Even titles of novels imply that symbolism and imagery is used in fiction - Essay Example

Even s of novels imply that symbolism and imagery is used in fiction Literary criticism and literary scholarship give us such theories and methods to understand and grasp the nature οf fiction and to describe and represent the works οf fiction. The poststructuralist tendency has also influenced literary scholars who would not regard themselves as poststructuralists. A widely accepted opinion today is that each οf the approaches have a valuable contribution to make to the community οf interpretation. More readings are accepted. At the same time the meaning οf the text is understood as a complex οf possibilities οf meaning. Umberto Eco writes about the openness οf the text, meaning that each text implies a variety and multiplicity οf meanings, but also a multiplicity οf readings. A text cannot be said to have a definitive meaning. This says something important οf the nature οf fiction: Works οf fiction do not consist οf a few objective data aspects. All this is in contrast to the former structuralist tradition, which had the purpose οf unmasking or reducing the text to its fundamental and definitive structure οf meaning. At first sight this reduces the chance οf being able to combine literary theory with indexing theories. How are we able to decide indexing terms and subject headings with all these possible theoretical approaches and with the knowledge that the choice οf one particular reading is just a choice amongst other readings οf equal value? Logically there are two ways: We can give up all ambitions οf subject access to fiction, realizing that the choice οf subject headings and indexing terms excludes a variety οf reading possibilities and interests, and that the nature οf fiction is to give shape to such an unmanageable variety. Alternatively we can try to define some οf the possible ways οf reading, realizing that after all there must be some qualified possibilities. Perhaps we live in a post-modern world, but main characters, subjects, themes or narrative structure cannot be quite the same in Steinbecks Grapes οf Wrath and in Joyces Ulysses. It is also quite obvious that Ulysses as a much more complex novel can be read in a variety οf ways. In that case the text seems to be open to many interpretative perspectives, and it would be wrong to only choose one οf them. It would be better to open the indexing structure to several οf these possibilities. For example, a psychological, psychoanalytic perspective (father and son theme, theme οf sexuality), a socio-historical perspective (Dublin anno 1904), a metafictional perspective (the parody οf styles, the mix οf high and low culture), knowing that the indexer anyhow is not making the final, objective representation οf the text, but is making a contribution to the community οf interpretation. Furthermore, it is extremely important to make the complex narrative structure οf the novel visible. Grapes οf Wrath does not possess as complex a structure as Ulysses (though not as simple as one might expect), and in this case most οf us will find it "natural" to index the novel by models like "characters, events, times, places" and to add an indexing οf the theme, focusing on the social and political thematics. Such a scheme is well suited to the tradition οf realism. However, in the following pages it will be argued that it is not so applicable to the tradition οf modernism. Patterns οf imagery, leading motifs, symbolism. (Is the symbolism discrete or dominant? What kind οf symbols are used? What kind οf leading motifs can be found? Which intertextual symbols, motifs, allegories are there? For example, doppelganger motif, Don Juan motif, the myth οf Paradise.) There is some overlap here, but initially this is not important. Οf course, it will become so, if these aspects have to be aspects οf a formalized indexing system. These aspects οf the literary text are not academic subtleties. The reading experience is dependent upon these things. For example: Is the narrative structured as a puzzle? Are we supposed to have the answer to the puzzle? If we are, the novel is perhaps in the tradition οf crime fiction. If we are not, the novel is perhaps in the tradition οf modernist absurdism. Here we see that the narrative structure the puzzle without a solution - is inseparable from the cognitive aspect and the authors intention, the whole philosophy οf life in the novel, and note here: this is even before a word has been uttered about the content οf the novel! And probably this will be confirmed by describing the discourse structure at a linguistic level (e.g., illogical syntax), mode οf telling (e.g., elements οf comedy, irony), literary type (e.g., inspired by the "nouveau roman"). It has previously been mentioned that it may be desirable to have more specific possibilities in fiction retrieval systems to find information about the historical and the cultural dimensions οf the literary texts. Perhaps it is most desirable in relation to academic collections οf classics and other collections for specialists. But the lay and interested reader may also need such information. I think οf the reader who does not want a novel about, e.g., sons and fathers in our time, but who has questions such as: "Which books are available, written by Danish poets in the 1980s?" or "Jane Austen was good. Can I find other Victorian novels?" Or the reader who wants expressionist novels or poetry from the 1920s or Danish novels in the minimalistic tradition from the 1990s or crime novels, subgenre police novels, written in the years between the wars, or literature from the period οf Symbolism with the theme οf sexual disintegration. Above we have solved the readers problems in relation to the questions οf "expressionism", "poetry", "minimalism", "crime novels", "police novels", "theme οf sexual disintegration", that is: if we have used these indexing terms in relation to the how facet or in relation to the theme aspect οf the what facet. In most retrieval systems, however, it will be difficult to find literature from "the period οf Symbolism", novels "written in the years between the wars" or "in the nineties", though not always impossible. Cataloging will often have information about the original print year which is οf great help, but this information is not always noted. And if you search for a book by a print year command, you will get all novels printed that year, also new editions οf older novels and first editions οf translations οf older books. Perhaps it is impossible to delimit first editions by time. The cataloging has not shown any interest for fulfilling such a need. It will be the problem οf the classifier and indexer. Works Cited John Steinbeck : Novels and Stories, 1932-1937 Read More