Literary Theories Level:Second year

Lecturer: DJIMAN Kasimi, Professor

Félix Houphouët-Boigny University of Cocody-Abidjan

Department of English

Objective:

The course is meant as an opportunity to equip students with theoretical tools in

their approach of the literary object. The end objective is to guard them against
the empirical approach, meaning a mere descriptive perspective, unfortunately so
common among students of literature. It is therefore hoped that this course will
enlighten students on such theories as “Narratology” and “Postmodernism,” and
consequently enhance their reading practices.

Outline:

-Preliminary Remarks

-Reading Theory

-Narratology

-Postmodernism
Preliminary Remarks

-Difficult course due to its technical terminology. Like any field of study, theory or
precisely literary theories have their own lexical repertoire. To quote from Peter
Barry,” what is difficult is the language of theory.”This difficulty resides in its
uncommon vocabulary, far from the everyday usage.

-this difficulty notwithstanding, it is expected that this “queer” terminology is

used when it comes to the use of any given theory

-Just as a medical doctor has his specific way of expressing himself in his field, a
student dealing with literary theories should display the language connected to
his area of study

-In line with the new dispensation known as LMD, it is hoped that students would
broaden their horizon throughout their own research and readings.
Reading Theory

-It can be defined as a hypothesis through which we examine a given reality, a

field of study. In the words of Prafulla Kar,” theory is a means to understand the
way various modes of knowledge are constructed and disseminated.” In other
words, it is a tool instrumental in the understanding of some facts.

-We have theories in such domains as Politics, Economics……

-Our focus is to examine two theories in the framework of literature, meaning

that will be used to approach the literary object

-The choice here has to do with

1. Narratology

2. Postmodernism
Narratology

Outline:

-Defining Narratology

-Basic Assumptions

-Gerard Genette’s Outlook

Defining Narratology

It is the study of narratives, precisely how they are told. A narrative being the text
of fiction as it is given to us on the literary market. In the words of Peter Barry
“narratology is the study of how narratives make meaning” It came into being in
1969 with Tzvetan Todorov. One could also add that it an immanent process of
reading.

Basic Assumptions

The narratologist distinguishes among the following terms:

-story: it is the actual sequence of events as they happen. It can be associated to

the term diegesis, that is to say, the story being told.

-plot: the packaging, ordering and presentation of events in a given narrative

-narration: the process through which the narrative is given. Examples are choice
of words, view point….
Gerard Genette’s Outlook

-A French narratologist

-Arguably, he is the most influential in the field. For him, what is important is not
the tale itself, but how it is given, meaning the process of telling itself

To elucidate his approach to the narrative the following points will be considered:

 Transtextuality: Any relationship that a given text may have, either directly
or indirectly, with another one.

-paratext: the surrounding information of a given text. One can distinguish

between the peritext: information on the given text and the epitext: information
out of the text

-intertext: a text within another one

-metatext: the discourse of a given text on another one

-Hypertext:the transformation of an earlier text (hypotext) into a new one.

 Who is telling the story?

One must distinguish between the author and the narrator. While the author is
the human being behind the narrative, the narrator is a voice, a”telling medium”
narrating a work of fiction. In that sense, the narrator is an “authorial persona”
and not the author in person.

-Several kinds of narrators:

-heterodiegetic: a narrator who is not a character in the story he or she narrates

Homodiegetic: a narrator who is present in the story he or she narrates, but not
as a character

Autodiegetic: a narrator narrating his own tale. This is the case of

autobiographical texts
  Distance

It aims at grasping the distance between the narrator and the diegesis

-indirect speech: the speech or actions of the characters are reported by the
narrator

-free indirect speech: the speech or actions of the character are reported by
the narrator, without the relative

-reported speech: the character’s speech is given in full

 Narrative functions

They deal with the degree of involvement of the narrator within the diegesis.

