INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY THEORY

(P) GENRES

- Lyrical / poetry sonnets, odes, hymns, ballads
- Drama (plays) comedy, tragedy, tragicomedy, satirical play, melodrama
- Epic
- Narrative novels, short stories, novellas, fables, fairy tales

Narrative genre focuses on telling a story, on action and events. Word are organised into
sentences organised into paragraphs, chapters it is relatively long, has characters and
a narrator.

Lyrical/poetry is relatively short. Words are organised into verses/lines, stanzas and it
focuses on feelings/emotions, it explains and expresses thoughts and emotions. It has a
poetic persona.

Dramatic in longer in form, focuses on actions. It is told in dialogues by characters
themselves and performed. It has characters, acts and scenes.

SUZAN GRIFFIN
This Is The Story of the Day in the Life of a Woman Trying

This poem has characteristics of the narrative genre: it is telling a story, focusing
on events, the words are organised into sentences (here we have very long verses
sentences); it is relatively long longer than ordinary poem, it has characters:
Woman, child, her friend, man who telephoned, woman she shares house with,
people in the babysitting agency, etc.
She is a writer, wants to dedicate herself to her work (shes trying to be a writer)
but lot of everyday tasks (dishes, sick child, telephone, bills, etc.) come in the way.



The Carpenters Wife

Ballads are narrative poetry; they focus on the events, on retelling the story and
have characters. This ballad has some narrative characteristics (story, events, and
characters) but the poem-characteristics prevail. It also has some characteristics of
dramatic genre its told in dialogues between the characters.
The Unquiet Grave is also a ballad and has same characteristics. Talks about
emotions but gives descriptions, has characters, has even a dialogue

(S) CRITERIA OF CLASSIFICATION

Criteria of classification:
- Linguistic: English, Italian, Russian, etc.
- National: English, Italian, Canadian, American, etc.
These two must not be identified.
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- Aesthetic/theoretical: high vs. trivial or the elite vs. mass literature. Aesthetic is the
science of beautiful. High literature means serious, elite which is put in literary canon
by universal professionals.
- Sociological: which targets certain groups to which it is appealing womens, youth
literature, etc.
- Historical: medieval, Renaissance, modernistic, etc.
- Medium-oriented: oral (in the beginnings stories, poems were transmitted orally),
written (writing comes later) or audio-visual (modern).
- Mimetic vs. anti-mimetic or realistic vs. fantastic
Mimetic from mimesis copy or imitation
Mimetic is more realistic and anti-mimetic more fantastic.
- Conventional vs. experimental: conventional respects rules of a certain time.
Experimental does not respect those rules but as time passes it may become
conventional.

MAIN LITERARY GENRES:
- poetic/lyrical texts poetry
- dramatic texts drama
- narrative texts the narrative (1. fiction? imaginative writing - in this case fiction
includes all of this; 2. only prose)

POETRY

- Poetic/Lyric: (expresses feelings)
- ode, hymn (pray poems, dedicated to gods), sonnet (love poem Petrarch,
Shakespeare), elegy (lyric poem, poem with sad melancholic mood; usually expresses
lament for someone or something)
- Dramatic: related to poetic drama
This is between poetry and drama. Includes many dialogues, lot of communication)
- Narrative: ballad
Focuses on events, on retelling the events, telling a story.

Most poems are usually a blend of these characteristics.

DRAMA

Tragedy hero experiences a downfall.
Comedy
Tragicomedy, farce, etc.

Poetry expresses more feelings, more inner thoughts than drama; drama concentrates
on expressing more action, having more dialogues, etc.

NARRATIVE TEXTS

- Novel (the longest, has variety of characters, episodes, etc.)
- Novella (or short novel)
- Short story
- Fairy tale
- Fable
Epic has a special place; it can be included in the narrative texts or it is treated as a
separate genre; it is a mixture of poetic and narrative forms.
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The epic is a combination of elements:
Poetic elements:
verse form
orally performed
accompanied with music
has lyrical parts
Narrative elements:
It is long
Has series of episodes
Concerned with action and great deeds of heroes (it also includes
some lyrical passages with the expression of emotions)
The epic is the oldest literary form
Classical epic: Homers Iliad and Odyssey (1200 800BC)
These epics have mythical past, uncertain authorship, historical unreliability and different
time planes

Non-European epics: Gilgamesh epic (ca.2000 BC), Mahabharata and Ramayana
(ca.200 BC)

Classical epic national or folk epic
e.g. Beowulf traditions of Germanic tribes of northern Europe)

Secondary or literary epic:
Has easily identifiable author; is modelled on older epics; treats artistically or borrows
themes and stories
e.g. Virgil: Aeneid; Milton: Paradise Lost; Spenser: Faerie Queene; Dante: Divine
Comedy.

Mixture of fiction and non-fiction:
- Essays
- Sermons and other religious writings
- History books
- Travelogues
- Letters, diaries, memoirs
- Street ballads
- Political pamphlets
- Cyberpunk etc.

(P) SUBJECTIVITY

Subjectivity is the individual treatment of particular theme.

Arthur Quiller-Couch - Daffodils

He was walking in the nature alone and lonely and saw the daffodils. Because of the
reaction of the daffodils to the wind he sees them as if they were dancing.
He sees a whole field of daffodils and compares them with the Milky Way because it
seems that they are endless there is so many of them that they seem as if they end
where the sea begins in the bay. He said he saw the thousand because he saw a lot of
them he could say one million as well, and the wind was blowing so they were dancing.
He draws a parallel between the flowers and waves. In this stanza he also shows us
that the poet himself is the poetic persona and hes happy, he enjoys the view.
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When in bad mood he recalls the view and the daffodils dancing in the wind.


Ezra Pound Liu Che

In this poem is described the death of a beloved person but the poetic persona
doesnt say anything about his feelings. It is autumn and life is missing in this poem;
there is nobody walking, no more movement, no more rustling of the silk, just dust and
fallen leaves. Leaves had fallen on the ground and she the rejoicer of the heart is
beneath them shes dead. He tries to make this less personal but it is not, it is
mocking personal he obviously misses her but he doesnt say so but everything
expresses the feelings.

In a Station of the Metro

Pound used haiku because of the movement Imagism in the early 20
th
century. It
concentrates on the images themselves. Haiku has only 3 lines and number of syllables
in lines is 5 7 5.
In a station of the metro there are many strangers, even the metro itself is strange
its from France. The petals are the strangers they hang but they may fall off as well.
Black bough is the rail lines which are usually black, and it is wet because its raining.

Walt Whitman Tears

On the beach at night hiding and crying not showing emotions in public. The
theme is how we behave in public we dont show ourselves.
Important here are the images that the poet creates and that a reader should create
in his mind his mental images.

Perspective is the point of view that the teller takes.

Siegfried Sassoon Glory of Women

Sassoon wrote from the trenches, he was in the War Poets. This poem is about
World War II. YOU are the women that partook in the confront. Women started
producing ammunition; they were left alone in the cities while men were in the battle.
This poem is anti-war. Who is the I? the soldier. Even the German mother is
mentioned because nobody was left untouched by the war.

Stevie Smith Not Waving But Drowning

Stevie Smith attempted suicide.

A man is dead and the other are not paying attention. While he was alive he was
crying for help but they misunderstood. His jokes were not necessarily just jokes but
cries for help. There is the dead persons perspective and the others perspective.
Second stanza their perspective people observing. 3
rd
stanza is the way he saw and
knew the situation. Relativity what appears to be waving to someone can be drowning
for someone else.

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Theodore Roethke My Papas Waltz

The boy is telling the story and addressing his father. This poem can be interpreted
as a positive or as a story of a battered child. There are many ambiguous facts in this
poem.

(S) POETRY

Typical features:
1. shortness
2. subjectivity: selective treatment of the theme individual approach; perspective
3. condensed language
4. musicality/melodiousness: rhyme, repetition of words, etc.
5. the stanzaic form

1. even the longest poem is shorter than drama or a novel

2. Subjectivity is related to highly selective treatment of the theme. Poet treats the
theme from individual, specific perspective. The theme is not what makes a poem
subjective, but the approach the theme does not have to be original (death of beloved
person not original theme), but the original approach of the author makes the poem
subjective. The author tries to deal with the theme on his own original way. E.g. Liu Che
not original theme but the way that Pound chooses to treat the theme (theres no
pathetic approach in this poem).
Perspective is the point of view who is speaking to whom, who is the speaker and
who is the addressee? Here is important the angle which the poetic I takes. (poetic I =
poetic voice, poetic persona, lyrical I this is the speaker)
The poetic I is not the poet himself (usually); it is another invention of the poet.
There is implicit and explicit I :

Explicit I - e.g.
I am tired of work; I am tired of building up somebody
Elses civilisation
Let us take a rest M Lissy Jane.
I will go down to the
(F. Johnson Tired, 1922)
Explicit I and explicit addressee Miss Lissy Jane

Implicit I e.g.
The golf links lie so near the mil
That almost every day
The labouring children can look out
And see the men at play
(S. Cleghorn, 1917)

The I here remains impersonal (example also in the station of a metro)
Theme: poverty, injustice, dissatisfaction, compassion for the children. This is socially
engaged poetry. I is disappointed with how life is but we dont know who this person is.

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Subjectivity e.g.
At ten AM the young housewife
Moves about in negligee behind..
(William Carlos Williams The Young Housewife 1917)

Here we have the explicit I (I pass solitary in my car)
The I feels compassion, sympathises with the woman, shes alone, her everyday duties
and obligations. Theme: position of a woman in marriage negative one.
We have also the implicit addressee the poetic voice addresses nobody special

3. Self-referentiality of poetic language

The language in poetry draws attention to itself by:
- unusual expressions and extraordinary combinations of sounds/words
- strange/unusual ideas

4. lyric from lira (mus. Instrument Greek) originally referred to music, because in the
beginnings poetry had musical background. In late development lyric became written
form. In the early stages it was performed orally, companied by music.
We can achieve melodiousness in poetry in few levels:
1. Phonological level level of sounds, when you achieve musicality through rhyme,
poetic meter, etc.
2. morphological level e.g. repetition of words
3. syntactic level arrangements of sentences
4. semantic level use of exceptionally figurative language


RHYME
Rhyme is part of musicality in poetry.
End rhyme or pure rhyme is the repetition of sounds beginning with the last stressed
vowel:
Bright night

Internal rhyme is the rhyme that occurs inside lines (crowd bough)

Slant rhyme, also called: imperfect rhyme, off rhyme, para rhyme, half rhyme, near
rhyme, etc.
crowd bough type 1 of slant rhyme repetition of vowels
type 2 consonance repetition of consonants, e.g. rider reader, farer fearer

Alliteration is repetition of initial consonant (usually) in 3 or more successive words:
when weeds in wheels

Homophonic rhyme words that are pronounced the same but are written differently
(knight night)

Historical rhyme prove and love you pronounce [luv] as it was pronounced in 16
th

century just to achieve the rhyme




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Rhyme Scheme

Sequence of end rhymes in a stanza/poem marked by small letters, e.g.

- rhyming couplets: aa, bb, cc
- alternate rhyme: abab, cdcd (typical for the sonnet)
- embracing rhyme: abba, cddc
- chain rhyme: aba, bcb, cdc

Poetic Meter in the text collection for practical classes

5. STANZAIC FORM

Stanza = poetic paragraph
Couplet 2 verse lines
Tercet
Quatrain
2 tercets sestet
2 quatrains octet or octave
The Italian and the English sonnet (14 verses) most rigid verse form

Stanza consists of verses verse lines.
Internal structure of a poem: syntax and verse length:
End-stopped lines are when theres 1 idea in 1 verse line; 1 syntactic unit in 1 line.
Enjambment or run-on lines is when syntactical unit spills over the verse lines, from
the 1
st
to the 2
nd
and so on.


