Mufasir Babu P

Structuralism: An Overview

Structuralism is an intellectual movement. It began in France in the 1950’s

Structuralism focuses on the underlying structure of a literary text, rather than
its content. The meaning of a text is found in the relationship of its parts, not in
the text itself.
Roland Barthes (1915-1980)
20th century French critic
In his 1957 work, "Mythologies," he analyzed how everyday objects, media,
and cultural practices create meaning in a capitalist society. (Eg: photo of a
French soldier, soap powder advertisement.)
Barthes distinguished between the denotative (literal) meaning of a sign and its
connotative (cultural or symbolic) meaning.
His work Writing Degree Zero (1953) introduced his notion of “ecriture”. It is
about how writing is influenced by culture and society, not just the writer's
personal style.
In Elements of Semiology (1964) and S/Z (1970), he analysed texts using the
structuralist framework.
His breakaway from structuralism was obvious in the well-known essay “Death
of the Author” (1968). Barthes believed that once a text is written, it becomes
open to multiple interpretations, none of which are inherently more valid than
others. The "death" of the author allows for the "birth" of the reader, meaning
that readers bring their own experiences and interpretations to the text, creating
new meanings.
Pleasure of the Text (1975) analyses reading as a form of pleasure
(jouissance) that a reader derives through free play of meaning within the text.
Reading is considered a sexual act.
Roland Barthes by Roland Barthes (1975) is his autobiography.

Structuralism
Mufasir Babu P

Structuralism suggests that every system has two levels- surface structure and
deep structure.
Surface structure is what we see or experience on the outside. Deep structure
is the underlying rules or patterns that shape the surface structure, even though
they are not immediately visible. (The cat is on the mat)
A structure is always active and keeps changing as it enters into new relations,
organising itself and the constituent parts of the system.
Structuralists believe that the human perception of the world is a result of the
conceptual framework that is inherent in man’s consciousness.
Saussure’s Principles of Structuralism
He was a Swiss linguist, semiotician and philosopher.
He viewed language as a system of signs (semiotics).
His pioneering work Course in General Linguistics (1916) is a compilation of
his lectures.
Saussure distinguished between langue (the abstract, systematic rules and
conventions of a language) and parole (the actual use of language in concrete
situations).
Saussure introduced the idea that the basic unit of language is the sign. A
linguistic sign consists of two parts:
 Signifier (signifiant): The form of the sign, such as a spoken sound or
written symbol.
 Signified (signifié): The concept or meaning that the signifier represents\
Saussure proposed that the relationship between the signifier and the signified is
arbitrary, meaning that the connection is based on social convention rather
than any natural link.
Saussure is more interested in studying language as it exists at a specific
moment (synchronic study) and how meaning is created through relationships
within the language system itself, rather than a direct connection to reality.
So, he rejects diachronic study.
Mufasir Babu P

Saussure formulates two cardinal principles of signs- arbitrariness and

difference. He argues that the relation between words and their meaning is
arbitrary.
A sign (like a word) doesn’t have meaning on its own. It gets its meaning by
being different from other signs (words).
Structuralism says that human language and ideas are built around pairs of
opposites, known as binary oppositions.
Structuralism across Disciplines
The Russian formalist critics give importance to the formal or structural aspects
of literature. Form is an integral part of a literary work that organises it into a
coherent structure and imparts meaning to it.
Both movements emphasize analyzing the structure of literary works rather than
focusing on the author's intentions or historical context.
Anthropology - Lévi-Strauss believed that human culture, whether it’s kinship,
myths, or food traditions, follows universal patterns because they are shaped by
how the human mind works.
One example is his analysis of Native American myths, where he found that
while the details of the stories change, they often deal with similar themes, such
as chaos vs. order. This shows that people everywhere think in similar ways,
using the same mental structures, even if their stories are different.
The myths of different cultures could be condensed to a set of relations called
mythemes.
In The Savage Mind (1962), Lévi-Strauss compares two types of problem-
solving:
Bricoleur: Someone who fixes things using whatever tools and materials are
available. For example, a craftsman making a tool from scraps.
Engineer: Someone who designs and plans things from scratch. For example, a
modern engineer designing a new machine from blueprints.
Narratology
The term narratology (French Narratologie) was coined by Tzvetan Todorov in
Grammaire du Décaméron (1969), which means “the science of narratives.”
Mufasir Babu P

Narratology focuses on the structure of narration rather than the content of the
narrative.

