LITERARY THEORY-PRINCIPLES OF THEORY-NARATOLOGY-MARXISM-FEMINISM

PRINCIPLES OF THEORYWhat do you think theory is? What is it used

for?What do you know about it, and what have you

heard about it?

Our definition: A theory is a method of thinking and interpreting literature by analyzing certain patterns or tendencies found within a work. Through an understanding of these patterns stories quite often take on deeper meaning.

APPROACHING THEORY

1. The ideas and notions of theory are not very complex, the terminology is what becomes confusing.

2. Be patient. Don’t expect to understand every concept right away.

3. Resist the view that you are intellectually not ready or able to read stories in terms of theory.

4. Expect something in return. Expect and require theory to be clear and meaningful.

HOW TO READ FOR THEORY

1. Become a slow and thorough reader.2. Read intensely instead of widely (be able

to quote lines and specific examples).3. Try to examine passages and small

scenes to begin with, rather than the whole story. Baby steps = big results.

4. Remember that interpretations are uniquely your own based on meditative, reflective and personal reading.

NARATOLOGY

OVERVIEW

The study of how narratives make meaning , and what the basic mechanisms are which are common to all acts of story-telling.

Narratologists attempt to study the nature of the story itself as a concept and cultural practice rather than as an individual entity.

ARISTOTLE

•IDs character and action as the essential elements in a story, and says that character must be revealed through action or aspects of plot.

•3 key elements in a plot1. The hamartia2. The anagnorisis3. The peripeteia

ELEMENTS DEFINED

•Hamartia = Sin or Fault (fatal character defect)

•Anagnorisis = Recognition or Realization (truth of situation is recognized by protagonist).

•Peripeteia = Reversal of Fortune (In classical tragedy this is usually a fall from high to low estate, as the hero falls from greatness).

ALEXANDER PROPP’S 31 FUNCTIONS

• No single tale contains all 31, but each contains a selection of them.

• The functions always occur in the order listed ex: 5, 7, 14, 18, 30, and 31.

• There are seven main roles underneath the 31 functions.

1. The villian2. The donor (provider)3. The helper4. The princess (a sought for person)5. The dispatcher6. The hero (seeker or victim)7. The false hero

5 FINAL POINTS OF INTEREST1. Is the narrative mode “mimetic” or “diegetic”?

Mimesis = showing or dramatizing. A slow telling in which what is done and said is staged for the reader, creating the illusion that we are seeing and hearing things for ourselves.

Diegesis = rapid and summarizing. The narrator says what happens without trying to show it as it happens.

Example

For five years Mario took the same route to work every morning, but he never saw Thelma again. Then one morning something very strange happened as he came out of the tube station and began to walk up Charing Cross Road. It was a bright, sunny day, and…

FINAL POINTS CONTINUED

2. How is the narrative focalized?Point of view

3. Who is telling the story?Authorial Narrator vs. A Named Character

4. How is time handled?Flashbacks, Flashforwards, Foreshadowing

5. How is the story packaged?metanarratives – story within a story

single-ended – do not return to frame story

double-ended – return to frame story

intrusive – embedded tale interrupted to return to frame occassionally

• Narratology: Simba represents the classic hero quest. Simba suffers from a loss of a father figure and must go off on a journey to grow into his destiny. During his journey he meets tricksters (Timon/Pumba) who also act as his helpers and finds a mentor (crazy monkey with a stick). Nala also acts as the herald as she upsets the sleepy equilibrium in which the Simba has lived and starts his growth. He then has enough strength (mental and physical) to overcome the villain and restore everything to order.

MARXISM

DEFINED•Draws attention to class struggles and

interaction between classes.

•The aim is to bring about a classless society based on the common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange.

•A materialist philosophy seeking to explain things by not looking outside of our world or society for answers.

TERMS

Proletariat: working class / physically demanding and dangerous jobs done for little pay.

Bourgeoisie: wealthy / middle class. Less physical work, use many of the products produced by working class.