(P) ARISTOTLE POETICS TRAGEDY

Mimesis imitative process
Tragedy = imitation of action
Action: Serious (matter of life and death)
Complete (beginning, middle, end)
Has magnitude (person in difficult situation)

Media:
Language (made, artificial-poetic language)
Acting (actors)

Purification of the audience means that they should feel pity and fear.
Language has to be:
Rhythmic and melodious (poetic language)
Different forms verses, songs (music, choruses, singing)

Constituent elements (make the form): plot, characters, verbal expression, thought, song
composition, visual adornment

Plot is structuring (organisation) of events (of the action imitated)
Aristotle constantly focuses on the plot; plot is imitation of the events and tragedy is
imitation of events theres no tragedy without plot.
What is imitated: plot, characters, thought.
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Constituent elements:
1. The greatest importance has the plot; tragedy imitates life actions in life
2. Characters tragedy imitates the persons for the sake of their actions
3. Thought underlying the theme of the tragedy based on the ability of the writer
4. Verbal expression
5. Song composition
6. Visual adornment

[8]
Unity of plot of place and time

Unity of plot depends on logical connection of events and how logically events are tied. It
has to be all the elements of plot tightly knit in order to make sense.

Hierarchy of disciplines
Events
History just describes what has happened
Literature prevents something from happening.

Characters are important because of their actions. In Shakespearean tragedy Hamlets
inner state is important. In Oedipus its not.

Chapter 12 - Plots
Simple and complex plot

If we have a tightly knit structure it is a good plot if not it is a simple plot which is not
good. Here if it is not simple it is complex contains events that are fearful and pathetic;
it has to induce fear and pathos (emotional charge)
The plot is best constructed if even the events that are unexpected come logically; even
accidents have to be very much connected with the previous actions.
Cause and effect logical causality of plots

REVERSAL (shift, change): in simple plot there is no peripety and no recognition
(anagnorisis); in complex plot we have both the peripety and anagnorisis.

Peripety is a sudden reversal. Recognition is finding some peace of information we did
not know before.

Everything begins with chorus (people of city Thebes) begging Oedipus to save them
from the plague. Reversal is when Teiresias tells Oedipus The shift is when Oedipus
starts realising something is wrong. He realises the strangeness of this all.

Hamlet begins with the ghost.

Monologue is meant to be heard.
Cythe govor postrance short comments that nobody hears, while other characters
are speaking
Soliloquy 1 character is alone on the stageit seems as if he were speaking to God of
himself.



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Hamlet has several plots
Accidents : Polonius death and Ophelias suicide

Revenge is at the end

Pg 37 of Poetics:
3 elements:
Pathos (destructive act, acts causing pain)
Peripetia ( peripety, shift)
Anagnorisis (recognition)

Chapter 13 pg 38
-pity/fear is motivating catharsis through characters of particular type and particular
direction of events evolve.
Artistically made plot.
HAMARTIA mistake (character is a normal person, not too good, not wicked, not a
god, hes just what is expected of human being; but he does make mistakes)

Direction of events is from good to bad

Chapter 15 characters

Deux ex macinae in Greek theatre everything supernatural image of god coming
from machine no person plays gods.

Pg. 43 appropriate in actions behave in a particular way in society
Inappropriate is not credible, has to behave according to the expectations
Consistent behaves in the same way throughout the whole play
Likeness to human nature should be a human, even if a hero must not be a superman.

Hamlet experiences a downfall because of a mistake, because of hi indecisiveness; he
spends too much time lamenting and acting, hes melancholic; he thinks and prolongs;
he is inconsistent; hes more good than bad. In Elizabethan time theatre is about
characters not just actions; it does not revolve around actions. Hamlet had chances but
he does not act no cause and effect relation.

Pg 42 underlined : according to this Hamlet would be a disaster of a play; but this
reflects the modern theatre.


(S) ANCIENT GREEK THEATRE

5
th
century BC was the golden age of ancient Greek drama: Aeschylus, Sophocles,
Euripides. Tragedy builds on the epic; the stories from the epics were used again in the
drama. Sophocles did not invent Oedipus; this story was already known to the Greek
society from the epic. Epic was the oldest, then comes drama, then lyric.

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Theatron or Koilon

Greek theatre was an open-air theatre amphitheatre. In theatron, rows or seats are
Kerkis, stairs Klimakes; there are 2 parts upper and lower, separated by aisle
Diazoma. There is a special seat for the priest of Dionysius; its a kind of throne; its very
decorated. Orchestra is circular space in the centre (not music orchestra); or dancin
place; in the centre of orchestra is an altar. A part of dramatic action took place there; a
chorus stood there (a group of singers and dancers that stood in orchestra they
commented, sang, danced + served as a guide for the audience they summed up,
dropped hints etc. they provided entertainment). Chorus was very important for the
development of drama. The Greek tragedy evolved from the chorus. Beyond the
orchestra is the Skene scene stage building that looked like a house; it provided
background for the stage Logeion Proskenion. First it was made of wood and then it
became permanent stone building. Approval of the play was shown not only by clapping,
but with shouting, hissing, if they didnt like the play the audience would throw fruit,
stones
The theatre has religious origin: god Dionysius and his annual festivals : The
Lenaea and The Greater Donysia. It had a religious function; it was rooted in religion. It
was inevitable a sacred place, built between the temple and market place.
Dionysius is Roman god Bachus. Dionysius was god of wine, hedonism (sexual
orgies), to Greeks he represented positive qualities, but he also had a dark and positive
side. Bachus is a simplified version of Dionysius; he was a god of wine and sexual
orgies; the view of him was too simple.
Dionysius negative side:
The followers of the god revered him till self-destruction; specially drinking rituals
which included lots of wine and other psychedelic substances. The followers did all this
jus to be united with the god Dionysius. He symbolised unity of being all existing forms
would go back to him. They had sexual orgies as well and the aim wasnt pure
entertainment but unity with god Dionysius.
Positive side:
He symbolised rebirth, natural renewal, fertility, continuation of life, regeneration,
spring, nature. He had 2 big annual festivals and some small village fests. In that time
the plays in honour of god Dionysius were played (role of the th3eatre).
Leanea was a festival of wine press. Wine was considered to be mystical
substance. It was held in January and February.
The Greater Dionysia the City Dionysia; was a central festivity in honour of
god Dionysius. It was held in March and April. During this festival contests in skills were
held:
- tragedy
- comedy
- dithyramb (hymn dedicated to Dionysius, praise the god)

On the 1
st
day religious processions were held, on the 2
nd
day contests in
dithyramb, on 3
rd
day contests in comedy and last 3 days contests in tragedy. From this
we can see the importance of tragedy. It was regarded as perfect art form. We dont
know her exact origin but it may have developed from dithyramb.

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Origin of tragedy as a dramatic form

Dithyramb / satyr play/ tragedy
Dithyramb is a hymn in honour of god Dionysius. Satyrs are mythological
creatures half-men half goat with great sexual energy; the were chasing the nymphs.
Tragedy is the most recent. It evolved from the satire and dithyramb tradition. How?
1
st
theory:
Chorus was the nucleus of tragedy. Ion the beginning it must have been just
chorus. Then 1 of the singers just separated from the others and a form of conversation
developed 1
st
verbal exchanges. Son of 1
st
single singer was a kind of narrative of
events from life of god Dionysius. With time other themes came not just god D.
Aeschylus added the 2
nd
actor; now there were 2 actors and a chorus.
Sophocles added the 3
rd
actor + the chorus. Nov the tragedy was more
developed than in the beginning. In the 5
th
century BC tragedy and satyr-play were the
dramatic forms and dithyramb poetry.
Aristotles Poetics is the most important document; it is the oldest known peace of
literary theory in the western world. It was written 50 75 years after the Greek tragedy
experienced its peek.

Aristotles Poetics had 2 parts. The 2
nd
part was lost. Division of 1
st
part:
introduction (chapter 1-5); main part (ch. 6-22) on tragedy; final part (ch. 23-26) on epic
and tragedy vs. epic.
Introduction: mimesis (imitation) is the fundamental phenomenon of art imitation
of life.
Final: action in the play has to take place within 24 hours unity of time. Epic is
longer. Tragedy must have single action; epic can combine more actions and episodes.
Unity of place; action has to take place in 1 city. Epic hasnt these restrictions.

Theory of tragedy in Poetics

Descriptive or prescriptive approach?
1. definition of tragedy and 6 constituent elements
2. elements of tragic plot: primacy of plot: primacy of plot over character
3. effect on audiences: eleos (pity), phoibos (fear or terror), catharsis

Tragedy imitates action NOT characters.
Cause-effect chain:
Middle action has to logically follow out of the beginning and affect the ending.

Magnitude stands for the tone/atmosphere of tragedy. Events are always highly
intense, dramatic. The theme is universal; the audience has to recognise themselves.
You can measure the quality of tragedy depending on the effect on the audience.
Mixed characters is what a tragic hero in a good tragedy must be like not
perfect but not totally bad.

Oedipus is symbol of humanity left in ignorance.
Hamartia is what is responsible for the downfall of the hero. In Oedipus it is and
error a mistake; he falls not because hes a bad character; he is not the cause of his fall.
Hamartia is not moral deficiency; its just a mistake in judgement he makes. He falls
because he makes mistakes.

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Primacy of plot
Plot = arrangement of incidents (not the story itself)
Connection with the Greek world picture and religious origins of the Greek
theatre: man is what he does (no psychological approach) and the concept of fate or
gods

Oedipus is tragic because he remains dignified; because of his response,
reaction; he confronts his fate. Not because of his moral, just what he did is important
primacy of plot.

(S)17.10.2008.

* primacy of plot
* mixed characters
* effect on the audience

Hamartia is different in Greek and Elizabethan tragedy. Greek gods are not like
Christian/monotheistic god; they can be mean and nasty and monotheistic god is on the
other hand loving and forgiving.
Oedipus is a tragic hero because he wanted to find the truth; he showed his dignity and
stoicism. In Aristotelian criteria he was a perfect tragic hero; he took the full
responsibility for his acts, he was also not a villain but not too good either; he showed
rashness and hot temper. Rashness why did he marry a woman old enough to be his
mother although he knew about the prophecy and did he get in fight and kill an older
man, a man old enough to be his father? These bad characteristics of his are also
shown in his behaviour towards Creon and Teiresias.
In this tragedy the whole story of his life is not necessary, just this part where the most
important events occur.
The beginning, middle and end are connected with cause-effect chain; this means that
one event leads to another. The beginning is the event that triggers off. The plot
structure is shown on Freytags triangle.
First Oedipus promises to find the murderer of Laius. He consults the oracle in Delphi.
The climax are the messengers; both of them have a function an that is to get to the
truth.

Peripeteia/Reversal (of the messengers intention)
Anagnorisis/Recognition
Desis/rising action/tying up/complication
Lusis/falling action/unravelling/denouement

Reversal and recognition come at almost the same time in climax.

Is Hamartia error or flaw?
- Error/mistake with no moral overtones (because of Greek value-system and Greek
theatre): Oedipus as a symbol of mankind left in ignorance and wrong judgement
despite the search for truth, dignity and nobility.

- Flaw: tragic moral flaw in the character, false moral judgement (because of Christian
value-system and Elizabethan theatre) - Hamlet

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What is ironic about Oedipus is the fact that Teiresias is blind but sees and Oedipus
can see but is blind; then Oedipus blinds himself because when he had eyes he did not
see the truth.

ELIZABETHAN THEATRE / SHAKESPEAREAN THEATRE

Renaissance in 16
th
century attitude to Aristotelian rules
Outside England Aristotle was influential even after the Renaissance, but in England
plays of new type were written. There was a different understanding of plot, characters
and of the effect on audience. It was Shakespearean theory of drama.

Greek and Elizabethan theatre: common characteristics
They were both concerned with the position of human being in the world. They
emphasized human dignity, worth, responsibility and stoicism, nobility of mind, even in
the worst situations. Tragedy shows human being reaching the highest point of dignity
when in the worst situation. Tragedy directly or indirectly hints that human lives are
governed by some higher forces (gods). They have similar effect on audiences pathos
and pity. They focus on sad, tragic, dramatic events: murder, incest, death, pain, cosmic
loneliness. They are never entirely pitiful nor entirely fearful (terrifying) (entirely pitiful are
soap operas and cheap love stories). There is good dosage of fear and pity but none
should prevail. They are partly outcome of mans actions and partly gods decision.
Shakespeare gives more free will to his characters but he also shows a hint of higher
authority.

