Penn State University Press

THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF STRUCTURALISM

Author(s): SUSAN WITTIG
Source: Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Vol. 58, No. 2, STRUCTURALISM: An
Interdisciplinary Study (Summer 1975), pp. 145-166
Published by: Penn State University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41177953
Accessed: 10-10-2015 12:21 UTC
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THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT

OF STRUCTURALISM
SUSAN WITTIG

writingof a reviewof the historicaldevelopmentof

seems to imply,among other things,that
structuralism
as a philosophicmovementis a finishedbit of
structuralism
business,a completedact in the drama of man's attemptsto
- and (accordingto somecritics)one
explainhimselfto himself
itspotential.Indeed,in their1971
thatsomehowneverfulfilled
to the re-editionof The Structuralist
introduction
Controversy,
RichardMackseyand EugenioDonato pointout thatFoucault,
Lacan, Derrida- among otherswhose names had earlybeen
- havefeltobligedto
movement
associatedwiththestructuralist
"taketheirdistance"fromtheterm:
of structuralism
as a
Todaywe mayquestiontheveryexistence
for
the
last
of
the
not
generated
by
paradoxes
meaningful
concept,
isthefact
asthestructuralist
whathascometobeknown
controversy
itismoreevident
inthelanguage
ofits
thatas anoperative
concept
ofthose
thanintheexpress
statements
andpopularizers
detractors
whoaresupposedtobe itsmainproponents.1
and despitethefrequentexpressions
Yetdespitethisdisclaimer,
of criticalunease withthestructuralist
enterprisein itsvarious
manifestations,structural methodologies, theories, and
forceintheworkof
havebecomea vitalintellectual
philosophies
ofTexas,Austin,where
attheUniversity
Dr. Wittig
Professor
isan Assistant
literature
and literary
sheteachescoursesin medievalliterature,
comparative
The
Poetics
and
Boris
of
is
translator
She
the
of
Composition,
Uspensky's
theory.
Studies
Her book,Structural
theauthorofseveralessayson semiotics.
ofMiddle
willbe publishedbyMouton.
Romances,
EnglishVerse

145

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146

SOUNDINGS

the currentgenerationof studentsand scholars,who fromthe

vantagepointof the mid 70s can see the growthof a philosophical school from its beginnings in the linguisticstudy of the
surface structuresof language, through the description and
analysisof formalfeaturesof literaryworks,throughthe study
of generative patternsin human society,through psychology
and history,throughthe varied studiesof man, his culture,his
artifacts.Althoughit is too earlyto writea definitivehistoryof
the structuralist
movement,and certainlyfar too early to write
finis to its development,it is surelytime again to pause for its
reviewand to contemplatethe more recentcontributionsto the
studyof the humane sciences.
Structuralismhas its methodologicalbeginningsin the structural linguisticsof Ferdinand de Saussure, whose synchronie
studyof language systemsstands in sharp contrastto the diachronic and comparative studies of nineteenth-century
philology.Saussure, whose lectureson generallinguisticshave been
of twoof his students,
preservedin the notesand transcriptions
Charles Ballyand Charles Schehaye,taughtat the Universityof
Geneva from1906 to 1911, wherehe formulatedhis theoriesof
language.2 His major concern was to reconstitutethe science of
linguisticsas a systematic
studywhichfocuses on both the structuraland the functionalfeaturesof language. The basis ofthat
systematicstudy,he believed,should be the synchronieanalysis
of the state of the language at any given point in time- the
formaland functionaldescriptionof the regularitiesand laws
whichgovernspeech. Linguisticsmustalso engage, however,in
diachronicstudy,he argued, in the examinationof the dynamic
forceswhichproduce language evolution.To illustratethisidea
he compared the studyof language to the analysisof a game of
chess.John Lyons has usefullysummarizedSaussure's analogy:
In thecourseofa gameofchessthestateoftheboardis constantly
changing,but at anyone timethe stateof the game can be fully
describedintermsofthepositions
occupiedbytheseveralpieces.It
does notmatterbywhatroute(thenumber,natureor orderofthe
stateofthegame:
moves)theplayershavearrivedat theparticular
thisstateis describable
without
reference
totheprevisynchronically
ous moves.So itiswithlanguage,saidde Saussure.Alllanguagesare
at some
constantly
changing;andjustas thestateofthechess-board
time
reference
totheparticular
particular can be describedwithout
combination
of movesthathas broughtthegameto thatpoint,so

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HISTORICALDEVELOPMENTOF STRUCTURALISM

147

can thesuccessive,
or sociallyand geographically
statesof
delimited,
a languagebe describedindependently
of one another.3
Saussure's suggestion that these two kinds of study,carefully
balanced so thatthe synchronie
distinguishedand thoughtfully
and
is complemented by the diadescription complements
chronicdescription,has had repercussionsbeyond the sciences
of language, as he suggested it should:
morepreciselythe
all scienceswouldprofitbyindicating
Certainly
coordinatesalong whichtheirsubjectmatteris aligned. . . For a
scienceconcernedwithvaluesthedistinction
[betweensynchronie
and diachronicstudy]is a practicalnecessityand sometimesan
absoluteone. In thesefieldsscholarscannotorganizetheirresearch
without
bothcoordinatesand makinga disrigorously
considering
tinction
ofvaluesper se and thesamevaluesas
betweenthesystem
theyrelateto time.4
Saussure's second major contributionto structuralist
thought
grows out of this same temporal/non-temporal
dichotomy.He
suggeststhatlanguage acquires meaning along twoaxes of relaor linear-temporalaxis of unfolding
tionships: the syntagmatic
in
theparadigmatic
and
axis- non-linear,-,
speech,occurring time;
non-temporally ordered of associative meaning.5 On the
syntagmaticaxis (the "axis of successions") signs have meaning
by virtueof theiropposition to the sign that precedes and the
sign thatfollowsin the syntacticalchain: we can make sense of
the morpheme "pin," for instance,because we can distinguish
the three phonemes p/i/n;we can make sense of the words on
this page because each can be distinguished from the word
ahead of it and the word behind it.The syntagmis the combination of the opposing or contrastingsigns,united in praesentiain
the momentof speech. On the paradigmaticaxis (the "axis of
however,a sign has meaningbyvirtueof the fact
simultaneity"),
thatit enters into associativerelationswithall of the signs that
mightoccur in the same syntagmaticcontextwithit (thatis,with
a group of signswhichare all structurallyhomologous). Therefore we can make sense of the word "pin" because we can
mentallyassociate it witha set of homonyms (nail, peg, spike,
bolt,and so forth)or witha setof acousticallysimilarwords(pin,
bin, tin,din), and so on. These other membersof the paradigm
do not actuallyoccur in the moment of actualized speech, but
remaininpotentiain the mindof the speaker; the setsthemselves
are open-ended, randomly-ordered,and their acquisition de-

