Introduction to Literary Studies 15.03.2014

Danuta Krula, Olga Grzybowska, Anna Niegosz Anita Krüger

FORMALISM, STRUCTURALISM AND SEMIOTICS

1. Formalism = Form follows Function

• originated in the First World War in Russia

• Concentration on the intristic structure of a text opposed to its artistic quality and apart from extrinistic influences (Meyer)

• Relation to Aristotle's theories of dramatic construction

• Most important representatives: Viktor Shklovsky, Yuri Tynianov, Boris Eichenbaum and Roman Jakobson

2. Structuralism

• Can be seen as an extension to formalism; both were intended to put the study of texts on an objective, scientific basis

• Charles Sanders Peirce: 3 important ideas for analyzing the sign system

1. iconic signs: the signifier resembles the thing signified

2. indexes: the signifier is a reliable indicator of the presence of the signifier

3. true symbols: the relation between the signifier and the signified is completly arbitrary

• Ferdinand de Saussure (swiss linguist)

• Ideas parallel to Plato Signifier (words, marks, symbols) are arbitrary and unrelated to the signified (concept) to which they referred

3. Semiotics

• The study of signs and sign processes, idication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification and communication

• The study of verbal and nonverbal signs

• 3 categories:

1. Semantics: Relation between signs and the things they refer to, their denotata or meaning

2. Syntactics: Relations among signs in formal structures

3. Pragmatics: Relation between signs and sign-using agents

4. Sources

• Meyer, Michael „English and American literatures“; Tübingen: A. Francke, 2008

• Saussare, Ferdinand „Coures in general linguistics“

• M. Glowinski, T. Kostkiewiczowa, A. Okopie-Slawinska, J. Slawinski „Glossary of literary Terms“; Ossolineum, Wroclaw 2002

• „The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English - third edition“, edited by Dominic Head; New York, USA, 2006

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