Structuralistic Criticism and Gerard Genette Essay Example for Free

Structuralistic Criticism and Gerard Genette Essay Gerard Genette writes at the outset in his essay ‘Structuralism and Literary Criticism’ that methods developed for the study of one discipline could be satisfactorily applied to the study of other discipline as well. This is what he calls â€Å"intellectual bricolage ’, borrowing a term from Claude Levi-Strauss. This is precisely so, so far as structuralism is concerned. Structuralism is the name given to Saussure’s approach to language as a system of relationship. But it is applied also to the study of philosophy, literature and other sciences of humanity. Structuralism as a method is peculiarly imitable to literary criticism which is a discourse upon a discourse . Literary criticism in that it is meta-linguistic in character and comes into being / existence as metaliterature. In his words: â€Å"it can therefore be metaliterature, that is to say, ‘a literature of which literature is the imposed object’. † That is, it is literature written to explain literature and language used in it to explain the role of language in literature. In Genette’s words, ‘if the writer questions the universe, the critic questions literature, that is to say, the universe of signs. But what was a sign for the writer (the work) becomes meaning for the critic (since it is the object of the critical discourse), and in another way what was meaning for the writer (his view of the world) becomes a sign for the critic, as the theme and symbol of a certain literary nature’. Now this being so, there is certain room for reader’s interpretation. Levi-Strauss is quite right when he says that the critic always puts something of himself into the works he read. The Structuralist method of criticism: Literature, being primarily a work of language, and structuralism in its part, being preeminently a linguistic method, the most probable encounter should obviously take place on the terrain of linguistic material. Sound, forms, words and sentences constitute the common object of the linguist and the philologist to much an extent that it was possible, in the early Russian Formalist movement, to define literature as a mere dialect, and to envisage its study as an annex of general dialectology. Traditional criticism regards criticism as a message without code; Russian Formalism regards literature as code without message. Structuralism by structural analysis makes it possible to uncover the connection that exists between a system of forms and a system of meanings, by replacing the search for term by term analysis with one for over all homologies (likeness, similarity)†. Meaning is yielded by the structural relationship within a given work. It is not introduced from outside. Genette believed that the structural study of ‘poetic language’ and of the forms of literary expression cannot reject the analysis of the relations between code and message. The ambition of structuralism is not confined to counting feet and to observe the repetition of phonemes: it must also study semantic (word meaning) phenomena which constitute the essence of poetic language. It is in this reference that Genette writes: â€Å"one of the newest and most fruitful directions that are now opening up for literary research ought to be the structural study of the ‘large unities’ of discourse, beyond the framework – which linguistics in the strict sense cannot cross – of the sentence. One would thus study systems from a much higher level of generality, such as narrative, description and the other major forms of literary expression. There would be linguistics of discourse that was a translinguistics. Genette empathetically defines Structuralism as a method is based on the study of structures wherever they occur. He further adds, â€Å"But to begin with, structures are not directly encountered objects – far from it; they are systems of latent relations, conceived rather than perceived, which analysis constructs as it uncovers them, and which it runs the risk of inventing while believing that it is discovering them. Furthermore, structuralism is not a method; it is also what Ernst Cassirer calls a ‘general tendency of thought’ or as others would say (more crudely) an ideology, the prejudice of which is precisely to value structures at the expense of substances. Genette is of the view that any analysis that confines itself to a work without considering its sources or motives would be implicitly structuralist, and the structural method ought to intervene in order to give this immanent study a sort of rationality of understanding that would replace the rationality of explanation abandoned with the search of causes. Unlike Russian Formalist, Structuralists like Genette gave importance to thematic study also. â€Å"Thematic analysis†, writes Genette, â€Å"would tend spontaneously to culminate and to be tested in a structural synthesis in which the different themes are grouped in networks, in order to extract their full meaning from their place and function in the system of the work. † Thus, structuralism would appear to be a refuge for all immanent criticism against the danger of fragmentation that threatens thematic analysis. Genette believes that structural criticism is untainted by any of the transcendent reductions of psychoanalysis or Marxist explanation. He further writes, â€Å"It exerts, in its own way, a sort of internal reduction, traversing the substance of the work in order to reach its bone-structure: certainly not a superficial examination, but a sort of radioscopic penetration, and all the more external in that it is more penetrating. † Genette observes relationship between structuralism and hermeneutics also. He writes: â€Å"thus the relation that binds structuralism and hermeneutics together might not be one of mechanical separation and exclusion, but of complementarity: on the subject of the same work, hermeneutic criticism might speak the language of the assumption of meaning and of internal recreation, and structural criticism that of distant speech and intelligible reconstruction. † They would, thus, bring out complementary significations, and their dialogue would be all the more fruitful. Thus to conclude we may say, the structuralist idea is to follow literature in its overall evolution, while making synchronic cuts at various stages and comparing the tables one with another. Literary evolution then appears in all its richness, which derives from the fact that the system survives while constantly altering. In this sense literary history becomes the history of a system: it is the evolution of the functions that is significant, not that of the elements, and knowledge of the synchronic relations necessarily precedes that of the processes.