NEW CONCEPT OF DRAMA

Primacy of character the tragic hero and Hamartia as tragic flaw
It is important what the characters are like; their inner motivation for what they do not
just the actions as in Greek tragedy. There are many monologs and soliloquy, which are
typical of Shakespeare (To be or not to be). Their function is to reveal the mind of the
character/tragic hero. Even here there are mixed characters; not too god and not villains.
They fall due to the fact that their deeds are judged because of the tragic moral flaw
which is in themselves in their nature. This flaw is a tragically overstressed quality; e.g.
Hamlets indecisiveness, he tends to exaggerated analysing. Hamlet is an anti-hero; he
is the opposite of Oedipus; does not do anything.

Disregard of unities
Modern theatre doesnt respect unities. Unity of time (everything has to happen within 24
hours) Shakespeare disregards this rule. Unity of action (everything happens on 1
place Oedipus is in Thebes on the court) Shakespeare disregards this unity as well,
action happens on different places graveyard, travels, court etc.
Unity of plot (1 single plot) has similar elements but not strictly. There is the main plot
(Hamlets story) and sub-plot (Ofelias family; Laertes revenge for his father and sister).

Mixture of the tragic and the comic
Shakespeare combines tragic and comic elements. E.g. character of the fool (kings
jester) in Shakespeares plays this character utters what everybody thinks but nobody is
allowed to say openly. There are also human follies ridicule of some other characters.
Shakespeares comedies were not pure comedies; they had elements of tragedy; some
dark bitter observations. His late comedies are considered to be dark comedies.
Greeks would never make or accept this mixture.

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Different physical setting the stage
The Globe theatre Shakespeare was the owner, playwright and actor as well.
First plays were the university plays and interludes. In Renaissance England, the
interludes were performed in private mansions and the university plays were performed
in schools, especially in law schools Inns of Court. First professional acting
companies were the travelling actors; they would set up temporary stages in fields. In
16
th
century the reputation of these groups grew there were 2 Inns in London..:

The Elizabethan Stage
First were temporary or improvised stages. The inns served as temporary theatres (in
mid-century) e.g. The Saracens Head and The Boars Head. First permanent
playhouses were e.g. The Globe (1599); The Rose; The Swan. The entrance to these
playhouses was paid; earlier the entrance in the inns was not paid. The shape: baiting
house and inn. The playhouses were built outside the city because they were frowned at
and disapproved; everything that had to do with acting was disapproved.
In 1613 The Globe was burnt down the roof got fire. In 1614 it was reopened. In 1644
it was finally demolished because the puritans (religious fanatics) ordered all theatres to
be closed. In 1660 it was again reopened and in 1997 the New Globe was opened.
The precise view of the stage is not certain. There is a sketch of the Swan theatre made
by Dutchman Johannes de Wit about 1596. it is similar to Globe; has circular shape,
inner courtyard, stage.
Shape of the Globe
Circular form of the baiting house where the cock fights took place. The tiring house
had 2 floors. The performances depended on weather and there were no lights so there
were no night performances. The stage was the apron stage it was projected towards
the audiences so the performance took place in the midst of the audience. Classification
of the audiences:
1 the groundlings they stood on the ground around the stage ( cheap 1 penny ticket)
2 those who paid more expensive tickets and sat on the benches on surrounding
galleries (2 floors)
3 the richest they had private room on the gallery

This was a democratic stage. Different social classes were allowed to come; the theatre
was not restricted only to aristocracy. Social classes mingled. The town council thought
that the Globe was bad influence; especially because of the possibility it offered different
classes to mingle uncontrolled mixing. They tried to isolate playhouses and place them
outside the city.

The size of the theatre was - it could receive 2000 3000 spectators; had good
acoustic so the actors did not have to shout in order to be heard; there was a close
contact between the audiences and the actors; there was almost no scenery, no
furniture, just some stoles and maybe a throne. There were 2 stage doors for the actors.
Between the doors was the curtained room used only in special acts for sick-bed parts
not too often. There was the 2
nd
floor balcony which was used only in particular scenes
(Romeo and Juliet) and which was also used for the musicians. There was a flag, when
it was unfurled it was a signal that the shoe will begin shortly. Hell was separated by
curtains and there was a trapdoor on the stage leading to hell. Deux ex machina was
part of tiring house. There was entrance and exit for the actors; main entrance was in
front. Apart from the apron stage it was also called Passe-partout scenery:
Since there was little or no furniture on the stage, it demanded lot of imagination of the
audiences. There were many lines in the plays that told the audience what they should
imagine (e.g. Macbeth). There was no curtain on the stage; the action was moving fast
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and everything was taking place in front of the audience. The signal for the change of
scene was: the group of actors came out through the exit door and another group of
actors came in. no change of location could be signalled because there was no furniture.
Pass partout for the Elizabethan theatre was the tiring house; it never changed that
part had to serve every action, every scene; the scenes changed but the same physical
background remained. There was no extra effort invested in decoration. The stage
suggests a variety of locations deck of a ship, forest, street, court
Actors had richly decorated costumes and a lot of music was played. There were no
women actors; boys played women. There were 4 to 5 main actors.
Usually there was up to 12 actors. Companies were run by non-acting managers. With
time the actors also got share (part of profit) in the theatre (e.g. Shakespeare). There
were performances for 4 of 5 nights in row. If a play was a real success it could be rerun.
There was competition between acting groups. Demand for plays was big and there was
lot of work for the actors and playwrights.

SHAKESPEARES HAMLET

Identify structural elements of the plot:
1. Incentive moment
2. rising action
3. climax and recognition; reversal
4. falling action
5. resolution

(2 plots intertwined; 5 acts in Hamlet)

1. The beginning causes the chain of other events (in Oedipus it was plague).
Everything begins with the appearance of ghost. Now Hamlet has to revenge and this
triggers off the chain of other events.
2. cause-effect chain chain of events from the appearance of the ghost to climax.
Hamlet fakes madness. This is his strategy to be able to investigate in peace under
cover of madness and to uncover his uncle. This way hes buying time so that Claudius
thinks that Hamlet is not a worthy opponent.
Ophelia talks to her father; she is offended by Hamlets words when he acts mad
because he was insulting and harsh. She thinks he doesnt love her. He also had to
show Ophelia that he is mad; he couldnt tell her the truth. (Ophelias flaw was that she
was Polonius daughter).
King calls Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. They are spies and Hamlet knows that they
are on a mission. He doesnt trust anyone, especially Polonius. He trusts only Horatio.
3. 3
rd
Act
Hamlet decides to organise a play a mousetrap for his uncle to see if he is really guilty.
He orders the actors to act the scene of his fathers death to see Claudius reaction.
This is the beginning of the crisis and it leads to the catastrophe. After the play the uncle
is affected and he is praying; Hamlet has a perfect opportunity to kill him but he cant kill
him while hes praying because he believes that that way hell send his soul to heaven
and not to hell. He misses the chance. He goes to his mothers room. Polonius is hiding
behind the curtain and Hamlet kills him (compensation for not killing Claudius). This the
moment of peripety reversal:
Now Claudius knows that Hamlet is not mad, that he knows the truth and that he could
be planning to kill him. Now everything is in the open between Hamlet and Claudius.
There are 2 recognitions here:
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1
st
Hamlet is now sure that Claudius is guilty the moment he sees Claudius reaction to
the play
2
nd
Claudius knows what Hamlet hides that he is not mad and that he knows.
This is not a classical recognition.
4. Events that Claudius undertakes against Hamlet unravelling the plot:

- Ophelias suicide
- Laertes and Claudius conspiracy against Hamlet

5. this is not classical resolution justice is not served in classical way. Hamlet has
fulfilled his task, he revenged, he managed to kill Claudius BUT his mother, Laertes and
he himself are dead. It is an ambiguous resolution; justice is partly served.


(P) OUR TOWN

This play was written in the 30s. Structure has narrative elements.
Genre:
dramatic narrative
Plot
Enactment
Characters
Scenes/acts
Dialogue
Action
Costumes/scenery
Story/plot
Narration (narrator)
Characters
Lines/paragraph/chapters
Dialogue and/or description
Action/events

Wilder:
No scenery/costumes
Little action
Some dialogues
Plot
Enactment
Characters + narrator
Narration and descriptions

He doesnt follow the characteristics. He wants the audience to imagine; he focuses on
the imagination of the audience.
Preface:
In the Preface he blames issues of 19
th
century middle class; says that theatre became
dull business due to habits and tastes of 19
th
century middle class see in the text!

Tragedy aimed at the audience
Satire aimed at government form of criticism
Comedy exaggerated characteristic of people set the model of behaviour;
All of their purpose was teaching; this can happen to you. Now the teaching part was
less and Wilder showed rebellion against it.

Then the most popular were the melodrama (todays soap operas), sentimental drama
and comedy (grotesque comedy). Dramas were sheer entertainment and the theatre
became a place where you went to be seen.
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The theatre lost its universality, it became particular. We understand something because
we can identify with everything that is universal. Ideas and messages have to be
universal; anti-illusionist theatre was universal.

Message of this play: enjoy your life as it is!!!
Main idea: grab a day and enjoy it!

Act 1 : Daily Life
1901
Daily activities in an ordinary small town presented on the example of the Webbs and
Gibbs.
1 Stage Manager introduces the play and the setting.
2 Paper boy, milkman, Dr Gibbs
3 Stage Manager talks about paper boys life and death
4 The families have breakfast

Act 2 : Love and Marriage
1904
Wedding day and ceremony of Emily W and George G.
1 Stage Manager introducing/describing the setting for the act
2 Milkman and constable
3 George visits the Webbs house
4 Stage Manager introduces a flashback
5 Emily and George in 1901/02
6 Ceremony

Act 3 : Death
1913
Funeral of Emily Webb Gibbs and her reappearance on a day of her 12
th
birthday
1902.
1 Stage Manager introduces the setting and the background for the act
2 Grave digger and the man who is leaving town
3 Dead speak
4 Funeral procession
5 Emily joins the dead
6 Emily returns on the day of her 12
th
birthday

Appreciate small things in life.
No community; no town is perfect and untouchable; cant be isolated (because of the
locking of the doors)

Anti-illusionist elements:
1 Stage Manager:
Narrator
Commentator
Character (these 3 were the tasks of a chorus in Greek tragedy)
Director

2 Sparse scenery
(difference between number of chairs live / dead)
Changes of scenery by characters themselves before your very eyes

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(S) SUBSEQUENT DEVELOPMENT: THE BEGINNING OF MODERN STAGE

Inigo Jones (1573-1652): the court, the masque and the picture-frame stage
Theatre changes already during Shakespeares life. Now everything is focused on
picture-frame stage and variable sets. Inigo Jones was an English architect and set
designer. He made the first changes in the theatre. He was very active in Jacobean
period (King James I). He collaborated with Ben Johnson costume designer. Inigo
Jones invented highly elaborate scene and stage; it was much decorated; with lot of
furniture, flowers, nature-scenes, facades of the houses; the facades were technological
inventions. He introduced perspective paintings background paintings which gave the
audiences a feeling of depth.
The new play was court masque; those were brief dramatic presentations based on
classical stories from Greek or Roman mythology or stories that celebrated the royal
couple. They were performed in court or palaces of rich men. The queen even
participated in acting and the royal coupe even wrote some of these plays. They were
spectacular entertainment; had expensive scenery and costumes; there was singing,
dancing and music and as we see it was related to the opera. This is called the illusionist
theatre; it creates illusion of reality in the audiences.

Illusionist theatre, the invisible 4
th
wall; the absolute drama
The willing suspension of disbelief means that you could willingly accept the illusion. In
17
th
, 18
th
and 19
th
century the illusionist theatre dominated. Audiences went to the
theatre which invited them to identify themselves with the play, to forget themselves. The
theatre was the illusion of reality; it imitated real life as far as possible. The picture-frame
stage, also called the box-stage, was separated from the audiences (by curtain and
ramp on 3 sides) and it seemed like a room with invisible 4
th
wall. Elizabethan theatre
had no sides, no walls, no ramp and no curtain; there was closer contact between the
audience and the actors; the stage was open and projected into the audience. Now, in
the modern theatre, the stage was illuminated and the audience was in the dark; there
was no eye-to-eye contact between the audience and the actors. Curtain was used to
mark the beginning and the end and to hide the changes of scenery so that the illusion
of reality would not be destroyed. This kind of theatre was the absolute drama; it tries
not to undermine the dramatic illusion at all costs (e.g. use of curtain). The picture-frame
stage is tied to the realist play; it supports the feeling in the audience that they are
witnessing something real. (On the other hand Greeks and Romans had open stages in
the open space).
In the late 19
th
century the illusion of reality became disapproved by critics, directors and
the actors. A parallel development of plays for this stage and these conventions and of
new authors, playwrights and directors began. They found this kind of stage childish,
restricted and introduced new form: epic-drama; anti-illusionist to escape from these
formal restrictions. The epic drama was the counter movement in modern development.
It culminates in works of Bertolt Brecht German playwright who took this new form to
the extreme.

