Essay on Structuralism as a Literary Movement - 2595 Words

Structuralism as a literary movement first emerged in the 1960s in the field of linguistics. It expanded to other areas of studies as well by philosophers such as Louis Althusser in Marxist theory, Roland Barthes in literary studies, Jacques Lacan in psychoanalysis, Gerard Genette in narratology, and Claude Levi-Strauss in anthropology. This paper focuses on Strauss’s Structure and Dialectics, Genette’s Five Types of Transtextuality, and Barthes’s The Death of the Author. Also, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) is taken as an example to explain these structuralist methods. Ferdinand de Saussure, founder of structuralist linguistics, defined language as a â€Å"system of signs.† He proposed the†¦show more content†¦The superiority in binaries is established by common values and beliefs shared by majority of people in the society. In Strauss’s â€Å"genetic model† of myth he presents twofold opposition such as male/female, life/ death, and elder/younger. This twofold opposition argues that the relationship between these two terms within the boundaries of a myth or social system determines their whole meaning. In literature, it tends to emphasize the coherence of a text by reducing complex phenomenon to simple conventional elements which allows meaning to be constructed. The narrative analysis of literary text is highly influenced by structuralism. According to Jean-Marie Benoist: An analysis is structural if, and only if, it displays the content as a model, i.e., if it can isolate a formal set of elements and relations in terms of which it is possible to argue without entering upon the significance of the given content1. Gerard Genette is a narratologist associated with structuralism. In Palimpsests: Literature in the Second Degree, he proposed five elements of transtextual relationships which solely focuses on form and not content. The first type is ‘intertextuality’, which Genette discusses in a narrower sense of the relationship between one text and other texts. It is basically the â€Å"presence of one text within another.† Unlike Julia Kristeva who mentions the three fold aspect ofShow MoreRelatedStructuralistic Criticism and Gerard Genette1053 Words   |  5 PagesGerard Genette writes at the outset in his essay ‘Structuralism and Literary Criticism’ that methods developed for the study of one discipline could be satisfactorily applied to the study of other discipline as well. This is what he calls â€Å"intellectual bricolage ’, borrowing a term from Claude Levi-Strauss. This is precisely so, so far as structuralism is concerned. Structuralism is the n ame given to Saussure’s approach to language as a system of relationship. But it is applied also to the studyRead More5 Critical Approaches to Literature853 Words   |  4 Pagesprecede and follow it in a particular usage, ulterance, or narrative. 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(‘Ideology, Gender and Language’) What is the era of discussion here? †¢ U will take about literature and gender ( feminism ),How the literary text is analyzed based on the way in which gender is presented textually. †¢ It focuses on how feminity ( womans self realization , womans unique self and her specially female understanding and experience . †¢ U will discuss the female style