Also Chapter 1 (sort of) : Formalism, New Criticism

By King Meera -
Formalism:
  • Russian formalism, Russian revolution, Bolshevik revolution etc
  • emphasis on form
  • focus on literariness of the text
  • what is or isn't literature is also based on the language used: where "Frailty, thy name is woman" is poetic and literary, "you are a frail woman" is merely everyday speech
  • looked for literary and poetic devices, rhyme scheme, diction, syntax et
  • did not care about context
  • making the stone stonier
Victor Schlovsky: defamiliarization
  • making that which is familiar to you, unfamiliar
  • literature makes standard language defamiliarized to us
  • for instance, "boy meets girl - fall in love - both die" sounds like a stupid plot but Romeo and Juliet is considered a literary masterpiece 
Ian Mukarovsky: Foregrounding
  • standard language (background)
  • poetic language (in foreground)
  • together become literary language
  • still believed that context make reader digress from meaning of text 
Roman Jakobsen: Literature is organized violence committed against everyday speech
  • organized: choice of words, diction, metre, the form/rules of the age
  • violence: restructuring, tampering
New Criticism: close reading
  • 1920s to 1940s; super popular in 1930s
  • John Crowe Ransom
  • Close reading to understand organic unity of the text in spite of and because of all the ambiguity, irony, contradictions
  • how all these elements come together
  • focus on text not author/context/reader
Phenomenology 
  • our understanding of works is colored by personal, individual differences, experiences, consciousness - 
  • which lend meaning to the text apart from the content itself
Formalism vs New Criticism vs Structuralism: practical application

Formalism:
The form is solely responsible for 'literariness': simile, metaphor, rhythm, rhyme scheme, meter, diction, refrain, syntax, hyperbole, irony, personification, alliteration, anaphora, allusion etc

New Criticism:
in the work, elements may contradict each other - ambiguity, irony, conflict - but together they contribute to the organic (holistic) unity of the work

Structuralism:
drawn from linguistics - science of language - focus on structure not form - only language - language is a structure (units, rules, systems). How to classify some work as an ode, a sonnet, a speech etc. Still don't care about context of context - only structural context

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Atticus Passage

By King Meera -
This handout was prepared by Dr. William Tarvin, a retired professor of literature.  Note:  Text used:  W. H. Abrams, ed.   The Norton Anthology of English Literature , 7 th             ed.  Vol. 1.  New York:  Norton, 2000. I.    INTRODUCTION             1.   Dr. Arbuthnot was hopelessly ill and had written Pope a “last request” that the poet should continue to attack vice in his satires.               2.   This poem, basically written during the summer of 1734, was published in Jan. 1735, less than two months before Arbuthnot’s (1667-1735) death.             3.   Arbuthnot was Queen Anne’s favorite doctor and later held a similar relation to Princess Caroline, who in 1727 beca...
Read more

Lajwanti by Rajinder Singh Bedi

By King Meera -
Here is my write-up (assignment) (imperfect) (scored 15 on 20) (done for the sake of doing it) (many apologies) : The chapter Lajwanti by Rajinder Singh Bedi is set in the wake of the India-Pakistan Partition – specifically, the abduction of women on either side of the border. During the Partition, tens of thousands of Hindus and Muslims were forced to pack and leave, because suddenly, allegiance to one’s country was based on religion. Families who had been living on the “wrong” side of the border since generations had to migrate, at moment’s notice, to their “homeland”. In the midst of all this pain, anguish, separation and large-scale identity crises, displaced people began attacking the “enemies” – through thefts, violence and abductions, as was the case with the protagonist Sunder Lal, and his wife Lajwanti, who was abducted. In brief, the story Lajwanti is as such: Sunder Lal, after losing his wife Lajwanti to abductors, and abandoning all hope of finding her again, pu...
Read more

Jurmana - Premchand

By King Meera -
Image
Characters: 1. Munshi Khairat Ali Khan (Inspector of Sanitation) Goodhearted, well thought of, not the kind to cut pay, scold or fine the hundreds of sweeper women who depends on him 2. Alarakkhi (sweeper woman) Worked hard (was not a shirker, not slovenly or saucy, didn't look bad either) just had bad luck - the Inspector rode by precisely when she'd just sat down or stopped to eat 3. Alarakkhi's sick, unweaned daughter 4. Alarakkhi's helpful husband Huseni Plot: Alarakkhi is thinking about her pay and guessing how much would be deducted this time  considering, due to her daughter's illness, she'd been missed sleep and come in late several times the past month. Her daughter, whom she had brought with her to work, was wailing and she was threatening to hit her with the broom if she didn't stay quiet because the Inspector would be there soon. The inspector arrived on his bicycle instead of his ekka just as she was cursing him. He asks her why she ...
Read more