"To Complicate" Has Replaced "to Problematize." Thank You, Tara Henley

 During my tenure as a professor, when postmodernism was reaching the peak of its influence, I frequently encountered the phrase "to problematize" in the work of my colleagues and students as evidence that something had been accomplished.  In recent weeks, reading and listening to Tara Henley’s podcast Lean Out, I noted that “to problematize” was being displaced by the more accessible, everyday verb “to complicate.”

           In today’s world, individuals have access to overwhelming levels of complexity:  conflicts and contradictions, information and misinformation, opinions and counter-opinions, along with an absence of coherent dialogue.   Not surprisingly, everyone just wants to have the feeling that they are right, and tahell with the details. Everywhere I look I see the media playing to that polarizing desire with brainwashing repetition.  Hence my admiration for Tara Henley’s willingness “to complicate” the issues, exposing some of the inconvenient details.

I share in her ambitions at my amateur, hobbyist level, but I do have a problem. Henley’s podcast is largely based on interviews.  The dialogue format overcomes some of the shortcomings of univocal editorializing.  Although I never intended it to be,  thesourgrapevine.com is a solo act.  I have read the dominant narratives against the grain, suggested resistant readings,  problematized, and exercised all the academic verbiage of my former profession, but I am happy to say, more simply, that I have complicated the simplistic narratives, cognitive biases and polarizations that seem to dominate the media.    

That said, while I may intend to complicate what I, perforce, end up doing is simplifying or vulgarizing.  I try to introduce the details and perspectives which remain un-promulgated.  I read the boring stuff that most readers don’t have the time or inclination to read.  But in the end, I have to simplify if I want to be read—and I do want to be read. 

What is Comparative Literature?

From English to comparative literature

Equipped with a collection of degrees in English language and literature, for two decades, I taught, researched and published in a field called "comparative literature."  As near as I can judge, the discipline got its English name in the early 20th century from a faulty translation of the French expression "littérature comparée."  The literature which comparativists study isn't comparative in any meaningful sense.   It would make some sense to call the subject "compared literatures" (a literal translation of "littératures comparées") or, even more obviously and aptly, "comparative studies of literature." However, we specialists learned to succumb and accept the terminology that got us tenure without a whimper until some first-year undergraduate asked us "what exactly does 'comparative literature' mean?" Then we mumbled and grumbled about students who hadn't done enough reading.

Comparative literature = literary theory

It might be a stretch to describe comparative literature as influential, but whatever fashionable nonsense we didn't originate we were quick to support and promulgate. Over the postmodern period, comparative literature became code for literary theory, and comparative literature never met a theory it didn't like enough to adopt. Whatever nascent passion a student might bring to the study of literature, you can be sure literary theory was ready to quell it.

 Identity crises

Comparative literature has been suffering from an identity crisis for about as long as it has existed  (see Gayatri Spivak's Death of a Discipline), as has the discipline of English literature (see Alvin Kernan's The Death of Literature). I have come to accept George Steiner's definition from his lecture/essay "What Is Comparative Literature?": "[...] comparative literature is an art of understanding centered in the eventuality and defeats of translation" (10).  There has been a turf war (more of a squabble really) between comparative literature and translation studies in recent decades.  Having done some translation work and research in translation studies, I came to the conclusion that Steiner got it right: comparative literature fills in the gaps in translation and tells us about what any translation is forced to leave out or leave behind.  We need a comparativist to tell us why a joke is funny in one language but not in another.

Comparative = 2 or more?

I think the expression "comparative study" means something because it suggests that the study is marked by "a consideration of at least two things."  I actually proposed this starting point at a meeting of comparativists once and was roundly told that my definition was "too narrow."  An additional irony (paradox? absurdity?):  for as long as I was active in the field there was a strident movement against explicit comparisons in the field of comparative literature on the grounds that such comparisons were out of date and smacked of "binary thinking."  (See Binary Thinking Versus the other Kind.)

Binary = bad!

