Narratology (& Hegemony)

This category comprises articles pertaining to narratology, the study of narrative and narrative structure.

There are 2 subcategories to this category.

Articles in "Narratology"

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Anthropomorphism

Anthropomorphism, also referred to as personification or prosopopeia, is the attribution of human characteristics to inanimate objects, animals, forces of nature, and others. "Anthropomorphism" comes from two Greek words, ανθρωπος, anthrōpos, meaning human, and μορφη, morphē, meaning shape or form.

There are 3 subcategories to this category.

Articles in "Anthropomorphism"


Stock characters

This category collects stock characters and similar stereotypes.

There are 24 articles in this category.

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Lists of fictional characters

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There are 156 articles in this category.

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Lists of fictional things

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Archetype

Archetype is defined as the first original model of which all other similar persons, objects or concepts are merely derivative, copied, patterned or emulated. The term is often used in literature, architecture and the arts to refer to something that goes back to the fundamental origins of style, method, gold standard or physical construct. Shakespeare, for example, is epitomized for popularizing many archetypal characters, not because he was the first that we know of to write them, but because he defined those roles amongst the backdrop of a complex, social literary landscape. Thus, the characters stand out as original by contrast, even though many of his characters were based on previously-garnered archetypes (Shakespeare often borrowed from fables, myths and magic to construct and embellish his plays).

Jungian archetypes

The archetype is also a concept of psychologist Carl Gustav Jung. In this context, archetypes are innate prototypes for ideas, which may subsequently become involved in the interpretation of observed phenomena. A group of memories and interpretations closely associated with an archetype is called a complex, and may be named for its central archetype (e.g. "mother complex"). Jung often seemed to view the archetypes as sort of psychological organs, directly analogous to our physical, bodily organs: both being morphological givens for the species; both arising at least partially through evolutionary processes. There are four famous forms of archetypes numbered by Jung:

The symbols of the unconscious abound in Jungian psychology:

"Archetype" is sometimes broadly and misleadingly used as a substitute for such other words as prototype, stereotype, and epitome. Examples

Archetypes in Cultural Analysis

As with other psychologies which have infiltrated mass thought, archetypes are now incorporated into discourses on cultural analysis. Archetypes in this sense include


Girl Heroes

Girl Heroes is a feminist and cultural analysis of the contemporary archetype of the girl hero. Based on the emergence of sexually aware, self controlled, successful, feminine characters (both real, styled, and fictional), Girl Heroes authors the characteristics and cultural function of this new role model. Madonna, The Spice Girls, Supermodels, Lara Croft, Xena, and Buffy are all seen to forge a new idol which informs and inspires pro-active, strong, yet still sexual behaviour in adoring girl, teen and woman fans.

Girl Heroes draws comparisons between these and earlier, similar female characters, such as Charlie's Angels, pointing out the relative independence of this archetype from male, parental, or even peer support.

One of the most interesting aspects of the book is Hopkins' indentification of the way in which our sense of self-identity is increasingly registered against the degree to which we exist within the media. The degree of our infamy. This issue extends well beyond feminism, and is one of the most important contributions the book has to make to cultural analysis.

Reference

  • Hopkins, Susan. Girl Heroes - The New Force In Popular Culture. Australia: Pluto Press (2002)

Counterstereotype

A counter-stereotype, reverse stereotype, or anti-stereotype is the reverse of a stereotype or simply an individual who doesn't conform to stereotypes. It can also be opposition to the process of stereotyping.

For example, anyone who doesn't conform to standard gender roles could be considered a counterstereotype (or "gender outlaw"), particularly in a heteronormative society.

Other examples of counterstereotypes in 21st century and late 20th century western culture are:

Counterstereotypes often attract discrimination and prejudice, such as homophobia, sometimes from within the stereotyped group itself.

Plot device

A plot device is a person or an object introduced to a story to affect or advance the plot. In the hands of a skilled writer, the reader or viewer will not notice that the device is a construction of the author—it will seem to follow naturally from the setting or characters in the story. A poorly-written story, on the other hand, may have such awkward or contrived plot devices that the reader has serious trouble maintaining suspension of disbelief; indeed, the devices may even leave plot holes.

Some plot devices include:

In James Thurber's The Thirteen Clocks, the Golux introduces himself as "The one and only Golux in the world, and not a mere device", although he proceeds to be extremely helpful to the plot.

See also


Literary technique

Novels and short stories do not simply come from nowhere. Usually the author employs some general literary technique (also called a literary device) as a framework for artistic work.