MORE TERMS

Society is made up of two parts…

Base: Material means of production, distribution, and exchange.

Superstructure: ‘cultural’ world of ideas, art, religion, law, etc.

Economic determinism: superstructure is shaped by the economy.

TERMS CONTINUED

Hegemony: Preponderant influence of authority over others – domination.

- dominant ideology: spontaneous consent to ideas of the ruling class.

- used to explain the reason exploited classes accept the status quo.

DOMINATION OF A CLASS• Not based on repression – but control of power and

knowledge.

• By convincing all of society that the prevailing ideology is natural and normal.

• Need for cultural and intellectual struggle to change people’s mindset for structural transformation.

• Counter-hegemonic institutions (worker’s councils/unions) transform social life.

FOCAL POINTS

•Focus on social context of learner rather than the individual learning process.

•Explores themes of race, class, and gender.

•Power and oppression

•Knowledge and Truth

QUESTIONS OF MARXISM1. Whose interests are being served?

2. Who has access?

3. Who has the power to make change?

4. What are the intended outcomes of the programs?

*Remember, interactions between classes may lead to conflict or social tensions.

• Marxist: Can be viewed as the upper class (lions) trying to maintain power over an unhappy lower class (hyenas). The lower class resents the privileges of better food and hunting grounds that the upper class maintains. This conflict causes a rebellion, which disrupts the normal social order causing chaos and destruction.

MARXISM TODAY?1. Consider upward and/or downward movement

between classes. How does this affect a person and their attitude, personality, or disposition?

2. Who are the marginalized in the U.S.A.? Why do the marginalized people in the U.S.A. accept the ruling ideology?

3. Marxists tend to talk about revolution. Why is there no socialist revolution in the U.S.A.? Discuss the nature of the disguised ideology in the U.S.A. (Ex: Race vs class, gender issues, etc.)

FEMINISM

WHAT IS IT?

•Your idea of feminism?

•OUR NOTION – Draws attention to different social expectations of men and women and how these expectations play out in literature.

SOCIAL NORMS

•Basic or general ways in which a society looks at or understands men and women.

PURPOSE

•Not just that men and women are valued differently, but what can an understanding of these conventions tell me about the story, or how can it help me understand the story in different or better ways?

EXAMPLES• Story becomes more than just a tale of events

or happenings about the character. Instead, the story becomes more about how gender affects what happens in their lives.

• Are there certain things that happen to characters frequently or infrequently because of gender?

• Also, think about men and women during different time periods.

3 TYPES OF FEMINISM

1. LIBERAL

2. RADICAL

3. MATERIALIST

LIBERAL FEMINISM

•Biological Essentialism : We are all women together – there is no class.

•Seek reform by politically gaining equal rights /access for women to social, economic and political spheres.

RADICAL FEMINISM

•1960s era •Biological Essentialism

•Patriarchal gender structure is primary form of oppression upon which other modes of oppression have been based.

•Seek abolition of patriarchal power.

MATERIALIST FEMINISM

•Views gender as a social construct as well as a biological category.

•Material oppression via childbirth

•Economics is an issue

2 FOLD NOTION

•Determining factor in history is the production and reproduction of life.

1. Production of a means of existence through food, clothing, shelter and other necessary tools

2. Production of human beings themselves; continuing the species.

WHAT DOES THIS NOTION LOOK LIKE?

1. Redefinition of family and women’s role (divorce, property divisions, custody battles, etc)

2. Money – who makes it determines power, ability, and worth (men leave money i.e. scholarships/inheritance for other men) .

BURDON OF KIDS

•Burdon imposed on women by reproductive function.

For instance, the # of births is determined by society (China) and the degree of hygienic care provided for pregnancy and childbirth (3rd world countries).

*Economic and social situation determines reproduction.

• Feminist: Can be viewed as the helpless role females have in society. The female lions are used to provide food and care for the young yet it is the males that have all the power. When Mufasa dies his power transfers to either his son or his brother. His wife is never even considered. Nala is also clearly “stronger” than Simba yet she is considered inferior.