Structuralism on Literature n Combination narrative structure roles

Structuralism on Literature: n Combination (narrative structure: roles + actions) Selection: Language/Literature as an enclosed system with two Axes Thematic structure: Motifs, mythemes, metaphors, etc.

Structuralist Approached to Narratives V. Propp: n 7 "spheres of action“: villain, hero, false hero, donor[provider], helper, dispatcher, princess [and her father]. ) n and 31 functions. 2. Greimas: n three pairs of actants: Helper/Opponent, Sender/Reciever, Subject/Object n three basic patterns of action: contractive, disjunctive, and performative. 3. Levi Strauss -- overevaluation and devaluation of kinship 1.

Narrative examples I. Themes: “The Long Enchantment” –no help from the fairy godmother; motif of “enchantment” Contemporary Cinderella stories --last minute rescue of the prince II. Narrative Structure: “Young Goodman Brown" : Brown (Subject) + [going to the forest]+ Object? (Is black sabbath his object? ) --> n Who is his opponent at the end, the whole town, or himself? n

Narrative examples n n “The Lesson”: Money (e. g. 35 dollars) redefined Roles: Sylvia and Sugar The rest of the world Ms. Moore (Sender) Who is the receiver of her lesson?

“Spleen” by Charles Baudelaire & the patterns found by R. Jakobson source: Structuralist Poetics by Jonathan Culler Colors and marks: n nouns - underlined; Central lines: Italicized n metaphors, n possessive pronoun(us, its/they), n adj. , participial adj. n Verbs

I. When the low and heavy sky weighs like a lid On the spirit groaning from the tedious anxieties that prey on it, And when, embracing the whole rim of the horizon, It pours on us a black day, more dismal than night;

II. When the earth is changed into a damp dungeon, Where Hope, like a bat, Goes battering its timid wings against the wall And dashing its head against mouldy ceilings;

III. When the rain stretching down its long streaks Imitates the bars of a vast prison, And a silent horde of loathsome spiders Come to spin their webs inside our brains

n IV Suddenly the bells leaps out in a fury And fling a hideous howling at the sky, Like wandering and homeless spirits Who begin to wail relentlessly.

V And long trains of hearses, without drums or music File slowly through my soul; Hope, Vanquished, weeps, and vile, despotic Anguish Plants her black flag in my bowed skull.

“Spleen” n n n Periodic sentence A lot of Adj. s which suggest the pervasiveness of “Spleen”: e. g. low and heavy sky weighs like a lid; tedious anxieties; Verbs: lack of action except that of the bell

“Purloined Letter” n Queen King

n

n Dupin Prefect