Definitions Flashcards
1
Q
Literary Theories Definition of ‘literature’
A
- broad vs. narrow
- normative vs. descriptive
- extrinsic vs. intrinsic
2
Q
literary communication system
A
Sender/Author > Message/Code/Literary Text > Receiver/Reader
3
Q
the 6 functions of language
A
- emotive
- conative
- phatic
- poetic
- metalingual
- referential
3
Q
Roman Jakobsen’s Communication Model
A
> a communicative situation can be analyzed into: -> six functions of language
can be applied to literature: Literature IS communication
addresser and addressee need to share a code (precondition)
4
Q
emotive
A
(addresser) - state something “he makes me so nervous.”
5
Q
conative
A
(addressee) - motivate to do something “Leave me alone!”
6
Q
phatic
A
(medium of contact) - establishing communication “Hello, can you hear me?”
7
Q
poetic
A
(message) - focus on the message “Fridays For Future”
8
Q
metalingual
A
(code) - language can be (non-) verbal expressive “Do you know what I mean?”
9
Q
referential
A
(context/subject) - “The famous Harry Potter book series consists of seven books in total.”
10
Q
Literal vs. figurative
A
literal: actual example
figurative: metaphorical example to show your meaning
11
Q
Denotative vs. Connotative
A
- Denotation: actual meaning of the word
- Connotation: the association made with the word
Example:
- Denotation: snake (meaning of the word)
- Connotation: devil/poisonous
12
Q
Intertextuality
A
interconnectiveness of texts
- complex
13
Q
Ferdinand de Saussure: semiotics (study of the sign)
A
> signifier (sketch of a tree) oben im Kreis
orthographic version of tree = signified
-> connection = arbitrary conventionally
14
Q
Discourse vs. Story
A
Discourse: How is the story told?
Story: What is told in the story?
15
Q
Taxonomy
A
Science of classification
- Literary History and Periodization
- Genres
- Stylistic Devices
- Languages
- Nationality
- Gender
16
Q
Genre
A
Three main genres:
- Drama (comedy, tragedy, history play,…)
- Narrative (short story, novel, fairytale,…)
- Poetry (sonnet, ballad, ode,…)
17
Q
Paradigmatic/Syntagmatic
(Dichotomy)
A
Paradigmatic: exchangeability of (linguistic) elements
Syntagmatic: compability of elements
18
Q
Nature and characteristics of poetry (6)
A
Tendency towards:
- relative brevity (mostly short)
- compression of thoughts
- musicality
- structural and phonological complexity
- morphological and syntactic complexity
- deviation from everyday language
19
Q
Structural elements (Poetry)
A
Stanza, verse,…
20
Q
Stylistic devices (Poetry)
A
- phonological devices (rhyme, metre, alliteration,…)
- syntactic devices (parallelism,…)
- morphological devices (anaphora,…)
- semantic devices (simile, metaphor,…)
21
Q
Phonological figures
A
- Alliteration: following words starting with the same sound/letter
- Rhyme: a consonance between all phonemes following the last stressed vowel
- Sull/perfect/true Rhyme: exact consonance between of phonemes in the rhyming syllables
22
Q
Rhyme schemes
A
Rhyming couplets > aa bb cc
Cross rhyme > abab cdcd
Embracing rhyme > abba cddc
Chain rhyme > aba bcb cdc
Tail rhyme > aab ccb
23
Q
Stanzas Poetry
A
Couplets (2 lines)
Tercets
Quatrain
Quintet
Sestet
Septet
Octave (8 lines)
24
Syntactic figures (poetry)
- Ellipsis: words being left out of a sentence, but it is still understandable
- Inversion: reversal of normal word order
- Parallelism: succession of sentences of same structure
25
Morphological figures (poetry)
- Anaphora: repitition of words at the beginning of successive clauses
- Epiphora: repitition of words at the end of successive clauses
26
Semantic figures
Most significant:
- metaphor
- simile
- metonymy
- synechdoche
> all types of metaphors but specialized versions
27
Metaphor
> something stands for something else
“Eye of heaven” = the sun
28
Metonymy
> something casually/logically connected stands for something else
“The pen (writing) is mightier than the sword (war)”
29
Synechdoche
> a metonymy but a part stands for the whole
- sail = ship
- motor = car
- hands = workers
30
Simile
> comparison that is shown by the use of “like”, “as”,…
“Thou art like a toad, ugly and venomous.”
