Modern literary theory and ancient texts : an introduction / Thomas A. Schmitz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schmitz, Thomas A., 1963-

Standardized Title:

Moderne Literaturtheorie und antike Texte. English

Language:

English

German

Subjects (All):

Criticism--History--20th century.

Criticism.

History.

Classical literature--History and criticism.

Classical literature.

Classical literature--Criticism, Textual.

Criticism, Textual.

Physical Description:

x, 241 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Malden, MA : Blackwell Pub., 2007.

Summary:

How do classical literary texts convey meaning; who interprets that meaning; and how does it relate to things historical, social, political, or personal? This book provides students and scholars of classical literature with a practical guide to modern literary theory and criticism. Using a clear and concise approach, it navigates readers through various theoretical approaches, including Russian Formalism, structuralism, deconstruction, gender studies, and New Historicism.

The text offers a cohesive and structured account of the developments of theory during the twentieth century. Designed specifically for readers engaged with the classics, the volume applies theoretical approaches to examples from ancient literature. Suitable for advanced students, the book's extensive bibliographies and index also make it a useful resource for scholars in the field.

Contents:

Acknowledgments for the English Translation x

What Is, and To What End Do We Study, Literary Theory? 1

Literary Theory and Classics 4

Objections Raised against Literary Theory 6

1 Russian Formalism 17

The Question of Literariness 19

Roman Jakobson's Model of Linguistic Communication 21

Poetic Language as Defamiliarization 23

2 Structuralism 26

The Founder of Structuralism: Ferdinand de Saussure 27

Saussure's Definition of the Linguistic Sign 19

The Meaning of Differences 30

Structuralism and Subject 33

Structural Anthropology 34

Is Structuralist Interpretation Possible? 38

Structuralist Definitions of Literary Genres 40

3 Narratology 43

Vladimir Propp's Analysis of the Folk Tale 44

Greimas's Actantial Theory of Narrative 47

Roland Barthes and the Study of Narrative Texts 50

Structuralist Plot-Analysis: Gerard Genette 55

Irene de Jong's Narratological Analysis of the Homeric Epics 60

4 Mikhail Bakhtin 63

Bakhtin's Life and the Problem of His Writings 64

Dialogism and the Novel 66

The Carnivalization of Literature 69

Menippean Satire and Ancient Carnivalesque Literature 71

5 Intertextuality 77

Leading the Way: Julia Kristeva 77

Further Developments of Intertextuality 78

Gerard Genette's Model of Hypertextuality 80

Intertextuality in Virgil 83

6 Reader-Response Criticism 86

Empirical Reception Studies 87

Aesthetics of Reception 88

American Reader-Response Criticism 91

Wheeler's Analysis of Ovid's Metamorphoses 94

7 Orality - Literacy 98

Oral Cultures: The Theses of Goody and Watt 99

What Does "Orality" Mean? 102

Oral Poetry 104

The Homeric Epics as a Test Case 106

8 Deconstruction 113

The Foundations: Derrida's Criticism of Logocentrism 114

Deconstruction in America 120

Objections to Deconstruction 122

The Role of the Author 124

Stanley Fish's Model of "Interpretive Communities" 127

The Responsibility of the Interpreter 130

Deconstruction's Merits and Demerits 136

Deconstruction in Antiquity? Socrates und Protagoras 137

9 Michel Foucault and Discourse Analysis 140

The Power of Discourse 141

Objections to Foucault's Analysis of Discourse 145

Foucault and Antiquity 149

The Debate about Foucault's Interpretation of Ancient Sexuality 153

10 New Historicism 159

New Historicism and Deconstruction 160

New Historicism and Michel Foucault 165

Objections to New Historicism 167

New Historicism and Antiquity 171

11 Feminist Approaches/Gender Studies 176

The Feminist Movement and Definitions of "Woman" 176

Feminism in Literary Criticism 178

French Feminism 180

Pragmatic Feminism in Literary Criticism 182

From Images of Women to Gender Studies 187

Queer Theory 189

Gender Studies and Attic Drama 191

12 Psychoanalytic Approaches 195

Interpreting Dreams, Interpreting Literature 197

Three Attempts at Psychoanalytic Interpretation 200

Language and the Unconscious: Jacques Lacan 202

Whither Now? 207

Additional Notes 209.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [215]-232) and index.

ISBN:

140515375X

9781405153751

1405153741

9781405153744

OCLC:

128236657

Online:

Publisher description

Contributor biographical information