-Narrative: a basic function, as any text always involves this narrative function

-communicative: the narrator talks directly to the potential reader of the text in
order to establish or maintain a contact with him

-ideological: the narrator stops his diegesis to communicate a message in relation

to his tale

 Narration time

It deals with the time of the verbs in the different sentences.

Generally the narrator narrates what occurred in a period of time not long ago.
We speak here of a post narration.

When the narrator narrates what will happen in the future. We speak here of past
narration

When he narrates his tale as it happens. We speak here of simultaneous narration

  Order

The point is to address the fact that the order of telling does not always
correspond to the order of happening. This is what Genette calls ”anachrony.”

-Flashback or analepsis: to relate an event which happened in the past

-Flash forward or prolepsis: to refer or anticipate an event which happened later

 Narrative Speed

The narrator can either accelerate or slow down his narration while telling his tale

-descriptive: the narrator takes the floor as he puts an end to the actions. Here,
the emphasis on description

-scene: the narrative is relatively slow as the emphasis on dialogue

-summary: the narrative is relatively rapid as some actions are summarized

-ellipsis: the narrative is very rapid as some actions are left untold
Postmodernism

Outline:

-Defining Postmodernism

-Basic Features

Postmodernism is a concept that has affected several disciplines including

literature, politics, sociology, economics and the arts.

This issue will be analyzed here in relation to literature, precisely what are the
criteria through which we can talk of postmodernism in literature?

While postmodernity is a state, a period in history, postmodernism is a theoretical

approach that seeks to understand and explain postmodernity.

-Defining Postmodernism

It is a theoretical approach that celebrates anarchy and fragmentation. By

anarchy, we are dealing with the rejection by which certain forms and texts are
imposed as universal. For its part, fragmentation deals with the study of
narration as an end in itself, rather than a source of truth. Here writing becomes
a game of representation.

-the postmodern appears to welcome and embrace a thinking of itself in terms of

multiplicity. Such notions as heterogeneity and difference are emphasized. The
following scheme may help summarize these points:

Local # Universal

Differences # Similarities

Resistance # Conformity
 Hybridity # Purity

-Linda Hutcheon defines postmodernism as “criticism of canonical forms”

-Peter Barry argues that postmodernism “goes against deep-rooted literary

conventions”

-Jim Powell:” In the Postmodern age, it is difficult to get through a day without
confronting many different realities”

-Basic Features

-It is self-reflexive as it pays attention to the act of writing itself. Hence the term
metafiction, meaning ” writing on writing”

-the use of different registers in that the serious tone combines with popular
songs, newspapers reports…..

-interplay of genres as prose and biblical references, for instance, are put
together. This is a case of hybridity or the rhizome, to use the term of Gilles
Deleuze and Felix Guattari

-comic elements mark the author’s attitude to tragic events such as death and
suffering

-No distinction between low and high culture

-Intertextuality:` This takes such forms as explicit borrowing or through parody.

Parody being an imitation with the aim of criticizing

-Irony: understood as the expression of the contrary of one’s thought is also

central in postmodernism
-Language games:

 repetition of words
 repetition of sounds
 repetition of a term differently
 repetition of words and expressions at the end and beginning` of
paragraphs
 a sentence of one word
 The blurring of meaning

This is the reason why Jean Ricardou will argue:”Le roman n’est plus l’ecriture
d’une aventure, mais l’aventure d’une ecriture.”One is dealing with the
prevalence of the signifier over the signified.

-Incorporation of Information technologies within the text

-Transgressive writing as it goes against the social and ethical norms.Examples

are:

 Scatological writing
 Coarse language
 Transgressive sexuality
 Erotism

-Transgressive language as the rules are violated. Examples are:

 Grammar
 Lexicon

-Minimalism: The text can reduce the name of a character to just one letter

-Historiographic metafiction: works that fictionalize real events or figures

Bibliography

Barry, Peter, Beginning Theory, 2010

Genette, Gerard, Narrative Discourse, 1972

Nayar, Pramod, Literary Theory Today, 2006