Annotated list of literary techniques

Authors also manipulate the language of their works to create a desired response from the reader. This is the realm of the rhetorical devices.


Commedia dell'arte

Antoine Watteau's commedia dell'arte player of Pierrot, ca 1718-19, traditionally identified as "Gilles" (Louvre)
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Antoine Watteau's commedia dell'arte player of Pierrot, ca 1718-19, traditionally identified as "Gilles" (Louvre)

Commedia dell'arte, (Italian, meaning "comedy of professional artists") was a form of improvisational theater which began in the 16th century and was popular until the 18th century, although it is still performed today. Traveling teams of players would set up an outdoor stage and provide amusement in the form of juggling, acrobatics, and, more typically, humorous plays based on a repertoire of established characters with a rough storyline, called Canovaccio.

Troupes occasionally would perform directly from the back of their traveling wagon, but this is more typical of Carro di Tespi, a sort of travelling theatre that dates back to antiquity.

The performances were improvised around a repertory of stock conventional situations, adultery, jealousy, old age, love, some of which can be traced in Roman comedies of Plautus and Terence. The dialogue and action could easily be made topical and adjusted to satirize local scandals, current events, or regional tastes, mixed with ancient jokes and punchlines. Characters were identified by costume, masks, and even props, such as the slapstick.

Thus, the commedia dell'arte, with its stock situations and stock characters and improvised dialogue, has shown the way to many other forms of drama, from pantomime and Punch and Judy - which features debased forms of the commedia characters (see below) - to the modern animated cartoon, situation comedy, and even professional wrestling. The characters and tropes of the commedia have also been used in modern novels, from sword and sorcery to literary works, notably by Michael Moorcock in his Jerry Cornelius stories that culminate with the Guardian prize-winning The Condition of Muzak.

Male commedia dell'arte characters were depicted by actors wearing masks representing regions or towns. They must always have an erection to symbolize their horny nature. The female characters, however, were usually not masked, hence virgin like. In fact, the roles were often played by males in women's clothing and wigs, en travesti, as it is called.

In some cases, the characters were also traditionally considered as respectively representing some Italian regions or main towns. Often they are still now symbolic of the related town. Following is a list of the original Italian characters, with other English or French names, or descendant characters (in parentheses), and the towns/regions to which they are eventually associated:

Arlecchino (Harlequin)
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Arlecchino (Harlequin)

Aspects of commedia dell'arte passed into the silent tradition of mime. The Bohemian actor Jean-Gaspard Deburau (1796 -1846) brought the new forms of mime to Paris in the 1830s. He standardized the French image of Pierrot.

  • Arlecchino (Harlequin), Venice, an acrobat and clown, he carried a baton which he used to bash other characters, leading to the modern term slapstick. He wore a cat mask, and his ultimate costume, a patchwork of red, green, and blue diamonds is still a fashion motif, though any patchwork costume would be called a harlequin costume. He is a not really villainous, he is just a bit dodgy.
  • Brighella (Figaro, Molière's Scapin), Bergamo, a money-grubbing villain, a partner of Arlecchino
  • Columbina (Colombina, the Servant, Columbine, Harlequine, Pierrette), Venice, maidservant to Inamorata and lover of Arlecchino, usually involved in intrigue. She is rather intelligent.
  • Il Capitano (the Captain), boastful he-man soldier, but a coward underneath
  • Il Dottore (the Doctor), Bologna, Pantalone's friend, and a quack
  • Inamorata (the Lover), the leading woman, who wore no mask (see innamorati)
  • Inamorato (the Lover), the leading man, who wore no mask (see innamorati)-his partner is also called a lover.
  • Isabella (Lucinda, Cornelia, Silvia, Rosaura), Pantalone's daughter. She is very headstrong, flirtatious, sensuous, and articulate. Men are constantly falling hopelessly in love with her. She loves to tease and test the men. Her father always tries to control her life by arranging meetings and agreements with gentlemen suitors.
  • Pagliaccio (the Clown), a forerunner of today's clowns
  • Pantalone (Pantaloon), Bologna, a rich and miserly merchant who is the father of Isabella. He also employs Arlecchino and treats him cruelly.
  • Pedrolino (or Pierino, Vicenza, and most commonly nowadays known as Pierrot a dreamer with a white mask, now considered the French version of a clown.
  • Pulcinella, Naples, a hunchback who still chases women, he was the model for Punch in the English variation Punch and Judy.
  • La Ruffiana (old woman), usually a mother or gossipy townswoman who intrudes into the lives of the Lovers
  • Scaramuccia (Scaramouche), a roguish adventurer and swordsman who replaced Il Capitano in later troupes. Was the servant for another character. He wears a black velvet mask and black trousers, shirt and hat.
  • Gianduia, Turin, a well-mannered Piedmontese peasant.