In Comparative Literature: A Critical Introduction, Susan Bassnett traces the notion that “comparative literature should involve the study of two elements (études binaires)” (27) to Paul Van Tieghen’s La Littérature comparée (1931) and argues that “[i]t is possible to see almost all French comparative literature from the 1930s onward as coloured by the études binaires principle” (28).  Bassnett describes a binary approach as having served comparative literature “so ill for so long” (24) and cites the “narrowness of the binary distinction” as the first of a number of reasons that “[t]oday, comparative literature in one sense is dead” (47).  

 

         

Studies of Canadian literatures in two languages = binary = bad!

In his introduction to Textual Studies in Canada 5: The Aux Canadas Issue, Robert K. Martin argues that the “binary model is no longer acceptable to many Canadians” (3). Claiming that “the paradigm of two founding nations leaves little place for the native peoples of Canada” (3), and he invokes the need for Canada “to go beyond duality” (3) in order to remain open to other voices.  Insisting that it is not enough to “simply add a soupçon of otherness to an otherwise unchanged recipe” (3), Martin points out that “[t]he comparatist enterprise has too long sought to produce a paradigm with variations, without adequately recognizing how much the apparently descriptive paradigm becomes prescriptive.  If major Canadian works are like this, then one that is like that can’t possibly be major, or even Canadian” (4).

Major Canadian works of literature?

The problem with the counterfactual problem that Martin imagines is that the average Canadian scholar of literary studies would be hard-pressed to name a "major" Canadian work of literature and reluctant to even describe a literary work as Canadian.  The postmodern scholar would dismiss the concept of "major" or a canon of major literary works, and equally dismiss the notion of a national literature.  The postmodern project was the stalwart investigation of the eccentric and the minor in opposition to a major or mainstream national literature.  What Martin and Bassnett fail to acknowledge, which anyone who has ever touched the keyboard of a computer knows, is the incredible possibilities for refinement, subtlety, inclusion and advancement that a binary approach can offer.

Everything old is new again!

Ultimately, literary studies, both English and comparative, was born out of an attempt to escape philology.  No doubt, historically speaking, philology has a lot of tedium and absurdity to answer for.  My career was spent studying the intersections of language(s), literature(s), culture(s) and disciplines which, everywhere I look, is a basic definition of philology.  In fact, Spivak's new comparative literature sounds a lot like philology to me.  As Sheldon Pollock points out in World Philology:  "The lowest common denominator of philology is [. . .] how to make sense of texts."  Turf wars aside, making sense of texts--which today means making sense of intertexts--has always been the lowest common denominator of literary studies, comparative studies, translation studies, and a host of other disciplines both new and old.

What Is "Romantic Irony"?

Schlegel coined the term

These days, the concept of "romantic irony" is particularly difficult to grasp for a number of reasons.  In the first place, the phrase was coined by Friedrich Schlegel, the German romanticist, who was vague and aphoristic in defining the concept.

The Meaning of "romantic"

Additionally, what Schlegel meant by "romantic" is a subject of debate.  According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

What Schlegel meant by the term “romantic” and its apparent cognate "Roman" (usually translated as “novel,” but having among the Romantics a much wider sense) has long been disputed. [ . . .], Schlegel saw the historical origins of “the romantic” in the wide mixture of forms and genres that characterized medieval literature and took it as the point of departure for a genre-transcending notion that allows even Shakespeare's plays or Dante's Commedia to be Romane.

Romantic Irony

From a present-day perspective, "romantic irony" seems a contradiction in terms. We think of romance as implying passion, emotion and intimacy.  (See Understanding Romanticism.)  Irony, in direct contradiction, is aloof, intellectual and distant. The easiest way to get a handle on "romantic irony" is to simply think of it as the concept of irony as it emerged during the Romantic period of literary history in the late 18th and early 19th century.  "Romantic irony," like all other forms of irony, is "the interruption or disruption of an established or expected discourse."  (See What is Irony?) 

The English example of romantic irony

The typical way that romantic irony interrupts a discourse is that the author signals to the reader of  a literary text that "oh, by the way, what you are reading is a fiction."  Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy is typically cited as an example of romantic irony.  These days this feature would typically be described as postmodern, which adds to the confusion about what romantic irony is.

