Narratology
Lexicon
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leimotif:
A frequently recurring
Motif, related to and expressive of a
character, situation, or event. Vinteuil's
little phrase in Remembrance of Things
Past functions as a leitmotif. The term
was originally used in connection with
Wagnerian music. Ducrot and Todorov
1979; Tomashevsky 1965.
Studies in Narratology,
Summer 2011
Studies in Narratology,
Summer 2011
Studies in Narratology,
Summer 2011
Studies in Narratology,
Summer 2011
Studies in Narratology,
Summer 2011
Studies in Narratology,
Summer 2011
Studies in Narratology,
Summer 2011
Studies in Narratology,
Summer 2011
Studies in Narratology,
Summer 2011
Studies in Narratology,
Summer 2011
Studies in Narratology,
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Studies in Narratology,
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Studies in Narratology,
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Studies in Narratology,
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motif:
1. A minimal thematic unit. When a motif recurs frequently in a
given text, it is called a LEITMOTIF. A motif should not be confused with a
THEME, which constitutes a more abstract and more general semantic unit
manifested by or reconstructed from a set of motifs: if glasses are a motif in
Princess Brambilla, vision is a theme in that work. A motif should also be
distinguished from a TOPOS, which is a specific complex of motifs that
frequently appears in (literary) texts (the wise fool, the aged child, the locus
amoenus, etc.) 2. A minimal narrative unit at the syntactic level; a
NARRATIVE STATEMENT. For Tomashevsky, motifs can be static (designate
a STATE) or dynamic (designate an EVENT). Furthermore, they can be
logically essential to the narrative action and its causal-chronological
coherence (BOUND MOTIFS), or they can be logically inessential to it (FREE
MOTIFS). 3. An element fulfilling or manifesting a MOTIFEME. A motif is to a
motifeme as a phone (a sound of language) is to a phoneme (a distinctive
sound class), a morph to a morpheme, or an ACTION to a FUNCTION. See:
Bremond 1982; Daemmrich and Daemmrich 1986; Ducrot and Todorov 1979;
Dundes 1964; Tomashevsky 1965
Studies in Narratology,
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motivation:
1. The network of devices justifying the
introduction of a motif, a complex of motifs, or, more
generally, a constituent feature of a (literary) text; the
reason for the use of a given textual element;
COMPOSITION. Tomashevsky distinguished between
compositional motivation (referring to the usefulness of the
motif), realistic motivation (stressing the lifelikeness,
realism, or authenticity of the motif), and artistic motivation
(justifying the introduction of the motif in terms of the
requirements of "art"). 2. The complex of circumstances,
reasons, purposes, and impulses governing a character's
actions (and making them plausible). See: Brooks and
Warren 1959; Ducrot and Todorov 1979; Genette 1968;
Propp 1968; Rimmon-Kenan 1983; Tomashevsky '1965;
Wellek and Warren 1949. See also LAYING BARE,
NATURALIZATION, VERISMILTITUDE.
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