Skeletons enjoying some coffee

Linguistics and Literature Introduction to Theory of Literature Professor Paul Fry

As we mature our understanding of structure we consider whether language is a totality or a system constantly changing. We also consider time as a factor in language being physically spoken or read which does not happen all at once. We notice an emphasis that understanding based on the structure of language is part of meaning but incomplete when considered on its own. As an understanding of what meaning is in its different phases we also notice a pattern where one considers something as it is and mending that system to allow the mind to contemplate it and offer what it think appears to be the case.

Structuralism cased a renewed sense of vigor to criticism but this energy was shortly directed to what we'll probably hear about next with Derrida. But what cased the attention to Structuralism was its capacity to describe parts but also allow meaning to come into being which is projected by the mind that thinks it.

The lecture then focuses on metaphor and how it is something in place of something else. This something is rarely by itself and an untterance about the replacement happens in the rest of the sentence.  And then reveal what the professor thinks is a act of genius: categorizing utterances in 6 useful ways described here Jakobson's 6 functions of language. They are descriptive but one must be wary of thinking of these functions as generative of language in themselves. They still require a mind to speak them and one to understand them as a certain category meaning that these categories are not factually evident in themselves and can be a cause for debate just as meaning is.

This way still seems elementary. In the last lecture when considered the atomistic nature of semiotics and the literature brought up in that lecture was one symbol of a tree and the semiotic study of that symbol. This lecture of Structuralism we contemplate a whole sentence 'It is raining'. Like semiotics the way one categorizes it function as a sentence depends on the context it is in and there is no reason the sentence should favor one function over the other before its context is considered. Considering just these functions will not unlock meaning but could be useful ways as the first steps in learning what someone is trying to tell us. 

The Lotus Eaters Ulysses James Joyce

Leopold Bloom finally makes it to his friends funeral but he is not composed about death. His thoughts still tingle with erotic lust. This chapter is concerned with behaviours that cause lethargy. Bloom's mind constantly is triggered by things around him but also cause him to leave his surroundings to his private thoughts. Then we are surrounded by alcohol by the beer in the numerous pubs or the sacramental wine in the church. Blooms faux-love interest sends him a flower in letter which further takes him away from his marriage that seems to be slipping away from him but the flower will not grow into a meaningful relationship with this other woman either.

The city also takes on themes that Baudelaire wrote poems about. Beauties in the city that seize our minds but ultimately vanish leaving an imprint of humiliated desire. His narration however is not that of Baudelaire and still has a sense of enjoyment that isn't singed by anxiety. He also has a ironic sense of morality in which he flirts with other women but wont actually have an affair. In his way he converts desire and directs it away from being evil towards a cultivated sense of pluck.