- •Полховська о.В., мазіна о.М., князева н.А. The guide to literary analysis навчальний посібник з комплексного аналізу художнього тексту
- •Contents
- •Introduction…………………………………………8
- •Introduction
- •Theoretical fundamentals of literary text analysis
- •1.1. Notion of style. Artistic systems. Genre
- •1.2. Social and cultural background
- •Values, beliefs and attitudes.
- •1.3. Thematic formation. Gist and problem identification
- •1.4. Author’s tone and intent
- •1.5. Composition and content organization. Types of narration
- •1.6. Point of view. Voice and focalisation
- •1.7. Setting and environment
- •To hold personal significance to spark memories of past experiences
- •Language in use for analysis
- •The characters have distinct personalities, histories, values and motivations.
- •Language and imagery. Individual style of writing
- •Opal (1919)
- •Language in use for analysis
- •The imagery employed by the writer
- •Stylistic devices
- •It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window. (r. Chandler)
- •I’m Nobody! Who are you?
- •If I ride the horse of hate
- •In much wisdom is much grief, and whoever increases knowledge increases sorrow.
- •In a slow silent walk
- •II. Strategies for conducting literary text analysis and writing an essay
- •Standards for essay evaluation An effective literary analysis…
- •Theoretical approaches to literary texts
- •Author-oriented approaches
- •Context-oriented approaches
- •Text-oriented approaches
- •Reader-oriented approaches
- •References
- •Appendix 1. Helpful linking words and devices
- •Helpful key words
1.2. Social and cultural background
In view of M. Bakhtin’s insight into multi-layered nature of language speech is dialogic, and speakers exist within their cultural contexts, ideologies and social intentions. Any text always has a human and cultural reference. It refers to ideas, feelings, relationships, and social conditions that make sense precisely because they are part of our shared social experience. Textual information is not eternal or timeless, but is situated historically, socially, intellectually, with particular intents and social, gender, class, ethnic, racial perspectives. Hence, studying texts entails looking into the context (social, cultural and intertextual) within which texts are embedded.
Comprehension in this direction is aimed at raising the reader’s awareness of historical and socio-cultural factors. Whatever the text, the content is expected to increase one’s awareness of the culturally-induced values of own and other nations and awareness of one’s own priorities to make sure certain cultural standpoints can be explained. Students are motivated to develop the ability to evaluate and refine generalizations about the culture in terms of supporting evidence deduced from the text. In this way one automatically becomes exposed to the range of socio-cultural items such as:
symbols;
realia;
conventions;
customs and traditions;
stereotypes and expectations;
Values, beliefs and attitudes.
The word symbol comes from Greek symballein (to put together). A symbol brings two things/concepts together. Symbolism is the use of objects, events, or actions to stand in for some things or ideas outside themselves. Thus, in Women in Love (1920) by D.H. Lawrence, the primitive wooden statuette of a naked black woman has symbolic significance, representing men’s subconscious fear of women. Many symbols are taken from the Bible. Symbols differ from culture to culture, for instance, colours symbolise different things, which is reflected in language.
Moral and social environment has an impact on fiction. H. Melville begins his short novel Billy Budd, Foretopman, (1891) full of allegorical, symbolic, ethical implications, with the historical data which serve as a background for the described events: “The year 1797, the year of this narrative, belongs to the period which, as every thinker now feels, involved a crisis of Christendom<…> it was something caught from Revolutionary Spirit that at Spithead emboldened man-of-war’s men to rise against real abuses, long-standing ones, and afterwards at the Nore to make inordinate and aggressive demands – successful resistance to which was confirmed only when the ringleaders were hung for an admonitory spectacle to the anchored fleet. Yet, in a way analogous to the operation of the Revolution at large, the Great Mutiny, though by Englishmen naturally deemed monstrous at the time, doubtless gave the first latent prompting to the most important reforms in the British navy.”