Structuralist Narratology: [Link] and Gerard Genette

In Structural Semantics (1966), A.J. Griemas (1917- 1992) proposes his model
of narrative analysis.
 Actants: These are abstract roles or functions in a story, like a hero, a
villain, or a helper. They represent the deeper structure of the narrative,
similar to how langue represents the underlying rules of language.
 Actors: These are the actual characters or elements in the story, like
specific people or objects. They represent the surface level of the
narrative, similar to how parole represents individual uses of language.
Gerard Genette’s model breaks down storytelling into three levels:
1. Story (Histoire): What happens in the narrative—the events and plot.
2. Narrative (Récit): How the story is told, including the structure and
sequence of events.
3. Narration: The way the story is presented, such as who is telling it and
from what perspective.
These levels interact through:
 Tense: The time at which the story is told (past, present, future).
 Mood: The emotional tone or attitude of the narration.
 Voice: The point of view or narrative perspective (e.g., first-person or
third-person).
He believes that the study of narrative is primarily the study of the
interrelationship of narrative and story, narrative and narrating, and story and
narrating taken individually.
In Paratexts (1997), Genette introduces the concept of transtextuality.(Five
divisions)
 Paratexts: Elements like epigraphs, prefaces, and illustrations that surround
and give context to the main story.
Mufasir Babu P

 Intertextuality: Direct references or quotes from other texts within the main
text, including allusions and citations.
 Architextuality: How a text fits into a specific genre or category, and how it
relates to other texts in that genre.
 Metatextuality: The relationship between the main text and critical reviews or
discussions about it.
 Hypertextuality: Texts that come after the original text, such as adaptations or
parodies, where the original text is called the hypotext and the new text is the
hypertext.
Roland Barthes and His Codes
Barthes’ model of the narrative is explicit in The Structural Analysis of
Narrative (1977) and S/Z (1970).
S/Z is a reading of the novella Sarrasine by Balzac, and Barthes identifies 561
units of meaning that he names lexias.
1. Proairetic Code: This is about the sequence of events. It controls how
we expect the story to unfold, like anticipating what will happen next
based on what we've already read.
2. Hermeneutic Code: This concerns the questions and mysteries in the
story. It’s what makes us curious and prompts us to interpret the plot and
characters.
3. Cultural Code: This involves common knowledge or cultural references
that the audience is expected to understand. For example, if a story
mentions a "Gandhi cap," it assumes the reader knows who Gandhi is and
what the cap represents.
4. Semic Code: This relates to recognizable stereotypes or signs. For
instance, a character's clothing might suggest their profession, like a
doctor’s white coat, which is immediately understood by most people.
5. Symbolic Code: This explores deeper meanings and symbols. For
example, light and darkness might symbolize good and evil, or hope and
despair, beyond their literal meanings.
Semiotics: Saussure, Roland Barthes, Peirce Sanders and Julia Kristeva
Semiotics is the study of signs.
Mufasir Babu P

The English philosopher John Locke (1632-1704) uses semiotics to mean “the
life of signs within society.”
Saussure uses the term semiology to describe the study of signs, and Charles
Sanders Pierce calls it semiotics.
Paradigms are like categories or choices. For instance, the letters of the
alphabet are a set of choices you can use to form words.
Syntagms are combinations or sequences. When you put letters together, you
create words (a syntagm). Combining words creates phrases or sentences (more
syntagms) according to grammar rules.
Three Modes of Relation Between Signifiers and Referents according to
Saussure

1. Symbol: This is a sign that connects to its meaning by social agreement

or convention. For example, traffic signals are symbols because their
meaning (like "stop" or "go") is agreed upon by people.
2. Icon: This sign resembles or looks like what it represents. For example, a
road sign showing a picture of a worker is an icon because it visually
resembles the idea of someone working.
3. Index: This sign is directly linked to its meaning in a cause-and-effect
way. For example, smoke is an index because it directly indicates the
presence of fire.
Roland Barthes and the three Orders of Signification
 First Order of Signification: This is the basic, literal meaning of a sign. For
example, a photograph of a car simply represents that specific car.
 Second Order of Signification: This is where the sign takes on additional
cultural or emotional meanings. For example, a car might symbolize freedom or
status. This level of meaning is shaped by societal values and contexts. Barthes
calls these meanings "myths." For example, an army general’s uniform not only
shows rank but also represents respect and authority.
 Third Order of Signification: This is the broader cultural context that
combines the meanings from the second order. It reflects how these cultural
meanings fit into larger societal ideologies or myths. For example, a car might
Mufasir Babu P

be part of the imagery of a materialist society. Myths or ideologies help to shape

and reflect how a culture understands and interprets its world.

Charles Sanders Peirce and Semiotics

Charles Sanders Peirce's idea of semiotics involves three key parts:
1. Representation: This is the form of the sign, like a word, gesture, or
image.
2. Interpretant: This is the meaning or idea that comes to mind when you see
or read the sign.
3. Object: This is what the sign refers to or represents, also known as the
referent.
The interaction among these three parts is called semiosis. This process helps us
understand how signs work together to create meaning and how language is
formed. Peirce’s semiotics is useful in analyzing texts and understanding how
meanings are constructed and interpreted in various cultural contexts.
Juila Kristeva and ‘poetic language’
Julia Kristeva's work Revolution in Poetic Language (1974) divides
signification into two main types:
1. The Semiotic: Also called Chora, this relates to the pre-linguistic, bodily
experiences, and the maternal aspects. It’s the foundation for poetic
language and is referred to as the genotext.
2. The Symbolic: This involves structured language elements like syntax
and grammar, used for communication. It’s known as the phenotext.