Literary Theory Post World War II - 2 Chapter Notes | Crash Course for UGC NET English Literature PDF Download

Russian Formalism

Defamiliarization Theory

Russian Formalism, a set of interpretive principles introduced by Russian scholars in the early twentieth century, emphasizes the importance of literary form over content and views literary works as self-contained systems.

Key Concepts of Russian Formalism

Literary Structure and Function: Russian Formalists, including the Moscow Linguistic Circle and OPOYAZ, believed that literary works should be studied for their internal structure and formal qualities rather than their reflection of the author's worldview or psychological state.

• Form vs. Content: Formalists prioritized form over content, arguing that the way a story is told is more important than what is being told.
• Rejection of Psychological and Biographical Criticism: They dismissed psychological and biographical approaches to literary criticism, focusing instead on the text itself.
• Scientific Study of Literature: Russian Formalists advocated for a scientific method in the study of literature, treating poetic language as an independent field of inquiry.
• Defamiliarization: Introduced by Viktor Shklovsky, this concept involves making the familiar strange to enhance perception and understanding. It highlights the difference between everyday language (primary order language) and literary language (secondary order language), which carries deeper meanings.

By focusing on these principles, Russian Formalism aims to uncover what makes a text literary and to explore the unique qualities of literary language.

Russian Formalism

Cultural Semiotics

Russian Formalists faced repression from the Soviet government in 1930 because they would not interpret literature through a Soviet political lens. Despite this, their influence persisted in the Czech Republic, particularly through the Prague Linguistic Circle, established in 1926 with Roman Jakobson playing a crucial role. Russian Formalism experienced a revival in the 1960s, significantly impacting French and American structuralism in the realms of literary theory and criticism.

Key Writers and Works

• Roman Jakobson ’s notable works include:
• Language in Literature (1969)
• Fundamentals of Language (1956)
• Viktor Shklovsky ’s significant publications include:
• Theory of Prose (1925)
• Art as Device (1917)

Semiology and Semiotics

Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913), a Swiss philologist, founded the field of semiology, which examines how meaning is generated through signs in various social behaviours, with language being the most crucial sign system. Saussure argued that all signs consist of a signifier and a signified, where the signified controls the signifier. The signified represents a concept, while the signifier refers to a visual or auditory mark. For instance, when we hear the word 'music', the sound is the signifier, and the concept it represents is the signified.

Around the same time, American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914) was developing a similar concept called semiotics. Peirce's semiotics adapted Saussure's linguistic methods to all cultural phenomena and categorised signs into three types: icons, symbols, and indices.

Structuralism, Post-structuralism and Deconstruction

Symbolic Language

Structuralism is an approach that views literature as a complex system of signs governed by specific rules. It emphasizes the intrinsic structure of literary works, suggesting that they are self-sufficient and do not rely on external references for meaning. This perspective is rooted in the ideas of linguistic theorists like Saussure and Peirce, who believed that codes, signs, and rules underpin all human, social, and cultural practices.

Key Ideas of Structuralism

• Structuralists contend that literature is a closed system of rules based on language.
• They argue that literary works do not need outside references, only their internal rules.
• The focus is on the function of literary devices, not on how they replicate reality or express feelings.
• While reading, considering the external world can aid understanding, but individual interpretations may differ.

For instance, just as tea requires specific ingredients and processes to maintain its identity, a text holds a reservoir of meaning that allows for individual interpretations while preserving its collective significance. Structuralists prioritize this shared meaning over personal readings based solely on language.

Claude Levi-Strauss and Myth Structure

Mythical Narratives

Claude Levi-Strauss, a French anthropologist, investigated the concept of myth and its underlying structure, known as langue, which gives meaning to various examples. In his 1955 work, “The Structural Study of Myths,” he examined why myths from different cultures exhibit similarities, suggesting they share recurring themes that transcend cultural and temporal boundaries. He termed the components of myths as mythemes, which derive significance from their interconnections within the mythic framework.

Roland Barthes and Textual Interpretation

Roland Barthes, a French structuralist, proposed that understanding a text is akin to constructing a building. Writers strive to convey meaning, but it is ultimately the reader’s responsibility to interpret and extract meaning from the text. His significant contribution to structuralist theory is encapsulated in his 1970 work, “S/Z.”

Development of Structuralist Narratology

A group of structuralists known as narratologists expanded on Levi Strauss’s linguistic model, focusing on the study of narratives. Vladimir Propp, a key figure in this group, illustrated that a story’s meaning emerges from its overall structure, or langue, rather than from the themes of individual stories.

