Modern Literary Teory and Ancient Texts An Introduction Tomas A. Schmitz Modern Literary Teory and Ancient Texts Modern Literary Teory and Ancient Texts An Introduction Tomas A. Schmitz ©2002byWissenschaflicheBuchgesellschaf,Darmstadt Translation © 2007 by Tomas A. Schmitz BLACKWELL PUBLISHING 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK 550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia Te right of Tomas A. Schmitz to be identifed as the Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. 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For further information on Blackwell Publishing, visit our website: www.blackwellpublishing.com Contents Contents v Acknowledgments ix Acknowledgments for the English Translation x Introduction 1 What Is, and ToWhat End Do We Study, Literary Teory? 1 Literary Teory and Classics 4 Objections Raised against Literary Teory 6 How to Use Tis Book 11 Introductions to Literary Teory 13 1Russian Formalism 17 Te Question of Literariness 19 Roman Jakobson’s Model of Linguistic Communication 21 Poetic Language as Defamiliarization 23 Further Reading 25 2Structuralism 26 Te Founder of Structuralism: Ferdinand de Saussure 27 Saussure’s Defnition of the Linguistic Sign 29 Te Meaning of Diferences 30 Structuralism and Subject 33 Structural Anthropology 34 Is Structuralist Interpretation Possible? 38 Structuralist Defnitions of Literary Genres 40 Further Reading 42 v Contents 3Narratology 43 Vladimir Propp’s Analysis of the Folk Tale 44 Greimas’s Actantial Teory of Narrative 47 Roland Barthes and the Study of Narrative Texts 50 Structuralist Plot-Analysis: Gérard Genette 55 Irene de Jong’s Narratological Analysis of the Homeric Epics 60 Further Reading 62 4MikhailBakhtin 63 Bakhtin’s Life and the Problem of His Writings 64 Dialogism and the Novel 66 Te Carnivalization of Literature 69 Menippean Satire and Ancient Carnivalesque Literature 71 Further Reading 76 5Intertextuality 77 Leading the Way: Julia Kristeva 77 Further Developments of Intertextuality 78 Gérard Genette’s Model of Hypertextuality 80 Intertextuality in Virgil 83 Further Reading 85 6Reader-Response Criticism 86 Empirical Reception Studies 87 Aesthetics of Reception 88 American Reader-Response Criticism 91 Wheeler’s Analysis of Ovid’s Metamorphoses 94 Further Reading 96 7Orality – Literacy 98 Oral Cultures: TeTeses of Goody and Watt 99 What Does “Orality” Mean? 102 Oral Poetry 104 Te Homeric Epics as a Test Case 106 Further Reading 111 vi Contents 8Deconstruction 113 Te Foundations: Derrida’s Criticism of Logocentrism 114 Deconstruction in America 120 Objections to Deconstruction 122 Te Role of the Author 124 Stanley Fish’s Model of “Interpretive Communities” 127 Te Responsibility of the Interpreter 130 Deconstruction’s Merits and Demerits 136 Deconstruction in Antiquity? Socrates und Protagoras 137 Further Reading 139 9MichelFoucaultandDiscourseAnalysis 140 Te Power of Discourse 141 Objections to Foucault’s Analysis of Discourse 145 Foucault and Antiquity 149 Te Debate about Foucault’s Interpretation of Ancient Sexuality 153 Further Reading 157 10 New Historicism 159 New Historicism and Deconstruction 160 New Historicism and Michel Foucault 165 Objections to New Historicism 167 New Historicism and Antiquity 172 Further Reading 174 11 Feminist Approaches/Gender Studies 176 Te Feminist Movement and Defnitions of “Woman” 176 Feminism in Literary Criticism 178 French Feminism 180 Pragmatic Feminism in Literary Criticism 182 From Images of Women to Gender Studies 187 Queer Teory 189 Gender Studies and Attic Drama 191 Further Reading 193 vii Contents 12 Psychoanalytic Approaches 195 Interpreting Dreams, Interpreting Literature 197 Tree Attempts at Psychoanalytic Interpretation 200 Language and the Unconscious: Jacques Lacan 202 Further Reading 204 Conclusions? 205 Whither Now? 207 Additional Notes 209 References and Bibliography 215 Index 233 viii Acknowledgments Tis book grew out of classes on modern theory that I taught at Kiel Univer- sity in 1997 and Frankfurt University in 1999/2000.Te idea of transform- ing this material into an introductory book was triggered by a (slightly tongue- in-cheek) remark by Heinz-Günter Nesselrath. Concentrated and continuous work was made possible by a scholarship of the German Research Foundation (dfg) which enabled me to spend the academic year 1997/8at Harvard Univer- sity, in a stimulating environment ideal for scholarly research, free from adminis- trative or teaching obligations. A number of colleagues were generous with their time and provided intellectual stimuli; my thanks are due to Susan Suleiman, Albert Henrichs, and Richard F. Tomas. Conversations and discussions with many other colleagues gave encourage- ment and inspiration; I am happy to acknowledge the help of Toni Bierl, Hein- rich Detering, Stephen Harrison, Stephen Hinds, Glenn Most, and Jürgen Paul Schwindt. Susanne Eiben was a wonderful research assistant in Kiel; her help with bibliographical difculties was most valuable. Te late Gudrun Langer gave a number of most helpful suggestions for chapters 1and 4. When the manuscript was already in an advanced state, I accepted a new position at Frankfurt University, and my new obligations lefhardly any time for continuous scholarly work. I am grateful to Martina Erdmann from Wis- senschafliche Buchgesellschaffor her friendly and sustained prodding which helped me fnish the manuscript, and to the entire stafat Wissenschafliche Buchgesellschaffor perfect collaboration. As always, my greatest debt is to my wife, untiring interlocutor, keen reader, model of scholarly zeal, and mother of our two sons; one was born just as I was fnishing this manuscript. Tis book is dedicated to Tomas and Benjamin. T. A. S. Frankfurt, March 2002 ix Acknowledgments for the English Translation Tis is a translation of the German edition of 2002; I have made only minor changes to the original text in order to update references. I was able to do most of the bibliographical work at Butler Library during a stay in February 2006 and want to thank Columbia University for their hospitality. Working with the stafof Blackwell has been a pleasure throughout; my special thanks go out to Juanita Bullough, who has been an exemplary copy-editor. I would also like to thank Hans Hagen and Taco Hoekwater, the developers of ConTEXt, for their wonderful typesetting program and for their patient help with technical questions. Afer fve marvelous years, I want to renew the dedication of the original edition with even greater enthusiasm: this book is dedicated to Tomas and Benjamin. T. A. S. Bonn, March 2007 x Introduction Tere is no shortage of introductory books on literary theory and literary crit- icism on the market. Publishing yet another one needs justifcation: what is its purpose, which the audience is it attempting to address, what is its methodology and strategy? I will try to answer these questions before