| Concept | Details |
|---|---|
| Course in General Linguistics (1916) | • Published POSTHUMOUSLY from students' lecture notes • Foundation text for structuralism • Revolutionized understanding of language • Influenced ALL structuralist thought |
| Language as System | Language = structured system of differences • NOT collection of words, but RELATIONS between words • Meaning comes from difference, not inherent properties • Example: "cat" means what it does because NOT "bat," "hat," "rat" |
| Langue vs. Parole | Langue: Language system (abstract, social, structure) • Rules, conventions shared by community • Virtual system enabling communication Parole: Individual speech act (concrete, personal, instance) • Actual utterances by individuals Saussure: Study LANGUE (system), not parole (performance) |
| Signifier vs. Signified | Sign = Signifier + Signified • Signifier (Signifiant): Sound-image, form, word itself (e.g., spoken/written "tree") • Signified (Signifié): Concept, meaning (idea of tree) • BOTH are mental (not thing itself = referent) • Example: TREE (signifier) → concept of tree (signified) → actual tree (referent/NOT part of sign) |
| Arbitrary Nature of Sign | NO natural connection between signifier and signified • "Tree" in English, "arbre" in French, "Baum" in German • Relation is CONVENTIONAL, not natural • Meaning = social agreement, not inherent • Exception: Onomatopoeia (but even that varies by language) |
| Synchronic vs. Diachronic | Synchronic: Study language at ONE point in time (structural relations) Diachronic: Study language ACROSS time (historical evolution) Saussure prioritizes SYNCHRONIC (how system works NOW) • Structuralism = synchronic approach • Opposes historical philology |
| Paradigmatic vs. Syntagmatic | Syntagmatic: Relations of combination (horizontal, in sequence) • Example: "The cat sat on the mat" - word order, syntax Paradigmatic: Relations of substitution (vertical, alternatives) • Example: "The [cat/dog/bird] sat..." - choice among options Both axes structure meaning |
| Concept | Details |
|---|---|
| Structural Anthropology | • Applied Saussure's linguistics to culture • Studied MYTHS as structured systems • Structural Anthropology (1958), The Raw and the Cooked (1964) |
| Binary Oppositions | Human mind structures world through oppositions • Nature/Culture, Raw/Cooked, Life/Death, Male/Female • Myths mediate contradictions • Universal structures underlying all cultures |
| Influence on Literary Criticism | • Look for underlying STRUCTURES in literature • Binary oppositions organizing texts • Universal narrative patterns (like myths) |
| Concept | Details |
|---|---|
| Early Structuralist Phase (1950s-60s) | Applied structural linguistics to literature • Writing Degree Zero (1953) • Mythologies (1957) - analyzed popular culture as sign systems • S/Z (1970) - structural analysis of Balzac story |
| "The Death of the Author" (1967) | MOST FAMOUS ESSAY - transitioning to post-structuralism • "The birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the Author" • Author's intention irrelevant (like New Criticism BUT different reason) • Text = tissue of quotations from culture • Meaning created by READER, not author • Author = cultural construct, not origin of meaning |
| Writerly vs. Readerly | Readerly (Lisible): Passive consumption, classic realism • Reader consumes pre-packaged meaning • Closed text Writerly (Scriptible): Reader actively produces meaning • Experimental, modern texts (Joyce, Robbe-Grillet) • Open, plural text • Reader = co-creator |
| Five Codes (S/Z) | Barthes's structural analysis system: 1. Hermeneutic: Questions/answers, enigma 2. Proairetic: Actions, plot sequence 3. Semantic: Connotations, themes 4. Symbolic: Antitheses, deeper patterns 5. Cultural: References to shared knowledge Text = weaving together of these codes |
| Later Phase | • Moved toward post-structuralism • The Pleasure of the Text (1973) - jouissance (bliss) • A Lover's Discourse (1977) - fragmentary, personal |
| Concept | Details |
|---|---|
| Narratology | • Science of narrative structure • Grammaire du Décaméron (1969) • Introduced Russian Formalism to West |
| Narrative Grammar | • Stories have underlying "grammar" like sentences • Universal structures (like Propp's fairy tale functions) • Focus on HOW stories work, not WHAT they mean |
| Concept | Details |
|---|---|
| What is Deconstruction? | Reading strategy exposing contradictions in texts • NOT destruction, but showing internal instability • Texts undermine their own claims to stable meaning • Close reading revealing oppositions, hierarchies, contradictions • "There is nothing outside the text" (Il n'y a pas de hors-texte) |
| Critique of Structuralism | Structures are NOT stable • Saussure: Meaning = system of differences • Derrida: Differences are ENDLESS, never fixed • No center, no foundation, no final meaning • Meaning always DEFERRED, never present |
| Logocentrism | Western philosophy's privileging of SPEECH over WRITING • Assumes speech = presence, truth, authenticity • Writing = secondary, derivative, corrupt • Derrida: Speech ALSO differs and defers (not transparent) • Challenges Plato, Rousseau, Saussure |
| Différance | Derrida's invented term (note spelling: a not e) • Combines "differ" (spatial) and "defer" (temporal) • Meaning = product of DIFFERENCE (Saussure) • BUT also always DEFERRED (never fully present) • Silent "a" in French = visible in writing, NOT in speech • Demonstrates priority of writing over speech (contra logocentrism) |