Teachers as Mentors in Critical Pedagogy :: Teaching Learning Essays

Teachers as Mentors in Critical Pedagogy The young world history teacher stood stern and erect before her students. Around the side of her arm she wore a black cloth. "My name is Ms. Aping. When you are responding to me, you will direct me standing up as Ms. Aping, ma’am. You are not to speak unless I request for you to do so. I will teach you what you need to know, and I expect you to learn it well†¦questions are quite unnecessary. If you fail to abide by my rules you will spend a great deal of your lunchtime with me. Understand?"†¦ An awkward silence followed, then voices raised, "Yes, Ms. Aping, ma’am." My voice was among the reluctant echoes in response to this teacher who was clearly exerting the same right and power of a dictator. I later discovered that my teacher was only executing a realistic performance. The scenario, however, proved quite disturbing as well as revealing. Why was it that not a single student stood up to disagree with the teacher? I doubt any of them felt that her extreme an d absurd regulations were right or even permitted, but not one person had the courage to go up and question her style of teaching and authority. Our educational system, while wanting to educate and strengthen its youths’ minds, has horribly done the opposite through an almost misguided perception of how teachers are supposed to teach. For the majority of our academic learning careers, we have been exposed, to some extent, to the "banking" concept of education described by Paolo Freire. At the youngest age, when we were perhaps considered the most unknowledgeable, we were fed a vast amount of information by our teachers, and were expected to receive and memorize this knowledge and accept it as true. As young elementary school kids, we were taught that Christopher Columbus was the first human being to discover America, only to find out later, that information was not true. These half-true facts, taught to children, are quite acceptable though. It is simple for a child to learn and memorize that Columbus first sailed the ocean blue and founded America for the rest of the world. On the other hand, much energy is needed and confusion may arise for them to acquire and comprehend the immigration of Native American Indians into America, much before the arrival of Columbus, and the possible voyage of early Vikings from northern Europe to the southern coast of present day Canada.

Recruitment research and documentation Essay

It was a very well presented from then; it included clear questions and very valid ones as well, such as work permissions within the UK, and criminal offence questions. However, there were some which could have been altered or excluded, if they were related to anyone at Coventry City Council was unneeded, that should not have any issues with them in the job. Disability and Equal opportunities had to be included which meant that their gender and origin had to be responded to truthfully and meant we got a slight overlook to get a better understanding of who they were. Education was rather bleak, candidates were asked on what schools they had gone to and what degrees were gone from where, but that was about it, they were not asked why they wanted to and so forth, but in any other situation, professionally we would have been able to ask it all in the interview, but with limited time we could not afford to include it. Most of the employment history was very good, it gave high amounts of detail and was also so simple, yet we still added questions into our interview which could have then been excluded, the questions at the end informing us about their intentions over why they wanted to employ here, again we added it within our interview and now I feel it was something we needed to refer to rather than go into detail as we did. The job description gave a simple overview of the job role and what they would be looking to get paid and work a week. The duties and responsibilities as well as the brief description meant that the applicant would understand what we were looking for and if they were suitable to apply, however, the basic number qualifications could have been added in to make it even more suitable, therefore the applicants would know what degrees and grades we would be associating to our job role. The specification gave the number of GCSE grades and experience we were looking for which meant that together the job description and the specification were working well together and also suited the job. We included a physical essential that I feel should have been worded differently; to say we needed a â€Å"clear voiced† applicant was for me incorrect. It should have been more based on communicational skills and a more confident desirable. Team or social activities as well as personality aspects are seen in essential also but these are small issues, other than this, I feel both are successful and complete their roles well. As stated before, our interview was rather successful in its plan, we made concentrated on sections for each individual and when it came down to making notes, we took turns based on what questions were asked, also the grade given to the responses meant that we could evaluate effectively and without too much hassle. We had researched and included some of the legislation aspects within our application, and we believe we have concluded it up to a good standard, my knowledge has been relatively good up till now and we have been able to apply it successfully within our interview as well. We made sure all our questions were not biased and asked rather in the same manner to each individual, we never included any sexual or ethical discriminating questions or implied as much, but if we had the funds, we could have asked and gone to a legal advisor to completely check our application and interview plan to make sure were conducting everything in and orderly fashion. Legislation is difficult situation as anything which can be seen as slightly biased would be approached, yet we feel we have successfully completed and understood this section to a certain extent. Yet I feel we have done this on a basic level and to work at a higher standard this could have been elaborated and an increase in the number of suitable acts within our application would prove this. We have included different ethical initiations within our documents which meant that we would not be revealing any detail given to us and this fell under the privacy act, we had thought to test it out prior to the interviews but insufficient time gave us a limited period in which to do so. I personally feel that this would have benefited the group as we could then make the alterations that were likely to appear. Recruiting is a difficult section with all its legal and ethical dimensions, to get it correct can be a mission in itself, yet we took these into consideration and worked around them as best we could. We placed lines initiating what the documents would be used for and how privacy would be kept within the company. I feel we had a good variety of job adverts and other such documentations to which we could refer back to or get ideas from, yet it was a basic bit of annotation to which we conducted to, we didn’t do any detailed evaluation over other companies documents which meant that the standard of ours would fall slightly due to this. Therefore I would suggest next time that we re-do this section in order to get a better analysis over detailed aspects of the documents by realizing the types of wording used as well as the layouts provided. Job advertisements were provided but could have been identified and found out easily off the internet or at a job centre, however, internal documents had to be released or made up as we could not just get our hands on them. We had ideas given to us that related to them and we used them to the best we could but again I feel the time we had meant we had to make basic adjustments rather than go into strict detail over them. I would perhaps get a wider research range from the internet and companies to find small aspects of the job description to which I could include and then it would increase the standard on a general scale. I was the one who created the induction package, yet I had not thought of interviewing a real manager to see if they felt that it was suitable, this would have been rather easy under the circumstances and would benefit the group tremendously, yet previous induction packages off the internet and ones provided gave a good outline which made it easier to identify areas which needed to be targeted. It included all the basic details such as the general facilities and the safety procedures. Yet the layout again is rather basic, without a previous internal document to refer to in order to gain a good understanding, it was difficult to gain certain point or include others. Yet, the basic layout is made up for by the inclusion of all the main issues and points which need to be included in a real induction, signatures at the end and instructions are there also to professionalize the document as well as giving the candidate some sort of reference to what should be included once in the job.