See Carlo Goldoni's A Servant of Two Masters

See also: Clown, Jester

External links


Antagonist

This article refers to literary antagonists. For the biological meaning, see receptor antagonist.

The antagonist is the character (or group of characters) of a story who represents the opposition against which the heroes and/or protagonists must contend. In the classic style of story wherein the action consists of a hero fighting a villain, the two can be regarded as protagonist and antagonist, respectively. However, authors have often created more complex situations. In some instances, the story is told from the villain's point of view; in such a story, we must regard the hero as the chief antagonist of the story!

More often, stories simply do not have characters that are readily identifiable as most heroic or villainous. Instead, the antagonist becomes that character, group, or sometimes force which provides the chief obstruction to the protagonist or "main character" of the story. Note that the antagonist is not necessarily human; often, the forces of nature or psychological elements provide this element of opposition.

The protagonist-antagonist relationship is also sometimes ambiguous. For instance, in the story of Moby Dick by Herman Melville, the antagonist may be regarded as the whale "Moby Dick" of the title, against which the story's leading character Captain Ahab strives. Yet Captan Ahab is not actually the protagonist of the story, as it is told from the point of view of the narrator Ishmael. Indeed, it is also valid to look as Captain Ahab as the antagonist, with his fanaticism the force with which protagonist Ishmael must cope.

See also

Anti-hero

In literature and film, an anti-hero is a central or supporting character that has some of the personality flaws and ultimate fortune traditionally assigned to villains but nonetheless also have enough heroic qualities or intentions to gain the sympathy of readers. Anti-heroes can be awkward, obnoxious, passive, pitiful, or obtuse—but they are always, in some fundamental way, flawed or failed heroes. In this use, the term tragic hero is sometimes used. Comic books also feature anti-heroes, also known as "dark heroes", who are characters fighting for the side of good, but either with some tragic flaw (such as a tormented past) or by using questionable means to reach their goals.

The concept of the anti-hero has grown from a tendency of modern authors to present villains as complex, even sympathetic, characters whose motivations are not inherently evil and sometimes even good. The line, therefore, between an anti-hero and a villain is sometimes not clear.

Types

One type of anti-hero feels helpless, distrusts conventional values and is often unable to commit to any ideals, but they accept and often relish their status as outsiders. The cyberpunk genre makes extensive use of this character-type.

Another type of anti-hero is a character who constantly moves from one disappointment in their lives to the next, without end, with only occasional and fleeting successes. But they persist and even attain a form of heroic success by steadfastly never giving up or changing their goals. These characters often keep a deep-seated optimism that one day, they will succeed. But in the end they still meet the ultimate fate of a traditional villain, failure.

An example of this secondary type of anti-hero is F. Scott Fitzgerald's Jay Gatsby. Gatsby's one true aim was to gain the love of a woman beyond his social status, Daisy. He, through what Fitzgerald alludes to be illicit means, amasses a fortune in order to make himself acceptable to the married Daisy. He does, for a time, have an affair with her but in the end his character flaws and illusions that he could turn back time destroy him. But through the whole experience, even after Daisy's husband puts an end to her illicit affair, Gatsby still had hope that he would one day prevail.

A third type of anti-hero is an individual with the same end goals as a traditional hero, but for whom "the ends justify the means". This character type is popular in comic books: for example by day Matt Murdock seeks to bring evil-doers to justice as a lawyer. But when the judicial system fails, he dons a mask and instead exacts revenge as Daredevil.

There is also a type of anti-hero who starts the story with a few unlikeable traits such as prejudices, self centeredness, immaturity, cockiness, or a single minded focus on things such as wealth, status, or revenge. Thus, the hero may actually begin the story as a not so likeable character. However, through the course of events, as we get to know the character, they grow and change and may actually become popular. A well known example of this is Han Solo of the Star Wars trilogy. The actor Clint Eastwood became famous by playing the anti-hero in movies such as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, A fistful of dollars and For a few Dollars More.

See also: List of anti-heroes, tragic hero, Byronic hero

References

External links

Hypercorrection

Prescriptive grammarians, castigating various commonly used phrases of a vernacular language, run the risk of encouraging hypercorrections. Hypercorrections are the solecisms introduced into human speech by the strain of the effort made to avoid some form that the prescriptivists have forbidden.