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148

SOUNDINGS

pends upon verbal experience. These two relations- the

syntagmaticand the paradigmatic- are virtuallyinseparable,
according to Saussure, and both have equal influenceon the
ordering of speech. The analogy he uses to demonstratethe
interplayof these relationsis worthrepeating here:
... a linguistic
unitis likea fixedpartofa building,e.g.,a column.
On theone hand,thecolumnhasa certainrelationtothearchitrave
thatitsupports;thearrangement
ofthetwounitsin spacesuggests
thesyntagmatic
relation.On theotherhand,ifthecolumnis Doric,
it suggestsa mentalcomparisonof thisstylewithothers(Ionic,
Corinthian,etc.) althoughnone of these elementsis presentin
space: therelationis associative.6
Language, then, consistsof signs which have no validityor
meaning outside the relationsof equivalence and contrastwith
othersignsin the system.This concept is relevantat all levelsof
linguisticdescription, and has come to take on importance
beyond the science of language, as a means of describingany
complex systemdecomposable into hierarchicaland substitutable components- or, more broadly,as a means of describing
the perceptual organization of phenomena. Roman Jakobson
proposes that these relationscorrespond to two kinds of con- the abilityto order linearlyand the ability
ceptualizingactivity
- and to the two orders of discourse in
to order associatively
which one or another mode of organization predominates:
mtonymieand metaphoric discourse.7 To the metaphoric
mode belong, he says,lyricpoetry,the worksof the Romantic
and Symbolistpoets, Surrealistpainting,and Freudian dream
symbols;to the mtonymiemode belong epic and realistnarrative- to whichlistRoland Bartheshas added popular novelsand
"newspaper narratives."8Claude Lvi-Strauss,in his famous
chapter on the bricoleurin The Savage Mind, comments that
science,too, is of a mtonymieorder- "it replaces one thingby
another thing,an effectby its cause"- while art is of a metaphoric order.9 Furthermore,Jakobson remarks,poetryis "the
axis of simultaneitiesprojected upon the axis of successions,"10
while the novel,according to James Boon, is the axis of successions projected upon the axis of simultaneity-the narrative
mode applied to a basicallymetaphoricvisionofhuman action.11
We are betterprepared to understandthe metaphoricthan the
mtonymiemode, Barthesadds, because the "metalanguage"in
which we carryout our studyis itselfmetaphoric.12

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HISTORICALDEVELOPMENTOF STRUCTURALISM

149

The thirdconcept whichhas been significantto the development of structural methodologies beyond linguistics is
Saussure's distinctionbetween langue and parole, a distinction
roughlysimilar to Chomsky's more recent "competence" and
"performance"and to the "code" and "message" of the information theorists.Langue, Saussure says,is the sociallyordered aspect of speech; it is the
sum of word-images
storedin the mindsof all individuals[who
ofa
the
same
language]... a storehousefilledbyall members
speak
of
their
active
use
givencommunity
through
speakingparole],a.
grammatical
systemthathas a potentialexistencein each brain,or
in thebrainsof a groupof individuals.For lanmorespecifically,
a
not
is
onlywithin
guage
completeinanyspeaker,itexistsperfectly
...
It
is
social
side
of
outside
the
individual
the
collectivity
speech,
itbyhimself;
whocannevercreatenormodify
itexistsonlybyvirtue
of a sortof contractsignedby themembersof a community.13
Parole,on the other hand, is the "executed" aspect of language,
theindividual'smomentaryactualizationof the collectivepotentialof thelangue.The twoaspects are interdependent,Saussure
says:
ifspeakingis tobe intelligible
and produceall
Languageisnecessary
itseffects;but speakingis necessaryforthe establishment
of lanitsactuality
guage,and historically
alwayscomesfirst. . . Speakingis
whatcauseslanguagetoevolve;impressions
gatheredfromlistening
to othersmodifyour linguistichabits.Language and speaking
theformeris boththe
[langueandparole]are theninterdependent;
instrument
and the productof thelatter.14
Saussure's concept of the externalityof the languein relation
to anyparticularindividualand hisclear dispositionto givechief
place to the communal contractof social values representedin
the langue (even when he vigorouslyproposes the historical
pre-eminenceof speech) is determined at least in part by his
understanding of Durkheim's psychological and sociological
theoriesof thecollectiveconsciousnessof the communityand its
power to order individual thought. It is important to those
structuralstudieswhichfocuson the constraintsand laws which
act to regularize and codifyany systemof signs,verbal or nonverbal. As we shall see later,the concept of the langue and the
power of its ordering force has become more complex and
controversialin recent years,and its currentimportance is its
positionat the centerof a debate on the nature and statusof the
creativeact.

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150

SOUNDINGS

Beyond linguistics,the influence of Saussure's structural

descriptionsof language was firstfeltby the Russian formalists,
who learned of his workthroughSergei Karcevski,a studentof
Saussure's who returnedto Moscow in 1917. All of Saussure's
major concepts appear in the work of the Formalists:the synchroniedescriptionof a workof art and the diachronicdescription of its place in the historyof art;15the concept of the concrete,individual literarywork (theparole) as it is related to the
formalgenericstructurefromwhichit arose (the langue);16the
distinctionbetweenthe syntagmaticor mtonymieorder of language and the paradigmaticor metaphoricorder.17After1917
the basic Saussurian dichotomiesbecame a part of the methodologies of the Formalists,who in turnpassed themalong to the
structuralists.
The young Russian theoreticianswere not interestedin the
traditionalquestions of literaryscholarship- What is the work
about? Who wroteit? When? Why?- but withthe urgentquestionsHow is itmade? Whatare itsdefiningcharacteristics?
What
for
To
account
its
effect?
answer
these
techniques
questionsthey
turnedto the formaldescriptionof the literarywork- and first
(because manyof them were linguists)to the phonological featuresof the piece of literature,to its actual physicalmanifestation.
KrystynaPomorska sums up the large achievementsof this
earlyconcern for the linguisticaspects of the work- studies of
syntax,phonology,metrics:
resulted
thoseon versestructure,
studies,particularly
Manybrilliant
fromsuch a tendency.Duringthe earlyand laterperiodsof the
Opojaz [the Moscow School], the worksof O. Brik, such as
("SoundRepetitions,"
1919)or "Ritmi sintak"Zvukovye
povtory"
sis"("Rhythm
and Syntax"),
"O
Jakubinskij's zvukaxstixotvornogo
jazyka"("On Sound in VerseLanguage,"1916),B. Tomasevskij's
Russkie
stixoslozenie
(RussianVersification,
1923),and hisarticleslater
as
a

stixe

Vvedenie
book,
(On Verse,1929),Zirmunskij's
published
Introduction
toMetrics,
metriku)
1925)- all thesestudiesshowednot
butalso theysimultaneonlyhowpoeticlanguagewasconstructed
fromthenonpoetic,
or
ouslyprovedhowpoeticlanguagediffered
as theyphraseit,"practicallanguage."18
The concern to distinguishpoetic language from everyday
language led in several importanttheoreticaldirections.In the
workof VictorShklovskyit produced the concept of ostraneniye
,
the
and
the
The
esthetic
difference
between
estrangement.19

