Literary Text Analysis: Genres, Movements, and Trends
Literary Text Analysis
Definition
A literary text is a complex act of communication where the message is central. The poetic function is subjective, originating from the author. Writing is the channel, allowing the message to reach the reader or listener. Transmission can be oral or written. The context encompasses historical and social circumstances. The code is the literary language.
Literary Language
Literary language possesses artistic qualities, evoking pleasure and surprise through musicality and emotion. Connotation is key, suggesting multiple meanings for a word. Literary figures alter sentence structure and meaning. Archaisms, foreign roots, and neologisms distinguish literary language.
Literary Genres
Poetry
Works in verse, with a strong link between content and form. Poetry represents the ultimate expression of literary language.
Narrative
A narrator recounts factual or fictional events, typically in prose. Narrative poetry, like epics, tells of heroic deeds. Subgenres include short stories and novels. Essays, newspaper articles, and memoirs also fall under narrative.
Theater
Works where action unfolds through dialogue. Subgenres include tragedy (unfortunate outcome), comedy (humorous perspective), and drama (internal conflicts).
Literary Movements and Trends
Middle Ages
The knight is central. Vassalage relations underpinned troubadour poetry, a vernacular form originating in Occitania. Courtly love is the primary theme, with the poet addressing his clandestine love, often a lady. The canso is the main genre of courtly love. Troubadours composed music for their poems, sung by minstrels.
Middle Ages (14th-15th Centuries)
A period of crisis and shifting values gave rise to humanism, a cultural movement flourishing in northern Italy. Dante, a humanist precursor, professed a deep love for books. Petrarch popularized the Dolce Stil Novo, writing vernacular love poems that viewed love as a purifying force. The Canzoniere is its pinnacle.
Modern Age (16th-18th Centuries)
Renaissance
Initiated by Italian humanists, the Renaissance shifted focus from the medieval God to humans. Renaissance thinkers sought rational explanations. Art and literature drew inspiration from classical models, emphasizing beauty, harmony, and balance.
Baroque
Emerging in the late 16th century, the Baroque is marked by pessimism and disillusionment. Anxiety and distrust in human capacity permeate Baroque art and literature, characterized by exaggeration and disproportion.
Illustration
Reclaiming the Renaissance’s rationalist spirit, the Illustration championed reason and human equality.
Neoclassicism
Moving away from the Baroque, Neoclassicism promoted a return to classicism. Art became a subject of philosophical reflection, separating from the court and church.
Modern Era (19th Century)
Individualism and social commitment guided artistic evolution.
Romanticism
This artistic movement embraced subjectivism, rejecting reality for fantasy. Romantics were drawn to the past, folklore, and exotic locales, prioritizing creative genius.
Symbolism
Beginning with Baudelaire, Symbolism saw poetry’s purpose as the exploration of literary language.
Realism
Mid-century Realism replaced Romantic idealism. Realist novels aimed to accurately depict all aspects of reality. Positivism viewed reason as the sole tool for understanding the world and the individual.
Irrationalism
A reaction against Positivism, Irrationalism posited that will and vital impulses drive society.
Marxism
The political and philosophical doctrine of Marx and Engels.
Modern Era (20th-21st Centuries)
Modernism
Modernist aesthetics spread across all arts, seeking to combine beauty with functionality and appreciating nature’s sensual forms.
Noucentisme
A movement promoting the modernization and standardization of Catalan culture.
Vanguards
Sharing a revolutionary spirit, the Vanguards aimed to break with established norms.
Futurism
Exalting progress, speed, and machines.
Cubism
Introducing a new conception of space and creating caligrammes.
Dadaism
Appreciating absurdity and primitive spontaneity.
Surrealism
Exploring the world of dreams and the subconscious as a superior reality.
Existentialism
Denying God and transcendental truths, Existentialism views life as an absurd, meaningless process.
Magic Realism
Introducing fantastical and strange elements into everyday life.
Themes
Common themes in literary texts include life, death, and the passage of time.