Structuralism and Literary Criticism: Gerard Genette

Structuralism and Literary Criticism: Gerard Genette

Gérard Genette (born 1930) is a French literary theorist, associated in particular with the structuralist movement and such figures as Roland Barthes and Claude Lévi-Strauss, from whom he adapted the concept of bricolage.

In literary theory, Structuralism is an approach to analysing the narrative material by examining the underlying invariant structure .There are many Structuralist critics like Ferdinand Saussure, Gerard Genette , Roland Barthes, Claude Levi-Strauss etc. Structuralist critics found basic common structure in every work. As all the human beings  have a same structure from inside, similarly literature has basic structure and it is same everywhere whether it movies, TV serials or advertisement etc.

In order to understand structuralism , we must understand the three word Sign, Signifier, and Signified.

Sign – Sound or word

Signifier– popping up of image  in mind

Signified – Something already there

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’.

In Bollywood  films  we find the basic structure. Most of the Hindi movies have same structure of revenge but there representation is different.

To view examples CLICK HERE

Many literary texts have same structure

For example: - “Doctor Faustus” by Christopher Marlowe and “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley. In both the text we find that the protagonists have hubris and quest of knowledge which leads to their downfall. Same we find in many movies also downfall of villains due to hubris.

Here I would like to refer to Northrop Frye: The Archetypes of Literature

" Frye identified common pattern in every work of art. So he talks about the totality of literature. According to him all are connected somewhere. And when we do criticism from this perspective, It is Archetypal criticism. And Archetypal critics finds this sort of recurring pattern in literature. Narrative technique, Hero, structure are same everywhere."

Reference:-

http://dilipbarad.blogspot.in/2015/03/structuralism-and-literary-criticism.html