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HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF STRUCTURALISM

151

asserted,is thatinordinaryexperienceour
ordinary,
Shklovsky
are
we learnto reacthabituallyto
"automatized,"
perceptions
withoutactuallyperceiving
certainsignalsin the environment
withthegreatfaculties
them,inordertoemployourperceptive
In the estheticexperience,however,
est economyof effort.20
difficult.
objects,phenomena,and ideas are made unfamiliar,
"The processofperception
isan esthetic
endinitself,"
Shklovsky
writes,"and mustbe prolonged."The deviceswhichperform
thefunction
ofmakingdifficult,
or"estranging"
the
prolonging,
the
technical
devices
of
are
art
perceptualprocesses
specificto
to
within
often
the
medium.
The
search
medium,
specific genre
for the uniquenessof the literarylanguage directedseveral
Formalists
toa concentration
uponthesedevices."The notionof
Eichenbaum
remarked
at one point,
'technique/"
with
ofpoetic
thedistinguishing
features
becauseithastododirectly
in
and practical
much
more
the
is
long-range
speech,
significant
evolution
offormalism
thanis thenotionof"form."21
Otherstudiesin thespecifica
of literary
languageand literary
formled toa markedconcentration
amongtheFormalists
upon
the"literariness"
of literature,
on the autonomyof art,on the
dominant
("the focusingcomponentof a workof art [which]
rules, determines and transforms the remaining
These larger,moretheoretical
concernssoon
components.")22
to
diffuse
the
on
concentration
the
began
early
physicalstructuresofthework,leadingtoa moregeneralconcernwithliteratureand withitshistorical
and genericcontexts.Eichenbaum,
the
in 1927,makesa clearstate"formal
method"
summingup
mentof the new directionlaterFormaliststudiesweretaking
- fromformtotechniquetofunction,
from"literariness"
tothe
relationbetweenliterature
and life and in hisattemptto stave
offthe inevitablepoliticalinterference
makesan impassioned
outburst
own
his
work.23
But
themore"structuralagainst
early
ist" enterprisecame to an unfortunately
earlyend, and the
further
of
Formalism
was
thwarted
development
bythepolitical
suppressionbeginningas earlyas 1923, when TrotskymaintainedthattheFormalist
wasincomplete,
approachtoliterature
thatitignoredthesocialcontextoftheartwork.24
Anothermore
in
attack
the
the
with
Formalists
pointed
following
yearcharged
the"decadent"and "sterile"appreciationofartforars sake.A
- AlexanderZeitlinarfewFormalistsattemptedcompromise

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152

SOUNDINGS

gued thatthe contextualanalysisof artcould not be carriedout

untila more complete understandingof the inner workingsof
the piece of art itselfhad been achieved, and Shklovskyand
Eichenbaum both attemptedto present Formalismas a "scientific,"objectivestudyofdata, compatiblein itsscientificconcerns
withMarxism.But neithertacticworked,and by 1929 the Marxist rout of the Formalistswas nearlycomplete.25
While the Formalistspaid the greatestamount of attentionto
the language and structuresof poetry,theydirectedsome study
- particularlyto the analysis of
to narrative
plot. Shklovsky's
distinctionbetweenplot(suzet)and story(fabula)opened theway
to a rhetoricalunderstandingof the manydevices bywhichplot
distortsand estranges story,and to a perception that these
devices are related to general devices of style.26In termsof the
analysis of narrativestructure,however, the most important
work produced by the Formalistschool was Vladimir Propp's
The Morphology
oftheFolktale,published in Moscow in 1928. As

Alan Dundes observesin his prefaceto the second English

edition,the effectof Propp'sprovocative
analysisof narrative
can be measuredinpartbythenumberofstudiestowhichithas
givenrise- and, it mightbe added, by the qualityof critical
speculationon the natureof narrativethatit has generated.27
- to providea comPropp'savowedlysynchronie
undertaking
of a typeof tale,
pleteand objectivemorphological
description
thatis, to providea formaldefinition
of a genre--wasnew to
folklorescholarship(new,indeed,to literaryscholarshipas a
whole). Althoughhe had two importantpredecessors(the
Frenchscholar Bedier and the Russian Veselovsky),whose
workson invariant
and variantstorycomponents
dealtwiththe
of
form,Propp'sstudyoftheformalfeatures
problem narrative
ofstoryand theirfunctional
ofits
wasthefirst
interrelationships
kind. His importantcontribution,
whichcan be onlybriefly
describedhere, is his typicallyFormalistproposal that the
featuresis a more
descriptionof a tale's invariantstructural
modeofanalysisthanthedescription
ofthevariable
appropriate
contentwhichmanifests
thestructure.
He aimed to showthat
thefunctions
are the"recur(invariant
actions)ofthecharacters
rentconstants"
of thetale; thatthenumberand typeof these
functionspeculiarto the Russianfairytale is limited(he dis3 1functions)
and isgovernedbythelawsofnarrative
tinguished
in
logicwhichalwaysproducean identicalsequenceoffunctions

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HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF STRUCTURALISM

153

thetale;and thatall Russianfairytales(as he definedtheterm)

oftheFolktaleinbelongto one structural
type.TheMorphology
of
the
cludes the systematic
narrative
thirty-one
description
ofthesefunctions
functions
and thedistribution
amongcharacdramatis
or character
ters(or,moreaccurately,
among
personae
of
of
the
functions
and
types);
configuration sequences
of
in
embedded
end-to-end
("moves") patterns
arrangement,
and bifurcation.
organizations,
envelopment,
Togetherwiththe otherFormalistsPropp insistedthatthe
literary
analystshouldbe concernedonlywiththetaleitselfand
or culturalcontexts.
To the
notwithitshistorical,
psychological,
question"If all fairytalesare so similarin form,does thismean
thattheyalloriginatefroma singlesource?"Proppanswersthat
themorphologist
does nothavea righttoanswer,thatwhenhe is
withhisformalanalysishe shouldhandoverhisconclufinished
sionsto a historianor shouldbecomea historianhimself.And
in
wasmoreinterested
Propp,likemostoftheotherFormalists,
whatwould now be called "surface-structure
features"of the
hisanalytical
methodis hisemphasison
tale;whatcharacterizes
thechronological
thesyntagmatic
plane of thestory,following
and linearorderingofthesequenceofevents.The modelofthe
linear enchainingof narrativecomponentsin a syntactically
ordered,rule-governed
patternsis presequenceof predictable
ciselyanalogousto Saussure'sdescriptionof the "axis of successions,"thesyntagmatic
plane.
- theFormalistlimitathesetwocharacteristics
It is precisely
tionoffocustotheworkitselfand therelianceon thetemporal,
linearanalysisof the work- thathave generatedthe greatest
around Propp'sworkand set himapart fromthe
controversy
In a 1960 reviewof Propp'sstudy,Claude
laterstructuralists.
Lvi-Strauss
takeshimto taskon bothcounts:forhisdeliberate
refusalto consider the "ethnographiccontext"which surroundedand producedthetales;and forhis emphasison the
an emsyntagmatic,
temporally-ordered
aspectofthenarrative,
him
Lvi-Strauss
to
which,
observes,requires
phasis
ignore
- specifically
otherkindsofnarrative
the"deep"or
organization
whichgeneratethe surfacefeaturesof the
"latent"structures
tale.28It is thisdeep structure,
Lvi-Strauss
argues,thatcreates
anddefinestheeventsofthestory;itcanbe represented,
he says,
the
narrative
events
(or "mythemes")
byarranging
alonga gridded matrixwhichshowsnot onlytheirchronological,
syntag-

