Question two American literary studies traditionally focus on the meaning of literary texts.

First of all, new criticism provides interpretation, with critics paying particular attention to the formal aspect of literature, which for them contribute directly to its meaning. Russian formalists consider literary texts different from e.g. government reports and newspapers articles. They focused on the formal aspect of literature, on its specific form, and on the sort of language that it employs. The Russian formalists suggested that literature distinguishes itself from non-literary language, because it employs a whole range of devices that have defamiliaization effects, which provides the reader with a new angle to a story that he/she already knew. Intentional and affective fallacy, are terms used by the New Critics, to addresses the assumption that the meaning intended by the author of a literary work is of primary importance. Connotative language is a language used to reflect more than one meaning. The reader can see that clearly in poems, where devices like metaphors are implemented. On the other hand, denotative language is a language that does not carry amiguities and double meanings within it.

Question four Vladimir Propp in his essay Morphology of the Folk-tale identifies 31 functions/elements that characterize the genre of fairy tails. Propp writes about six main characters in each fairy tale, a hero, a villain, a dispatcher, a donor, a princess and a helper. There is also the 31 elements of a fairy tail, such as villainy, departure, lack, victory and wedding. In Henry James tale, the reader could clearly see a hero, a villain, a princess and so on. The literary researcher was considered the hero, and then his character

changed to create a sense of suspense and became the villain. Miss Boderau is considered the princess. There is also a quest for The Aspern Papers, which motivate the villain to commit his act of violence that harms the princess. The happy ending with wedding is not portrayed in the book; however, the villain will be exposed and punished. The conflicts involved when a biographer seeks to pry into the intimate life of his subject are most likely the major theme of the book.