: De Saussure, Levi Strauss, Propp,

Greimas

Flipped

(Implied)

Reader, I married
him.

317
3)

=
(=)
(<)
Mise en abyme


1.
2.

A.
: langue & parole

-- Language is a system
of relation and difference) .
. Why?

-
1.
2.
3.

 De Saussure
= + sign = signifier and signified
Signifier +

[]

Signified Referent

[] ()
[] ()

?
A.

reference
:

A rose is a rose, because it is different

from . . .
[ros]

Carnation

grass

[doz]

rose
(p. of rise)

? Structuralism:

-- () ;
-- --
--

Signifier +

Signified Referent

(arbitrary)

-- dog,
chien
(Onomatopoeia)

e.g. Cock-a-doodle-do, cocorico & ; ruff &


Ferdinand de Saussure
1857-1913, .
:

(The synchronic) vs.(the diachronic);

( langue) vs. ( parole)
2. Language is a system of
difference. Meaning occurs in binary opposition
between two signs. (e.g. toy, boy)
3.
sign = signifier and signified; the
connection between them is arbitrary.
1.

I saw a girl in red. ( syntagmatic relations)

a boy
a table

paradigmatic
relations

am

: toy boy (),

table (),

girl ()

(1):

(e.g.
)

(2):

()
(
MV
+ universal (or common)
grammar

e.g. binary opposition

?
()
1.
2. (
3. :


b.
?

source:
c. (Prometheus
) ()


d.

e. (

2.

: Levi Strauss
:

V. Propp,
A. J. Greimas

Claude Levi-Strauss

1.

2.:

3. (

4. : (e.g.
)

Claude Levi-Strauss on
Oedipus the King
:

:
vs. /: the Sphinx vs.
swollen foot;

Claude Levi-Strauss
on Myth

Mythical thought always progresses from the

awareness of oppositions toward their
resolution. (Structural Anthropology 224)

 Eveline
:

:
vs.
Eveline vs. Frank () ?
vs.

Structuralist narratology:
Vladimir Propp
: Subject +
predicate = Actor + function
7 actors, or "spheres of action" (villain, hero,
false hero, donor[provider], helper,
dispatcher, princess [and her father])
and 31 functions.

 Eveline

villain,
Frank
donor[provider], helper, dispatcher
Eveline

Eveline Note
James Joyce 20
Nora BarnacleFrank
Joyce

JoyeNora
? (Norris 66)

Propp: examples (3)

007 :
helpers:

--
in (TOMORROW
NEVER DIES))
helper but not a lover;
--

Propp & Greimas (1)

Propp's seven 'spheres of action
Greimass three pairs of binary oppositions, including:
six roles (actants)
1. Subject/Object,

2. Sender/ Receiver

3. Helper/Opponent

and three basic patterns:

1. Wanting (Desire,
search, or aim),

2. Exchange
(communication)

3. Contradiction
(Auxiliary support or hindrance).

Propp & Greimas (2)

Propps 31 further abstracted into
Greimass 3 ; for example:
Propp: One member of a
family either lacks
something or desires to
have something.

Disequilibrium
contract broken,
disjunction or
Performative (out for a
task)
(

A. J. Greimass
three pairs of actants: Helper/Opponent,
Sender/Receiver, Subject/Object
three basic patterns of action (or syntagm):
contractive (breaking/setting contract, alienation, reintegration ),
disjunctive (departure, arrival),
and performative (trial, task).

deep semantic
structure of human thinking and narrative.


the semiotic rectangle

"the semiotic rectangle

A
-A
()

()

-B

(e.g. incest

taboo/homophobia)

(e.g)

"the semiotic rectangle

A
-A
()

()

-B

(e.g.
)

(e.g)

"the semiotic rectangle

elementary structure of signification
a binary opposition & their negation
A
-A
Pre- ()
supposi
tion

-B

()

(e.g
))

(e.g.)

:
A
-A
()

()

-B

Why not ?


1. Usually
interesting analysis happens when the
characters break these categories or confuse
them.
2. You can set up
your own categories.
3. This kind of
structuralist analysis is more useful on popular
cultural products or shorter texts than novels
though the latter is not an impossible choice.

Issues for Discussion

? Do we
always think in terms of binaries, or two pairs of
binaries?
So what? What else do
we do after finding out the patterns?

From New Criticism to Structuralism: Search for

the common or the universal
Form

an entity with interrelated

parts.

Pygmalion And Galatea,

by Jean-Leon Gerome, after 1881

Structure: basic pattern

Russian Formalism
1920s

From New Criticism to Structuralism

New Criticism: set up studies of English
Literature as a discipline.
In the 50s, there are more attempts at
making English studies scientific and
objective. e.g. archetypal approaches;
Northrop Frye
spring

summer

autumn

comedy

romance tragedy

winter
satire

 vs.
;
()

(e.g. [b] vs. [p]; +; cooked vs.

raw, etc.)

From New Criticism to Structuralism

Compared with New Criticism, structuralist
approaches to literature are
-- reductive;
-- more objective & scientific, does not rely on
common sense.
-- anti-Humanist
-- Form to Structure, (later multiple language
structures and the racial relations they
imply).


?


()
()
?
auntie or Jenny

,
?


()


Norris, Margot. Suspicious Readings of
Joyces Dubliners. U of Pennsylvania
P, 2003.

References
Greimas: Major Ideas
http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/Literary_Criticism/structuralism/Grei
mas_quotes.html

Greimas: General Introduction

http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/Literary_Criticism/structuralism/Grei
mas.html

Semiotic Square:
http://hypertext.rmit.edu.au/singing/essay/greimas.html