 

Romantic irony and postmodernism

In fact, if you compared a "grocery list" of the typical features of postmodernism--crossing of genre boundaries, problematising of the self, challenging grand narratives, metanarrative, indeterminacy of the literary text, limitations of language to represent reality, etc--and those of romantic irony, the lists will extensively overlap.  You might even find them to be identical.

Deconstruction and “Ways of Talking”

Derrida denied deconstruction was of any importance

As I’ve mentioned previously, the last time I saw Jacques Derrida, who is credited with coining the term “deconstruction,” being interviewed he was quite adamant that “deconstruction” was not a concept of any importance, not even a theory, not even a word that he used anymore. ( See "Critical Thinking Skills" and "Family Values")  Nonetheless, the word has taken on a life of its own and, while it may have gone out of fashion, it is still with us and showing no signs of disappearing from the language.  (See footnotes.)

Postmodernist deconstructionist smuggery

If you have ever tried to confront a postmodernist deconstructionist by pointing out that his work was contradictory, illogical, duplicitous, nonsensical and hypocritical, you would likely find him responding with glee, “Exactly!”—as if he were personally responsible for your recent intellectual epiphany.  Given the deconstructionist stance that language is guaranteed to fail and is ultimately meaningless, you might wonder why Derrida seemed so happy with the tens of books (meaningless books, obviously) he had published.  Why write at all?  If you asked your postmodernist deconstructionist friend that question, the conversation would inevitably lead to a tangential monologue about a recent grant application winning hundreds of thousands of dollars, an upcoming publication in a prestigious journal, a conference in Hawaii, and high expectations of promotion.

"Ways of talking" in The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning and the Universe Itself

So how can we confront deconstruction?  How can we address the malaise of postmodernist deconstructionist smuggery?  Recently I found an answer in an unusual source, The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself, by a physicist named Sean Carroll.  The answer lies in an expression that Carroll uses quite frequently:  “ways of talking.”  However, before we get there we need to have a better grasp of what deconstruction is/was.

Deconstruction begins with "Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences"

Whenever I taught deconstruction (no, I didn’t only teach the stuff I admired), I would focus on the definition that Derrida provided when he was being cross-examined after his seminal conference paper “Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences” at Johns Hopkins University in 1966.  (Excuse all of my ellipses which follow but I find they are necessary if you want to pick out what Derrida is saying from the obfuscating verbiage.  I’ll put the full quote in a footnote, so you’ll know I’m not fudging.) Derrida said, “[. . . .] déconstruction [. . . . .] is simply a question  of being alert to the implications, to the historical sedimentation of the language which we use [ . . .  .].”* 

Deconstruction is a very old, and not very complicated, idea

“Being alert to the historical sedimentation of language” is good advice.  In fact, “being alert to the historical sedimentation of language” is exactly what generations of lexicographers and scholars have done over centuries in creating The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) since the project was first begun by Dr. Samuel Johnson in 1746.  If you peruse the OED, you will notice that the meanings of words change over time, until every word in the language seems to have, on average, five or six different meanings. If you imagine a sentence in English with ten words and each of those words has five potentially different meanings, and the meaning of the sentence can be affected by connotation, figures of speech, interpretations, intertextuality, tone of voice and punctuation, you can begin to appreciate postmodernist deconstructionist claims that the language fails, that its meanings are “indeterminate,” “deferred,” even “infinite”—and therefore meaningless.

Deconstructionist ways of talking about language create meaninglessness

How do these claims work?  How is it possible that this deconstructionist idea that language fails to communicate seems so logical and convincing, even though I remain absolutely confident that when I read or hear ten words of a sentence in English I understand the meaning, even if it contains some ambiguity or irony.  The explanation I now see is that there are different “ways of talking” about language.

"Ways of talking" is a profound concept

Carroll’s description of that “innocuous sounding but secretly profound idea that there are many ways of talking about the world, each of which captures a different aspect of the underlying whole” helps us to understand how deconstructionist claims about the meaninglessness of language can be convincing even as we hold onto the strong conviction that we do manage to understand the meaning of language on a daily basis.  