Jonathan Culler and Structuralist Poetics

In the mid-1970s, Jonathan Culler, a Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Cornell University, promoted structuralism in America, steering it in a new direction. In his 1975 work, “Structuralist Poetics: Structuralism, Linguistics, and the Study of Literature,” he contended that the linguistic models employed by narratologists are excessively abstract and concentrate too much on analyzing individual stories and poems. Instead, he advocated for examining the act of interpretation itself, shifting the focus from the text to the reader.

Conclusion

Philosophical Deconstruction

In summary, structuralism can be understood as a deeper and more thorough application of the reading methods proposed by Formalism, Russian formalism, and French Formalism. While these approaches offered ways to analyze a text, structuralism took these ideas and applied them with greater depth and consideration.

Debate on Structuralism

• The debate around 1968 questioned the applicability of structuralism to culture, art, and ideology, suggesting that literature was more complex than structuralism implied.
• Post-structuralism emerged to address the issue of determinism, arguing against the rigid frameworks that structuralism proposed.
• Post-structuralism acknowledged the limitations of structuralism and opened the field to other approaches.
• According to post-structuralism, time is always changing, and therefore, "all reading is misreading and all interpretations are misinterpretations," as stated by Jacques Derrida.
• Post-structuralist theories are hypothetical, suggesting that time is abstract and lacks inherent meaning; instead, meaning is found in meaninglessness.

Emergence of the Term

The term "post-structuralism" was first introduced by Jacques Derrida in 1966 during his paper " Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences " at the Johns Hopkins University Symposium. Derrida adapted this term from Martin Heidegger 's work " Basic Problems of Phenomenology " (1927).

• Derrida built upon Saussure 's concept that meaning in language arises from the differences between language signs, which became a foundational idea in deconstruction.
• He agreed with Saussure that the meanings of signifiers and signified can be understood through their relationships and differences, which are arbitrary and conventional.

Key Concepts Introduced by Derrida

Abstract Reflections

• Aporia: Aporia refers to a moment of uncertainty or indecision, where meaning appears to be absent. However, this very absence creates a form of meaning.
• Difference: This term signifies a split between two elements: "differ", which pertains to difference or the sign itself, and "defer", which relates to what something conveys, known as the signifier.
• Erasure: During the act of reading, it is crucial to focus on significant lines by highlighting them or using inverted commas, while disregarding less important lines.
• Transcendental Signified: The transcendental signified is often regarded as the central idea that underpins other meanings. It serves as an external reference point for philosophical concepts, providing ultimate meaning and reflecting a timeless centre of understanding. For example, while the self may change over time, water retains its properties by adapting to the shape of any container.
• Logocentrism: Derrida critiques Western metaphysics for its creation of various terms that attempt to define the concept of a 'Centre,' such as god, reason, origin, being, truth, end, and self. Each of these terms can function as a self-sufficient concept and serve as a transcendental signified. Derrida labels this quest for a centre as logocentrism, the belief in a final reality or truth that underpins our thoughts and actions. He suggests that we can never fully escape our logocentric thought patterns and traditional understanding of the universe.

6. Binary Oppositions:

Language Dynamics

• The establishment of one central idea naturally diverts attention from the other. Derrida proposes that Western philosophy is based on a system of binary oppositions, where the existence of one centre implies the presence of an opposite one. For example, God serves as a centre while mankind represents the opposing centre.

7. Phonocentrism:

• Derrida highlights the issues that arise with binary oppositions and seeks to deconstruct the structure they have created. In these pairs, one centre is always prioritized, while the opposing centre is devalued. Phonocentrism critiques the bias towards speech over writing, arguing that speech is often perceived as more immediate and significant. Derrida contends that spoken words convey more presence and meaning, whereas writing signifies absence.

8. Metaphysics of Presence and Absence:

• This concept encompasses ideas such as logocentrism, phonocentrism, and binary oppositions, along with other perspectives in Western thought regarding language and metaphysics. Speech, typically considered privileged, suggests presence despite its intangibility. On the other hand, writing, viewed as unprivileged and tangible, represents absence in its current form.

9. Supplement:

• This term refers to the unstable connection between elements in a binary operation. For instance, in the speech/writing opposition, writing serves as a supplement to speech and, in fact, replaces it. This concept is also known as 'arche-writing.'

10.

Literary Deconstruction

• Trace: This involves our ongoing effort to seek the meaning of something repeatedly and develop an idea to understand it better.
• Summing Deconstruction: This process examines parts of the text that are not immediately apparent. Readers explore the gaps in the text and work towards a new understanding.
• This implies that every reader interprets a literary text based on their own desires and rearranges the existing information to fit their understanding.
• In simpler terms, each reader constructs their own version of a text by questioning and rejecting (deconstructing) what the author has presented.