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154

SOUNDINGS

maticrelationsbut theirparadigmaticrelationsas well, the associativebonds thatreveal the latentstructureof binaryoppositionsunderlyingthe surfacestructurefeatures.The "principle
of permanence"of narrativestructuredoes notlie on the axis of
successions,Lvi-Strausssays, but on the axis of simultaneity,
wherethe generatingforceof the narrativeis to be discovered.
Lvi-Strausshas demonstratedhis paradigmatic analysis of
mythicstructurein two shortarticles,"The StructuralStudyof
Myth"and "The Storyof Asdiwal."29In "The StructuralStudy
of Myth" he presents the complete model of deep-structural
analysis,illustratedbya briefexaminationof the Oedipus myth.
Lvi-Strauss'conception of mythis similar to Freud's understandingof dreams:30likedreams, mythsare the articulationof
unconscious culturaldesires which are for some reason inconsistentwith the conscious experience of the world. The myth
presentsan answer to the question "How are the unconscious
wishesto be reconciledwithconscious understanding?"by finding some sortof resolutionbetweenthe two- a resolutionwhich
cannot be tolerated,perhaps cannot even be conceived, in real
life. Structurallythis resolutiontakes place along the two axes
describedby Saussure: the temporalaxis of successiveeventsin
mythicstory,and the a-temporalaxis of associativepatternsby
whichtheseeventsacquire meaning.In structuralanalysis,then,
we are dealing withtwo kinds of time- the diachronic,non-reversibletimeof the storyand the reversiblesynchronietime,the
patternthat "explains the present and the past as well as the
future."Decipheringmyth,Lvi-Strausssays,is likedeciphering
music.In order to read an orchestrascore,the melodicline must
be read diachronicallyacross the page, whilethe harmonymust
be understoodsynchronically,
up and down the linesand spaces
of the staff,in its chord structure.It is in the balance between
harmonic pattern and melodic movement that music and
- are alike.
language- or music and myth
This analogy appears frequentlyin Lvi-Strauss'work; one
of itsearliestappearances is in "The StructuralStudyof Myth,"
wherehe argues thatthemeaningoftheOedipus storylies notin
the developing melodic line (the plot line) of the story but
in the latentstructureof the narrative.This structureis found
by reconstructing the "chordal" patterns, arranging the
"mythemes"or storysegmentsin columns (See fig. 1). These
paradigmaticsetsare generated by two pairs of deep structural

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HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF STRUCTURALISM

Kadmos seeks
his sister
Europa ravished
by Zeus

The Spartoi
killeach
other

Kadmos killsthe
dragon
Labdacos (Laios'
father)= lame (?)

Oedipus kills
his father
Laios
Oedipus kills
the Sphinx

Oedipus marries
his mother
Jocasta

Antigoneburies
herbrother
Polynicesdespite
prohibition

155

Laios (Oedipus*
father)= leftsided (?)

Oedipus=
swollen-foot(?)
Eteocles kills
his brother
Polynices

StudyofMyth.)
Figure1 (from'The Structural
ofbloodrelations"(incest)opposed
oppositions:the"overrating
of blood relations"(fratricide,
to the "underrating
patricide);
and thekillingof chthonianmonstersso thatmancan be born
fromthe earth (denial of autochthonousorigin)opposed to
club-footedness
(persistenceof autochthonousorigin).By opin an analogicalration(column4 is to
columns
the
four
posing
findsthatthe
column3 as column1 is tocolumn2) Lvi-Strauss
unanswerable
the
questionfacedbythe
mythdisplaces original
- by the moreanfrom
two?
one
or
born
from
born
culture
or
swerableyetstilltroublesome
question bornfromdifferent
bornfromsame?The mythicnarrative,
then,functionsas an
in beliefs:to meeta
attemptto resolvea basic contradiction
thetermsofthe
dilemmaon one levelofexperiencebyshifting
is more readily
where
a
mediator
problemto anotherlevel,
found.The Oedipus mythprovidesa logicalmodelforinvestiman'soriginsin thenaturalworld.31
gatingand understanding
to
In "The Structural
StudyofMyth"wefindthe"correction"
In
"The
structure.
narrative
of
Propp's syntagmatic
reading

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156

SOUNDINGS

answer to what he
Storyof Asdiwal" we find the structuralist's
considers the Formalist's narrow approach. In this essay
Lvi-Straussretellsa Tsimshian Indian mythof thebirthand life
historyof Asdiwal,born to a human motherand bird-father.It is
not the narrativeevents which Lvi-Straussfindsof interestin
thestory,however,butratherwhatMaryDouglas has called "the
complex symmetryof differentlevels of structure,"a series of
oppositions which generate these events: the geographic, cosmologie,economic,and kinshipoppositions.There are, then,at
least fourdeep structuralpatternsin myth,the interrelationsof
whichproduce a highlysymmetricalplot and systemof characterrelationshipsunited in a storywitha fourfoldlogical significance. But Lvi-Straussdoes not end his argument with this
formal analysis of the narrative,for he assumes that kinship
relations,relationsof economic and geographic exchange, and
relationsof ritualand ceremonyare of thesame order as linguistic relationsand narrativerelations.All of the structuresof a
communitydemonstratean essentialidentity,he says,although
that identitymay appear to be altered by one or a series of
permutations,depending on the nature of the activityand its
functionin the livesof the people. In "The Storyof Asdiwal"he
goes on to discuss the relationshipbetween the mythand the
Tsimshian culture which produced it- a relationshipwhich is
not one of directreflectionbut of "dialecticre-presentation,"in
that the institutionsand ritual processes which occur in the
mythsare the veryopposite of whathappens in the actual lifeof
the society.Mythicspeculations,Lvi-Strausssays,
do notseekto depictwhatis realbuttojustifytheshortcomings
of
.
.
.
This
.
.
.
an
in
admission
the
veiled
(but
reality.
step implies
languageofthemyth)thatthesocialfactswhenthusexaminedare
marredbyan insurmountable
contradiction.32
And yet the mythis functionalin society;it is a logical model
throughwhichthecommunitycan resolveitscontradictionsand
in termsof whichitcan see itsrelationto the naturalworld.This
model, as Lvi-Strauss explains in the second volume of his
"renounces all external criteria" and tests its
Mythologiques,
inductiveobservationsonly against its own deductive expectations (in this way, he wrylyobserves,it is exactlylike our own
modern science); it is a model which,throughall itsinversions
and permutations,presents a stable universe capable of complete logical explanation. This notion reverberatesthroughall

