Thinking Activity : Structuralism

Thinking Activity : Structuralism

Hello readers!

Here is my blog on Academic task thinking activity on Structuralism. Thinking activity on Structuralism is  part of our syllabus. So we know that what is Structuralism and what is Structuralist critics do. Here is task about being a Structuralist critics how would we analyse literary text or TV serials or film or advertisement and apply Structuralism method. This task is given by Dr. Dilip Barad sir head of  English Department.

Gerard Genette : Structuralism and Literary Criticism

Gerard Genette :

He was a French literary theorist associated in particular with the Structuralist such as Trope and Metonymy. His international influence is not great as Structuralism. His work is more often included in selection in work then studied. Gerard Genette was a literary scholar and Structuralist theorist who had an impact on the development of narratology.

What is Structuralism?

       Structuralism is a method of interpreting and analysing such things as language, literature and society, which is focus on contrasting idea or element os structure and attempt to show how they relate to the whole structure.

Structuralism as a term refers to various theories across the humanities, social sciences and economics many of which share the assumption that structural relationships between concepts between culture/language and that these relationships can be usefully exposed and explored.

Important concepts in Genette's narratology.

 Genette's narratology is derived from Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method. Here below are the five main concepts used by Genette in Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method. They are primarily used to look at the syntax of narratives, rather than to perform an interpretation of them.

1 ) Order :

In the concept is Order say a story is as follows: 

1. a murder occurs 
2. Confessions
3. finally the murderer is caught 

         All three events arranged chronologically the events run 1,2,3 arranged 2,1,3. Arranged in the text they may run discovery, flashback and resolution.

Example from Tv serial.

 Crime Patrol is an Indian Hindi crime anthology series created by Subramanian S. The host narrates dramatised real-life crime cases revolving around harassment, kidnapping and murder.

2 ) Frequency :

        The separation between an event and its narration allows several possibilities. An event narration in form of separation , iterative, repetition and multiple.

3 ) Duration :

        The separation between an event and its narration means that there is discourse and narrative time. These are the two main elements of duration. First is "Five years have passed", has a long discourse time, five years, but a short narrative time when we read it. It took only a few seconds to read.

Example from Tv serial

"Yeh rishta kya kehlata hai" is very famous television serial on star plus. This serial is shown in television for many years but we look at on narrative time it took little time to see.

3 ) Voice :

    Voice is concerned with who narrates, and from where. This can be separated in four ways. 

Where the narration is form

Intra-diegetic : inside the text.

Extra-diegetic : outside the text.

Is the narrator a character in the story?

Hetero-diegetic : The narrator is not a character in the story.

Homo-diegetic : The narrator is a character in the story.

Example from movie.

Super 30 is an example of Homo - diegetic. The narrator is a character in the story. In the super 30's character  Vijay Verma, the film opens with his character who is one of the Super 30 students and introduces the audience to the film and Anand’s story. Vijay is the narrator of the film. and also an integral part  and character of the film.

5. Mood :

Genette said narrative mood is dependent on the distance and perspective of the narrator, and like music, narrative mood has predominant patterns. It is related to voice. Genette concept of structuralism is different from other and his concept is most including all narrative techniques.

Thank you.....