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Literary Criticism

Literary Criticism. Class #2. The distinctive doctrine of structuralism: “the belief that the individual units of any system have meaning only by virtue of their relations to one another” (Eagleton, Literary Theory , 94). An example:

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Literary Criticism

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  1. Literary Criticism Class #2

  2. The distinctive doctrine of structuralism: “the belief that the individual units of any system have meaning only by virtue of their relations to one another” • (Eagleton, Literary Theory, 94)

  3. An example: • “a boy leaves home after quarrelling with his father, sets out on a walk through the forest in the heat of the day and falls down a deep pit.

  4. The father comes out in search of his son, peers down the pit, but is unable to see him because of the darkness.

  5. At that moment the sun has risen to a point directly overhead, illuminates the pit’s depths with its rays and allows the father to rescue his child.

  6. After a joyous reconciliation, they return home together.” • (Eagleton, Literary Theory, 95)

  7. sun high father high home revolt forest reconciliation middle middle boy low pit low

  8. Structuralism “brackets off the actual contentof the story and concentrate entirely on the form.” • (Eagleton, Literary Theory, 95)

  9. Roland Barthes

  10. S/Z • 1970 • An analysis of Balzac’s story “Sarrasine”

  11. The proairetic code (1) • the code of plot • provides indications of actions. • anticipation of an action’s resolution; any action initiated must be completed.

  12. Barthe’s example • Barthes quotes "Sarrasine"-"'To be loved by her [Zambinella], or to die!' Such was the decree Sarrasine passed upon himself"-and "decodes" this as the following action: "'To decide'"-"to propose an alternative" (117).

  13. The hermeneutic code (2) • Unanswered questions // puzzles // enigmas which provide narrative suspense.

  14. Barthe’s example • "The title raises a question: What is Sarrasine? A noun? A name? A thing? A man? A woman?" (17).

  15. The cultural code (3) • “examines the stock of social knowledge on which the work draws.”

  16. Barthe’s example • Sarrasine discovers the truth about Zambinella after referring to him as a "she" while talking with the Roman Prince Chigi. "'Where are you from?'", the Prince asks him. "'Has there ever been a woman on the Roman stage? And don't you know about the creatures who sing female roles in the Papal States?'" This evokes the reference code, Barthes asserts: "History of music in the Papal States" (184).

  17. The semic/connotative code (4) • Thematic elements embedded in character

  18. Barthe’s example • The title "has an additional connotation, that of femininity, which will be obvious to any French-speaking person, since that language automatically takes the final 'e' as a specifically feminine linguistic property, particularly in the case of a proper name whose masculine form (Sarrazin) exists in French onomastics" (17).

  19. The symbolic code (5) • consists of contrasts and pairings related to the most binary polarities —male and female, night and day, good and evil, life and art, and so on. (Barry 51)

  20. Barthe’s example • Barthes quotes the lines recounting the engrossment of the narrator's companion in the painting of Adonis when she learns the model for it was a relative of Mme de Lanty. The narrator feels spurned: "I had the pain of seeing her rapt in the contemplation of this figure...Forgotten for a painting!" This evokes the symbolic code, Barthes concludes: "Marriage of the castrato (here, the union of the young woman and the castrato is euphorized: we know that the symbolic configuration is not subject to a diegetic development: what has exploded catastrophically can return peacefully united)" (78). • http://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/elljwp/en5102week2.htm

  21. “On Reading Soaps” • Robert C. Allen

  22. Video-cinematic code (1) • “In the soap opera the ‘zero-degree’ style of Hollywood films has reached its apex” (237).