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HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF STRUCTURALISM

157

his work.In La Pensesauvagehe treatsthe complexlogical

structures
throughwhichprimitive
peopledeal withthenatural
of
their
forthepurposeof
elements
environment
world,using
naturaland socialobjects.In Le Cruetlecuit,thefirst
classifying
volumeof his monumentalMythologiques,
he treatsthe transformations
thatoccurwhenmythicstructures
are transmitted
fromcultureto culture,havingbeen retailoredto answerthe
In thisworkand in thetwo
needsof a varietyof communities.
volumeswhichfollowithe is concernedto showhowall of the
mythshe describes(187 in the firstvolumealone) are related
in a single
througha set of regular,systematic
permutations
mythicstructure whichmay be presentin the mythsthemselvesor in Lvi-Strauss'
ownmythic
The question
imagination.
oftherealityofthestructures
encounteredin (or imposedon?)
this complex mass of narrativesis not really resolved in
Mythologiques,
although it frequentlyarises to plague the
reader.33For Lvi-Straussthe question whetherthe mythic
he perceivesare theproductofhisvisionor themind
structures
of othersis ultimately
of littleconcern;thestructures
of myth
of the mindof man genericman- and
reflectthe structures
those structuresare commonto us all. Hence the question
whetherhis"mythaboutmyths"
or
hisownthinking
represents
thethinking
of thenativesthroughwhomthe mythoriginally
came intobeingis of littlemoment.
In thissense Lvi-Strauss'structuralunderstanding
of the
interaction
betweenmanand thephysicalworldaroundhimhas
to a phenomenologicalundergone beyond "structuralism"
standingof the waysin whichwe create the structuresthat
becomeso realthattheyin turncan be empirically
assessedand
measured.This doublevisioncan mostclearlybe seen in Tristes
whereLvi-Strauss
reflects
Tropiques,
movingly
upon thenature
of ethnography,
upon hisownearlierconceptionsand misconof
the
Brazilian
tribeshe visited,
and uponthemeaning
ceptions
ofthoseexperiencesforhimnow,ina post-war
world.Itcanalso
be seen in La Cruetla cuit,as JamesBoon pointsout:
thatcontents
canonlybe knownempirically
For,alwaysinsisting
hehopestoilluminate
(andthenonlyas structured
bytheobserver),
universal
It
is
what
not
his
processes.
logical
myths
(analyses)
say,itis
howtheyderivewhattheysaythatcountsmost.34
It is in thisway,Boon asserts,thatLvi-Strauss
is liketheSymbolistpoets,whosedealingswiththeworldare primarily
deal-

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158

SOUNDINGS

ingswiththemselves,withthe metaphorsthatforthemorganize
the metonymy of everyday existence. In TristesTropiques
Lvi-Straussattemptsto establisha structural(metaphoric)ordering of what he has perceived, Boon says:
But,likethe Symbolist
poems,theseorderingsare nowherenear
- thesesocieties
- cannotbe
"thethingitself."For the thingitself
butcan onlybe knownindirectly
acrossthe
graspedin and ofitself,
factofa relationship
thatisestablished
betweenwhatever
thatthing
isand an observer.Well,then,however,
on secondthought,
ifthere
is a "society-thing"
thatis, it must itselfbe epistemologically
- hencethelocus
situation
groundedinsomesuchobserver-relation
of Lvi-Straussian
in the
hisrediscovery
of subjectivity
"structure,"
socialsciencesand the breakdownof observer/observed
dualism,
evenin empiricalinvestigations.
Unable,then,to knowthe primal
Lvi-Strauss
to describehowhe is unableto
determines
perfection,
knowit,and theresultis Tristes
an anti-ethnography.35
Tropiques,
Lvi-Strauss'work has raised loud and frequentlyangry responses fromhis colleagues in anthropology,who are disturbed
by his mode of classification(an almost unverifiableordering
whichcomes fromthe categoriesof a closed binarysystem),by
the qualityof his field work,and by what Edmund Leach has
called the "oracular elegance" of his writing,which "wraps up
Other anthropologists,howprofundityin verbal obscurity."36
able
to
a
have
been
Lvi-Straussian
ever,
approach to a
apply
of
materials
and
to
arrive
therebyat new and
variety mythic
interestinginsights.In Genesisas Myth,forexample, Leach works
throughthe "logical categories"establishedin the narrativesof
the Biblicalcreationstory,uncoveringa structuralpatternbased
on singlenessand multiplicity;
in "Lvi-Straussin the Garden of
Eden" he says that the structureis based on "isolated unitary
categoriessuch as man alone, lifealone, one river,[which]occur
onlyin ideal Paradise; in the real world thingsare multipleand
divided; man needs a partner, woman; life has a partner,
death."37
Lvi-Strauss' influence has moved beyond anthropology,
however,and hisanalysesof mythhave made a profoundimpact
upon studies of narrative structure,particularlyin France,
where a bewilderingvarietyof literaryscholars,all withsome
interestin narrativestructure,have for the last twentyyears
To provide a
practicedone or anotherversionof structuralism.
of
this
let
me
divide
them
into two
rough sorting
group,
"Schools": those who, following Lvi-Strauss,are concerned

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HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF STRUCTURALISM

