New Criticism Vs Structuralism Analysis

2000 Words8 Pages

New Criticism vs Structuralism
New Criticism
· Focus on “the text itself”; don’t mind the author and his/her background/biography, trust the tale not the teller; must do a close reading; must be objective and put own ideas aside
· Don’t pay attention to your feelings
· Formal elements (plot, setting, characterization)
· Timeless verbal object
· Stick to the text, quote directly; NO paraphrasing
· Intentional Fallacy: trying to judge a work of art by assuming its intent/purpose of the artist who created it
· Affective Fallacy: supposed error of judging a text on the basis of its emotional effects on a reader
· Organic Unity: working together of all parts to make an inseparable whole
· Critics …show more content…

This so-called fallacy leads to relative interpretations. These ideas are complex because the reader must ask herself what gives a text its meaning? New criticism also calls for a “close reading”. This referred to that the reader examines the text itself and analyses the images, symbols, metaphors, rhymes, meters, point of view, setting characterization, plot, and so on. Ever since, New criticism believes a work is a timeless, autonomous verbal object. This is why changing one line or image of the poem is argues to be a different poem. Close reading is an examination of the complex relationship between a texts formal elements and its theme (formal elements being mentioned above). This is why often New Criticist’s were called formalists. They believed that the literary text can be understood entirely by understanding its form. Other than the formal elements discussed previously, linguistic devices of paradox, irony, ambiguity, and tension form a more figurative language that …show more content…

Bressler- is chaotic and highly variable context-dependent systems. In their view, such structures could not have the coercive power over individuals that the structuralists attributed to them. Jacques Derrida(1930-), perhaps the originator of poststructuralism, has argued against the notion of logocentrism. By logocentrism Derrida meant the coercive, limiting effects of the search for universal systems of thought that would reveal "truth." Instead, Derrida attempts to deconstruct, or uncover, hidden differences that underlie logocentrism. At the heart of the notion of logocentrism is the silencing of voices by intellectual elites in the creation of the dominant discourse. Derrida argues for a decentering, so that previously excluded or silenced voices may contribute. While the ultimate result of this is unclear, Derrida privileges a movement away from any sort of silencing, a movement away from the fallacy of universal truth, and movement towards a society characterized by participation, play, and difference. Michel Foucault Perhaps the most recognizable figure associated with poststructuralism is Michel Foucault(1937-1984). Foucault incorporated a variety of theoretical insights, particularly from Karl Marx(1818-1883), Max Weber(1864-1920), and Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900).

Open Document