Told to avoid the nominative case form "You and me are going. . . ," people will avoid the phrase you and me even when it appears in the oblique case, and will end up saying things like, "Between you and I. . ." Similar confusion surrounds the pronoun whom; people assume that whom is the formal and fancy version, and end up saying things like "Whom shall I say is calling?"

Told that they should never "drop" the ending -ly from adverbs, people produce new words like thusly, soonly, and fastly. Spurious adverb forms also appear behind words that are serving as a copula, and thus would call for a simple predicate in traditional grammar: "my eyes are going badly."

Another area of hypercorrection involves Greek and Latin looking words like octopus; the spurious plural octopi likens the octopus to a number of Latin words that form irregular plurals in -i. (Were there actually a classical plural of octopus, it would be octopodes.) Platypus, cactus, status, hiatus, rebus, syllabus, mandamus, and caucus are sometimes inflected the same way; none would be inflected that way in Latin or Greek. Virus sometimes gets the even more inappropriate pseudoclassical plurals virii, which presumes Latin *virius, and would pluralise bus as bi. All of these words take the regular English inflection in -es, but a few of the hypercorrected forms, such as cacti, have passed into such common usage as to be considered acceptable by some, despite their origins.

When pronunciation of learned words goes astray, it is sometimes called a hyperforeignism. For example, someone might assume, upon learning that the -s is silent in Mardi Gras, that coup de grâce is pronounced "coo de grah."


Intellectual

(Redirected from Public intellectual)

An intellectual is a person who uses his or her intellect to study, reflect, and speculate on a variety of different ideas. In some contexts, especially journalistic speech, intellectual often refers to academics, generally in the humanities, especially philosophy, who speak about various issues of social or political import. These are so-called public intellectuals — in effect communicators.

Contents [hide]
1 Men of letters
2 The clerisy and the intelligentsia
3 Modes of 'intellectual class'
4 Intellectualism
5 Outside the West
6 Some public intellectuals
7 Related articles
8 See also

Men of letters

The man of letters stood in many cultures for what we might take to be the contemporary intellectual; the distinction not having great weight when literacy was not fairly universal (and, incidentally, not assumed of a woman). Men of letters are also termed literati (from the Latin), as a group; literatus, in the singular, is hardly used in English.

The clerisy and the intelligentsia

Coleridge speculated early in the nineteenth century on the concept of the clerisy, a class rather than a type of individual, and a secular equivalent of the (Anglican) clergy, with a duty of upholding (national) culture. The idea of the intelligentsia, in comparison, dates from roughly the same time, and is based more concretely on the status class of 'mental' or white-collar workers.

Modes of 'intellectual class'

From that time onwards, in Europe and elsewhere, some variants of the idea of an intellectual class have been important (not least to intellectuals, self-styled). The degrees of actual involvement in art, or politics, journalism and education, of nationalist or internationalist or ethnic sentiment, constituting the 'vocation' of an intellectual, have never become fixed. Some intellectuals have been vehemently anti-academic; at times universities and their professoriat have been synonymous with intellectualism, but in other periods and some places the centre of gravity of intellectual life has been elsewhere.

One can notice a sharpening of terms, in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Just as the coinage scientist would come to mean a professional, the man of letters would more often be assumed to be a professional writer, perhaps having the breadth of a journalist or essayist, but not necessarily with the engagement of the intellectual.

Intellectualism

Strictly a doctrine about the possibility of deriving knowledge from reason alone, intellectualism can stand for a general approach favouring the head over all else. Criticism of this attitude, sometimes summed up as Left Bank, is probably more general than of intellectual workers; it is possible more easily to be reconciled with a writer being an intellectual, by trade, than to any overall intellectualist claim that thinking in the abstract has priority.

Outside the West

In ancient China literati referred to the government officials who formed the ruling class in China for over two thousand years. They were a status group of educated laymen, not ordained priests. They were not a hereditary group as their position depended on their knowledge of writing and literature. After 200 B.C. the system of selection of candidates was influenced by Confucianism and established its ethic among the literati.

The Hundred Flowers Campaign in China was largely based on the government's wish for a mobilisation of intellectuals; with very sour consequences later. This is perhaps typical of a state's instrumentalist approach to the existence of an intellectual class.

Some public intellectuals

These figures might represent the range, if not the extent.

