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Literary theory and practice VU > Russian Formalism and French Structuralism > Flashcards

Russian Formalism and French Structuralism Flashcards

Eagleton, Schklovsky, Roman Jacobson

1
Q

Modern literary theory focuses on

A

language and
literature as systems of signs

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2
Q

It challenges metaphysics, by showing that…

A

language ‘originates’ with its practice rather than
transcendental meaning.

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3
Q

The focus lies on how language….

A

works as a self-governing system in the present.

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4
Q

Parole

A

refers to utterance,
language as practice, speech.

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5
Q

Langue

A

is the system of rules
that underlies all utterances.

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6
Q

Langue (language as a shared system) possesses
aspects

A

of synchrony and diachrony.

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7
Q

Synchrony

A

is concerned with the present state of the
linguistic system.

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8
Q

Diachrony

A

is concerned with the historical changes
in the linguistic system.

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9
Q

For Saussure, diachrony

A

is non-existent for the
ordinary language user.

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10
Q

Diachronic suspension is

A

a necessity to be able to
analyse language as the knowledge and
practice of the speaker and community.

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11
Q

In divorcing synchrony and diachrony,

A

“authentic”
meaning is replaced by the meaning possessed for
a specific group at a specific time.

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12
Q

Outrage

A

derives from Latin ultra (“beyond”) and the
suffix –age, “going beyond the bounds”

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13
Q

Rage

A

derives from French rage and Latin rabies
(“madness”).

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14
Q

Linguistic behaviour

A

Language is a uniform system complete and
functioning at every period of existence.

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15
Q

The linguistic system is

A

made up of signs.

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16
Q

The sign is

A

diacritical, i.e. it consists of two
elements that form one inseparable unity.

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17
Q

Sign consists of the

A

signifier (Saussure’s
signifiant) or the sound-image + signified
(Saussure’s signifié) or the mental concept that is
connected with this sound image.

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18
Q

Referents are

A

real objects behind linguistic signs,
therefore outside the linguistic system and its
study.

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19
Q

The relationship between signifier and signified is

A

arbitrary, i.e. conventional.

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20
Q

Arbitratiness

A

Arbitrariness in human language refers to the fact that the meaning of linguistic signs is not predictable from its word form, nor is the word form dictated by its meaning/function.

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21
Q

The linguistic system operates on the basis of

A

relations of difference; it is a differential system.

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22
Q

Meaning results from

A

the differences between signifiers and is determined
by convention (e.g. the fat cat sat on the mat).

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23
Q

Linguistic elements

A

have a relational, not a substantial
value (i.e. defined negatively through relations to other
elements in the system).

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24
Q

Syntagmatic relations

A

are
concerned with positioning

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25
Q

Paradigmatic relations

A

are relations of selection
and substitution.

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26
Q

syntagm

A

is an orderly combination of
interacting elements which forms a meaningful
whole within a text.

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27
Q

paradigm

A

is a set of associated elements which
are all members of some defining category, but
in which each is significantly different.

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28
Q

Syntagmatic axis

A

is horizontal (Principle of co-presence)

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29
Q

Paradigmatic axis

A

vertical (principle of absence)

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30
Q

The signifier is

A

non-reducible to the vehicle of
meaning because it cannot function
autonomously, without the system.

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31
Q

The Russian Formalists were

A

a community of
revolutionary scholars and intellectuals critical of
naïve and empiricist readings of literature.

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32
Q

Formalism is interested

A

not in meaning as such,
but in how language is used so as to hinder our
arrival at meaning.

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33
Q

Formalism focus is on

A

how the text is put together

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34
Q

Formalism is an attempt

A

“to create an independent
science of literature which studies specifically
literary material.”

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35
Q

Early Formalist agenda aimed to define

A

the
properties of literature as distinct from other
discourses

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36
Q

Literariness

A

is defined as being the feature that makes a given work a literary work

37
Q

Literariness entails

A

a specific use of linguistic
material.

38
Q

For early Formalism, literariness is

A

the aspect of
verbal communication which interferes with
the processes of meaning.

39
Q

Formalist analysis evolved by gradually shifting its
attention….

A

from form to technique to function

40
Q

Shklovsky conceptualised

A

the
fundamental tenets
of early Formalism.

41
Q

For Shklovsky, literary language
possesses the quality

A

of defamiliarisation

42
Q

Defamiliarisation

A

is a characteristic of poetic
language, which makes us aware of the value and
quality of the linguistic material that appears to
be familiar.

43
Q

The abundance of metaphors…

A

enable the
transcendence of grief through language.

44
Q

Parody

A

lays bare the artistic
device and makes it perceptible
to the audience, thus exposing
its conventionality and
allowing for defamiliarisation.

45
Q

Deviation

A

in the poetic structure of the limerick
creates a disruption of expectations and
becomes a source of surprise and humour.

46
Q

Limerick

A

a humorous five-line poem with a rhyme scheme AABBA

47
Q

Roman Jakobson

A

The most influential
thinker of the
Formalist school. He worked in
Prague in the early 1920s
and later moved to the
USA.