| Binary Oppositions | Structuralism: Binaries structure meaning Derrida: Binaries are HIERARCHICAL and UNSTABLE • Examples: Speech/Writing, Presence/Absence, Man/Woman, Nature/Culture • First term privileged, second term subordinated • Deconstruction: REVERSE and DISPLACE hierarchies • Show how privileged term depends on excluded term |
| Trace | Every sign contains "trace" of what it is NOT • Meaning = presence AND absence • Sign always refers to other signs (infinite chain) • No pure presence, no origin |
| Major Works | • Of Grammatology (1967) - critique of logocentrism • Writing and Difference (1967) - essays on literature/philosophy • Margins of Philosophy (1972) - "Différance" essay • All 1967 = annus mirabilis of deconstruction |
| Concept | Details |
|---|---|
| Yale School | • Brought deconstruction to American literary criticism • Yale School: de Man, J. Hillis Miller, Geoffrey Hartman, Harold Bloom • Applied Derrida to Romantic/modern literature |
| Rhetoric vs. Grammar | Texts contain irresolvable conflict between literal and figurative • Grammar (literal meaning) vs. Rhetoric (figurative) • "The Resistance to Theory" (1982) - theory resisted because it reveals instability |
| Allegories of Reading (1979) | • Deconstructive readings of Rousseau, Nietzsche, Proust, Rilke • Shows how texts "deconstruct themselves" • Close reading revealing internal contradictions |
| Blindness and Insight | • Critics blind to implications of their own insights • What they DON'T see enables what they DO see |
| Concept | Details |
|---|---|
| Not Quite Post-Structuralist | • Often grouped with post-structuralists • More concerned with POWER, HISTORY than language • "Archaeologist" and "genealogist" of knowledge |
| Discourse | Systems of statements that produce knowledge and power • Not just language, but PRACTICES that form objects they speak about • Example: "Madness" created by psychiatric discourse • Discourse = power/knowledge |
| "What is an Author?" (1969) | Author = FUNCTION, not person • "Author-function" = way texts are classified, circulated • Not "who is author?" but "what does author-function DO?" • Complements Barthes's "Death of the Author" |
| Episteme | Underlying structures of thought in historical period • The Order of Things (1966) - epistemes of Renaissance, Classical, Modern • Not progressive evolution, but radical breaks (discontinuity) |
| Power/Knowledge | Power and knowledge mutually constitutive • "Power produces knowledge" • Discipline and Punish (1975) - surveillance, panopticon • The History of Sexuality (1976-84) - discourse creates sexuality |
| Influence on Criticism | • New Historicism (Greenblatt) • Cultural Studies • Postcolonial theory (Said) • Queer theory |
| Aspect | Structuralism | Post-Structuralism |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Determined by SYSTEM | DEFERRED, unstable, plural |
| Structure | Stable, discoverable | Unstable, self-contradictory |
| Binary Oppositions | Organize meaning | Hierarchical, need deconstruction |
| Author | Irrelevant (focus on system) | "Dead" or "function" (Barthes, Foucault) |
| Method | Scientific analysis | Playful, skeptical reading |
| Goal | Discover underlying structures | Expose contradictions, instabilities |
| Unity | Text has coherent structure | Text is self-divided, contradictory |
| Key Figures | Saussure, Lévi-Strauss, early Barthes, Todorov | Derrida, late Barthes, Foucault, de Man, Kristeva |
| Question Type | Key Facts |
|---|---|
| Saussure's Book | Course in General Linguistics (1916) - posthumous from lecture notes |
| Langue vs. Parole | Langue = system (study this); Parole = individual speech |
| Signifier vs. Signified | Signifier = sound/form; Signified = concept; Sign = both together |
| Arbitrary Sign | NO natural connection - conventional, social agreement |
| Synchronic vs. Diachronic | Synchronic = one time point (Saussure prefers); Diachronic = across time |
| Lévi-Strauss | Structural anthropology; Binary oppositions in myths; Nature/Culture |
| Barthes's Famous Essay | "The Death of the Author" (1967) |
| Writerly vs. Readerly | Writerly = reader produces meaning; Readerly = passive consumption |
| Derrida's Invention | Différance (with "a") - differ + defer |
| Logocentrism | Privileging speech over writing (Derrida critiques this) |
| Derrida's Famous Quote | "There is nothing outside the text" (Il n'y a pas de hors-texte) |
| Derrida 1967 | Of Grammatology + Writing and Difference (annus mirabilis) |
| Yale School | de Man, Hillis Miller, Hartman, Bloom - American deconstruction |
| Foucault's Question | "What is an Author?" (1969) - author-function |
| Foucault's Concept | Discourse = power/knowledge; Episteme; Panopticon |
| Don't Confuse | Distinction |
|---|---|
| Signifier vs. Signified vs. Referent | Signifier = form, Signified = concept; BOTH mental Referent = actual thing (NOT part of sign for Saussure) |
| Structuralism vs. Post-Structuralism | Structuralism = stable structures; Post = structures unstable |
| Barthes "Death of Author" vs. New Criticism | BOTH ignore author BUT different reasons: New Criticism = text autonomous object Barthes = reader creates meaning from cultural codes |
| Deconstruction vs. Destruction | Deconstruction ≠ destroying text; = revealing internal contradictions |
| Différance vs. Difference | Différance = Derrida's neologism (a not e); differ + defer combined |
| Foucault vs. Derrida | Derrida = language, texts, philosophy Foucault = power, history, institutions |
Structuralism & Post-Structuralism Complete
Saussure | Barthes | Derrida | Foucault | de Man