An Introduction to
Structuralism.
Structuralism is one tool for
literary criticism. Structuralism examines the fundamental elements
of a text such as word lengths, word counts, phonemic structure,
frequency of words and layout to provide a better insight into the
function of the work as well its effectiveness. This method can
also be used for higher level contextual examinations that analyze
correspondences in similar or frequent conventions permitting one
to create a function or formula to define the genre of a selected
work as well as a set of works. One of the first pioneers of this
critical analysis was the linguist, Propp, who examined recurring
themes in Russian fairy tales. His book, The Morphology of the
Russian Folk Tale, laid down the foundations for French
Structuralism, influencing the work of Roland Barthes. One of the
most important structuralists is Professor Gerard Genette. Like
other great structuralists such as Benveniste, Greimas, Todorov,
and the early Barthes, Genette saw himself as an investigative
scientist who, given an intelligible society that could be
quantified, was tasked to create a set of tools and procedures that
would allow him to analyze society through its fundamental
creation. Text.