Absolute vs. Epic drama

There are 3 levels of dramatic communication:
1. non-fictional communication
2. fictional mediation
3. fictional action

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3. Fictional action is the basic level of drama; it is the actual action of the play; this is
what is presented in the theatre action. It is purely dramatic level what makes drama
a drama.
There are 2 types of communication:
- verbal action when the characters communicate (dialogues, monologues,
soliloquy..)
- non-verbal action gestures, facial expressions, movements
Every drama has this level of dramatic communication.



2. Fictional mediation does not exist in absolute drama; actually, the absolute drama has
no or little fictional mediation. Everything is presented directly o stage; it doesnt have
anything to guide the audience; the audience just witnesses; there is nobody who
mediates between audiences and drama.
Anti-illusionist drama has this element. Beside direct representation we have fictional
mediation as well. There is the narrator figure; hes a mediator, historian, character. The
epic drama has certain connections with the novel: narrator (a mediator between reader
and rest of the action; he is the one who explains the action). Protagonist is not a
narrator. Narrator does not appear in traditional drama. He is partly part of action but
mostly outside the action; he explains. Narrator is fictional; hes a product of imagination;
he mostly addresses to fictional addressees with which the audiences identify. (e.g. the
additional level in Hamlet is the play within the play). In traditional absolute drama
theres no 2
nd
level of dramatic communication; theres no use of narrator figures.
Hamlet is an example of absolute drama; it creates illusion, theres no narrator, just
action presented. The audiences confirm the expectation; they consciously embrace the
illusion.

Epic drama: the use of epic devices and mediation, epic theatre alienation
effect

Epic uses narrative devices; its focused on the narrator figure; just like in prose fiction
here we have a visible, clearly recognisable narrator figure. He is the additional level of
communication prologue, epilogue, conclusions; he informs, comments; he can even
stop the action at a time and comment or indicate the future narrative pause/break.
Epic drama alienation effect (efekt otuenja)
Bertolt Brecht had wide range of theatrical devices used by playwright to destroy the
illusion; this is opposite to the picture-frame theatre aims (to uphold the illusion). These
devices were used to discourage the audience from identifying with characters.
A new type of novel appeared as well stream of consciousness.
Stage changes here are not hidden; the stage hands can be seen there is no curtain,
lights are on. The auditorium is even used as acting area; sometimes the actors would
even invite the audiences to interact sing, dance even act. E.g. Stage Manager in Our
Town has also a task to emphasize the main theme of the play (simple things are
important, grab the day) not just to destroy the illusion.







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LITERARY THEORETICAL TERMS

- person (in real life) vs. character (in play)
- primary speeches of all the characters) vs. secondary (everything that is not the
primary text; title, subtitle, historical notes, cast of characters dramatic
personae, stage directions) text
- speech (utterance of a single figure) vs. dialogue
- kinds of speech:
o monologue (long speech, a character talks to himself; does not exist in
Greek tragedy)
o soliloquy (character alone on the stage talks to himself; doesnt exist in
Greek tragedy)
o aside (there are 3 forms how a character can speak):
monological (remark made by 1 character to himself while hes
engaged with dialogue with other character)
dialogical (remark addressed to a specific hearer; not to be heard
by others)
ad spectatores (to the audience; brief remark to the audience that
cant be heard by the others)
Speech heading (parts of secondary text), stage direction (didascaly), closure (or
resolution)


PART II


13.11.2008. PRACTICAL

Viewpoint:
External (not part of action/story)
Internal (is part of the story, is a character)
Narrators:
Omniscient
Objective
Protagonist
Witness

- H. Fieldings Tom Jones (English author) 18
th
century has omniscient narrator.
- E. Hemingway (American author) Short and Happy Life of Frances Macomber, 20
th

century has objective narrator
- Jonathan Swift Gullivers Travels protagonist narrator
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- Herman Melville Bartleby the Scrivener witness narrator

External point of view: omniscient and objective
Internal point of view: protagonist and witness

Omniscient and objective, similarities:
- 3
rd
person narration (prevailing)

Differences:
Omniscient knows everything and tells you everything; explains the thoughts of
characters; tells you what to think (directly and subtly); passes a judgement of the
character (e.g. Nightingale); points at himself; uses royal we; presents a certain image of
himself
Also called: Olympian narrator.

Objective: does not know everything; follows action; gives dialogues; does not give
judgements; he reports (no unnecessary details or comments)
Also called: Camera-eye, fly-on-the-wall

Protagonist and witness in common:
- 1
st
person narration
Protagonist is telling a story which is happening to him, his thoughts.
Witness is expressing emotions, but expressing his own emotions not characters whose
story hes telling. Hes a bit similar to the omniscient: witness tells because he knows;
omniscient because hes a God-like figure.


Gullivers Travels

- protagonist narrator
- 1
st
person narration

Parts of Gullivers Travels:
In each of its four books the hero, Lemuel Gulliver, embarks on a voyage; but shipwreck
or some other hazard usually casts him up on a strange land. Book I takes him to
Lilliput, where he wakes to find himself the giant prisoner of the six-inch-high Lilliputians.
Book II takes Gulliver to Brobdingnag, where the inhabitants are giants. In Book III
Gulliver visits the floating island of Laputa, whose absent-minded inhabitants are so
preoccupied with higher speculations that they are in constant danger of accidental
collisions.
Book IV takes Gulliver to the Utopian land of the Houyhnhnmsgrave, rational, and
virtuous horses. There is also another race on the island, uneasily tolerated and used for
menial services by the Houyhnhnms. These are the vicious and physically disgusting
Yahoos. Although Gulliver pretends at first not to recognize them, he is forced at last to
admit the Yahoos are human beings.

Melville
- witness narrator
- describes Bartleby and his actions not his own actions
- he watches and describes the actions of a character; he mentions his own actions only
when they have to do with Bartleby. He focuses on Bartleby, on his position in the office,
on his work the way he does it, describes which kind of character he is.
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Bartlebys temperament:
(silent mechanic..) theres no passion, hoes completely phlegmatic, he could not
possibly rebel
Bartleby is described as sedate, neat, pitiably respectable, incurably forlorn
But in the end Bartleby shows protest, quiet rebellion. A mechanic, silent man rebelled
contrast !!!
Byron was a rebellious character Byron and Bartleby pure contrast.
The chief treats Bartleby as his servant authoritarian relationship.
privacy Bartlebys desk is behind a screen but where he can hear bosss demands.
Boss is not satisfied, he doesnt respect Bartlebys work silent, pale, mechanic; hes
not happy nor passionate. Theres no respectful relationship just bosss orders.

Woolf and Joyce are British authors from 20
th
century. The movement is called
Modernism. In that time there was much experimentation in order to find best ways to
express characters thoughts and actions. Sometimes these novels were not even
understandable because of this experimentation; e.g. later works of Joyce.


NARRATIVE GENRE (S)
Narratology is part of literary theory that analyses narrative texts.
Drama:
- absolute drama; traditional theatre; no narration devices no mediation
- experimental epic drama; has narrator figures and other theatrical devices
anti-illusionist devices (alienation effect); it flourishes throughout 20
th
century and
exist even today together with traditional theatre.

Epic drama and novel similarities:
1 story or plot + fictional mediation
Fictional mediation is not only restricted to epic drama; we find it in the novel as well.
Theatre is multimedial form audiences are able to see the figure that mediates. Novel
is a monomedial form we can only read it. The same type of fictional mediation is in
novel but the reader has to imagine the figure that mediates.

2 double chronology
We have to distinguish between 2 levels
- time spent covered by the action; duration of action; time spent play or novel
covers and
- additional time duration of play or time you need to read the novel; duration of
performance of the play (you cant stop the play you can just physically leave the
theatre but noel you can stop whenever you want and then continue to read).

In Our Town time spent is from 1901 to 1913 12 years of time.
Joyces Ulysses the action covers only 1 day but the book has more than 1000 pages,
you might need much time to read it.

Epic drama and novel differences:
- drama is multimedial form
- novel is monomedial form
Novelist has more freedom than the playwright; the reader is alone with the book and
his/her imagination. Also, dramatic text is meant to be performed before audiences, the
playwright is limited with production on stage. Novelist knows that novel wont be
performed and has greater freedom. In 17
th
century were written closet plays (Milton),
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they are the only exception; they are intended to be read only, not performed. (closet
symbolises closed space).
Text of a play can be considered to be just a blueprint fully realised during performance
in theatre. (e.g. as libretto in opera). Plays acquire their full meaning only on the stage
during performance; they are multimedial forms, meant not only to be read but to be
seen as well. In novel theres nothing visualised; the reader visualises himself.
(playwright = dramatist)





STORY, PLOT AND CONTENT: WHAT MAKES NARRATIVE TEXTS NARRATIVE?

We can analyse from 3 sides (which are usually combined):
1) Story-oriented approach: every novel (as play) tells a story; it has a story or a
plot. Story is a chronological sequence of events. Plot is causal sequence of
events; it deals with 1 portion of events in a story. E.g. Oedipus the King his
story begins with or even before his birth, but this story, told chronologically from
beginning onwards is too much for a single play. Plot deals only with portion of
story of final section of story, and includes parts of story into play (parts from
Oedipuss past). (Theres no story in poetry, only in narrative poetry e.g.
ballads).
2) Discourse-oriented approach: narrative texts have particular narrative viewpoint
(we did viewpoint in practicals). It analyses how the events are
presented/mediated to the reader and who did it. We have viewpoint in poetry as
well; we can apply this approach to drama and poetry. (repeat: narrator types
and viewpoints)
3) Content-oriented approach: narrative texts reflect human experience. This is the
level of theme of novel; what the messages and universal ideas are; what the
writer wanted to say.
It is difficult to keep these approaches apart, they naturally come together when
analysing a literary work. It is best to combine them. Usually one of them exceeds;
this depends on the period, style or particular narrative genre.

What is primary in adventure novel? Story oriented approach, because here the
story is the most important; how the events are connected. In modernist novel?
Discourse-oriented and content-oriented. And postmodernist novel combines all 3.

STORY-ORIENTED NARRATOLOGY

- Time, place, characters, plot/story
Here the focus is on:
Time when the action is taking place, where, what are the characters like, how is the
story told (chronological sequence or causal connection).

- Characterisation: static vs. dynamic; types (flat) vs. individuals (round)
Relation among characters:
* static: they dont change in the course of the novel, they dont develop. They are also
called a type or flat character. Theres no transformation or intellectual of emotional
development in these characters. They are usually found in traditional literature (e.g.
type: talkative woman). There are also types according to social class to which they
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belong; social types, e.g. soldier in every novel of certain time the soldier is presented
in almost the same way. Or also there are psychological types, e.g. in Mollieres play the
character of shinflint, grouch; also: liar, thief etc. This is presentation of characters in
accordance with age, clichs, social status, gender. This changed in early 19
th
century
with Romanticism. Ian Forster introduced difference between flat and round characters:
* dynamic: possesses a variety of qualities and resembles more to a real-life person.
They mainly occur in novels and tragedies and flat characters in comedies. In medieval
drama the personification of abstract qualities was the types/flat. Comedies in
Renaissance till today operate with types. Dynamic characters are many-sided round.

Perspective: explicit (characters themselves or other characters/narrator) vs. implicit
(structure of story/plot itself, names, behaviour, dress etc.)


ELEMENTS OF THE PLOT:
* more or less significant elements: kernels or nuclei vs. catalysts or satellites
The smallest element of the plot is the event (what proves important for further progress
of the plot). Less significant elements give information but dont bring the plot further.
Roland Barthes introduced theoretical distinction of more or less important elements:
- Kernels or nuclei bring action further; they are most important elements in plot.
- Catalysts or satellites are less important, additional elements which dont bring
the plot further.
In Oedipus there are no catalysts; Aristotle clamed that it would make a bad play. Every
element here is a kernel, it brings the plot further.
In Our Town there are catalysts:
e.g. Professor Willards history of the town and Mr. Webbs political and social report and
the questions from the audience that he answers.

