Modern Literary Theory and Ancient Texts An Introduction [Hardcover]

This book provides students and scholars of classical literature with a practical guide to modern literary theory and criticism. Using a clear and concise approach, it navigates readers through various theoretical approaches, including Russian Formalism, structuralism, deconstruction, gender studies, and New Historicism.

• Applies theoretical approaches to examples from ancient literature
• Extensive bibliographies and index make it a valuable resource for scholars in the field

Acknowledgments ix

Acknowledgments for the English Translation x

Introduction 1

What Is, and To What End Do We Study, Literary Theory? 1

Literary Theory and Classics 4

Objections Raised against Literary Theory 6

How to Use This Book 11

Introductions to Literary Theory 13

1 Russian Formalism 17

The Question of Literariness 19

Roman Jakobson’s Model of Linguistic Communication 21

Poetic Language as Defamiliarization 23

Further Reading 25

2 Structuralism 26

The Founder of Structuralism: Ferdinand de Saussure 27

Saussure’s Definition of the Linguistic Sign 29

The Meaning of Differences 30

Structuralism and Subject 33

Structural Anthropology 34

Is Structuralist Interpretation Possible? 38

Structuralist Definitions of Literary Genres 40

Further Reading 42

3 Narratology 43

Vladimir Propp’s Analysis of the Folk Tale 44

Greimas’s Actantial Theory of Narrative 47

Roland Balób