Structuralism & Narratology

Born in 1950’s FranceArrived in 1970’s Britain

Ferdinand de SaussureLinguist

Claude Levi-StraussAnthropologist

Roland BarthesLiterary Critic

Structuralism in a nutshell:Things cannot be understood in isolation – they must be seen in the context of the larger structures that they are part of.

Unlike Liberal Humanism, a Structuralist approach takes you further and further from the text

The Liberal Humanist ApproachWe must look closely at the egg – we need not concern ourselves with the chicken!

The Structuralist ApproachDetermining the precise nature of the chicken is essential if we are to say anything intelligent about eggs!

Structuralism was a radical revisioning of literary studies and caused heated debate

Structuralists concern themselves with how meaning is established and maintained

And focus upon the patterns and functions of language

The meaning of words is ARBITARY and maintained by convention only – language is a separate system

Words are RELATIONAL and mutually definingMansionHutHousePalaceShedHovel

Words exist in ‘differencing networks’ and this is most apparent in ‘dyads’

Language CONSTITUTES our world rather than just labels and records itMeaning is ATTRIBUTED and is not already contained in the thingTerrorist or freedom fighter?

The natural cycles of the world are continuous – the division into 4 ‘seasons’ is constructed but as a consequence we see the world in these terms

The spectrum of colours is seamless and yet we contrive to suggest that there are 7 basic colours

Can you think of other examples of how language ‘constitutes’ reality rather than faithfully identifies something that is already in the world?

So, we come to see that language is:ArbitraryRelationalConstitutive

Structuralism broadens its scope to include other sign systems as well as literary texts – any of which can be ‘read’

Roland Barthes, in his 1957 text ‘Mythologies’ applied Structuralist analysis to combative arts in popular entertainment

The two forms of entertainment present very different codes and sets of meanings – consequently they are rarely mixed!

By placing each in a wider context, layers of significance are revealed that might not of otherwise been noticed – this is the basic principle of a Structuralist approach

Narratology is a branch of Structuralism that studies the nature of ‘story’ rather than individual tales in isolation

A distinction is made between:Story – the events as they happenedPlot – the edited, ordered, packaged and presented narrative

We look for:ParallelsEchoesReflectionsRepetitionsContrastsPatterns

And we find them in:PlotStructureSettingCharacterImageryThemesLanguage

Looking for patterns between stories was not something new but Narratologists developed and extended the study.

Aristotle (Poetics)Hamartia (sin / Fault)Peripeteia (reversal)Anagnorisis (realisation of truth)These are all notably ‘inner events’

Vladimir Propp(The Morphology of the Folktale 1928)31 FunctionsSpheres of ActionConcerned with events, not character

Gerard Genette(Narrative Discourse 1972)6 Questions of plotConcerned with the process of telling itself

1 – Narrative modeMimetic or Diegetic?

2 – FocalizationExternalInternalZero focalization

3 – Authorial PersonaCovertNon intrusiveNon dramatisedOvertIntrusiveDramatisedHeterodiegeticHomodiegetic

4- Control of timeAnalepsisProlepsisChronological

5 – Packaging & FramesPrimary / Frame narrativeSecondary / Embedded narrativeSingle ended (()Double ended (())Intrusive ((((()...

6- Speech and Thought RepresentationDirect & taggedDirect & selectively taggedIndirect taggedIndirect free

“Why,” John asked her. “I am in love,” she replied.“Why,” John asked. “I am in love.”John asked her to explain herself and she told him that she was in love.Why had she behaved like that? Perhaps she was in love.

So, to summarise...

Narratology involves the study of:Recurrent structuresThe process of telling over what is toldAffinities between texts

By combining the models of study employed by a range of Structuralists, we may uncover new meanings inherent in text

We do not need to reject close textual analysis in order to take advantage of Structuralist practices!

Use all the tools at your disposal to explore text