Spinning around in old clothes

Russian Formalism Introduction to Theory of Literature Professor Paul Fry 

The Russian Formalist take the desire for a scientific procedure mentioned in the previous lecture further than the psychological interpretations experimented but still courted meaning. The Formalists take an odd strategy of focusing on the mechanisms of a story and treat it as if it were the meaning--or previously the end goal always seemed to be to cultivate a sense of meaning.

There also seems to be an alienation to the subject matter in the sense that they say the structure addresses the 'literariness' of the text. We have to consider whether we can take this seriously. Can the meaning of something really be it's form and even if there were something, is it even palatable to do so? In the last lecture science was brought in to balance the reader's inner needs to what the author has created. But as we see the removal of the human psyche from consideration and put it near the communist revolution in Russia we have a pickle. Even revolutionary Trotsky saw a problem as the focus on form distracts literature from history and ultimately ignores class struggle.

But maybe it is beneficial to pause over how they notice that certain movements favor certain devices. In the heat of a movement it might be easy to assume that one has something unchanging as it describes the moment so well. While it might seem base to say something is just a form--often this is a tactic with polemicists apart from them saying their opponent’s argument doesn't exist--it is responsible to account for one's place in time. Also, in a period of time where there are many separate identities it is helpful in cooperating. In the lecture it is almost describe as ideologies competing in a darwinistic way, I think it is also necessary to consider when multiple ideologies are not expressed in dominate ways.

p. 42-56 end of part I Ulysses James Joyce

While the past sections have been quirkily written, this part in particular gets turbulent. In it we have a glimpse of Stephen as struggling financially to get through medical school. In strange coincidence his ailing mother cuts his studies short and as mentioned before ends with a disappointed dying mother regardless.

But the passage also considers the form of forms and maybe this extends to the form of Stephen's thoughts. As he contemplates this we are taking to a beach in which the ground sinks around your feet. We are in the presence of the before mentioned sea mother and everything seems to be in the change of flux and also anachronistic relics from the past exist but are also in a state of decay. Perhaps as a decoration of humility Stephen notices a dog who has come to the beach to urinate which he does twice--once at a rock he has previously sniffed and one which is unsniffed. This maybe a metaphor very much like the cracked mirror. Symbolizing our bodily necessities that seem disgusting and sometimes we relieve these by a strange process and other times just pick something that is similar to something else we've done.

Before we have heard Irish and English identities collide and here we are entertained by small quotes of French. Also there are themes of people behaving as if they are in a brothel and taking delight in song. The theme of money and people trying to dominate others is suddenly absent and there are cases of misunderstanding and of also taking into consideration other people. But here maybe we are in observing this teaming section that is wanting to be something but still made of primordial stuff.