Modernist and postmodernist novels relativise this distinction! E.g. Virginia Woolf

Characterisation: character in novels who gives the information about characters;
characters can be described explicitly and implicitly:
Explicit characterisation: the character describes himself the event and himself (what
kind of character is he,)
Implicit characterisation: you drag conclusions yourself (e.g. Hemingway) about
characters through dialogues; tone of voice, facial expression, gesture, dress,
appearance, even names (in classical novel); this all is called non-verbal
communication.

TECHNIQUES OF EXPOSITION

From what side do you choose to tell the story:
- ab ovo (from the egg): to begin at the beginning
- in medias res: to begin in the middle of the story ( Shakespeare used this, in
Hamlet everything begins from the appearance of the ghost..)
- in ultimas res: to begin from the end (Sophocles begins with the final days of
Oedipus reign)

Closed, open ending or deus ex machina:
Closed ending is more traditional, all conflict are resolved, villains punished, everything
complicated is resolved, you get all the answers.
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Open ending is favourite in postmodernist novels, we dont get all the answers, not all
conclusions are drawn, there are no black/white answers.
Dues ex machine ending (Aristotle finds this disgusting) is the extraordinary solution,
miracle, miraculous changes occur, its sudden and not logically motivated; usually its
not convincing.

DISCOURSE-ORIENTED NARRATOLOGY: viewpoints and types of narrator:

- External viewpoint: non-participant narrator:
1 Omniscient narrator (with Olympian viewpoint)
2 Objective or dramatic narrator (fly-on-the-wall viewpoint)





WOOLF, JOYCE (P 20.11.2008)

20
th
century British authors experimented with techniques. They goal was to
present the state of mind of characters.

VIRGINIA WOOLF MRS. DALLOWAY
Technique that she used is interior monologue. The point of view is internal (perspective
of one of the characters). Here we have personal narrator personal medium. She uses
3
rd
person narration but not as in external point of view. Personal medium the external
world is described through perspective of one or more characters in the novel. (Swift
gives us objective description of external world, gives us facts and we can draw
conclusions). Personal medium is inside the story. He talks about other characters when
they come into his/her thinking process; when they affect his/her thinking process.
Peter Walsh is Clarissas former lover.
Armenians/Albanians, Committee and then roses she talks about them because they
affect her thinking at the moment. She shoes external world when it affects her shows
it through her eyes. Personal medium is interested in showing his/her thoughts.
(Freud had strong impact on world literature in this time.)
Reader was allowed access to the mind of character.

QUESTIONS:
1. narrator (who reports) is protagonist (who experiences)?
2. object of narration?
3. language/syntax; grammar; punctuation?
4. form?
5. which person narration?
6. facts of the external world?
7. time/flashbacks?
8. transitions between conversations and contemplations?

Thoughts break communication.
After lunch husband and wife are having conversation, which is broken by her thoughts.
The line between conversation and thoughts is blurred tanks to the thinking process.
There is sometimes absence of direct speech and quotation marks and punctuation. The
transition between conversation and thoughts is not clearly shown.
ANSWERS:
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1. blurred, it is better to call it personal medium because we cannot distinguish narrator
from protagonist.
2. the way she thinks, feels, the way her mind goes on triggered by the things she
sees/feels (aim is to recreate the mental process, to show how we think not talk). 3
rd

person is used instead of I when she steps out of herself. Aims to represent chaos and
defects of our thinking process.
3. language has to show the chaos in the head, because of that the rules of syntax are
broken, some punctuation is missing. Grammar rules are not always respected.
4. combination of dialogue (direct speech) and reporting indirect speech; presentation
of inner thoughts
5. uses 3
rd
person when referring to herself, presentation of inner world; shes analysing
herself
6. given only when they affect her thinking process
7. goes back and forth, which is quite chaotic. Encouraging development of ideas in
characters mind; blending of ideas, realities, experiences
8. transitions are blurred


Distance between them (e.g. poem Tears idea: youre sincere only when youre
alone), it is the status of 20
th
century marriage. Theres no closeness, not even in
marriage. Only thing that is shown is coldness. Her opinion of marriage is a struggle
between her idea of marriage and what it should be and what shes got, this is because
of conventions about gender roles. Her life is all about hiding emotions. The conventions
say that a woman should be a housewife and one of her main obligations is the
organisation of parties.

Pg 132* she is trying to find reasons for that feeling of unhappiness. Here shes a person
but a pearl as well (pearl is something that has no practical use). What is the reason?
No one understood her parties and what they meant. The reasons are not even that
someone called her husband stupid (earlier she spoke about his adorable simplicity
even in her mind hes a bit limited) not even that her daughter Elizabeth is lesbian and
has a girlfriend Doris Kilman; shes not bothered with any of these but with the fact that
no one understood her parties. Hunting pearl is a metaphor representing searching
process trying to find reasons.

JAMES JOYCE ULYSSES

Internal viewpoint/personal medium
-similar:
Personal medium
But Joyce uses more complicated technique; he is more extreme in terms of blurring
(language and style). He records true inner life of his characters, he goes to the
extremes and because of that it is necessary to free yourself he uses barely fool
sentences, little punctuation, language seems simple but grammar rules and rules of
syntax are broken and all of that makes this more complicated. (Virginia Woolf uses at
least some amount of marks that show what is thinking and what dialogue). Joyce
expresses the free flow of thoughts stream of consciousness. Every single thought
is like a stream chaotic, you cant completely control it. External environment triggers it
and it goes freely in your mind.

QUESTIONS:
1 differentiate/distinguish narrator/character?
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2 content (object) of narration?
3 language?
4 form?
5 which person narration?
6 time flux?
7 external world/internal world of character?
8 what type of thoughts?

Pg 1806, time: evening, twilight
Leopold Bloom Jew journalist and writer
Story:
Bats connects them with reincarnation you can become a tree from grief what
tree? Weeping willow then hes thinking of religious beliefs again bats church,
evening mass repetition; ironic point of view mocking; this shows either his atheism
or Jewish mistrust of Christianity then hes back to his school days again bats man
on beach colours cats (cant see more than 3 colours).

ANSWERS:
1 blurred theres no difference at all
2 constant, chaotic, not chronological, sets of associations, reactions to external
environment, dreams, memories, even frustrations, secret emotions
3 no regular punctuation, no suggestion where the direct where indirect speech comes
4 Woolf had dialogues, Joyce gives only narration
5 1
st
person narration
6 goes back and forth
7 just stimulates thoughts
8 serious? Not! It is a mix of thoughts serious, intellectual and trivial. Joyce tends to
present the way human mind thinks based on associations: external world only triggers
everything else.

SEMINAR 21.11.2008

- viewpoint of the narrator (external narrator stands outside the action of the
novel, hes not directly involved into the action)
Narrator is also a literary device invented by the author (not the author himself!) just like
the other characters.

1 Omniscient narrator
2 Objective narrator
Only thing that they have in common is the external viewpoint, strategies of mediation
are different.
Different periods favourite different narrators. In 18
th
and 19
th
century use of
omniscient narrator was popular as well as the use of 1
st
person narrator. Fielding,
typical 18
th
century English novelist uses omniscient narrator. Swift uses 1stperson
narrator. Change came in about 20
th
century. Novelists were dissatisfied with these
kinds of narrator. So with modernists come changes and new kinds of novels. (in her
essay Virginia Woolf defends modernist novel).
They introduced new type of novel. They dont use narrator as it was used so far,
there are no traditional types of narrators. Now personal medium is used. The technique
is called interior monologue or stream of consciousness. Theres no narrator but
mediating consciousness personal medium. He mediates in a very subjective way.
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This kind of novel is connected with development of psychology Freuds
psychoanalysis. They wanted to go into the head of character.
Objective/dramatic narrator is more prominent throughout 20
th
century.
Hemingway operated with this approach.
Realism 18
th
and 19
th
century. Novelists from this period call themselves realists
because they operate with 1
st
person and omniscient narrator; they give real image of
the world. Novel begins to develop intensely in 18
th
century. Fielding belongs to Realism.
They claimed that they recorded only truth facts. (this says even the narrator in
Fieldings Tom Jones) They wanted to record everything in a noel as truth in order to
play with readers imagination; here again we encounter willing suspension of disbelief.
Novels create illusion for readers that what hes reading is about real persons, places,
events etc. because of this we have long descriptions of nature, physical appearance,
furniture, dress-details of anything. Narrator is and educated, knowledgeable person
author creates him this way to persuade the readers to trust the narrator. Narrator
makes many digressions. His aim is to persuade the reader that what hes reading is not
just a novel, but world of real events; to uphold the illusion. Novel had to recreate worlds,
to imitate life and to be the exact recreation of reality. This was fulfilled thanks to
descriptions, details, and experienced, knowledgeable narrators. Realism lasted in
Europe ca.200 years.

Most classical types of narrator are: omniscient (external viewpoint) and 1
st

person narrator (internal viewpoint). Omniscient has access into characters inner world;
he knows and shows what has happened and what will happen; makes hints
FORWARD POINTING this creates suspense for the reader, ties the reader to the
story. The narrator can look back in the past BACKWARD GLANCING; constraints of
time do not apply to him. He can stop action and make long digressions (like stage
manager in anti-illusionist theatre) e.g. narrator in Tom Jones makes digression about
Cicero (about Ciceros orator skills to show that he knows much about rhetoric he
knows everything; this is not said explicitly but we have to conclude). He uses royal
plural. In postmodernist novel they use omniscient narrator to ridicule them; they are all
but reliable; or are not used at all.
Omniscient narrator gives moral judgement. Realist novels were supposed to
teach the reader: gender roles, what is appropriate, what not etc. They promoted certain
world view related to the middle class. Novel is a genre that came to being by middle
class. (Middle class accumulates wealth not by inheritance but by making money by
industry; when they become rich they imitate the lifestyle of aristocracy, they try to
cultivate their taste.) Values presented are middle class values and norms: order,
discipline, patterns of life, hard work etc. Realist novel is conventional form of novel; it
promoted values of this time. (In 18
th
century Laurence Stern, experimental novelist, was
largely rejected, he wrote something too ahead of his time.)
Omniscient narrator controls the action in a God-like level (Olympian compared
to Greek gods).


Objective/dramatic narrator is a complete opposite to omniscient narrator. Only
similarity is the external viewpoint.
This technique is used by Hemingway (and others) in 20
th
century.
Objective narrator doesnt explain anything explicitly; he pretends not to know much.
This technique is just illusion; the narrator is designed this way. He gives very basic
information. We conclude about characters from dialogues and non-verbal
communication. He gives clues which the reader has to decipher. Reader is invited to
draw conclusions and to read between the lines.
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E.g. she takes a sip of whiskey and then shakes a little she does what is expected of a
woman by this worldview. Also: she does not like hunt, shes pale; she behaves as a
real woman in this situation.
It seems that the narrator doesnt know much more than the reader.

Why is he called dramatic narrator?
The main part of a drama is dialogue. In this kind of novel dialogue is also used to show
the relations between characters; this is the use of dramatic technique. We have 1/2
dialogues and images of the action (e.g. hunting scene). Combination of dialogues
and pragmatic descriptions of action is given thats why hes called dramatic narrator.
One action is following the other (hunt of the bull). Very detailed and straightforward
description of the sequence of actions is given.
Why fly-on-the-wall? He remains on the surface of things, theres no in-depth approach;
he says only what can be seen or heard.
The camera-eye impression as if its given as on film.




INTERNAL VIEWPOINT AND PARTICIPANT NARRATOR

First-person narrator (Ich form) subdivided into:

1. 1
st
person narrator as protagonist
2. 1
st
person narrator as witness

1. Narrator is the main hero and records what has happened to him (e.g. Gulliver). Many
characteristics of omniscient narrator can be applied here as well.

2. Narrator is one of the minor characters (not main) but he tells what happens to
protagonist, from his point of view. Herman Melville (Moby Dick) Bartleby the
Scrivener the theme of this story is dehumanisation in capitalism. People just have to
work and not be noticed. Bartleby is the main character. The boss is the narrator. He
reports about Bartleby and his description is subjectively coloured. The author here is
not inviting the reader to identify with narrator but with Bartleby. (Omniscient narrator
reader is invited to share opinions, values with narrator.) The narrator in this story is
hateful; hes a demonising capitalist boss. Bartleby is peaceful, calm, but he does
protest in a very decent way Id rather not this is a very unusual rebellion.