159

withdeep orlatentstructures
whichshapethenarrative
ata level
below the artissconsciousmanipulation;and those whose
studieshave been to some extentinfluencedby RussianFormalismand who workprimarily
withsurfacestructures
concontrolled
the
artist
for
esthetic
effect.
sciously
by
AlexanderGreimasworkswithwhathe calls an "actantielle
model,"a generativeapproachwhichfocuseson theprocesses
are derived.38
Followbywhichthesurfacefeaturesofnarrative
Lvi-Strauss
he
that
comhas
three
ing
closely, argues
myth
the
armature
of all the
(a narrativemodelconsisting
ponents:
of
variants);the message(the individual,actualmanifestation
the myth);and the code (a formalstructureconstituted
by a
smallnumberof "semanticcategories"whichaccountforall of
thecontentselectedto appear in a particularmythic
universe).
He beginshis analysisat the level of formalsyntactical
comthe
narrative
into
two
an
ponents,dividing
sequences: opening
andclosingsequence("contenucrrele"),whichisconstituted
by
lackand lackliquidated;
and the
Propp'stwo major functions,
centralsequence("contenutopique"),whichprovidesthemeans
thenarrative
balanceis restoredand theliquidationof
whereby
the initiallack comes about. Having establishedthe narrative
he turnsto the"contractual
structure,
categories"thatorganize
the whole of the story:"un jeu d'acceptationset de refus
These contractural
relationsundergoseveral
d'obligations."39
transformations
whichalter the distribution
of roles among
characters:in one mythicform,he suggests,the traitor-son
is
transformed
intoa hero,whilethefather-victim
is transformed
intoa traitor.
He turns,finally,
to theLvi-Straussian
notionof
thegenerative,
the
resolution
of
which
motivates
binary"codes,"
- life/death,raw/cooked,fresh/rotten.
the myth
Greimas'
movesfromthe latent
analysis,then,likethatof Lvi-Strauss,
structureto the surfacestructure;unlike Lvi-Strauss,he is
interestedas well in understandingthe syntactical
relations
actual
narrative
unlike
he
Lvi-Strauss,
among
sequences;again
has no anthropological
intrestin the relationbetweenthecultureand itsmyths,
norin findingstructural
homologiesamong
severalaspectsof theculture.
Greimasdoes not himselfattemptto deal withnon-mythic
- understandably,
narrative
sincehismethodseemstopreclude
the possibility
of consciousestheticcontrolon the partof the
artist.For bothGreimasand Lvi-Strauss,
thecode (Saussure's

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160

SOUNDINGS

langue) dominates the creation of all messages; no deliberate

deviationfromthe social and communicativenormsestablished
in the code are possible, because of its powerful controlling
force. Julia Kristeva has observed that it is this belief in the
dominance of the code thathas set up the currentdichotomyin
structuralstudies.One phase of the studyof man's use of signsis
now over, she comments,
that[phase]whichrunsfromSaussureand Peirceto the Prague
School and structuralism,
and has made possiblethe systematic
withineach
descriptionof the social and/orsymbolicconstraint
signifying
practice.40
This difficulty
derives,she suggests,fromthe linguisticmodel
itself:
establishedas a sciencein as muchas it focuseson languageas a
socialcode,the scienceof linguistics
has no wayof apprehending
in languagewhichbelongsnotwiththesocialcontract
but
anything
withplay,pleasureor desire. . .41
An indication of this shiftaway from the langue was earlier
apparent in theworkof the Formalists,who wereless concerned
withthe constraintsof the code and more concerned withthe
devices by which the code was called into question, or
"estranged/42In fact,forall of those whose attentionis focused
on literaryworks(ratherthan on myth,ritual,or folktale),the
question of the formal and functional differencesbetween
estheticdiscourseand everydaydiscourseis alwaysa crucialone.
It concerned Eichenbaum and Tomashevsky and most of the
other Formalists; it concerned Jan Mukarovsk,perhaps the
most productiveof the group of Prague linguistsand literary
criticsthatbegan to meetin the early 1920s. As Ren Wellekhas
pointedout,the Formalistshad been associatedwiththe Russian
Futuristpoets,and the esthetictheoriestheydeveloped were at
least in part a defense of Futuristexperimentswithlanguage;43
when in 1932 the Prague School began its attackson ajournai
whichadvocated grammaticalnormsof purityand correctness,
it was following in the path of earlier Formalist interests,
attemptingto differentiatethe literarycodes fromthe codes of
everydaylanguage. Mukarovsky'sstylisticstudies of norm and
deviation (or organization and deformation) provide a clear
recordof theinterestof the Prague School in understandingthe
effectof the code on the unique individualmessage and under-

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HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF STRUCTURALISM

161

score theiremphasison the surface-structure

featuresof the
observe
here
that
the
We
language.44 might
Prague and Forthefactthatstructural
malistefforts
illustrate
studieshave developeddifferent
emphasesand methodsin orderto deal with
theproblemsinherentin different
kindsof texts:literary
texts,
markedbysignificant
deviations
from
the
norms
(and regular)
of speech,mustbe analyzedwithtoolsdesignedto deal with
small-scalesurfacefeatures;popular narratives,
and
folktales,
on
the
other
demand
an
which
is
hand,
myth,
analysis
capableof
with
with
of
similar
a
number
texts,
largerstrucdealing
large
and
withdeep structure.
Because theFormalists
turalpatterns,
thePragueSchoollinguists
wereinvolvedwiththeinnovations
of contemporary
poetryand withunique literarytexts,they
on theproblemsofmanifest
concentrated
theirattention
rather
thanlatentstructure.
Thissameconcernforsurfacestructure
markstheworkofthe
- led byRolandBarthes
second"school"ofFrenchstructuralists
and TzvetanTodorov- who are indebtedfortheirmethodto
theFormalists
ratherthanto Lvi-Strauss.45
BothBarthesand
Todorov (who has translatedthe basic Formalisttextsinto
notionof plot (suzet)and
French)have reworkedShklovsky's
of
into
the
and discourse
story(fabula)
concept story(histoire)
is
The
the
basic
narrativelogic,thesequenceof
(discours). story
eventsas theywouldhavehappenedin"natural,"chronological
The discourseis thenarrative
as we
re-enacted.
time,objectively
read it, its temporalsequences reordered,its actionfiltered
throughone or anotherpointofview,itsexpressiongoverned
The literary
narrativeis alwaysa
bythespeechof a narrator.46
of
such
Todorov
an artistneveris
notes;
product
reworking,
contentsimplytoreproducethestoryinits"natural"statebutis
led to restructure
itforcertainestheticends,carefully
calculatdeviceshe uses.47It is theesthetic
ingtheeffectof theliterary
thatbothBarthesand Todorov attendto- a rerestructuring
thatiscarriedoutundertheconsciouscontrolofthe
structuring
a
that is not governedby latentforces
artist, restructuring
at
an
unconscious
levelbutis rathertheresultof the
operating
deliberatedeployment
of deviceschosenfortheireffect.
For Todorov,as forthe Formalists,
theestheticeffectis the
resultof a carefully
to
thereader's
designedattempt interrupt
the
from
of
to
deviate
regularnormsof
patterns expectation
of
discourseand thediscourse everydayspeech.In his
literary

