Literary discourses in the modern literary theory Essay

Literary discourses in the modern literary theory - Essay Example It has been maintained that "the reading of literary narratives is best characterized as point driven-a process in which the reader considers what the narrator is getting at [and] that point-driven reading involves a sense of an author seeking to make a point." (Miall, 339) One of the most effective strategies of attaining the literary meaning of piece is reading for point which includes different components such as coherence, attention to surface features, and the transactional stance. It is possible and largely illumining to engage in a literary activity of reading for point in order to arrive at the meaning of the literary creations. The significance of the structural elements in the creation of a cohesive and coherent narrative discourse in fiction is often emphasised. This paper focuses on a profound and reflective analysis of the structural elements in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen with close reference to the novel, which make the piece a cohesive and coherent narrative di scourse. Though different in objective and function, structure and meaning are interconnected and it is the relation between the two which make a literary discourse meaningful. The important relation between structure and meaning in literary discourse needs to be clearly comprehended. ... very work possesses a structure, which is the articulation of elements derived from the different categories of literary discourses; and this structure is at the locus of the meaning." (Todorov et al., 141) An evaluation of the relation between structure and meaning in literary works through the years confirms the significance of readings in literary discourse which focus on these elements. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen provides one of the best illustrations of the pertinent relation between structure and meaning in literary discourse. It is obvious that the structural elements in the novel make it a cohesive and coherent narrative discourse and an analysis of the novel's narrative structure substantiates the point. The structural elements include narrative structure as well as constituents and linkage. In Pride and Prejudice, the best known and probablythebest liked novel by Austen, the narrative structure, the relation among story, plot, structure, system, rules, the cohesion, coherence and congruence in story etc contribute to the structural elements, which ultimately bring about the meaning to the novel. An analysis of the narrative structure of the novel is important and the sociolinguist Labov's Model of Natural Narrative, which is a prolific model of analysis in stylistics, provides with an effective tool in this regard. As Labov's model focuses on the everyday discourse practices of actual speakers in actual social circumstances, it has a great validity in literary analyses. Labov made use of the various stories by informers from many diverse backgrounds and "isolates the core, recurrent features that underpin a fully formed natural narrative. Six key categories are rendered down from this body of data." (Simpson, 114) According to the model, there are