Class-5-alism.ppt

1、Formalism,Formalism is an interpretive approach that emphasizes literary form and the study of literary devices within the text. The work of the Formalists had a general impact on later developments of literary theory.,The Formalists placed great importance on the literariness of texts, those qualit

2、ies that distinguished the literary from other kinds of writing. What is a text? What is literature? What makes it different from other styles of writing?,the purpose of literature was to make the stones stonier,Formalism,Formalism is a style of analysis that focuses on features of the text itself S

3、eparates texts from: Social background History Politics Culture Author Biography,How Formalists Read,Explore the form of the work. How do form and content work together? How does each little part connect with other little parts and how do they all connect with the whole? The responsibility of the re

4、ader is to discover unity in the text. The more harmony, the better the interpretation. Try to create one true reading of a text judge the text as one judges an object or machine, to determine whether it works efficiently.,How Formalists Read,discuss how the author uses elements to create certain ef

5、fects plot setting characterization tone voice figurative language imagery word choice,Russian Formalism,Early 20th century Victor Shklovsky Roman Jakobson Vladimir Propp,Russian Formalism,produce a science of literature that is both independent and factual. Linguistics is a foundational element of

6、the science of literature. the form of a work is an essential part of the content of the work.,New Criticism,the dominant trend in English and American literary criticism from the 1920s to the late 1960s or 1970s. close reading and attention to texts themselves rejection of criticism based on extra-

7、textual sources, especially biography.,Close Reading,Also called: Critical Reading Reading with a magnifying glass Reading with a pencil Look at the meanings of words Look at sentence structure Look for connections Look for patterns,Close Reading,Key words, repeated words Word order/word choice Meta

8、phor, Symbols Ask questions What is the first thing you notice about the text? What is the style?,New Criticism Scholars,John Crowe Ransom - The New Criticism, 1938 I.A. Richards T.S. Eliot Cleanth Brooks,The Intentional Fallacy 1954,William K. Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley The essay argued strongly

9、against any discussion of an authors intention, or intended meaning.” the words on the page were all that mattered; the reader has no access into the authors mind to determine what the author intended to say. meanings from outside the text are irrelevant, and distracting. This became a central princ

10、iple of New Criticism.,Figures of speech-,allegoryan extended set of metaphors that work together to create an underlying meaning. metaphor-brief or extended comparison of something with something else personification-comparing inanimate things to people symbolism-using inanimate or imagined things

11、to stand for real situations irony-the difference between what someone would reasonably expect to happen and what actually does happen.,Irony,Irony: a literary term referring to how a person, situation, statement, or circumstance is not as it would actually seem. Many times it is the exact opposite

12、of what it appears to be.,Point of View,first person-narrative voice that speaks with I/we/us pronouns third person-narrative voice that uses he/she/they pronouns Second personyou (not so common) objective-narrator who tries to tell story from an impersonal point of view limited omniscience-narrator

13、 who doesnt know everything omniscient-narrator who knows all,Theme,Theme: a major idea or message in the text Subthemes: contribute to the development of the main idea,Common Questions of Formalism,How does the work use imagery to develop its own symbols? (look for repetition) How are the various p

14、arts of the work interconnected? How do irony, ambiguity, and tension work in the text? How do these parts and their collective whole contribute to or not contribute to the aesthetic quality of the work?,Common Questions of Formalism,How does the author resolve apparent contradictions within the wor

15、k? What does the form of the work say about its content? Is there a central or focal passage that can be said to sum up the entirety of the work? (poetry) How do the rhythms and/or rhyme schemes of a poem contribute to the meaning or effect of the piece? (poetry),Criticism and uses,assumes one “true

16、” meaning of a text does not take into consideration extra-textual sources: culture, philosophy, author, etc. looks at a text inwardly today: look inwardly and then look outwardly close reading = critical analysis,References,Formalism - New World Encyclopedia. /entry/Formalism Form: An Introduction to New Critics and Russian Formalists Reading With an Eye on Wh