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162

SOUNDINGS

forinstance,he finds
briefanalysisofLes Liaisonsdangereuses,
ordersat
oftheexpectedlogical,social,and narrative
violations
In
he
the
work.
each levelof
fact, observes,
The storyowesitsveryexistenceto theviolationof order.If Valtherulesofhismoralcode (and thatof
monthad nottransgressed
thenovel)wewouldneverhaveseenhispublishedcorrespondence,
oftheirletters
isa consequence
northatofMerteuil:thepublication
whichare notdue to chance,as one might
of theircircumstances,
in effect,
isjustifiedonlyin so faras itis a
believe.The entirestory,
If
of
punishment misrepresentation.Valmonthad notbeenfalseto
hisearlierself,thebookwouldneverhave existed.48
Barthes' work with narrativestructureis similar in that he is
concerned to describe the formal components of the literary
work.Basing his analysisof narrativeon the Proppian notionof
function,he divided the histoireinto two parts, functionsand
actions,both of whichcombine hierarchicallyto become narration(or discours)at the surfacelevel of the work.49The functions
are of two sorts- mtonymieplot events ("cardinal functions")
and metaphoric "indexical" functions (descriptions, setting,
etc.). Cardinal functionsmove thestoryforwardin a cause-effect
sequence, Barthes proposes; indexical functions,on the other
hand, are the "chord" structureof the work, the metaphoric
echoes that provide "thematic"support for the plot. Further,
these functionsmay be "open" or "closed" (Barthes calls these
- catalyses),
- and catalysts
kernels- noyaux
leading onward into
or
of
action
alternativecourses
embellishingan already existing
movement.50It seems clear thatBarthes' understandingof the
"cardinal" and "indexical" functions is based on Saussure's
model of the syntagmaticand paradigmaticaxes of languagethe same model fromwhichLvi-Strauss'structuralanalysisof
mytharises. In fact,while the two modes of analysisare appar- theydo, afterall, workon verydifferent
entlyquite dissimilar
levels of the text they employ the same logical operations:
those operations of syntacticand paradigmatic ordering that
mark all structuralistactivities.
Barthes' recentworkin the largerdomain of sign theoryand
significationhas probablyattractedmore attentionthan his earlier studies of narrative structure,which are more explicitly
"structural."Insofar as his criticismdistinguishesbetween the
systematicformof a textand itsmessage,itis in the mainstream
of structuralism;as it turns to the questions of sign and sig-

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HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF STRUCTURALISM

163

to modesof signification,
to the natureof knowing
nificance,
and
in
thesewaysBarthes'work
throughsigns
knowingsigns
becomes more specifically
semioticratherthan structural.51
A semiotictheoryattemptsto underWhatis the difference?
standsignsand theiruse in thesocialworld;itwassuggestedby
Saussureas a sciencewhichwouldtakeas itssubjectthewhole
humansystem
ofmeaningful
signsand wouldcontainlinguistics
as one of its divisions.As a theory,semioticsis broadlyand
forit subsumeswithinitselfa variety
powerfully
explanatory,
of explanationsspecificto certainaspectsof communication:
and metasyntactic,semantic,pragmatic,meta-linguistic,
on the otherhand, is an excommunicative.52
Structuralism,
- thesyntactic
of
one
of
these
relationof
planation just
aspects
- and the
to
one
another
in
a
and
structured
signs
regular
system
of
that
its
makers
and
Strucusers.
production
signsystemby
isa partof
turalism,
then,isa partofsemiotics,
just as linguistics
and itis frequently
usefulto distinguish
betweenthe
semiotics,
two.
But it is becomingincreasingly
more difficult
thesedaysto
definethelimitsofstructuralism,
fortheearly,primarily
formal
to
a
concernwithsyntactic
has
systems givenway
largerappreofthe
hensionofthetotalsemioticmodel- toan understanding
the
and
sematic,syntactic, pragmaticaxes
relationships
among
ofthecommunicative
event.And at thesametime,theassumptionthatall humanintercourse
is basicallycode-dominated
is a
and
the
of
structures
majorconcern,
deviatingpatterns the
- hasbecomethesubjectofmuchstrucnotionofdeviationitself
turalistdebate.
- in
As structural
methodsare employedin otherdisciplines
- newunderstandings
in biblicalstudies,in history
psychology,
of the rangeand limitations
of itsexplanatoryabilitieswillbe
achieved,and each newapplicationwillcontinueto "reinvent"
thefundamental
structuralist
questions:Whatare thebasicpatternsof eventsand actionin human time,and how do they
thatrequireparticuacquiremeaning?Whatare theconstraints
larchoicesatparticular
How maythecodified,obligamoments?
toryrulesof thelanguebe violated?How are theseviolations
orderedand understood?Whilethesequestionsremainat the
centerof discussionson literary
and mythical
texts,and on the
textsof culturalartifacts,
as a theoryand as a
structuralism
willremainverymuchalive.
methodology

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164

SOUNDINGS

NOTES
1. Richard Macksey and Eugenio Donato, eds., The Structuralist
Controversy
(Baltimore:Johns Hopkins Press, 1972), p. ix.
. Ferdinand de baussure,Coursein CeneraiLinguistics(New York: McGrawHill, 1959).
3. John Lyons,Introduction
to Theoretical
Linguistics(Cambridge: Cambridge
UniversityPress, 1971), p. 46.
4. Saussure, Course, p. 80.
and paradigmaticactivity,see
5. For a clear, precise discussionof syntagmatic
Lyons, Introduction,pp. 70-81; also see Roland Barthes, Elementsof
Semiology,tr. Annette Lavers and Colin Smith (Boston: Beacon Press,
1970), pp. 58-88, and Saussure, Course,pp. 122-27.
6. Saussure, Course,pp. 123-24.
7. Jakobson,"Deux Aspects du langage et deux typesd'aphasie," in Temps
No. 188, January 1962, pp. 853 ff.
moderne,
8. Barthes,Elements,p. 60.
9. Jakobson, "Linguisticsand Poetics," in Thomas A. Sebeok, ed., Stylein
Language (Cambridge, Mass.:MIT Press. I960), p. 358.
10. Claude Lvi-Strauss,The Savage Mind (Chicago: Universityof Chicago
Press, 1970), pp. 24-25.
11. James A. Boon, FromSymbolism
to Structuralism:
Lvi-Straussin a Literary
Tradition(New York: Harper and Row, 1972), p. 105. I am gratefulto
Barbara Babcock-Abrahams, whose discussions of metaphor and
metonymyhave been helpful here.
12. Barthes,Elements,p. 61.
13. Saussure, Course,pp. 13-14. Also see Barthes,Elements,pp. 13-34; and
Lyons,Introduction,
pp. 51-52.
14. Saussure, Course,p. 19.
15. See JuriTynianov,Arxaisty
i novatory
(Leningrad, 1929). A chapter of this
importantwork, translatedinto English, appears in L. Matjka and K.
Pomorska,ts., Readingsin RussianPoetics(Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press,
1971), pp.68-78. For a complete reviewof the Formalists'work,see Victor
Erlich,Russian Formalism:Historyand Doctrine('S-Gravenhage: Mouton,
1955).
16. Roman Jakobson and PetyrBogaterev,"Die Folklore als eine besondere
Form des Schaffens,"Donum NataliciumSchrijnen(Nijmegen-Utrecht,
1929), pp. 900-913.
17. Jakobson,"Deux aspects du langage et deux typesd'aphasie."
18. Pomorska,Readingsm RussianPoetics,pp. 174-75.
19. Victor Shklovsky,"Art as Technique," in Lemon and Reis, eds., Russian
FormalistCriticism:
Four Essays (Lincoln: Universityof Oklahoma Press,
1965), pp. 3-57.
20. Shklovsky,pp. 11-13.
21. Eichenbaum, "The Theory of the Formal Method," in RussianFormalist
Criticism,
p. 115.
22. Roman Jakobson,"The Dominant," in Readingsin RussianPoetics,p. 82.
23. In Chapter 5 ofLiterature
and theRevolution(New York: Russelland Russell,
1957), Trotskydenounces the Formalistsfortheirconcentrationupon the
"literariness"of literature.
25. See Erlich,RussianFormalism,pp.96-1 15.
26. Shklovsky,"Art as Technique," p. 57. See also Boris Tomashevsky,
"Thematics,"in RussianFormalistCriticism,
pp. 66-78.