31
Metre
> while reading a poem you look at the phonological syllables - they can either be stressed (emphasized) or unstressed = group them into feet
32
Important metrical feet
- Trochee: stressed - unstressed (e.g. metre, double)
- Iamb: unstressed - stressed (e.g. destroy, compare)
- dactyl: stressed - unstressed - unstressed (e.g. pleasantly, literature)
- anapeast: unstressed - unstressed - stressed (e.g. seventeen, understand)
- spondee: stressed - stressed (e.g. football, heartbreak)
34
Communication model (poetry)
Intra textual level: Characters & story (fictive speaker, lyric persona) > subject matter of speech > fictive addressee
Extra textual level: Narrative transmission (real-author; real-reader)
35
Lyric “Thou”
Fictive addressee in the text (not the real reader)
36
Lyric persona/ Lyrical “I”
Fictive speaker in the text (not the real author)
37
Explicit vs. Implicit (poetry)
- Explicit: direct, fully stated, clearly perceptible, feelings and thoughts > ouvert
- Implicit: hidden, indirect, does not appear as an individualized lyric persona > covert
38
English vs. Italian sonnet
English: Shakespeare
- 3 quatrains / 1 couplet
- abab cdcd gg
- Volta before climax in couplet
Italian: Petrach
- 1 octave / 1 sestet
- abba abba cdccdc
- colta before octave
> two typical features of a sonnet:
- 14 lines
- subject: love, beauty
39
Volta (poetry)
Turn of thought within a sonnet/poem
40
Plot vs. story (narrative)
- Plot: sequence of events + cause (causality)
> “the king died and then the queen died of grief”
- Story: sequence of events (chronology)
> “the king died”
41
Events (narrative)
- smallest unit of story/ plot
- are actions that change a given situation in the story
- people’s action forward brings about change
- not always equally important
42
Story time vs. discourse time (narrative)
- story time: time it takes to narrate (time that passes in the story)
- discourse time: time covered by the narrated event (time that it takes me to read the story)
43
Time Analysis (narrative)
3 aspects: duration, order, frequency
44
Time analysis: duration (narrative)
Story time = st / discourse time = dt
- summary: dt < st
- scene: dt = st
- stretch: dt > st
- ellipsis: no dt vs. only st
- pause: only dt vs. no st
45
Time analysis: order (narrative)
Chronological vs. Anachronological
- flash back
- flash forward
46
Time analysis: frequency (narrative)
- singulative: event happens once
- repetitive: event happens once, but is referred to various times
- herative: event happens multiple times
47
Point of view (narrative)
- external vs. internal
- narrator vs. character
48
Modes of Representation (narrative)
- showing (mimesis): little or no narrational mediation, overtness or presence (no narrator)
- telling (diegesis): narrator in overt control of action presentation
49
Representation of events (narrative)
Mimetic
- direct discourse
- free indirect discourse
- indirect discourse
- report/summary
- comment
Diegetic
50
Representation of consciousness (narrative)
‘purely’ mimetic
- free direct discourse
- direct discourse
- free indirect discourse
- indirect discourse
- diegetic summary
‘purely’ diegetic
51
Examples:
direct discourse
indirect discourse
free indirect discourse
- direct: “she said, ‘I love Literary Studies’ ”
- indirect: she said that she loved literary studies
- free indirect: she loved literary studies
52
Narrative Situation: Stanzel (narrative)
- 1st person
- authorial
- figural
53
1st person Narrator
- involved in the story
- “narrating I” / “experiencing I”
- involved as protagonist (I-as-protagonist) or peripheral character (I-as-witness)
- narrative situation: limited
> no sight into the thoughts/feelings of the other characters
54
Authorial Narrator
- situated outside the world of characters (god-like view)
- present themselves as fictive individuals (by comments, moral judgements, etc. on events)
- typical features: flashforwards, generalizations
- narrative situation: unlimited
> omniscience (insight into the internal processes of all characters and familiarity with their thoughts and feelings
> omnipresence (invisible and fictive presence in all places where characters are alone, as well as presence in several locations at the same time)
> able to see the entire course of narrative events in the past, present and future
55
Figural Narrator
- generally recedes so far, that the narrative transmissions are barely noticeable
- narrated world is presented from the perspective of a character who is involved in the action > ‘reflector’
- gives the reader the impression of having a direct insight into the thoughts and feelings of characters
- internal perspective > doesn’t have the ability to see the entire course of events (like authorial narrator)
56
Genette's Structuralist Taxonomy Narrative voice
- narrative voice: Who speaks?
