NARRATOLOGÍA DE TZVETAN TODOROV por: Gener José Avilés Alatriste Universidad de Montemorelos

Contenido Preguntas generales Narratología y Tzvetan Todorov “La estructura de la Narrativa” Ejemplos

Preguntas generales ¿Cuáles son las estructuras básicas posibles de la narrativa? ¿Cuáles son las funciones in getting las estructuras básicas? ¿Y las limitaciones posibles?

La narratología estructuralista Narratología – la ciencia de la narrativa; popularizada en los 1970’s. Narratología contemporánea incluye narratología comparativa, teorías la autoría, enunciacion, acción, historia y narración, recepción, auto-referencialidad e intertextualidad. Narratología Aplicada: psicoanálisis, estudios de género, lector-respuesta, crítica ideológica.

Convenciones culturales Narratología 1. Contextos sociales, Convenciones culturales Historia autores narrador narrativa lector 3. Punto de vista 5. Semiólogos, marxistas 2. Formalistas rusos 4. Respuesta del lector Tradiciones literarias Marco teórico del análisis formal (literario,lingüistico, interdisciplinario)

Narratología estructuralista : Mayores Teóricos Levi Strauss – 4 términos (2 conjuntos binarios) V. Propp –7 esferas de acciones (Villano, héroe, falso héroe, sought-for person, etc.)y 31 funciones fuera de Russain fairy tales TzvetanTodorov –centrado más en la sintaxis; A. J. Greimas –centrado en la semántica (actantes—Sujeto/Objeto, Emisor/Receptor, Ayudante/Oponente, and 3 estructuras—contractual, performative, disyunctiva) Claude Bremond -- virtualidad una situación abierta, una posibilidad); actualización o no actualización de la posibilidad; achievement or nonachievement. Roland Barthes – 5 diferentes códigos (S/Z). Etc.

Structuralist Narratology: Possible Criticisim Reductive; too static and unable to characterize the very engine that drives a narrative forward to its end, the very dynamics that dictate its shape. Ignore context –depends on how it is used; The possibility of a coherent narratology, one that successfully integrates the study of the what and the way, has been put into question by poststructuralist theorists and critics invoking the so-called double logic of narrative (e.g. story and discourse, event and meaning). (Ref. http://www.press.jhu.edu/books/hopkins_guide_to_literary_theory/narratology.html )

T. Todorov 3 aspects of the narrative: semantic, syntactic and verbal (Todorov’s focus is more on syntax.) Grammar of narrative –sentence structure with the following basic units: 1. Propositions and sequences//sentences and paragraphs 2. parts of speech – characters as nouns; their attributes as adjectives, actions as verbs.

T. Todorov: “Structural Analsys of Narrative” Outline Structural approach to literature defined; Exemplified by his analysis of plot in Decameron; The nature of narrative and the principles of its analysis.

I. Structural approach to literature defined Theoretic but not descriptive, logical but not spatial. (2099) Different from both Marxism (external, an abstract structure out side of the work) and New Criticism (internal). Structuralism – “its object is the literary discourse rather than works of literature, literature that is virtual rather than real.” (2100). New Criticism (description)—articulates a paraphrase; Structuralist (poetics) – lit. works  abstract literary properties

I. Structural approach – further compared with modernist views Henry James – p. 2101 -- disagrees with 1) isolating a text’s dialogue, description for analysis; 2) disregarding the novel as ‘a living thing, all one and continuous.’ T’s responses – A theoretical concept (e.g. temperature) does not need to exist in ‘a pure state’; The fact that we find them (blood, muscle, etc) together does not prevent us from distinguishing them.) Subjectivity is inevitable in studies of humanities (or social science) but we can limit it.

II. Decameron From some stories he finds Plot unit shown as a clause; Characters as proper nouns; with adjectives; three actions as verbs – violate, punish, avoid; Actions with different statuses (e.g. negation) Modality – legends –imperative, fairy tale– optative, a wish; perception Relations between clauses (e.g. causal, temporal, spatial); common sequence of a group of stories (punishment avoided)

II. Decameron (2) 8. further analysis: a. more concrete analysis of syntax -- each clause can be written as an entire sequence; b. thematic study: study the concrete actions; c. rhetoric study: examines the verbal medium

II. Decameron (3) His goal – not knowledge of Decameron but an understanding of literature and plot. 1) avoid punishment: From equilibrium to a new equilibrium. 2) conversion The story illustrates the superiority of the individual over the social, or nature over culture.

III. Conclusion Literature and poetics (2106) Ambiguity in moving back and forth between the two poles: auto-reference and its object

II. Grammar of Decameron e.g. 3 adjectives – states, interior properties and exterior conditions (status) 3 verbs – to ‘modify’ a situation, to ‘transgress,’ and to ‘punish.’ (3 modes—indicative, predictive and obligatory, 3 relations between propositions, 3 sequences) Ambiguity – at both the levels of proposition and sequence.  Boccaccio – a defender of free enterprise and even, . . . , of nascent capitalism.

T. Todorov: Grammar of Decameron e.g. Peronella’s story (of hiding her lover in a barrel) – X commits a misdeed  X modifies the situation  X is not punished.

T. Todorov: another example Given by Robert Scholes X – A+ (XA) opt X  Xa  XA X = Boy A = Love, to be loved by someone A = to seek love, to woo Opt X = Boy (X) wishes (opt) - = negation of attributes: -A lack love

T. Todorov: another example Given by Robert Scholes XA + XB  X-C + YaX + (X-A+X-B  XC) predX (XbY)predX+XA!  (XB+X-C)!imp X –Eveline, Y – Frank, A—a Dubliner, B—Celibate, C—happy—respected, secure, a – to offer an elopement; b-to accept elopement -- negative of attribute, not negative of verb pred –predicts or expects, imp – is implied by discourse

T. Todorov: Questions for Discussion What could be the advantages of scientific and abstract descriptions? Can we use Todorov’s method on a novel such as Heart of Darkness? Or a story from The Dubliners? A Hollywood film, The Titanic?

Possible Attempts Chinese-American uses of traditional legends (e.g. Fox, Tang-Ao) to re-write canonical history  as initial causes for disequilibrium; later confirmed to bring up a new equilibrium; How/where modification of situation is possible. The Heart of Darkness: no equilibrium, or in the final sympathy between Kurtz and Marlow. The Titanic: transgression  obstacles (human and natural)  a new equilibrium in spiritual love and death. The Working Girl: transgression by the women (first the boss and the secretary), mutual punishment, modification by the man.

T. Todorov: critique Jonathan Culler’s critique in Structuralist Poetics – Modification can be done without the use of ruse or deception. -- anything which modifies a situation will receive the same structural description. “Todorov has not considered what facts his theory is supposed to account for and so has not considered the adequacy of the implicit groupings which it establishes” (217) Another example – ‘the sentence “The man out of the last house passed on his way home” can be excluded from any account of the plot’ -- since it has no consequences. (Barthes kernels + satellites)

T. Todorov: critique (2) Seymour Chatman’s Story and Discourse p. 92 to transfer Propp’s and Todorov’s method to any narrative macrostructure whatsoever is questionable. Most do not have the necessary overarching recurrences. The worlds of modern fiction and cinema are not two-valued, black and white, as are the Russian tales and the Decameron. P. 93 Whatever success Scholes achieves in his analysis of ‘Eveline’ depends on his knowledge of the overriding thematic framework of the Dubliners. “Why a Dubliner instead of an Irishwoman or a European or a female? Why celibate instead of poor. . .?”