SPECIAL CASE: PERSONAL NARRATOR
(E.g. Woolf and Joyce)

Two approaches:
1. Limited omniscient narrator (access to the mind of a single character) viewpoint?
2. Separate category: internal viewpoint and personal narrative medium
Typical of modernist and postmodernist novels: the narrative techniques of stream of
consciousness and interior monologue.

1. This narrator gives all necessary information about only 1 or 2 characters.
Omniscient narrator is tied to external point of view; this is internal viewpoint.
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The viewpoint has to be internal because of the psychological approach which is
adopted. It is as if youve entered the mind of the character. The reader cant distinguish
between protagonist and narrator theres no difference.
Mrs. Dalloway combines dialogues and new technique called by Virginia Woolf interior
monologue. It presents inner mental state of character. The aim is to present inner
mental workings. They dont respect syntax and grammar.
Joyce goes more to the extremes; he used the technique stream of consciousness.
These 2 techniques are almost the same, but internal monologue is less complex.
Grammar is not respected because we dont think in grammatically neat sentences.
People werent used to this kind of novel where everything is mingled and the
distinctions are blurred.


FIGURES OF SPEECH (27.11.2008) (P)

Also: rhetorical figures
Rhetoric is art of speech. Figures come in particular shape/form.
Morphological figures of speech: anaphora, epiphora, epanalepsis, anadipolisis,
polyptoton, figura etymologica, synonymy.
These use sentence for expressing: parallelism, chiasmus, asyndention, inversion,
hysterion proteron, ellipsis, aposiopesis, zeugma.
Semantical figures of speech: metaphor, metonymy, synedochy, personification,
synaestesia, antonomasia, hyperbole, euphemism, litotes, periphrases, irony, oxymoron,
paradox, antithesis, hendiadys, pun, symbol.

LACK OF METAPHORS WE LIVE BY
Chpt.7 Personification

Objects, plants, animals, abstract conceptions, ideas, emotions inanimate entities
Personification is giving human characteristics to inanimate entities.
According to Lakoff personification is:

1. metaphor
2. ontological metaphor
3. obvious (because metaphors are not easy to see/understand)

Metaphor is a form of comparison-, indirect, implied comparison (no as no like) e.g.
red rose is my love red rose stands for a person.
Text examples:
This fact argues
Fact has no vocal qualities, cant argue. This means fact is like a human who argues
Personification gives human qualities to inanimate entities it is more specific than
metaphor.
From text personification in itself allows us to comprehend
Why personification is not metaphor? (in texts)

4. non-human becomes human
5. A (inanimate) is B (person) a particular type of person. A certain aspect: inanimate
thing is given a particular property of a person. E.g. of aspect: its not a person but
enemy. Personification is different in terms of aspect you pick.
-general category under which you can pick any quality; range of qualities you would use
for a metaphor.
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Metonymy

In personification we refer to inanimate entities as persons, but not in metonymy.
METAPHOR A=B (theres no logical but there is extraordinary connection)
e.g. Person A = sunshine

METONYMY (also a form of comparison)
1. Here there is logical connection between A and B.
A = B (logical, almost tangible connection between entities)
According to Lakoff metaphor is implicit comparison A and B have no obvious logical
connection. Aim is to create extraordinary connections between entities.
In metonymy the relation is based upon logical connection between entities. It
establishes connection between A and B which is logical, related B is part of A; A is
part of B.

2. Synecdoche (pars-pro-toto) pg 36-39
This is a particular type of metonymy. It goes further A is part of B (e.g. picture of the
face a part stands for the whole face stands for the body)


TO HIS COY MISTRESS Andrew Marvell
17th century

What is this poem about?
CARPE DIEM grab/seize your day! (phrase used by the Roman poet Horace to
express the idea that one should enjoy life while one can. The sentiment has been
expressed in many literatures, especially in 16th- and 17th-century English poetry. Two
of the best-known examples are Robert Herrick's To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time
and Andrew Marvell's To His Coy Mistress.)
Poetic persona is a man; addressee of the poem is a young lady. Hes trying to
persuade her to get into sexual relations with him. This poem is a formal invitation for
sex. In this period (17
th
c) men wanted their wives in bed. (In To His Coy Mistress,
which is one of the most famous poems in the English language, the impatient poet
urges his mistress to abandon her false modesty and submit to his embraces before
time and death rob them of the opportunity to love)
Carpe diem philosophy was developed and it was theme of many poems.
There are 3 parts in this poem:
1. the poetic I the man suggests all the things they could do if they had time
2. but they do not have enough time
3. so because they dont have time lets do it, lets have sex

This poem uses metaphors, personifications and hyperbole.

28.11.2008. SEMINAR

Personal medium/mediator the viewpoint is always internal never external. In early
20th century modernist novel developed Woolf and Joyce.
Realism 18th and 19th century omniscient narrator was preferred (and 1
st
person
narrator internal viewpoint)
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Objective narrator developed in 20
th
century but it doesnt mean that it didnt exist
before. (Objective is a more recent technique; narrator is created in such a way that it
seems that he doesnt know much more than the reader.)
Personal narrator persona who describes is person who lives the events, but in a
different way than in classical novels.

Impression created?
- cut out classical rules
- no neat transitions between dialogues and thoughts; everything seems chaotic, a huge
amount of chaotic information. Theres an impression of feeling, a sense of intimacy
through consciousness as if you had possibility to get into mind of the person
describing events. Theres impression that theres no narrator, just flow of ones
thoughts is presented directly; theres no need for a mediator/no explanations, no
mediation; youre directly confronted with someones thoughts.
Thoughts of a character are presented. External reality is presented only when it
interacts with the internal reality of mind; it is shown how external is processed in mind
workings of human mind. Everything is inside so the viewpoint has to be internal. (In
Mrs. Dalloway we have mainly access to Clarissa Dalloways thoughts and to everything
that is reflected in her mind.)

Postmodernist novel gives no descriptions only true reality is the reality of human
mind. Real reality is in human mind.
1920s are time of high modernism it was the peak of modernism. The reader is
confronted with internal/subjective impressions of characters. Lot of sensory impressions
were transmitted example: Bloom on beach and sees a bat. It is not a conventional
description different approach we read what Bloom thinks when he sees that bat and
how his thoughts flow. Joyce didnt create grammatically neat sentences because we
dont think in grammatically neat way; thats why he came to the verge of readability.
Bloom sees a bat ant this triggers off new flow of thoughts, next chain of associations.
(tremendous influence of Freud)

Reflectorial narration is structured around experiencing events (how Clarissa Dalloway
experiences events). Nothing is told, theres no retelling, but only experiencing/viewing.

Interior monologue is easier to be followed by the reader. These novels have dialogues,
not only thoughts combination of thoughts with traditional devices (parallel processes
Clarissa talks to her husband and thinks to herself). Medium uses she it might be
misleading it is not the narrator that is talking it is she who is thinking and uses she
instead of I. We can see interaction between her thoughts and external reality most of
the time her mind works independently of external reality.
Message conveyed is: theres no genuine communication between people. Clarissa is
bored with her marriage but she does not say anything there is a gap between a
husband and wife.

Joyce takes this technique to the extreme. It is called stream of consciousness. The
thoughts are messier; theres no obvious line between thoughts and reality; theres no
necessary logical order of flow of the thoughts.

SOME OTHER TERMS:

- the nave narrator (for some reason he does not understand the events hes
talking about a child e.g. narrator is presented by the author like this for some
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reason), unreliable narrator (he reminds the reader not to trust him, that he does
not know for sure alienation effect as in epic drama it is a postmodernist
technique used to show that the truth can never be surely shown)
- psycho-narration, narrated monologue, interior monologue


NOVEL: HISTORICAL OUTLINE

- ROMANCE story of knightly adventures; France 11
th
century; troubadours and
trouvers
Troubadours are wandering poets from south of France, provansal wandering poets
minstrels; they developed love poetry adoration of beloved woman.
Trouvers are wandering poets from north of France; they did not wrote love poetry but
heroic, epic poetry.
Romance is combination of love and heroic/epic poetry; it includes love elements but the
main focus is on deeds of the knights (quests etc.)
It was the first prose genre that developed; later it developed into novel.

- in early 17
th
century Miguel de Cervantes wrote Don Quixote, first part in 1605 and
second part in 1615. This is time of transition between middle ages and modern time.
Don Quixote is considered to be the first great modern novel.

- The golden age of the novel: the 18
th
and 19
th
centuries
England was cradle of this genre literary Realism. This new genre was connected with
social context, with development of society, economy and politics. (Industrial revolution
brought economic prosperity and new social class middle class, which promoted the
novel, promoted their values and lifestyle.)

THE 18
TH
CENTURY ENGLISH NOVEL:
- Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Jonathan Swift, Samuel Richardson, Laurence Sterne
Goal of these novels was pretence of realism, introduction of middle-class values, and
use of omniscient or 1
st
person narrator. The form that was often used is picaresque
form; that is a novel in which the protagonists are on travels (e.g. Tom Jones Fielding
is travelling, meeting people and getting involved in different actions).

19
TH
CENTURY ONWARDS:
- the Victorian novel (19
th
century realism): the Bronte sisters, William Thackeray,
Charles Dickens

- modernist novel (early 20
th
century):
James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, D. H. Lawrence (was influenced by Freud Oedipuss
complex), William Faulkner

- postmodernist novel (late 20
th
century): 1960s
Historiographic metafiction typical postmodernist type talks about the relationship
between history and literature (any version of history must be taken with caution,
because history shows facts and fiction, it is not always more reliable than literature)
Self-referentiality: Julian Barnes, John Fowles, Thomas Pynchon it offers 2
endings of a novel.

SUBJECT MATTER/THEME:
- Historical novels: Ivanhoe (Walter Scott)
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- Family sagas: The Budennbrooks (Thomas Mann), The Forsyte Saga (Galsworthy)
- Society novel: Vanity Fair (Thackeray)
- Love novels, womens novels, war novels, etc.
The most common case was the intersection of several themes such as in Emily
Brontes The Wuthering Heights.

Another type:
- Bildungsroman: e.g. The Catcher in the Rye (Sallinger); The Apprenticeship of
Wilhelm Meister (Goethe)

- Epistolary form (novels in which characters communicate through letters)
- Style: classical (before middle ages), romantic (England in 1800 1830), realist (18
and 19 century), naturalist (realism to the extreme, late 18
th
century), modernist (first
of 20
th
century), postmodernist (second of 20
th
century)

FIGURES OF SPEECH

- literal vs. figurative meaning or denotative vs. connotative meaning:
Literal meaning basic meaning denotative.
Figurative we dont mean literally connotative meaning figurative, extra meaning,
based on associations.
e.g. sweet cake denotative or person connotative

Trope use of words in figurative sense. Trope also denotes figure of speech.
Rhetoric (Greece, Rome origins) is art of persuading audience through language, it is
the skill of eloquence; art of delivering good speeches; it also had task to train politicians
to reach their audiences better.

FIGURATIVE/CONNOTATIVE

Trope (Greek tropos, Latin tropus) is figurative use of language.

Aristotle Rhetoric; Quintilian Institutes of Oratory

- the Middle Ages:
Septem arte liberates > quadrivium (astronomy, geometry, arithmetic, music) and trivium
(grammar, rhetoric, logic)
Rhetoric through time becomes written performace, later it was more and more reserved
for the area of art. Today it is widely used in poetry. Rhetoric is not just decorative use of
language; it is not just used in fiction but also in journalism, commercials, politics, etc.

MORPHOLOGICAL FIGURES OF SPEECH (on the handout)
They operate on level of words.

SEMANTIC FIGURES OF SPEECH
- metaphor and metonymy
- personification
- simile
- synaesthesia

METAPHOR

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Metaphor symbolises indirect use of language. It is not restricted only to literature,
but it also occurs in all discourses (journalism, scientific, common speech).
Origin:
Metaphor > metapherein > metaphora > carry over meaning
Metaphor means that A is indirectly described through B, which belongs to
entirely different sphere. A is implicitly/indirectly described through use of B; A and B are
not necessarily logically connected. B is taken from completely different semantic field.
Metaphor implies indirect comparison. A word is used to refer to another thing,
without logical connection.

