
Thematics
New Approaches
State University of New York Press
Published on 15. December 1994
Book
Paperback/Softback
229 pages
978-0-7914-2168-0 (ISBN)
Description
This book aims at refocusing critical reflection on thematics in the arts, a topic that has been neglected recently. The volume is divided into four sections: theoretical essays, applications to literature, reflections on thematics in music and the visual arts, and a conclusion.
The contributors, of international reputation, include Jean-Yves Bosseur, Claude Bremond, Menachem Brinker, Peter Cryle, Lubomir Dolezel, Francoise Escal, Thomas Pavel, Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan, Georges Roque, Jean-Marie Schaeffer, Cesare Segre, and Werner Sollars. In the theoretical section, the authors assess the need for new thematics, relate thematics to structural analysis and interpretation, and sketch a history of the discipline. The second section contains three applications to literature and examines the theme of the double, the Faustian literary theme, and the relation between literary theme and plot. The third section includes essays on classical music, modern music, and painting. The volume concludes with an essay on the aesthetic implications of thematic studies. The contributors answer questions about the nature of themes in general, and what would constitute a modern theory of literary themes.
The contributors, of international reputation, include Jean-Yves Bosseur, Claude Bremond, Menachem Brinker, Peter Cryle, Lubomir Dolezel, Francoise Escal, Thomas Pavel, Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan, Georges Roque, Jean-Marie Schaeffer, Cesare Segre, and Werner Sollars. In the theoretical section, the authors assess the need for new thematics, relate thematics to structural analysis and interpretation, and sketch a history of the discipline. The second section contains three applications to literature and examines the theme of the double, the Faustian literary theme, and the relation between literary theme and plot. The third section includes essays on classical music, modern music, and painting. The volume concludes with an essay on the aesthetic implications of thematic studies. The contributors answer questions about the nature of themes in general, and what would constitute a modern theory of literary themes.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Albany, NY
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
US School Grade: College Graduate Student and over
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
390 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7914-2168-0 (9780791421680)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Claude Bremond is Professor of the Ecole des hautes etudes en sciences sociales in Paris. He is the author of Logique du recit, co-author of L'Exemplum and Mille et un contes de la nuit; and co-editor of Formes Medievales du conte merveilleux. Joshua Landy is in the Department of Comparative Literature at Princeton University. Thomas Pavel is Professor of French and Comparative Literature at Princeton University. He is the author of Inflexions de voix, La Syntaxe narrative des tragedies de Corneille, The Poetics of Plot: The Case of English Renaissance Drama, Fictional Worlds, and The Feud of Language.
Content
Introduction
Claude Bremond, Joshua Landy, and Thomas Pavel
Part I: Reassessing Thematics
What Is Theme and How Do We Get At It?
Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan
From Motif to Function and Back Again
Cesare Segre
Theme and Interpretation
Menachem Brinker
Thematic Criticism
Peter Cryle
A Thematics of Motivation and Action
Lubomir Dolezel
Part II: Themaries in Literature
The Bluish Tinge in the Halfmoons; or, Fingernails as a Racial Sign: The Study of a Motif
Werner Sollors
A Semantics for Thematics: The Case of the Double
Lubomir Dolezel
Variations on the Theme of Faust
Jean-Marie Schaeffer
Racinian Spaces
Thomas Pavel
Part III: Other Arts
Painters and their Motifs
Georges Roque
Theme in Classical Music
Francoise Escal
Theme and Thematics in Contemporary Music
Jean-Yves Bosseur
Part IV: Conclusion
The End of an Anathema
Claude Bremond and Thomas Pavel
Notes
Contributors
Index
Claude Bremond, Joshua Landy, and Thomas Pavel
Part I: Reassessing Thematics
What Is Theme and How Do We Get At It?
Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan
From Motif to Function and Back Again
Cesare Segre
Theme and Interpretation
Menachem Brinker
Thematic Criticism
Peter Cryle
A Thematics of Motivation and Action
Lubomir Dolezel
Part II: Themaries in Literature
The Bluish Tinge in the Halfmoons; or, Fingernails as a Racial Sign: The Study of a Motif
Werner Sollors
A Semantics for Thematics: The Case of the Double
Lubomir Dolezel
Variations on the Theme of Faust
Jean-Marie Schaeffer
Racinian Spaces
Thomas Pavel
Part III: Other Arts
Painters and their Motifs
Georges Roque
Theme in Classical Music
Francoise Escal
Theme and Thematics in Contemporary Music
Jean-Yves Bosseur
Part IV: Conclusion
The End of an Anathema
Claude Bremond and Thomas Pavel
Notes
Contributors
Index