LITERARY THEORY
-PRINCIPLES OF THEORY
-NARATOLOGY
-MARXISM
-FEMINISM
PRINCIPLES OF THEORY
What 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 plot
1. The hamartia
2. The anagnorisis
3. 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.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
The villian
The donor (provider)
The helper
The princess (a sought for person)
The dispatcher
The hero (seeker or victim)
The false hero
5 FINAL POINTS OF INTEREST
1. 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 MARXISM
1. 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.