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HISTORICAL

DEVELOPMENT

OF STRUCTURALISM

165

27. VladimirPropp, TheMorphology

oftheFolktale(Austin: Universityof Texas
Press, 1970), p. xi.
28. Lvi-Strauss,"L'Analyse morphologique des contes russes,"International
and Poetics,III (1960), pp. 141-43.
JournalofSlavic Linguistics
29. "The StructuralStudyof Myth"appears in R. De George and F. De George,
eds., The Structuralists
fromMarx toLvi-Strauss(Garden City: Doubleday,
1972), pp. 169-94."The Storyof Asdiwal"maybe foundin Edmund Leach,
ed.,TheStructural
(London: Tavistock,1969), pp.
StudyofMythand Totemism
1-48.
to Structuralism
30. Boon, FromSymbolism
, pp. 179-81.
An Introduction(Ithaca: Cornell
31. Cf. Octavio Paz, in Claude Lvi-Strauss,
UniversityPress, 1970), p. 31:
In moral terms: the parricide is atoned for by incest; in cosmological
terms: to deny autochtony(to be a completeman) implies killingthe
monsterof the earth. The defect is atoned for by excess. The myth
offersa solutionto the conflictby means of a systemof symbolswhich
operate as do logical and mathematicalsystems.
32. "The Storyof Asdiwal," p. 30.
33. For a discussionof theissuesinvolvedhere,see Alan Dundes, From Eticto
Ernie Units in the Structural Study of Folktales,"Journal of American
Folklore,75 (1966), 95-105.
to Structuralism,
34. Boon, FromSymbolism
p. 136.
35. Boon, p. 141.
36. Leach, The Structural
StudyofMythand Totemism,
p. xvi. On Lvi-Strauss'
fieldwork,see Leach, ClaudeLvi-Strauss(New York: Viking Press, 1970),
pp. 11-12.
37. Leach, Levi-Straussin the Garden ot Eden: An Examination ot borne
Recent Developmentsin the Analysisof Myth,"Transactions
oftheNew York
AcademyofScience,Ser. II, Vol. XXIII, No. 4 (February 1961), 386-96.
38. A. J. Greimas, "La Structurelmentaire de la significationen linguis(Paris: Larousse,
tique,"L'Homme,IV, No. 3 (1964); Smantiquestructurale
1966); Du sens,essaissmiotiques
(Paris: Seuil, 1970).
39. Greimas, "lments pour une thorie de l'interprtationdu rcitmythi8 (1966), p. 45.
que," Communications,
kjci. iz,
iu. juna Knsteva, i ne speaking bUDject, i imesLxierary
uppiemeni,
1973, p. 1249.
41. Ibid.
42. For a discussionofwaysin whichthecode maybe questioned,see Jakobson,
"Linguisticsand Poetics,"p. 356.
43. Ren Wellek, The LiteraryTheoryand Aesthetics
of thePrague School (Ann
Arbor, 1969), p. 20.
44. See Jan Mukarovsk, Standard Language and Poetic Language, in Paul
and Style
L. Garvin,A Prague SchoolReader in Esthetics,
LiteraryStructure,
(Publicationsof the WashingtonLinguisticClub), pp. 19-35.
et signification
45. Tzvetan Todorov, Littrature
(Paris: Larousse, 1966); "Les
normaleet pathologique,3
Registres de la parole," Journal de psychologie
du Decameron(The Hague: Mouton, 1969); Roland
(1967); La Grammaire
Barthes,"Linguistique et littrature,"Langages, 12 (1969), Writing
Degree
Zero (London: Cape, 1967), Mythologies
(Paris: Seuil, 1957), Essais critiques
(Paris: Seuil, 1964). Another importantwriterin this group is Claude
4 (1964), "Morphology
Bremond, "Le Message narratif,"Communications,
of the French Folktale,"Semiotica,II, No. 3 (1970).

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166

SOUNDINGS

46. Boris Uspensky, in The Poetics of Composition,tr. Zavarin and Wittig

(Berkeley:Universityof CaliforniaPress, 1973), describespointof viewas
thosedeviceswhicharticulatethebasic structureof thestory,providingfor
the surface-structure
effects.
47. Todorov, "Les Catgories du rcitlittraire,"Communications,
8 (1966), p.
139.
48. Todorov, "Les Catgories,"p. 150.
8
49. Barthes,"Introductiona l'analysestructuraldes rcits,"Communications,
(1966), 1-27. Seymour Chatman, an American structuralist,offers an
interestingapplication of Barthes' methods in "New Ways of Analyzing
NarrativeStructurewithan Example fromJoyce1'sDubliners
,"Languageand
%/*, 4(1970), 3-36.
50. Claude Bremond (in "Le Message narratif,"Communications,
4 [1964], pp.
4-32), argues similarlythatthestructureof a storyis composed of a seriesof
"bifurcations,"narrativechoices which may be exploited by the artist.
i . bee especiallyt,cements
in wnicnbartnesargues thatstructuralqj emiology,
ism is a methodologysubsidiaryto semiotics.
52. The largerstudyof semioticswould takeus to theworksof Charles Sanders
Peirce(SelectedWritings,
ed. J. Buchlev {New York: HarcourtBrace, 1940] )
and Charles Morris (Signs,Language and Behavior,{New York: PrenticeHall, 1-946}). Jakobson's review of the functionsand metafunctions of
discourseis also useful("Linguisticsand Poetics,"in StyleinLanguage),and
GregoryBateson's "A Theory of Play and Fantasy,"in Stepstoan Ecologyof
Mind (New York: Ballantine, 1972), pp. 177-93, adds a socio-linguistic
perspective.

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