A Theory of Literary Structuralism (in Henry James) (original) (raw)
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The present oeuvre explores the nature of stylistic choices that markedly appear in the literary discourse of Henry James in order to exemplify the desired aims of the author embedded within these choices along with the impressions these stylistic choices create on the mind of the reader in a multidimensional framework of Psychostylistics. Psychostylistics in its Postmodern orientation celebrates diversity in terms of narrative perspective, stylistic preferences, fictional substance and the entities of the writer, the text, and the reader. Keeping with this thesis, Psychostylistics endows not only with theoretical standpoint but a method to examine and investigate 'style' in the backdrop of narrative psychology in literary discourse. The theoretical assumption operational here is that 'any conceptualization of a fictional world presupposes both a world to refer to, and a mind through which that world is reflected' (Leech & Short, 1984:187). The formal design of the study is based on Roger Fowler's theory of 'mind style'. Practical analysis has been done by applying the properties of Bocketing 1994's model of Psychostylistics eclectically and homogeneously. The main focus has been on focalization techniques, art of characterization, transitivity patterns, manifold narrative perspectives and marked stylistic idiosyncrasies resulting essentially as part of writer's particular mind style. Likewise, the mutual interplay of language and consciousness has also been appraised to reveal how narrative perspective is counterbalanced by stylistic choices that direct the consciousness of the reader towards an apposite interpretation of the narrated phenomenon.
A Theory of Realistic Representation in Henry James
Studies in Literature and Language, 2012
A dimension of the later style of the fiction of Henry James is its deep concern not with selves and identities but with images and appearances. These works typically picture the character in in-between situations where he is recognized not as he really is but as he shows himself, as he appears in projected situations. However, another aspect of James's later style is the magnificence of the appearance, because appearance is the outcome of reciprocal spaces which in turn signify vivified and productive relations among the agents of the narrative. These facades of James's later style render it a space for a new mode of realistic representation which depends on a new kind of verisimilitude, the story in the service of language, and consciousness dramatization. And the watershed of the Jamesian verisimilitude is the work of successive centers of consciousness from where the tale is narrated. In addition, to show the deepest layers of the human soul, James's narrator can occasionally go beyond the frontiers of language and take use of the nonverbal structures of culture also. This mode of fiction mainly wants to exhibit the consciousness in the process of evolution. And it shows "the real" not as what has so far been considered as real, but as what emerges in this modern analytical consciousness.
International journal for innovation education and research, 2022
This article aims to analyze the short story Venha ver o pôr do sol, by Lygia Fagundes Telles, in order to understand how the compositional aspects of narrative contribute to the meaning of the text. Based on researches of authors like Saraiva, Eagleton, Salvatore D'Onofrio, Lygia Leite and Dino Del Pino, this study proposes a relation between literature and representation, presents the concept of narrative and, from its compositional aspects, analyzes the story, making inferences about the context. Therefore, it can be seen that the proper analysis of the aspects from the text allows for relevant reflections about its content.
Structuralism as a Literary Theory: An Overview
AFRREV LALIGENS: An International Journal of Language, Literature and Gender Studies, 2012
The 20th century is characterized by the proliferation of ideas. The ideas so developed and harnessed permeated all fields of human endeavor from epistemology, metaphysics and logic. Every field has registered one form of breakthrough or another. In literature, many literary theories are developed and become the gateway to textual interpretation and analysis. One of such is the Theory of Structuralism. It is a plethora of theories with different analytical tools. Most of these subscribe to binary opposition as the ideal was of textual interpretation. Structuralism attempts a scientific way of arriving at the text unmindful of details. The theory announces the 'death of the author' while equally dismissing the reader as unimportant. This paper attempts an insight into the theory of structuralism with the aim of discussing it in simple terms.
Is There a Context-Free Way of Understanding Texts? The Case of Structuralist Narratology
Journal of Literary Theory (Special Issue on Context) 8:1, 2014
This paper investigates the question of whether it is possible to talk about aspects of the meaning of literary texts in a context-free manner. Its starting point is a detected discrepancy between the assumption that some (not purely formal or quantitative) approaches to literature operate in a context-independent manner, and the thought that processes of understanding are necessarily interpretive and/or context-dependent. The exemplary field of investigation is (structuralist) narratology, which is often said to be a »context-free« approach to literature.
The effectiveness of an extrinsic approach in reading Henry James's Fiction
Readers, scholars, and researchers may go against the trend of isolating the literary text and cry out for a more open method of reading that allows the reader to surmount the constricted textual space and invade its neighboring area. That method is useful in literary research since it helps in deciphering the codes of the text which may therefore appear more comprehensible and reachable. Biographical and historical criticism has proven its efficiency in understanding the text's point of view through a study of the sociodata. The fiction of the nineteenth-century American novelist Henry James is selected as a case study in the present paper not to decline the formalists' concern for th text's isolation. The point is that the historical criticism enriches the scope of the reader in his mental trip in search fo meaning. Dealing with satire and realism in Henry
Three Concepts of the Reader and Their Contribution to a Theory of the Literary Text
Orbis Litterarum, 1979
Some critics see the recent interest in readers and reading as a threat not only to authorship but to the very notion of text. This paper contends that no such threat exists since contemporary concepts of the reader are rather the result of a displacement which works to extend the privileges of literariness and authorship.
THE VECTOR OF METHODOLOGY IN FICTION STUDIES
This study considers fiction, its certain character istic features, principles and devices (thematic and narrative), and a number of s tructural elements correlated within interpretative models. The purpose of this study re presents the attempt to establish a vector of methodology, i. e. an interpretative modality aimed at stipulating the direction of approach to the fictional text, and which consists of a set of methods, an ordered system of principles of research used for study in the field of such a part icular concern as Fiction Studies. In this respect, my argument will thus consider the general theoretical level of analysis (a matter of literary theory) based on the structuralist narrato logical evaluation of fiction, as well as the practical applicability of the general principles o f approach (a matter of literary criticism) regarding, in particular, the Victorian novels . 1.1 The Theoretical Background The interest in the approach to novel and other typ es of the fictional ...
Distance and Dramatization: Henry James on the Art of Fiction (Narrative Theory, 4)
'Narrative Theory' is an online introduction to classical structuralist narratological analysis. The fourth section deals with the modes of narrative, "showing" and "telling", as theorized by Henry James and other theorists of the dramatic aesthetics in narrative. Outline: 1. Two concepts of narrative distance. 2. The theory of the novel before James; Besant's 'Art of Fiction'; 3. James and the Art of the Novel; 4. The Novel as an Organic Unit; 5. Point of View; 6. The Revaluation of Narrative; 7. Distance: Conclusion. Keywords: Narratology, Theory of narrative, Aesthetics, Novel, Dramatic structure, Narrative perspective, Henry James