Part 1 - Introduction
Structuralism- emphasis on language or formal properties of texts, their structures and frames in specific genre like novel or poetry.
It is an extension of new criticism
New criticism- term taken from the work of John Crowe Ransom
Major proponents- Cleanth Brooks, Robert Penn Warren, William Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley, R.P Blackmur and I.A Richards.
Their view- author’s intension behind a work- less important that the meaning generated by the language, style and formal features of the text.
Wimsatt and Beardsley’s essay- ‘The Intentional Fallacy’ (1954)- there is no need for author’s biography or history for understanding a text. The meaning that the text will generate is all that is needed.
Autotelic text- autonomous existence of literary text. Author’s background – irelevent to understanding a text.
New criticism- paid close attention to the language of a text- its form, style, devices used etc.
Major focus – on poetry.
Famous works:
1) William Empson’s Seven types of Ambiguity (1930);
(2) Cleanth Brooks’ The Well Wrought Urn (1947)
3) I.A Richards Practical Criticism (1929), Principals of Literary Criticism (1924)
(analysis of poem started by him)
Structuralism : relationship between various elements within self- contained, well organized structure of a text to understand the manner in which a text produces meaning. Focuses on elements like- voice, character, setting and their combination.
To be continued-
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