- extradiegetic: first level narrator
- intradiegetic: no first level narrator
(diegtic: telling / extra: outside / intra: inside)
- heterodiegetic: narrator is not part of the story
- autodiegetic: narrator is part of the story and protagonist
- homodiegetic: narrator is part of the story but not protagonist
(hetero: different / auto: self / homo: same)
> two terms needed to analyze the narrative voice
57
Genette's Structuralist Taxonomy Focalization
- Focalizer = subject of the verbs of perception, thinking, feeling, remembering
- Focalization: who sees? > can change within a story
> internal: narrative events presented from a character’s perspective (observer knows as much as character(s))
- fixed: whole duration follows one character
- variable: switches from character to character
- multiple: one & same story is told from multiple perspectives
> external: narrative events presented from narrator‘s perspective (observer knows less than character(s))
58
Short Story Theory (E.A.Poe) Narrative
- unity of plot
- length/time
- totality of tone
- limitation of place
> unity of effect
59
How to write a short story?
- choose desired impression
- pick a climax
- consider length/tone
- pick a place
- determine necessary events
> unity of effect
60
William Shakespeare
1564 - 1616
- most important/popular author
61
Types/Genres of Drama
most popular:
- comedy
- tragedy
- history
62
Comedy (Drama)
- happy end
- mostly ends in marriage
63
Tragedy (Drama)
- sad/bad end
- mostly ends in death
64
History (Drama)
- not really popular
65
Drama to Theatre
- Author < > Dramatic text < > Reader
- Theatre/Apparatus < > Performance text < > audience
66
Communication Model Narrative texts
- Levels of Communication
- extra-textual level of communication: empirical author > empirical reader
- intra-textual level of communication I+II: internal communication system: character communication
67
How does drama compensate for the lack of mediator?
- through dramatic text (primary and secondary) and theatrical text
- plurimediality
> primary: what actors say on stage
> secondary: everything that's not spoken, helps organize the play
68
Plurimediality
- usage of a lot of different medias/codes
69
What is a chorus?
> a character who is not part of the play is introduced to the audience
70
epic tendencies (Drama)
> character talks directly to the audience "breaks" the fourth wall between external and internal communication
71
Codes and Channels of Theatre Communication
- Channel: visual or acoustical
- Code: verbal or non-verbal
- Sender: Character or stage
- acoustical & verbal > linguistic or paralinguistic > character or stage
72
from text to play (Drama)
- Theatre/Acting Company: commissions the writer
- Writer: writes the foul papers, then reviews these and makes a fair copy
- Foul Paper/Fair Copy: given to Master of Revels
- Master of Revels: censors the Performance (decides if it'll be played/printed)
- Theatre/Acting Company: performs the play OR
- Printer: prints the play/text as Quarto or Folio
73
Different Types of Speech
- Dialogical Speech
- Monological Speech
> Monologue
> Soliloquy
- Asides
> Monological Aside
> Aside ad spectators
> dialogical aside
74
Dialogical Speech
> two or more characters talking to each other
75
Monological Speech
- character talks for an extended amount of time, alone
> Monologue: character is NOT alone on the stage, other characters are there
> Soliloquy: character is alone on stage
76
Asides
- character breaks out (i.e. to the audience)
> Monological aside
> aside ad spectators (talks to one character
> Dialogical aside (talks to one character and suddenly breaks out to talk to another [without the first character hearing him])
> the character he originally talks to, doesn't hear him
77
Discrepant Awareness (Drama)
- superior audience awareness (dramatic irony > the reader/audience knows way more than most of the characters)
- inferior audience awareness > the reader/audience knows less than one or more of the characters
78
Figure conceptions (Drama)
- static vs. dynamic
- one-dimensional vs. multidimensional
79
static vs. dynamic
Figure Conceptions (Drama)
- static: character stays the same the whole time
- dynamic: characters views, etc. change/develop over time
80
one-dimensional vs. multidimensional
Figure Conceptions (Drama)
- one-dimensional: there's not much to the character
- multidimensional: the character is more complex
81
Characterisation (Drama)
- Figural (explicit) > Character communication
- Figural (implicit) > character's presence
- Authorial
82
Figural (explicit) Character communication Characterisation (Drama)
- Self-Commentary
> Monologue or
> Dialogue
- Commentary by others
> Monologue (before 1st appearance/after 1st appearance)
> Dialogue (in presentia/in absentia)
83
Figural (implicit) Character's Presence Characterisation (Drama)
- non-verbal Characterisation
> stature, facial expressions, mask, costume, setting
- verbal characterisation
> voice, rhetoric, register (dialect, jargon,...)
