Explain the concept of a structure and discuss the idea of a stable centre in literary criticism
Answers
think this question is so essential that it nags almost everybody who comes to know about Structuralism in literature. And I try to simplify this nerdy logic for my own sake to understand.
In literary criticism ‘structure’ carries its primary meaning: a systematic arrangement of parts set in functional harmony to an infinite operationality. The term derived from Saussurean linguistics, though Saussure never used the word ‘structure’, gives the idea of structure being a closed system with its elements arbitrarily chosen but systematically set in positive differences (a.k.a binaries).
A text is seen as a site of both linguistic and literary structures. A structuralist reading, in fact, primarily invests itself in the process of ‘artha-nirdharana’ or meaning-making: how does a text come to mean something? A text is, therefore, closely examined for its arrangement of parts, i. e. elements of plot, characters, leitmotifs, narrative voice/s, narrative techniques, generic conventions, etc and how the binaries within these parts set off. And thereby what composite model of meaning (be it thematic, hermenuetic, psychoanalytic, stylistic, Marxist and so on) of a text can be forwarded.
For an interpretive meaning-making reading then, assumed centre(s) could be in terms of author's intention/suggestion, history, metaphysical beliefs (e.g. Semitic idea of God, cosmogony, ethics, teleology etc), or even Freudian unconscious. That is, anything that promises surity of meaning can be dubbed as centre.
This, in possible brief note, is what I think could be said for the query.
The concept of a ‘structure’ with regard to the literary criticism serves as an outlay or design through which the literary content is kept in order to keep the harmony of texts and to associate the theme or intention in an orderly manner. Keeping such a systematic arrangement or structure could make the literary text more compatible, meaningful and artistic to readers who go through.
Explanation :
The term is supposed to be derived from Saussurean linguistics although Saussure never used the term ‘structure’ but gives the idea of the term by describing it as a closed system with elements that are arbitrarily chosen but systematically set in positive differences.