Close analysis may show that most literary texts contain some information as to social conventions and behavior, stereotypes. The following extract illustrates the social requirements posed to men (gender stereotypes): “I’ve never understood how cars work, beyond a long-standing conviction that petrol is crucial; so when it comes to identifying faults and fixing them, I haven’t got a clue. However, I do realize that it’s important for a man to be able to display the body language of the DIY mechanic if he is to command the respect of his peers, and avoid being mocked, or set upon with baseball bats; so I’m quite capable of giving a tyre a sharp tap with the toe-end of my boot, or saying, ‘Lift up the bonnet,’ and shaking my head pessimistically. Masculine protocol now requires that, without having the faintest idea what I’m looking for, I must lie on the ground and look under the car” (P. McCarthy McCarthy’s Bar).
Ethnic stereotypes are often imbedded in fiction. Let’s consider several quotations concerning ethnic stereotypes.
‘I don’t mind being a redneck,’ Luke said. ‘The only thing wrong with rednecks is that they hate niggers and most everything else (P. Conroy The Prince of Tides (1991)).
“Gazing and munching and blinking we sit – big loose Australians, intellectual Indians < serious Americans, antiseptic Japanese…” (J. Gardam Groundlings)
"The Frogs can't take Scotch. He passed out" (G. Green)
The author can promote (consciously or subconsciously) some values, beliefs and attitudes, or mock them as P. McCarthy does: “From an early age it was taken for granted that Jesus was Catholic, God himself was Irish, and I had been born into a wicked, pagan country.” (McCarthy, McCarthy’s Bar).
One of the major goals of this Guide is to increase students’ consciousness of cultural similarities and differences and enhance understanding of the diversity of ideas and practices found across cultures in general.
We often consider works of fiction within the context of a national literature. However, speaking about English literature we should clearly define whether we speak about literature written in English (British, American, post-colonial literature) or about literature of the British Isles. Literature can bear some national features. Anthony Burgess notes: “English literature, in short, has a freedom, a wiliness to experiment, a hatred of rules which has no parallel in any other literature.”
One is to make sure to know TAT (the relationship between Text, Author, Time):
the general social and cultural climate;
the rhetorical context of the text.
Text interpretation entails complex interactions between reader, writer and text, suggesting active engagement with the author’s intentions and ideas. It means gleaning contents and then fitting it into certain environment. The process of interpretation is constructed on understanding coherence and view-points brought by the writer and based on cultural norms, beliefs, knowledge, values. The text should be critically processed by students, being holders of their own value system.
Questions
Comment on the range of social and cultural items in the text. What do you know about the author, his/her occupation, personal background and political/religious leanings? To whom do you think the author is writing? For what purpose was the text written? What prompted its creation? What do you know about the text publication? What is your historical and cultural distance from the text under consideration? When was the text written? What were the main events of the time? How did the contemporary thought influence the text? What social conditions (values, morals, economic pressures, power relationships, gender role, and so on) could conceivably create the drama of the text? What can you say about the difference between your culture's (and sub-culture's) views of the world, your own experiences, on the one hand, and those of the text, on the other? What is it that you might have to understand better in order to experience the text of particular time, class, gender and race? Is it possible that your reading might be different because of your particular social (race, gender, class, etc.) and historical context? How does your world govern the way you see the world of the text? In which way does the text interact with other texts/media?
Language in use for analysis
to say and do in specific social situations
subtleties of cultural behavior
to make implicit cultural assumptions
to share values and attitudes
to adhere to the systems of
to present facts about
to reveal information about
to assert certain points or assumptions
to focus on influence of public opinion
combination of logic argumentation and emotional appeal
to work out the meaning of the title
the title is suggestive of…
culturally-appropriate behavior
familiarity with
…is appropriate for the context
We gather from the story that…
From general context of the text the reader comes to know…
The writer wishes to convey straight facts concerning…
The text specifically states that…
the symbols associated with one’s own culture
The author holds unmistakable generalizations of social realities…/ focuses on the lifestyles…
By observing and describing the realia…
It reveals images related to another culture…
Focusing on the subject matter of … the reader can draw up visible aspects…/ become aware of the lifestyles…
… to encourage comparison of how … may be similar to (different from) those in our native culture
We arrive at deeper understanding of both English-speaking cultures and our own.
Values are taken for granted.