84
Authorial Characterisation (Drama)
- Explicit
> Paratexts, speaking names (Names with a meaning, ex.: Severus Snape > Snape = Snake symbol of Slytherin)
- Implicit
> Contrasts and Parallels in the configuration (i.e. form of texts)
> high class characters speak in verses (Gedichtsform), low class characters speak in prose (Blockabsatz)
85
Exposition (Drama)
- transmission of information to do with the events and situations from the past that determine the dramatic present
> referential function (mostly related to the context of a message)
86
Dramatic Introduction (Drama)
- used to simulate the audience's attention and to attune it to the fictional world of the drama
> phatic function
> example: a chorus (not part of the play) introduces the fictional world
87
Isolated vs. Integrated Exposition/Dramatic Introduction
- isolated: not part of the play/characters
- integrated: a character of the play
88
monological vs. dialogical
exposition/dramatic introduction?
- monological: character (person talks alone)
- dialogical: character/person talks with someone else
89
Classical 5-Act Structure Drama
G. Freytag
1. Act: Exposition
2. Act: Rising Action (complication)
3. Act: Climax and peripeteia (reversal)
4. Act: Falling Action (unravelling/untyping)
5. Act: catastrophe or denouement
90
Dramatic Conventions and concepts
Aristotele's Unities
- Unity of Action
- Unity of Time
- Unity of Place
> not all plays stick to these unities
91
Unity of Action
(Aristotele)
> every part is important to the outcome and effect of the play
92
Unity of Time
(Aristotele)
> a play can't cover more than a day
93
Unity of Place
(Aristotele)
- ideally only one place
> you can't switch between several places during a play
94
Aristotele's Conception of Tragedy
- usually has a tragic hero
> a man whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity but by some error
95
Classical Conception according to Aristoteles
- hubris
- hamartia
- peripeteia
- anagnorisis
- catharis
96
hubris
(Classical Conception Aristotele's)
- refers to the tragic hero at the beginning of the play
> over - confident
97
hamartia
(Classical Conception Aristotele's)
- translates to: tragic flaws
> hero has some 'mistakes'
98
peripeteia
(Classical Conception Aristotele's)
- at some point of the play there's a reversal of fortune
99
anagnorisis
(Classical Conception Aristotele's)
- change from ignorance to knowledge of own downfall
100
catharis
(Classical Conception Aristotele's)
- when reading a Tragedy we experience pity and fear
> trough thi: purification of these emotions
101
Genette and Stanzel -narrative Situation
- First-person narrative situation:
> homodiegetic narrator = I-as-witness
> autodiegetic narrator = I-as-protagonist
- Authorial narrative situation
> overt heterodiegetic narrator
- Figural narrative situation
> covert heterodiegetic narrator
102
Intratextual Levels of Communication
- Frame narrative
- Embedded narrative (story within the story)
- Extradiegetic narrator
> narrator of first-degree narrative/frame narrative
- Intradiegetic narrator
> narrator of second-degree narrative/embedded narrative
