Genres in Discourse (Literature, Culture, Theory)

Rating:
Summary: Literature, Broken Down into Its Components
Review: Tzvetan Todorov has become a giant in literary criticism ever since his first emergence as a thinker in the 1960's. GENRES IN DISCOURSE - this English translation by Catherine Porter appeared in 1990 - is a slim but intellectually dense treatise on what differentiates and defines literature, in both the largest sense and the most minute. Todorov explores the functional and structural elements of literature; the origin of genres; narratology; poetry when "verse" is removed; and the complex interaction between reader and text. He then moves to separate essays discussing Dostoevsky, Poe, Conrad, and James. The chapter on James, "The Awkward Age," catches Todorov at his best as he explores the meaning and incomprehension of words and sentences as a central theme in James's work.

Todorov is a master of discourse, as his arguments contain the logic of classic reasoning with the leaps of an inventive thinker. Make no mistake - this book is for the academic and the literary critic, and not for the casual reader. Paragraphs sometimes need to be read several times to understand their full meaning, but for those who are interested in theories of literature, the rewards are worth the concentration needed.

Rating:
Summary: Literature, Broken Down into Its Components
Review: Tzvetan Todorov has become a giant in literary criticism ever since his first emergence as a thinker in the 1960's. GENRES IN DISCOURSE - this English translation by Catherine Porter appeared in 1990 - is a slim but intellectually dense treatise on what differentiates and defines literature, in both the largest sense and the most minute. Todorov explores the functional and structural elements of literature; the origin of genres; narratology; poetry when "verse" is removed; and the complex interaction between reader and text. He then moves to separate essays discussing Dostoevsky, Poe, Conrad, and James. The chapter on James, "The Awkward Age," catches Todorov at his best as he explores the meaning and incomprehension of words and sentences as a central theme in James's work.

Todorov is a master of discourse, as his arguments contain the logic of classic reasoning with the leaps of an inventive thinker. Make no mistake - this book is for the academic and the literary critic, and not for the casual reader. Paragraphs sometimes need to be read several times to understand their full meaning, but for those who are interested in theories of literature, the rewards are worth the concentration needed.