Forrest Gump Movie Review Essay - 1243 Words

Forrest Gump Movie Review Essay Often, hardships such as war, separation from the ones you love, terrorism, and bullying can bring your self esteem, motivation, and even personality down to a lower level. It can be difficult to stay strong and keep progressing with the many misfortunes that can occur. Likewise, Robert Zemeckis’ Forrest Gump shows how the protagonist, Forrest Gump, deals with and reacts to all the adversity that happens in the society and in his family and friends as well. Forrest Gump is set in the 1950s-1980s in Forrest’s hometown, Greenbow, Alabama. Forrest Gump was a simple man who had an I.Q. of 75. He was always bullied by kids because he wore braces on his legs and was considered dumb. Fortunately, he was able to†¦show more content†¦Instead, the tone of that part of the movie is more of an adventurous tone rather than a grave tone. In fact, the movie points out the beautiful features of Vietnam like its landscape and vegetation. War, as we all know, is very hectic and includes a lot of bloodshed, but Forrest Gump does not manage to show the hard reality of being at war. â€Å"The movie supports its optimistic agenda by evading or overlooking many hard realities of the historical period it supposedly wants to explore and understand. The result is a winning but ultimately dishonest portrait† (csmonitor.com par. 2). Aside from that, the movie includes many cutting-edge special effects. For example, the movie takes Forrest Gump all around recent American history. With the help of special effects, Forrest was able to stand next to the schoolhouse door with George Wallace, teach Elvis a dance move, which soon became famous, visit the White House several times, go on the Dick Cavett show with the talented John Lennon, and address a Vietnam-era peace rally on the Mall in Washington. These special effects are a huge part of the plot of the story because it shows how Forrest affected American history so much. If it wa sn’t for the realistic special effects, the movie would have an entirely different story. The movie would be more difficult to make without the special effects since a lot of the scenes occurred on TV. â€Å"The director, Robert Zemeckis, is experienced with the magicShow MoreRelatedReflection Paper About Movie Review1058 Words   |  5 Pagesdifferent genres which include a film review, an annotated bibliography, and an argumentative essay. While writing the film review my main goal is to persuade the audience to watch the movie or not depending on my view of the film. As I wrote the film review I had to look over other film reviews to get an idea what type of language should be used, and the type of format it should be written in. Most of the time the reviews were short and ended with phrases like â€Å"the movie is fantastic† or similar sentencesRead MoreForrest Gump as the Modern Day Fairytale Essay4165 Words   |  17 PagesForrest Gump as the Modern Day Fairytale Forrest Gump is a classic film; this essay will explore all aspects if this favourite. From the beautifully naà ¯ve Forrest, to the political underlay throughout the narrative. The opening sequence of the film stimulates a distant memory, a reminiscence of fairytales from years gone by. Once getting to know the character of Forrest I realize this innocence of fairytales is reflected in his being. The tinkling keys of the pianoRead MoreThe Studio System Essay14396 Words   |  58 Pages1920, Adolph Zukor, head of Paramount Pictures, over the decade of the 1920s helped to fashion Hollywood into a vertically integrated system, a set of economic innovations which was firmly in place by 1930. For the next three decades, the movie industry in the United States and the rest of the world operated by according to these principles. Cultural, social and economic changes ensured the demise of this system after the Second World War. A new way to run Hollywood was Read MoreBlue Man Case Study Essay10220 Words   |  41 PagesChris had attended an experimental elementary school within Teachers College at Columbia University. The school emphasized creative writing and scientific exploration, which he loved, but it didn’t really teach the basic skills like spelling or essay writing We had some special moments in high school, like when I was able to help Chris plot a win against the mile run record holder at a big track meet. It was the first time we realized how profoundly powerful our partnership could be. We were