Examples:

the curtain of night krinka noi
curtain belongs to semantic field of household or theatre; it is applied to night
which is implicit comparison. There is no logical connection between curtain and night.
Night is indirectly described through curtain. At the second glance, there is some
connection. Night covers/hides something as well as curtain does. This aspect of
meaning of curtain is used.
What aspect of curtain is neglected/disregarded?
In theatre curtain is a signal for beginning of play, it is used as separation of
audiences and actors, etc.
Here we describe night implying indirectly that night has something in common
with curtain they hide something.

Political metaphor: iron curtain
Which aspect of curtain is emphasized here in contrast to the previous example?
What is the political implication?
This metaphor is connected to Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact. Communist
countries were isolated and ion curtain was used to describe countries that belong to
Warsaw Pact/Block. It was used by US; democratic countries from NATO Block. (The
western world was divided into these 2 blocks.) This was ideological confrontation
between communist block and capitalist block. Capitalists were those who coined this
metaphor. It had pejorative meaning it is a curtain that cant be raised. Iron suggests
arms/weapon. These countries were not easily accessible because of physical barrier
isolation.
What aspect of curtain?
-separating
-covering
Curtain separates communist world from capitalist; there is no exchange. It is
covered we cant see what is inside (hiding what was going on in there isolation).
Iron it was heavily defended by military power; bringing down of curtain was
dangerous.
In 1989 with the fall of Berlin Wall, the iron curtain fell as well.
This is implicit comparison curtain and Communist world.

TERMINOLOGY: e.g. iron curtain

- Vehicle (sredstvo): context from which you borrow; word we use to describe
something else here: curtain
- Tenor: the desribed; entity which we describe
- Curtain is vehicle donor field (whole semantic field) source domain
- Political division between East and West: tenor recipient field target domain
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In metaphor 2 semantic fields are connected in a limited way. It uses just certain
meaning of vehicle. Metaphor establishes connection between 2 semantic fields.

Example:

Gorbatschov is the father of Perestroika (promjena preobraaj)
Gorbatschov initiated political reforms in Soviet Union; he initiated the beginning of end
of Communism.
Here the Perestroika is the tenor political reforms in Russia.
Semantic fields connected: family and Soviet political reforms.

Freud is the father of modern psychoanalysis
St. Aidan is the father of the Northumbrian church
Father is used as giver of life he conceives the life.
How is this connected here?
Gorbatschov initiated reforms gave life to them gave birth to these ideas. Father is
used in a limited way just because of the ability to give life.
Semantic field of vehicle is family.

QUESTION: ideological function of metaphor (ideology works best when unnoticed
Terry Eagleton)

Example: the British Empire being referred to as the mother of the family, which implies
that British colonies are her children?

What does this metaphor imply?
Unjust relationship between Great Britain and colonies. GB is seen as mother colonies
as children. Empire is the mother it owns, decides over the development of children;
colonies are not free, not independent; were protected by mother; mother is cleverer
than children; teaches them to behave it implies to complete mental inferiority of
children.

Some Life and Art metaphors:
Shakespeare used them often:

1. All the worlds a stage, and all men merely players
Life tenor indirectly described through stage in theatre. It is negative; means that we
all behave like actors play our role and leave the stage. Life is short and transitory
duration of life is compared with duration of play.

2. Lifes but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the
stage
Life is not even a person, just a shadow. Jadni glumac koji se mui na sceni (moda I
jedva eka da ode). We are struggling in life but usually dont do well. We are not good
at living (acting).


METONYMY

A is described through replacement by B
A is replaced by B which is linked to it in a logical way:
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The ham sandwich wants to pay
Spoken in a restaurant by a waitress to another waitress. Ham sandwich stands instead
of person who ordered a ham sandwich. Logical connection: meal ordered and person
who ordered it. (meaning narrowed)
You describe A by replacing it with B and they are logically connected: A and B
are taken from the same semantic field.
Metonymy replaces a notion by another notion with a logical connection between them.
There is no transferring from 1 semantic field to another both A and B are from same
semantic field only the meaning is narrowed of broadened.

He likes to read Shakespeare.
He likes to read the works by Shakespeare logical connection author and his works.
(meaning expanded)
{Lakoff pg 38 metonymic relations groups LEARN!}
{compare to metonymy, define, include said in Lakoff classification and give 2
examples for each group}

Metaphor Metonymy
Usually illogical or indirect
connection:
Logical or direct connection
- father and Perestroika
- curtain and night
- life and bad actor
- meal and person who
orders it
- painter and his painting,
etc.

She is an unbesieged fortress.
This is a metaphor. Tenor is a woman; vehicle a fortress. In male conversation about a
woman he cant have, he cant conquer; shes as fortress inaccessible as if she were
a heavily defended military object.

Simile would be: She is LIKE/AS an unbesieged fortress.

Ted Hughes: Lovepet (love tenor; pet vehicle)
This poem is an extended metaphor the whole poem is a metaphor a single huge
metaphor, where love is presented as a pet.

my vegetable love metaphor if he had time love would grow slowly, gradually as a
plant.

HISTORY OF LITERARY CRITICISM

From ancient Greece:
First interested in literary theory classical antiquity Plato (427 347 BC). He
was first to deal with literature beyond rhetorical issues. He was a philosopher and at the
same time a literary critic. He was idealist philosopher (idealizam; Aristotle
materialism). Plato believed that world we perceive with 5 senses is not real world, but
that those are only physical appearances only mere reflections of real. Real were
abstract ideas/concepts. Real world was the higher world of ideas, concepts. Our world
was lower, inferior world it was an imperfect copy of higher real world. Because of this
he did not respect literature and poetry (nor any kind of art). They were even more
inferior than our world:
Ideas
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---------------
Our world
---------------
Arts

Arts showed invented worlds modelled by our already imperfect world. They are
just copy/imitation of our world the third and the worst copy imitation of an imitation.
Artistic world was even further removed from ideal world than our world.
Poets/artists were through art drawing attention of audiences to petty physical
sensations they distracted people from trying to see through our world to ideal world.
Poet was enemy of philosopher. Poet was inferior; he disregarded highest
reality; he was the enemy of truth. Philosophers basic concern, on the other hand, was
the truth world of abstract ideas.
art poisons the mind it is only the 3
rd
rate copy. Plato believed that people who
watched too many plays would flee from reality. It goes to their heads. He despised
poets and art and especially actors and reciters, because they wanted to be someone
else they didnt know who they were.
Plays encouraged people to live in fantasy and not to search for truth. Plato wrote
The Republic. It contains several volumes. He describes ideal state in this work; he
classifies the artists as least important citizens they should be exiled because they
corrupt minds.
In Ion he seems to celebrate good artists through theory of divine inspiration.
Even Plato admitted that the best among artists could be good because they became
instruments of divine energy. Divine is the indefinite principle which selected a particular
artist as its instrument. Inspiration when artist creates best work he is in state of divine
lunacy and divine speaks through him. Only this way artist can be useful when used
as vessel through which divine energy flows. This is a mystical theory. Artists are best
when they dont do anything they are passive instruments of divine. They cant control
when the moment of inspiration will come.
{explain paradox how Plato celebrates poet and does not appreciate art}



PRACTICALS 11.12.2008
PLATO: ION
Plato says that art is a poor copy of something that is already a copy of real
world. Art = mimesis just imitation, copy, but not in the sense Aristotle says. In
Republic Plato says that world should be without artists. Statesmen should be the
philosophers lovers of wisdom/truth they are the best equipped to govern a state. He
wants to banish artists because they are dangerous; they have the ability to attract
attention; they can fill minds of people and take them from real reality world of ideas.
Artists focus on the distorted view of reality which is remote from real world. They
can corrupt the masses, can lead them astray. They had great influence.
Out of the ideas of Plate we can see that he thought that artists were dangerous;
had dangerous power to lead people astray. Only GOOD art could penetrate the world
of ideas.

Plato: Ion 380 BC

Genre? Form? Participants? Strategy? Theme? Ideas? Imagery?

Divine inspiration inspiration that comes from god.
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Poets may lead masses astray (Republic).
True world real world art.

Genre:
Narrative, not fiction but theory; this is a theoretical piece of work theoretical
essay discussing role and nature of art and artists.
Form:
Dialogue
Participants:
Socrates (Platos teacher) and Ion
Here Socrates speaks on behalf of Plato. Ion is a rhapsode, a performer, recites
poetry. He interprets Homer; hes just come back from a festival where he got and award
for best interpretation of works of Homer. Homer is considered to have been the greatest
Greek poet; he wrote epics.
Theme:
Art and artists.


Strategy:
They start having a casual conversation. Socrates strategy is asking questions
(question answer strategy) and coming to the point where Socrates/Plato expresses
his ideas.
Ideas:
Socrates asks Ion why he is the best at interpreting Homer.
Ion says:
why then do I loose attention and go to sleep when anyone speaks of any
other poet; but when homer is mentioned, I wake up at once and am all attention and
have plenty to say?(pg4)
I can interpret them equally well, when they agree(pg 2)
Socrates asks How did you come to have this skill of Homer only?
Ions argument: he is good at interpreting Homer because he has learnt it, he
practised it he has practice, skill, talent.
Socrates says no, because in that case he could then interpret other poets as
well. (examples with arithmetician, military leader etc): The reason my friend is obvious.
No one can fail to see that you speak of Homer without any art or knowledge. If you
were able to speak of him by rules of art, you would have been able to speak of all other
poets; for poetry is a whole.
He calls Ion a liar here if you learned it youd be able to discuss everything.

Pg 5:

Art techne (talent, knowledge, skill)

Basic ideas:
It is not artist who is speaking, but God is speaking through artists mouth. Artists
are chosen. They are instruments of God to communicate with people. They have no
consciousness or wilful report. They are possessed with divine inspiration.
He compares artists/poets/rhapsodes to holy prophets and diviners (shamans of
a kind). Artists are instruments media.
The best poets perform best poems when they are not conscious.
He compares them to Bacchic maidens and Corybantian revellers.

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Chain:
God is a magnet. The ones attracted to him are the chosen possessed by him;
they are:
Prophets
Diviners
Poets (good)
Rhapsodes/performers
Audiences/ordinary people

Because artists are attracted they also attract characteristics of magnetic field.

Socrates: Was not this the lesson which the God intended to teach when by the
mouth of the worst poets he sang the best of songs?
Pg 6
This means that poet is passive media; he cant choose when hes going to be
inspired/possessed. It is not skill or technique but divine inspiration; gods words.
Poets have nothing to do with what they create. They are just empty passive
vessels.

Pg 12/13
But, indeed Ion, if you are correct in saying that by art and knowledge you are
able to praise Homer, you do not deal fairly with me
Ion would rather be inspired than dishonest this is ironic because it means that
Ion would rather be possessed than have a skill.

{ Platonic theory of souls:
Soul comes from the world of ideas. It is in shape of ellipsis with wigs. As it gets
heavy it looses its wings, splits in half and 1 part goes to one other to other person. (soul
mates) Through whole life 1 part searches the other (but never finds) so that they could
unite and return to the world of ideas. }


SEMINAR 12.12.2008

HISTORICAL SURVEY OF LITERARY CRITICISM

Plato said that art was just a pale echo of reality. There were few good artists and
they could only occasionally get in touch with the world of ideas through divine
inspiration.
Ion is the best actor because divine energy flows through him. Skill comes from God and
doesnt belong to artist himself.
This idea will be modified through time. First modification was already made in
antiquity by neo-Platonists. They gave Plato a mystical touch. They didnt see this as
negative. Positive aspect of Platos theory was emphasized. Artists became most
important because they can get in touch with divine.
Art becomes a kind of semi-religious vision; becomes more mystical artist gets
insight. This was philosophical and religious experience.
This idea will never die in Europe; it will only be forgotten during certain periods. It
will be popular again in Renaissance in 16
th
century (Sidney). Then again forgotten.
Then it reappears in 19
th
century in Romanticism (Shelly). In USA American
Transcendentalism in mid-19
th
century will again re-bring these old ideas, mystical ideas
art as religious experience.
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Aristotle was a materialist philosopher. He did opposite from Plato. Ideal didnt
rest in other world. He looked into our own world and said that idea is not superior to
thing. He looked into things. Every living creature possessed ability to develop in itself
had in itself potential for development entelechy.
Example: acorn contains within itself everything to grow into oak tree.
Aristotle says that art is imitation, mimesis, but positive. Moral purpose of art is
emphasized. Hierarchy of disciplines (in Poetics) says that literature is superior to history
but inferior to philosophy:

Philosophy
---------------
Literature
---------------
History


Longinus was ancient Roman. He combined Greek theory with his own theory.
He equally appreciated form/skill/technique and content/ideas. He made a balance
between these two.
Practical side his work is major literary critical work in which he also discusses
rhetoric. His theory is pragmatic how can you use your language pragmatically to
persuade audience.
He tries to define the sublime, which is the essence of good art. Art which does
not contain sublime is not art. Sublime is the essence of good poetry. Use language to
bring audience into ecstasy effect of good art. The aim of art is to transport audiences
into higher world of art. Form is as important as content. He says that poetry had to
contain raw emotions to be charged with emotions. Poetry of raw emotions is better
than formally perfect but emotionally empty poetry.
Longinus says that poetry should have form but content/idea is important as well
should be expressed well.