48
Q

For Jacobson, ordinary, prosaic, practical speech is …

A

a heterogeneous phenomenon, (consisting of
dialects, sociolects, functional styles ,etc.)

49
Q

Literariness is premised on language in…

A

a peculiarly
self-aware relationship to itself.

50
Q

Poetic language foregrounds …

A

verbal signs so that
they become more palpable.

51
Q

Palpable

A

(of a feeling or atmosphere) so intense as to seem almost tangible.

52
Q

Poetic function

A

is keyed to language as displaying its
own aesthetic qualities.

53
Q

Literature is concerned with….

A

language as and for its
own sake. (cf. Kant’s notion of purposeless
purpose)

54
Q

Paronomasia

A

is the use of similar-sounding, but
distinct signifiers to establish semantic links.

55
Q

Poetic function is displayed

A

as phonological
affinity becomes suggestive of semantic
correspondence.

56
Q

Formalism thinks of literature as…

A

a system of
elements in relation to one another and the
whole system. The text is a formal system to be examined in
structural terms.

57
Q

Formalists attempt to overcome …

A

the dualism of
form vs. content.

58
Q

In Formalist theory of signification…

A

form
determines content.

59
Q

Parallelism

A

establishes symmetry and asymmetry in
formal elements; it activates all linguistic strata.

60
Q

Repetition

A

brings out the significance of recurring
formal elements.

61
Q

Parallelism and repetition connect….

A

formal
equivalence to semantic unity.

62
Q

Poetic function transposes the…

A

principle of
equivalence from the paradigmatic axis to the
syntagmatic.

63
Q

Rhyming scheme, linguistic devices in this poem are?:
Into my heart an air that kills
From yon far country blows:
What are those blue remembered hills,
What spires, what farms are those?

A

Rhyming scheme: ABAB.
Imagery - creates vivid imagery of distant land, described as ‘far country’
Personification - ‘an air that kills’ personifies the air as something deadly
Assonance - the repetition of the long ‘o’ sound in ‘blows’ and ‘those’, which creates a sense of unity and musicality in the stanza

64
Q

The Prague school of linguistics enabled

A

the
transition from Formalism to Structuralism.

65
Q

Structuralist analysis derives from

A

the Saussurean
conception of language as “a set of signifying
relations sufficient unto itself.”

66
Q

structuralism

A

“a mode of analysis of cultural
artifacts which originated in the methods of
modern linguistics

67
Q

A binary structure

A

is the basic unit of meaning.

68
Q

Structuralist analysis focuses on

A

combinations of
signs in terms of binary oppositions.

69
Q

Structuralist assumption is

A

hat meaning is
determined by differences between structures, not
structures themselves.

70
Q

Structuralism brackets the text off from…

A

what is
not text and isolates the text from non-aesthetic
phenomena. The text is conceived as an immanent structure, a
unified system.

71
Q

Formalism transformed….

A

the study of poetry.

72
Q

Structuralism revolutionised

A

the study of narrative.

73
Q

Narrative consists of

A

plot and story.

74
Q

Story is the sequence of

A

events as they have taken
place.

75
Q

Plot is

A

the narrative form in which the events are
presented.

76
Q

Function is

A

an act of character defined from the
point of view of its significance for the course of
the action”

77
Q

Characters are defined by

A

what they do rather than what they are. (e.g. the
hero, the false hero, the villain, the helper, the
donor, the sought-for person, the dispatcher)

78
Q

Functions (syntagmatic elements) are defined

A

by
their unchanging position in the order of the story.

79
Q

Literary competence is

A

the “grammar” of the
literary system that permits the reader to convert
linguistic sequences into literary structures and
meanings.

80
Q

Structuralist poetics aims

A

to make explicit the
underlying system which makes literary effects
possible.

81
Q

Literary competence enables us

A

to find “the
properties of literary texts that make them
aesthetically meaningful.”

82
Q

Competent reading (often with guidance)
develops

A

“a sense of the possibilities of
literature.

83
Q

Meanings are determined…

A

not by readers, but by
the institution of literature.

84
Q

What does analysis of the text serve as for both Formalists and structuralists

A

For both Formalists and structuralists, analysis
of the text works as a way of understanding the
system of language in relation to which the text
gains meaning.

85
Q

Analysis of the text is considered to be….

A

neutral,
disinterested and innocent of ideology.

86
Q

Like the New Critics, Formalists are

A

interested in
what sets literary discourse apart from other
discourses

86
Q

Formalist analysis developed by

A

shifting its
attention from form to technique to linguistic
function in literary texts.

87
Q

Even though primarily working with narrative,
structuralism, like Formalism

A

approaches the text
as a system of formal relations.

88
Q

In structuralist terms, our ability to interpret literary
texts depends on our

A

“literary competence”, i.e. the
extent to which we have internalised the operative
logic of the literary system.

Literary theory and practice VU (15 decks)

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