Structuralism

English 615
Professor Eskew
09/19/09

Structuralism

Barry tells us that theorists distrust any idea, which is generalized, (totalism) as factual (35). It is suggested that if the reader of theory is having difficulty with a concept of theory, that the reader come back one of the following points of theory:

“Politics is persuasive,
Language is constitutive,
Truth is provisional,
Meaning is contingent,
Human nature is a myth (35).”


As the author moves on to discuss structuralism and what structuralist critics do. I was particularly taken with the idea that a structuralist may analyze prose narrative, as a complex of recurrent patterns or motifs.

Having recently read Toni Morrison’s Sula in another class, I could see that way of analyzing her work as valid and meaningful. I could also see it as very workable for such author’s works, such as Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself and numerous other authors. Recurrent themes of ancestry, culture, freedom, identity, destruction and remembrance play out in Sula, as well as Whitman’s The Song of Myself, in theme and character, with the help of imagery and situational context, while building suspense and a wandering plot within the unity of a life unfolding.

Instead of the liberal humanist focus on moral significance and wider interpretation, there is an attempt in structuralist theory to look at a kind of diagram of the narrative focused on pattern, design and symbol (50-51). I was excited by the idea that the parallels, echoes, reflections/repetitions, contrasts and patterns outlined by Barth could be found within the structure, plot, character, situation and language of literature (51). Also the ideas that there were codes underlying our understanding of literature seemed to hold so much promise (49-50).

The other codes involved action in the proairetic code; enigmas providing questions and suspense in the hermeneutic code; common knowledge in the cultural code; a theme or character suggested in the connotative code; or themes and parings in the symbolic code (49-50). So how can I use this complex information successfully in analyzing literature, was my question?

Well I can go back to the first paragraph and the points of theory that can help with concepts. The statement that meaning is contingent seems the most applicable to me, as it is such a highly understandable idea that is true in almost all situations, while the other theory points seem more limited in their focus. However if truth affects our attitudes and actions in all situations, not to mention knowledge, as suggested by I.A. Richards in “Poetry and Beliefs,” perhaps the statement that truth is provisional will tell me more in our analysis of literature (24). But the simple truth is that I prefer to look as meaning being contingent, because it is less abstract and real to me.

As I moved onto interpreting and explaining, the thought that the discontinuity, not the continuity, is the character of literary art is stunning (111). However, I see this in the characters and literature of say Sula and Song of Myself, as Sula is as generous, as she is destructive and Walt Whitman contains a multitude, full of differences and incongruities. If literature is overloaded with meaning and, attributable perhaps to something yet unknown as Lotman suggests (104), that works for me, as the characters of Sula and of Whitman in Song of Myself defy a complete knowing, as every explanation is met with another question. Sula is defined by psychological traits of being a narcissist, undercut by the realities of racism, sexism and childhood emotional traumas and deprivation. Whitman is defined by success in newspapers, marked by homosexuality, the tragedies and conflagration of the civil war, proud of freedom, worn by the care of his brother and an embracer of the future. These works are neither naïve or sentimental, such as Schiller suggests (300), although Whitman at first blush may seem to be so, until one reads more carefully and sees the ugliness and rawness of life that he captures. Morrison’s murders, suicides and grim tales of racism also could hardly be called naïve. Knowing who the author is and their life experiences, as well as intent, I have always found useful, but if one looks only at the literature as a document, both Sula and Song of Myself are works with a central point of reference,(as Brooks maintains is the work of a formalist critic to find)such as the effects of trauma and discrimination in Sula, or the force of life and free will in Whitman (28-29).

But why attempt structural analysis if literature is marked by discontinuity, an overload of meanings and unknowns? Our readings seem to be saying that every argument can be countered by another. Truth—where is it in these works? In the literature of Sula and Song of Myself, perhaps it is in the spirit that is revealed within the contradictions, which brings us back to truth being provisional.


















Works Cited

Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory. 3rd ed. New York: Manchester University Press, 2009.

Morrison, Toni. Sula. New York: Plume, 1982. Copyright & originally published:

New York, Knopf, 1973. Print.

Newton, K. M., Ed. Twentieth Century Theory: A Reader. 2d ed. Brooks, Cleanth. “The Formalist Critic.” New York: Palgrave, 1997.

Newton, K. M., Ed. Twentieth-Century Theory: A Reader. 2d ed. Culler, Jonathan. “Semiotics as a Theory of Reading.” New York: Palgrave, 1997.

Newton, K. M., Ed. Twentieth-Century Theory: A Reader. 2d ed. Derrida, Jacques. “Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences.” New York: Palgrave, 1997

Newton, K. M., Ed. Twentieth-Century Theory: A Reader. 2d ed. Lotman, Yury M., “The Content and Structure of the Concept of ‘Literature.’” New York: Palgrave, 1997.

Newton, K. M., Ed. Twentieth-Century Theory: A Reader. 2d ed. Peckham, Morse. “The Problem of Interpretation.” New York: Palgrave, 1997.

Newton, K. M., Ed. Twentieth-Century Theory: A Reader. 2d ed. Richards, I. A, “Poetry and Beliefs.” New York: Palgrave, 1997.

Perkins, G. & Perkins, B., Eds. The American Tradition in Literature. Vol One. 11th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007.

Richter, David H. Ed. The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford, 2007.