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Jonathan_Culler_Detailed_Structuralism_Literature

Jonathan Culler is a key figure in literary theory, known for adapting structuralist ideas from French theorists to enhance the understanding of literature in the Anglophone context. He emphasizes that literature functions as a system of signs, where meaning arises from the relationships between texts and cultural conventions, rather than from isolated works. Culler's work has significantly influenced literary studies, shifting the focus from individual interpretations to the systematic structures that underpin literary meaning.

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97 views3 pages

Jonathan_Culler_Detailed_Structuralism_Literature

Jonathan Culler is a key figure in literary theory, known for adapting structuralist ideas from French theorists to enhance the understanding of literature in the Anglophone context. He emphasizes that literature functions as a system of signs, where meaning arises from the relationships between texts and cultural conventions, rather than from isolated works. Culler's work has significantly influenced literary studies, shifting the focus from individual interpretations to the systematic structures that underpin literary meaning.

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Jonathan Culler: Structuralism and

Literature
Context:
Jonathan Culler emerged as a leading literary theorist during the rise of structuralism in the
1960s and 70s. His major contribution was to translate and adapt complex structuralist
thought, particularly from French thinkers like Saussure, Barthes, and Lévi-Strauss, into a
framework suitable for the Anglophone study of literature. His goal was not just to explain
structuralism but to demonstrate how it could transform the interpretation of literary texts.

1. Literature as a System of Signs


Culler builds on Ferdinand de Saussure’s concept of language as a system of signs made up
of:
- Signifier (the sound/image of a word)
- Signified (the concept it represents)

Saussure argued that the relationship between the two is arbitrary, and meaning is
produced not by the object itself but by its difference from other signs in the system.

➡ Culler applies this to literature, arguing that a literary text gains meaning not in isolation,
but through its difference from other texts and literary conventions.

2. The Concept of Literary Competence


Culler introduces the term 'literary competence', paralleling Noam Chomsky’s 'linguistic
competence.'

- Just as a native speaker unconsciously knows the rules of their language,


- A competent reader unconsciously knows the rules and codes of literature.

These rules include:


- Genre conventions
- Narrative structures
- Figurative language
- Intertextual references

🎯 For Culler, literary theory should not just analyze texts but also study how readers know
how to read—how they are trained to produce meaning from literature.

3. Structural Analysis of Literary Forms


Culler explains how structuralism analyzes the deep structures underlying literary texts—
just as linguists study deep structures of language.

- Literary forms (like tragedy, comedy, romance, etc.) follow invisible rules.
- Structuralists identify these recurrent patterns, such as:
- Binary oppositions (e.g., life/death, good/evil)
- Mythic structures (as in the work of Claude Lévi-Strauss)
- Narrative functions (e.g., in Propp's analysis of folk tales)

🧩 Structuralism sees literature not as unique expressions of individual genius, but as


productions within a system of cultural signs.

4. Reading as a Culturally Conditioned Activity


For Culler, meaning is not fixed in the text. It depends on the reader's familiarity with
literary conventions and structures.

Example: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” is read as poetic because we bring
expectations about genre, metaphor, and form.

📘 Literature is a performance that depends on shared interpretive frameworks. Readers


bring cultural and literary knowledge that makes interpretation possible.

5. Intertextuality and Convention


Culler touches upon intertextuality—the idea that texts are always in dialogue with other
texts.

- A poem may echo past poems, a novel may respond to earlier genres.
- Structuralism shows how texts draw upon a network of cultural codes, and meaning arises
between texts, not just within one.

Reading becomes an act of recognizing conventions, echoes, genres, and discourses.

6. Against Traditional Criticism


Culler criticizes traditional literary criticism for:
- Seeking moral messages or biographical intentions.
- Treating texts as self-contained units of meaning.

Structuralism, by contrast, focuses on:


- How literature functions as a system.
- The rules that govern textual production and interpretation.
- The reader’s role in activating meaning through cultural and literary codes.
Conclusion: Culler's Legacy in Structuralist Thought
Jonathan Culler’s Structuralist Poetics was groundbreaking because it:

✅ Made continental theory accessible to English-speaking literary scholars.


✅ Shifted focus from what literature means to how it means.
✅ Emphasized the systematic nature of literary meaning—rooted in structure, not
subjectivity.
✅ Laid the groundwork for reader-response theory, poststructuralism, and semiotics in
literary studies.

💬 As Culler famously wrote, structuralist criticism is “not the interpretation of individual


works but the attempt to understand the conventions that make literature possible.”

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