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    Structuralism and Formalism

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    Jennefer Gudao Aranilla
    This document provides information on various literary theories including formalism and structuralism. It explains that formalism focuses on analyzing the form and structure of a literary work, while structuralism relates a work to larger structures like genres. Key aspects of each theory are outlined such as formalism concentrating on grammar, plot structure, and syntax, and structuralism analyzing what genre a work belongs to or what patterns reveal about human experience.

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    Structuralism and Formalism

    Uploaded by

    Jennefer Gudao Aranilla
    13K views2 pages
    This document provides information on various literary theories including formalism and structuralism. It explains that formalism focuses on analyzing the form and structure of a literary work, while structuralism relates a work to larger structures like genres. Key aspects of each theory are outlined such as formalism concentrating on grammar, plot structure, and syntax, and structuralism analyzing what genre a work belongs to or what patterns reveal about human experience.

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    This document provides information on various literary theories including formalism and structuralism. It explains that formalism focuses on analyzing the form and structure of a literary work, while structuralism relates a work to larger structures like genres. Key aspects of each theory are outlined such as formalism concentrating on grammar, plot structure, and syntax, and structuralism analyzing what genre a work belongs to or what patterns reveal about human experience.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    13K views2 pages

    Structuralism and Formalism

    Uploaded by

    Jennefer Gudao Aranilla
    This document provides information on various literary theories including formalism and structuralism. It explains that formalism focuses on analyzing the form and structure of a literary work, while structuralism relates a work to larger structures like genres. Key aspects of each theory are outlined such as formalism concentrating on grammar, plot structure, and syntax, and structuralism analyzing what genre a work belongs to or what patterns reveal about human experience.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Literary Theory

    A literary theory is a body of ideas used for studying literature. It is also a method used to analyze literary texts.
    Among the many literary theories are structuralist and formalist theories.
    Long before the birth of formalism and structuralism, the meaning and value of a literary piece was based on the
    author’s reason for creating the text, the message he is trying to communicate and its historical context instead of its
    structure and use of the English language.
    Both formalism and structuralism reduce the importance of taking the meaning from social and cultural influences. They
    focus more on taking the meaning of the literary text from the way it was written or formed.

    Formalism

    Formalism is an analytical method that focuses on literary form and the study of literary devices within the text. The
    work of the formalists had a great influence on the development of structuralism and other literary theories. Formalism,
    like structuralism, study literature scientifically. It analyzes the devices, techniques, and other functions of a literary
    work objectively.
    Formalists have put aside the importance of influences coming from culture, biography, and history. They even put aside
    the importance of the author. They have instead put focus on the grammar, the structure of the plot, the character
    roles, and syntax. Simply put, they concentrate on what defines a piece of work as literature, its structural
    characteristics.

    Example: analyzing a text based on its form

    Explanation:

    When a text is analyzed based purely on its form and the way it was written, then formalism is the literary theory used.

    Structuralism

    Structuralism relates literary compositions to a larger structure such as a genre or a system of recurrent patterns or
    motifs. It brought a set of objective criteria for analysis and a new intellectual accuracy to literary studies.
    Asking how the text is classified into a specific genre or what patterns in the text tell us about the human experience are
    some of the ways to incorporate structuralism in literary analysis.

    Example: analyzing what makes a text part of a specific genre

    Explanation:

    When a text is analyzed based on what makes it part of something larger, such as a genre, then structuralism is used in
    analyzing it
    Key Points

     A literary theory is a body of ideas used for studying literature. It is also a method used to analyze literary texts.
     Formalism is an analytical method that focuses on literary form and the study of literary devices within the text.
     Structuralism relates literary compositions to a larger structure such as a genre or a system of recurrent
    patterns or motifs.

    Moralism
    A literary criticism that examines literature using civil and ethical criteria. It judges works based on their
    ethical teaching or moral lesson.
    Marxism
    A literary criticism that refers to the social, political, and economic theories of Karl Marx, including the
    belief that struggles between social classes are a major force in history and that in the future, there
    should be a society with no social classes.
    Feminism
    A term used for the variety of beliefs, movements, and ideas regarding a common goal, which is to
    define and achieve equal rights for women in terms of personal, political, cultural, economic, and social
    concerns.
    New Historicism
    A literary criticism that portrays in the text the social and political conditions during the time when the
    text was written.
    Reader-Response Theory
    A literary theory that points out the importance of the reader's role in interpreting texts.

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