ESSAY CEMETERY

Tomashevsky, Boris. "Thematics."   Russian Formalist Criticism: Four Essays . Comp. Lee T. Lemon and Marion J. Reis. Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 1965. 62-95. Print. About Tomashevsky Tomashevsky is a Formalist. (From Wikipedia: In literary theory , formalism refers to critical approaches that analyze, interpret, or evaluate the inherent features of a text. The formalist approach reduces the importance of a text’s historical, biographical, and cultural context.) Introduction to Tomashevsky's Approach The introduction to “Thematics” by Tomashevsky states that Tomashevsky’s essay is a proposal of how to analyze a narrative. A narrative must have a theme and enlist the readers’ emotions. Tomashevsky makes a distinction between Plot and Story. Tomashevsky deals with many aspects of narrative, including motif and how to distinguish between those which are and aren’t necessary to the action. He explores the parts  of narratives and their purpose. “The motif-...

Chatman, Seymour Benjamin. "Introduction."   Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film . Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1978. 15-21. Print. Seymour Chatman Different famous personalities have tried to analyze what makes a narrative. Emphasis is put on Aristotle's Poetics .  Fairy and folk tales had relatively simple plots and structures; modern narratives are more complex. Dictionary definition of poetics: literary criticism treating of the nature and laws of poetry. =literary theory Literary structuralistic theorists/poeticians deal not with evaluating  a poem but with defining, analyzing, categorizing it. Poetics, as Todorov states, should strive not to provide a mere description of the work, but to go outside of the constraints of the work in order to draw conclusions about it, and go beyond it. Literary theory is a study of the nature of literature. Works of literature often are of mixed genres, and are never perfect representation of the ...

Todorov, Tzvetan.  "Chapter 3: The Uncanny and the Marvelous . "   The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre . 24-57. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1975. Print. The evanescence of the fantastic genre means that a work may change genre mid-reading. The first part constitutes the marvelous or uncanny- the reader thinks there is either a natural or supernatural explanation to the events. The second part is the fantastic genre, in which the reader hesitates over his explanation of the events. The part that follows the decision contains a shift – there reader realizes his primary explanation of the events was wrong, and the genre shift again to either marvelous or uncanny- the opposite from the first part. Texts which are unresolved are fantastic in their entirety. The transition between genres is not sharp. If a story begins as uncanny, it will transition through fantastic-uncanny and fantastic-marvelous before becoming marvelous. The fantastic-uncanny is "the su...

Todorov, Tzvetan.  "Chapter 2: The Fantastic . "   The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre . 24-57. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1975. Print. The fantastic is a genre that exists while in the work of literature there is uncertainty as to whether an event is caused by natural or supernatural sources. Once the reader has chosen one explanation or another the work transitions into the fantastic’s sister genres: “the uncanny (supernatural)” or “the marvelous (hard to believe but governed by rules of reality)”. The fantastic is characteristic of a situation, normally involving characters in the “real world”, where there is a simple realistic explanation for what is happening, but this explanation conflicts with the protagonist’s feeling that the supernatural explanation is the correct one. Many times in the genre, the sense of uncertainty builds up over time. Supernatural events are juxtaposed with natural emotions, or natural behavior until the protagonist’s judg...

Todorov, Tzvetan.  "Chapter 1: Literary Genres. "   The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre . 24-57. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1975. Print. Tzvetan Todorov “The Fantastic” is a name given to a kind of literature, to a literary genre.” Genre is about examining a text in the context of many others belonging to the same genre, as opposed to analyzing a text in its own right. The definition of a genre is done by examining a limited number of texts belonging to this genre, formulating a theory of the genre, and modifying or rejecting it, as necessary, upon examination of new texts that belong to the same genre {biology analogy: the discovery of a mutant tiger doesn’t make us change the definition of the tiger as a species, whereas the discovery of an aberrant text may make us redefine the genre to which the text belongs}. A text which does not modify our idea of the genre or bring anything new to the literary table is categorized as pop literature, whereas it is...

THEMES Fiction Women Money Chance STYLE ellipsis Stream of thought, the way thought moves from thing to thing Interruption People are not named Self-reflexivity KEY WORDS Woman Fiction Virginia Woolf

Summary of chapters 1 and 2. Bottom line: for women to be independent of men, they need money. Chapter 1 Woolf begins her long essay by explaining how difficult the questions of fiction and women and their relationship are. All she knows for sure, she says, is that " a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction". She hopes that through exploring the manner in which she arrived at this conclusion, that the topic of women and fiction will become clearer. She proceeds to tell a fictitious story (I think) to illustrate her point. A woman walks on the lawn on the grounds of a college. She has an idea, which she forgets when she abruptly remembers that only fellows of the college are allowed on the grass, and others on the gravel paths. She ponders the writing of two authors, when she remembers that their manuscripts are in the library on the grounds. She decides to view the manuscripts, but finds that women are not allowed in the library...

Iser, Wolfgang. "The Reading Process: A Phenomenological Approach." The Implied Reader: Patterns of Communication in Prose Fiction from Bunyan to Beckett. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins UP, 1974. 274-94. Print. From Wikipedia: Phenomenology, in Husserl's conception, is primarily concerned with the systematic reflection on and analysis of the structures of  consciousness , and the  phenomena  which appear in acts of consciousness. Such reflection was to take place from a highly modified "first person" viewpoint, studying phenomena not as they appear to "my" consciousness, but to any consciousness whatsoever. Husserl believed that phenomenology could thus provide a firm basis for all human  knowledge , including scientific knowledge, and could establish philosophy as a "rigorous science" of measurable perception. SUMMARY I – The work of literature is text and the reader's response According to phenomenology, when co...

Todorov, Tzvetan. "Chapter 4: Reading as Construction."  Genres in Discourse . Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1990. 39-49. Google Books. Web. 22 Aug. 2012. Tzvetan Todorov Todorov will discuss the reading of classical fiction or representative texts. While reading this type of text a construction unfolds to the reader. Novels do not imitate a pre-existing reality. Instead, they construct a new, imaginary universe. There are techniques the author employs to get readers to construct this world. Referential sentences and no others induce construction. Sentences that create a clear picture are referential and sentences that are general, abstract or vague are not. Different referential sentences contribute in differently to the construction of the world. They can contribute to mode, time, and point of view. Mode – verisimilitude of fictional world Time - Sentences can help place events in time for the reader Point of view - sentences can help the reader picture the...

Watt, Ian. "Chapter 1: Realism and the Novel Form."   The Rise of the Novel . Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1970. Print. The literary form of novel appeared in the 18 th century among a group of writers who had very little in common- Defoe, Richardson and Fielding. However there must have been something prevalent in that era which led them to create this new form. The novel differs from previous work in that it is characterized by realism. Realism isn't to be defined as the opposite of idealism. Realism is the attempt at portrayal of all aspects of human experience. Realism lies in the manner in which life is represented. The novel is marked by the attempt to view life scientifically. The modern idea of realism is that which we perceive via our senses. In the middle ages it was universal ideas which were thought to be true reality. Descartes however hypothesized that reality is perceived by the individual and is not attached to previous ideas on reality. The develop...