{Notion of mimesis for Plato and Aristotle is different, how?}

MIDDLE AGES

Churchmen disapproved of antiquity, of classical civilisation, because they were
considered to be pagans. Everything before Christ was considered to be less valuable.
Christian church disapproved theatre in Middle Ages (until 10
th
century there were
no plays no performances in theatre). Interest was taken in rhetoric because it could be
harmonised with Christian teaching.
Many theories of classical art were rejected, especially Aristotles mimesis. View
of creation rested upon Bible. Church didnt approve of much entertainment. Art offered
too much entertainment and too little moral teaching.
Literature was disliked as fantasy lies. Events and persons in classical literature
were not true but invented and that bothered the church. Also they had false gods;
classical civilisation evoked false gods.
Method of interpretation of literary texts theology and exegesis. Texts were
interpreted always to support Christian view of world. Scholars defended classical works
of literature so that they said that classical works harmonised with Bible.

RENAISSANCE
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Sir Philip Sidney in 1595 Defence of Poesy
This is the most important piece of literary theory in Anglo-Saxon world.
Sidney defends art against church. He was a philosopher, a poet, a writer,
musician etc. He defended poesy (which stands for literature) against church
accusations that literature is only lies and that it morally corrupts people.
He wanted to prove that literature enobles human minds it doesnt corrupt. He
defended poesy on moral ground. This title was slightly provocative in that time.

Hierarchy of disciplines:
He changes Aristotles hierarchy and says that literature is on top:

Literature
--------------
Philosophy
--------------
History


This reflects new spirit of Renaissance. This change was revolutionary move. He
does not only defend poesy but places it on top. In Renaissance comes new view
humans were placed in the centre.
4 major kinds of poetry:
- religious
- philosophical
- historical
- true poetry

He intends to defend the fourth essential true poetry. This poetry is more
universal in themes and questions. It is the proper poetry independent from religion,
philosophy, history. This shows the independence of arts he fights for.
It shows life in its fullness; it teaches people; has moral aspect. It provides moral
teaching and entertainment unlike religion and philosophy which are strict and rigid and
do not have pleasant way of teaching.
He justifies literature/poetry on moral grounds.

{Sydneys arguments for/against art}

NEOCLASSICISM (enlightenment prosvjetiteljstvo)

Classical antiquity was popularised again. In many branches of art architecture,
painting, literature, sculpture, etc. It was revival of classical culture. This was also time of
development of natural sciences (Newton, gravity).
Aim was education enlightenment of people.
Also first ideas for development of rights (civil, women) appeared. Influence of
church was further reduced. Education was most important.
Atheism becomes for the first time legitimate worldview.

Domination of reason:
There was no superstition and blind fate; you should be enlightened believer be
able to understand what you believe in.
Reason was ability light of God in human mind.
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This was age of rationalism; all ideas were checked and rationally explained.
They avoided exaggeration. Decorum well measured.

In literature they valued more form than content; it was more important how
something is expressed than what is expressed (Aristotle). The importance of form was
stressed. They even interpreted Shakespeare in different light. Rules of composition
classical rules established by Aristotle had to be respected.
Symmetry, regularity, elegance and moderation were the ideals. They tended not
to exaggerate to be moderate (in many branches of art).
Plain simple style/language was used; not decorated and flamboyant language as
in Renaissance. This language was as language of science simple, plain, precise.
At the end of 18
th
century happened contra reaction to Neoclassicism and that
was flamboyant and playful ROMANTICISM.

It was opposite to Neoclassicism; it had different values: imagination, fantasy.
(e.g. folk fairy tales Brother Grimm). Neo-Platonist idea was rediscovered in the early
19
th
century.
This was the time of the beginning of industrialisation. Artists were not happy
about it and they nostalgically looked back into past.
Church was becoming less and less important to masses. Gap that appeared
because of deterioration of church was fulfilled with art. Artists were considered to be
semi-gods. They claimed that art will be the substitute for religion.
Neo-Platonist ideas were divine ideas, inspirations. They claimed that artistic
experience is not just artistic but also religious divine and philosophical they had
insight into secrets of world.
Cult of genius appeared. Artists were thought to be extraordinary, they could feel
what no one else could were hypersensitive; were geniuses because of their moments
of insight.

Around 1830 Romanticism subsided. People got tired.


VICTORIAN AGE:
Critics were partly using former ideas partly new ones. People, tired of
Romanticism, were now more realistic. This is the age of literary Realism; the time of
rise of the novel.
Victorian critics said that literature had new function: social, political, moral
instruction. It gave orientation to disoriented people.
This was the age of industrialisation. People didnt like it. Industry turned people
to selfish beings. Money became measure of everything. So artists turned to past,
looked for models in past to educate masses.

1900 1960 is the age of NEW CRITICISM
It had 2 phases:
1
st
wave in the early 20
th
century
2
nd
wave in the mid 20
th
century

In literature this was time of Modernism (Woolf, Joyce). Literature was for the first
time thought of as academic discipline and was taught in universities.
They focused on text close reading. Meaning was in the text itself, everything
outside work of art was irrelevant. (opposite to Postmodernism)
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In eastern world in this time were Russian Formalists. They were very
conservative and spoke about literariness of literature.

POSTMODERNISM 1960 some say that it still lasts
Combines various approaches in analysis. You can analyse from different points
of view. Works were reread and analysed.

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INTERNET SOURCES:

GHOST in HAMLET

As all the books say, a ghost was a common feature in the genre of the Revenge Play,
of which HAMLET is a highly developed example. Shakespeare used them in other play
as well, noteably MACBETH, JULIUS CAESAR and RICHARD III. Belief in ghosts was
common in Shakespeare's time (though many of the more educated did hold belief in
them to be merely superstition). King James I wrote a treatise on demons and ghosts
and stuff. Different spirits were understood to have different characteristics and
meanings.
Specifically in HAMLET, I think the ghost has several functions.
Hamlet never doubts the existence of the spirit, only questions whether it is actually his
father, and whether its intentions are good or evil. See I.ii.244-245, I.v.40-44, II.ii.595-
600, III.ii.80-84.

That it appears, and in armour, indicates to Hamlet and Marcellus that 'all is not well',
that 'something is rotten in the state of Denmark', as indeed it turns out to be: Claudius
has killed the King and usurped the throne.

The ghost scares the hell out of Marcellus, Bernardo and Horatio, so the way Hamlet
faces it is clearly meant to show his bravery.
It speaks only to Hamlet. I.v, as well as furthering the plot by having Hamlet made aware
of Claudius' act, also gives some opportunity to show the relationship between father
and son.

Hamlet is certainly unhappy in II.ii, but his encounter with the ghost must be seen as
adding to his anguish and trauma and despair, and plunging him into a whirlpool of
doubt and self-doubt. Hamlet is a humanist by education and inclination, a firm believer
in the Dignity of Man (see I.ii.187-188, II.ii.303-309, IV.iv33-39). But the ghost's news
shakes this to the core, making him aware, in an extremely personal way, of the depths
to which mankind can also descend.

It is his father's ghost which intitially pressures Hamlet into taking revenge, and it
reiterates the demand in III.iv. Though this means killing his uncle and his King and his
mother's husband, Hamlet never resents being told to do it by the ghost. He sees it as a
duty owed to his father. But it goes against his sense of moral and Christian right at least
until Act V (see V.ii.63-70). The ghost can therefore be interpreted as a little ambiguous,
as regards good and evil.

Perhaps the ghost is a parallel to Polonius: a father sacrificing a child to a principle or a
perceived greater good. The ghost doesn't reappear after Act III. Neither does Polonius.
The functions of both are completed. Ophelia goes mad and dies. Hamlet, who was
never mad, kills Polonius, comes to terms with death, and thus also with life, finally kills
Claudius, and dies himself. Good and evil, life and death, married in one man, as is the
true nature of mankind. Without the ghost, Hamlet could not reach that fulfillment of
himself.

In addition, the ghost has a great wodge of really powerful poetry, including one of my
favourite bits, '... So lust, though to a radiant angel linked,/ Will sate itself in a celestial
bed/ And prey on garbage.' Oh wow!

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In a Station of the Metro
"In a Station of the Metro" is an Imagist poem by Ezra Pound published in 1913 in
Poetry. The poem attempts to describe Pound's experience upon visiting an
underground metro station in Paris in 1912, and Pound suggested that the faces of the
individuals in the metro were best put into a poem not with a description but with an
"equation". Because of the treatment of the subject's appearance by way of the poem's
own visuality, it is considered a quintessential Imagist text.


The poem was reprinted in Pound's collection Lustra in 1917, and again in the 1926
anthology Personae: The Collected Poems of Ezra Pound , which compiled his early
pre-Hugh Selwyn Mauberley works.
The poem
The poem contains only fourteen words, further exemplifying Imagism's precise
economy of language. Pound was influential in the creation of Imagist poetry until he left
the movement to embrace Vorticism in 1914. Pound, though briefly, embraced Imagism
stating that it was an important step away from the verbose style of Victorian literature
and suggested that it "is the sort of American stuff I can show here in Paris without its
being ridiculed". "In a Station at the Metro" is an early work of Modernist poetry as it
attempts to "break from the pentameter", incorporates the use of visual spacing as a
poetic device, and contains not a single verb.


IN A STATION OF THE METRO



The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.



Analysis
The poem was first published in 1913 and is considered one of the leading poems of the
Imagist tradition. Written in a Japanese haiku style, Pounds process of deletion from
thirty lines to only fourteen words typifies Imagisms focus on economy of language,
precision of imagery and experimenting with non-traditional verse forms. The poem is
Pounds written equivalent for the moment of revelation and intense emotion he felt at
the Metro at La Concorde, Paris. Pound explains in his artic value.
The poem is essentially a set of images that have unexpected likeness and convey the
rare emotion that Pound was experiencing at that time. Arguably the heart of the poem
is not the first line, nor the second, but the mental process that links the two together. "In
a poem of this sort," as Pound explained, "one is trying to record the precise instant
when a thing outward and objective transforms itself, or darts into a thing inward and
subjective." This darting takes place between the first and second lines. The pivotal
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semi-colon has stirred debate as to whether the first line is in fact subordinate to the
second or both lines are of equal, independent importance. Pound contrasts the factual,
mundane image that he actually witnessed with a metaphor from nature and thus
infuses this apparition with visual beauty. There is a quick transition from the statement
of the first line to the second lines vivid metaphor; this super-pository technique
exemplifies the Japanese haiku style. The word apparition is considered crucial as it
evokes a mystical and supernatural sense of imprecision which is then reinforced by the
metaphor of the second line. The plosive word Petals conjures ideas of delicate,
feminine beauty which contrasts with the bleakness of the wet, black bough. What the
poem signifies is questionable; many critics argue that it deliberately transcends
traditional form and therefore its meaning is solely found in its technique as opposed to
in its content. However when Pound had the inspiration to write this poem few of these
considerations came into view. He simply wished to translate his perception of beauty in
the midst of ugliness into a single, perfect image in written form.
It is also worth noting that the number of words in the poem (fourteen) is the same as
the number of lines in a sonnet. The words are distributed with eight in the first line and
six in the second, mirroring the octet-sestet form of the Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnet.