Lecture 1: The Method of Literary Analysis ( part one) click for content
A literary text can be studied from two different perspectives that are sometimes dissociated but also often complementary; they are the form and the content of the text. The text has a structure and style as well as meaning. The importance of the structure directly influences the meaning as a literary style shapes affects and intentions. In a literary analysis, all the aspects of the text that participate intoi shaping meaning, interpretation, and perspective are put into light and analyzed.
1. The Introduction: The introduction of your essay must include all the possible bibliographical information that is provided with the text. The identification serves to situate readers and provide them with the necessary information they must be aware of. The identification includes the following:
· Author’s full name and their origin.
· The complete title: the title must not be lacking any words, must be changed or paraphrased, nor summarized, and it must be underlined.
· The chapter, page, volume, year of publication, all other bibliographical information.
· The Literary Genre: There are three literary genres: Prose, Poetry, and Drama. Yet each of them is subjected to types and movements. The literary genre is an identification of the type of text under analysis and the movement to which it belongs. The genre can be one of the following:
Prose: short stoy, legend, myth, letter, report, pamphlet, religious book, journal, diary, account, novel, etc.
There are different types of novels, so if the text is extracted from a novel, the type of the novel must also be identified: Detective, sensitive, picaresque, adventure, comic, satire, novel of manners, moralistic (didactic), gothic, epistolary, psychological, etc.
Poetry: There are different types of poetry: Epic, Lyric, Ballad, Ode, Elegy, Satire, Limerick, Pastoral, Sonnet, Haiku.
Drama: It can be Tragedy, Comedy, Farce Opera, Melodrama, Historical Drama, Musical, etc.
After the identification of the genre, it is important to state the literary movement to which the text belongs to. There are different literary movements, namely: Old English, Middle English, Elizabethan Drama, Metaphysical poetry, Realism, Romanticism, Naturalism, Symbolism, Modernism, Postmodernism, Post-colonialism, etc. The text can also be religious or political.
· A very brief idea of the text or of the novel: in just one line or two, the student must explain very briefly what the text under analysis is about or the entire novel. The objective in this part is to show the student’s understanding of the text.
EXAMPLES:
· This text is taken from Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, Chapter 5. (INCOMPLETE)
· This excerpt was taken from the Gothic Romantic novel Frankenstein, or Modern Prometheus, written by the British author Mary Shelley in 1818, chapter Five, which shows Frankenstein’s anxiety after his creature woke up. (COMPLETE)
2. The Analysis: The body of the essay includes the different parts of the analysis. This includes a study of the different elements of the novel as well as interpretations, namely:
· The General ideas: this part covers the main ideas that are stated in the text under analysis. the goal in this part is to show understanding of the excerpt and the novel. It must detail the main events, names and roles of the characters, and clarify the prominent incidents. This analysis must not include interpretations as these are discussed later in the themes.
· The settings: The time and the place of the narration. They usually have a certain significance in the development of the narration. They can be related to the main themes, they may include symbolism, or simply signify major change in the events and lives of the characters. They are the time and the place of the novel or the narrated events, they are not related to the author of the text.
· The Audience: The targeted audience is the population that the author tries to influence and impact through the text under analysis. They can be scientists, politicians, women, a certain social class, or other. The targeted audience is easily inferred from the themes extracted from the text.
The Themes: Every text has a particular topic, an objective, or simply a general theme. The theme is the general topic of discussion in the text and the intended meaning by the author, yet, sometimes, some themes occur unintentionally when authors are not aware of the impact of their ideologies on their writing. While some texts have a didactic or moralistic objective like the works of Charles Dickens, others are written for a purely artistic purpose (Art for Art’s Sake) like the works of Edgar Allan Poe. The study of the theme thus analyzes the general topic in a text; its exposition, author’s perspective, and its interpretation. A proper study of the themes
· includes the following:
The analysis of the theme must include the topic that is addressed by the author or in the narration, the way it is represented in the text, the author’s perspective regarding the topic, examples from the text that serve as evidence, and interpretation.
· Example: There is the theme of racism in this text (topic). The author unintentionally devalues Friday by considering him a slave to Robinson (representation and perspective). Robinson chose to be called Master instead of his real name by Friday, he only taught Friday to say Yes and No instead of trying to understand him, and gave him the name “Friday” instead of trying to learn to pronounce his real name (evidence). The author’s social background never considered a man of color equal to the white man and by giving Friday the status of a slave, Defoe was unaware that his representation was racist. (interpretation)
The Plot: The plot is the exposition of events in the novel. It is the act of narration. It is presented in a sequence of connected events that shape together the narration in a text. The events in a traditional plot are characterized by a cause-effect relationship wherein one event leads to the next. It is composed of: exposition (introduction of characters and setting), rising action (development of the central conflict), climax (the turning point or highest point of tension), falling action
(events following the climax), and resolution (the final outcome or conclusion).
The diagram above (Freytag’s Pyramid) describes a traditional plot. Yet, plots in contemporary literature tend to be “non-linear”, which means the narration does not necessarily begin with an exposition but is characterized by a time disruption. It may begin with the climax then switches back to the exposition and shifts back and forth between the events. This is called the flashbacks. In postmodern writing the ending is rather open which gives the freedom to the reader to make their own interpretations. While in a short story there is only one plot, the novel may have different plots, and a series of sub-plots.