Related articles

See also


Hegemony

Hegemony is the dominance of one group over other groups, with or without the threat of force, to the extent that, for instance, the dominant party can dictate the terms of trade to its advantage; or more broadly, that cultural perspectives become skewed to favor the dominant group.

Throughout history, cultural and political power in any arena has rarely achieved a perfect balance, but hegemony results in the empowerment of certain cultural beliefs, values, and practices to the submersion and partial exclusion of others. Hegemony affects the perspective of mainstream history as written by the cultural victors for a sympathetic readership. The official history of Christianity, marginalizing its defined "heresies", provides a richly-exampled arena of cultural hegemony.

Jás Elsner in Imperial Rome and Christian Triumph (1998) has written:

"Power is very rarely limited to the pure exercise of brute force.... The Roman state bolstered its authority and legitimacy with the trappings of ceremonial — cloaking the actualities of power beneath a display of wealth, the sanction of tradition, and the spectacle of insuperable resources.... Power is a far more complex and mysterious quality than any apparently simple manifestation of it would appear. It is as much a matter of impression, of theatre, of persuading those over whom authority is wielded to collude in their subjugation. Insofar as power is a matter of presentation, its cultural currency in antiquity (and still today) was the creation, manipulation, and display of images. In the propagation of the imperial office, at any rate, art was power." (quoted at [1] (http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/arth212/late_antiquity_imp_image.html))
Contents [hide]
1 Theories of hegemony
2 Hegemonies in history
3 Geography of hegemonies
4 See also
5 External links

Theories of hegemony

Theories of hegemony attempt to explain how dominant groups (known as hegemons) can maintain their power -- the capacity of dominant classes to persuade subordinate ones to accept, adopt and internalize their values and norms.

Antonio Gramsci devised one of the best-known accounts of hegemony. His theory defined the State by its coercion combined with hegemony; according to Gramsci, hegemony consists of political power that flows from intellectual and moral leadership, authority or consensus, as distinguished from mere armed force.

Recently critical theorists Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe have re-defined the term "hegemony".

Hegemonies in history

The word "hegemon" originated in ancient Greece, and derives from the word hegeisthai (meaning "to lead"). An early example of hegemony during ancient Greek history occurred when Sparta became the hegemon of the Peloponnesian League in the 6th century BC. Later, in 337 BC, Philip II of Macedon became the personal Hegemon of the League of Corinth, a position he passed on to his son Alexander the Great.

To the extent that hegemony appears as a cultural phenomenon, cultural institutions maintain it. The Medici maintained their hegemony in Tuscany through control of Florence's major guild, the Arte della Lana. Modern hegemonies also maintain themselves through cultural institutions, often with allegedly "voluntary" membership: the Boy Scouts of America or the National Rifle Association — one might adduce countless modern associations.

In more recent times, analysts have used the term hegemony in a more abstract sense to describe the "proletarian dictatorships" of the 20th century, resulting in regional domination by local powers, or domination of the world by a global power. China's position of dominance in East Asia for most of its history offers an example of the regional hegemony.

The Cold War (1945 - 1990), with its main avenues of coercion -- the Warsaw Pact led by the USSR and NATO led by the United States -- often appears as a battle for hegemony. Details of the parties' respective ideologies have no relevance to the concept of hegemony: both sides featured superpowers (supported by their clients) battling to dominate the arms race and become the supreme world superpower.

Since the end of the Cold War, analysts have used the term "hegemony" to describe the United States' role as the sole superpower (the hyperpower) in the modern world. However, some scholars of international relations (such as John Mearsheimer) argue that the United States does not have global hegemony, since it lacks the resources to impose dominance over the entire globe.

Geography of hegemonies

Geopolitics influences hegemonies. Ancient hegemonies developed in fertile river valleys: Egypt, China and the succession of states in Mesopotamia. Hegemonic successor states in Eurasia tended to cluster around the Middle East for a period, utilising either the sea (Greece) or the fringe lands (Persia, Arabia). The locus of European hegemony moved west to Rome, then northwards to the Franks and the Holy Roman Empire. The Atlantic seaboard had its heyday (Spain, France, Britain) before the fringes of the European cultural area took over in the twentieth cerntury (United States, Soviet Union).

Some regions exhibit continually fluctuating areas of regional hegemony: India, for example, or the Balkans. Other regions show relative stability: northern China offers a case in point.

Long-lived hegemonies (China, Rome) offer a contrast to shorter dominations: the Mongol Empire or Japan's Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.

to be written: the idea of "hegemony" in Marxist theory.

See also

External links