuralist view of literature

→ a literary text is a construct whose internal structures need to be understood in the context of the larger signifying system of which it is a part (e.g. genre, author's oeuvre)

literature as langue, individual text as parole

→ no interest in how literature represents reality, no interest in moral, political etc.aspects

structuralist methods

→ study of shared structures between texts as parts of larger systems

→study of structures within a text: binary oppositions, contrasts, echoes, parallels,

patterns of imagery, relationship between plot and subplot

study of narratological features: narrative situations, focalization etc.