  23. Codes of the soap opera form (2) • 1. time: prolonged plot • 2. space: an interior world • 3. acting: facial expressions more important than dialogues

  24. Codes of the soap opera form (2) • 4. multiple, intersecting narratives • 5. *non-diegetic music • 6. commercials as a structuring device • 7. inter-episode and intra-episode redundancy

  25. Non-diegeticsound • Sound coming from the a source outside story space • Sound whose source is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present in the action:  • narrator's commentary • sound effects which is added for the dramatic effect • mood music

  26. Textual codes (3) = diegesis? • Each soap “sets up its own set of expectations, its own parameters in terms of content and style recognized by the audience and used by them to derive meaning.” • Example: interpersonal relationships

  27. Intertextual codes (4) • “a level of reference is produced by reference to another text or set of texts” (238).

  28. Ideological codes • “The viewer constantly compares soap opera actions with ‘what should’ happen in such a situation . . . in terms of the viewer’s own world of experience and values.” (238)

  29. Are soaps open or closed texts?

  30. Roland Barthes • Mythologies • Reference: http://orac.sund.ac.uk/~os0tmc/myth.htm

  31. Language =denotation Myth =connotations =assumptions =ideology

  32. http://www.sunderland.ac.uk/~os0tmc/culture/myth3.htm

  33. language Myth

  34. Ideology • a socially constructed reality which is passed of as `natural‘ • To discover “myth” is to demystify.

  35. http://www.sund.ac.uk/~os0tmc/contem/women.htm

  36. Semiotics or Semiology • Definition: the study of signs • “It links messages (in individual works or discourses) . . . to their respective codes, the larger system which permits individual expression—from langue to parole, that is” (Guerin et al, A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature, 244)

  37. Culture Study • Culture can be “read” like a language. • Culture “is made up of many structural networks” which “operate through ‘codes’ as a system of signs” (Barry 47).

  38. A signifying system • “any organized and structured set of signs which carries cultural meanings” (Barry 47).

  39. Two Examples

  40. Skin Whitening Ads

  41. “一白遮三醜，美白成為眾家美女對美的要求，該怎麼由黑反白呢﹖” • “「美白」真有那麼重要嗎？由美白市場每年持續增長的驚人消費數字即可看出端倪。楊志賢醫師說，在現今的社會中，「美白」對女性已不僅是感官上的美醜，擁有白淨無暇的肌膚，不但可以增加自我肯定與自信，甚至還可以改善人際關係與社會接受度，進而重視自身的價值以及創造出身心和諧的生活。” • (中華日報醫藥網《2005/06/07 18:14》) http://www.cdncare.com.tw/20050608/med/yybj/733700002005060718141546.htm

  42. 俗話說：一瘦多婀娜、一白遮百醜，妳想由【黑美人】的稱呼、搖身一變為【白雪公主】的封號嗎？妳平常是否就為肌膚黯沉的問題而煩惱呢？愛美是人的天性、你是愛白還是愛黑呢？ 俗話說：一瘦多婀娜、一白遮百醜，妳想由【黑美人】的稱呼、搖身一變為【白雪公主】的封號嗎？妳平常是否就為肌膚黯沉的問題而煩惱呢？愛美是人的天性、你是愛白還是愛黑呢？  • http://myweb.hinet.net/home9/spa-girl/fat/05.htm

  43. 肌膚的白，要白得健康、有彈性，要白得緊實、有光澤，才能凸顯立體的五官，散發如晨曦般的亮白與張力，綻放令人為之一亮的耀眼光芒。肌膚的白，要白得健康、有彈性，要白得緊實、有光澤，才能凸顯立體的五官，散發如晨曦般的亮白與張力，綻放令人為之一亮的耀眼光芒。 • http://www.marieclaire.com.tw/event/040413/event_930413_k.htm

  44. 在這樣一個可以盡情暴露的季節，除了一身緊實的肌肉之外，膚色也是關乎美不美的重要指標。小吊帶、抹胸、熱褲和小短裙覆蓋外的肌膚如果是健康白皙的，那才叫養眼。中國有句話叫未雨綢繆，而且美白也不是一蹴而就的事情，當初夏的陽光剛剛顯出一點熱力時，就宣告這場美白聖戰正式開始。 • http://www.nervex.com/yukibichi/ladyface/200406080138.htm

  45. Suntan Lotion Ads

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