The "way of talking" can determine meaning or meaninglessness

The easiest and most obvious way to reflect upon different “ways of talking” is to consider that the average human being is comprised of seven billion billion billion atoms (7 followed by 27 zeros).  Consider the claim that “I don’t understand Mary because she is comprised of billions of billions of billions of atoms and they are constantly changing.”  It’s pretty hard to argue with the science and the logic of this claim but, at the same time, it seems obvious that this is not an appropriate or meaningful way of talking about Mary or any human being for that matter.  

As Carroll explains,"There is one way of talking about the universe that describes it as elementary particles or quantum states [ . . . .] There is also another way of talking about it, where we zoom out a bit and introduce categories like ‘people’ and ‘choices’.”

Mary may, with scientific certainty, be an octodecillion of atoms and be 99% oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus, but talking about her this way will certainly make her appear impossible to understand and, in fact, meaningless.  In truth, I can sometimes understand Mary and may sometimes misunderstand her, but overall I know that she is comprehensible and meaningful.

Deconstructionists' "way of talking" about language makes it meaningless

Similarly, postmodernist deconstructionists’ way of talking about language reduces it to marks on the page or collections of morphemes and phonemes.  This way of talking precludes understanding and meaning.  To get understanding and meaning you have to use these words in the way of talking in which people--who aren't just clumps of molecules--usually use them.

The Sour Bibliography

Footnotes

*”Here or there I have used the word déconstruction, which has nothing to do with destruction.  That is to say, it is simply a question of (and this is a necessity of criticism in the classical sense of the word) being alert to the implications, to the historical sedimentation of the language which we use—and that is not destructive”  (Derrida in Contemporary Literary Criticism 497).

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/deconstruction

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/deconstruction

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deconstruction

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/deconstruct

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstruction

The Sour Glossary

actually (adverb) as an actual or existing fact; really. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) [False cognate warning: Francophones will sometimes mistakenly use “actually” (or actual)  when they mean currently, presently, at the moment and up to date.] allegory [. . .]  symbolic fictional narrative that conveys a second meaning (or meanings) beyond the explicit, literal details of the story (my definition, adapted from Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature). A simple allegory would be something like a story about Mary Whiteteeth and Johnny Toothbrush and their enemy named Sugar. The story, in this case, is not about these three characters but about the importance of brushing your teeth. "[. . .] the term allegory can refer to specific method of reading a text." allusion (noun) IIn literature, an implied or indirect reference to a person, event, thing or a part of another text. [. . . ] Allusions to biblical figures and figures from classical mythology are common in Western literature [. . .]. (Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature) Apocrypha (noun) 1.   With a capital letter (Apocrypha) it means a group of 14 books, not considered canonical, included in the Septuagint and the Vulgate as part of the Old Testament, but usually omitted from Protestant editions of the Bible. 2.   various religious writings of uncertain origin regarded by some as inspired, but rejected by most authorities. 3.  writings, statements, etc., of doubtful authorship or authenticity. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) The opposite would be the canon. apocryphal  (adjective) 1.   of doubtful authorship or authenticity. 2.   of or pertaining to the Apocrypha, of doubtful sanction; uncanonical. 3.  false; spurious: He told an apocryphal story about the sword, but the truth was later revealed. (Random House  Unabridged Dictionary) comedy (noun) 1. a play, movie, etc., of light and humorous character with a happy or cheerful ending; a dramatic work in which the central motif is the triumph over adverse circumstance, resulting in a successful or happy conclusion. 2. that branch of the drama which concerns itself with this form of composition. 3. the comic element of drama, of literature generally, or of life. 4. any literary composition dealing with a theme suitable for comedy, or employing the methods of comedy. 5. any comic or humorous incident or series of incidents. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) canon (noun) 5.   a standard; criterion: the canons of taste. 6.   the books of the Bible recognized by any Christian church as genuine and inspired. 7.   any officially recognized set of sacred books. 8.   any comprehensive list of books within a field. 9.   the works of an author that have been accepted as authentic: There are 37 plays in the Shakespeare canon.  (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) The opposite would be  Apocrypha. The adjective form is "canonical." Note that in literary studies the word "canon" has sometimes been used to identify those books considered to be part of "great literature" and therefore worthy of study. conceit (noun) 1. an excessively favorable opinion of one's own ability, importance, wit, etc. 2. something that is conceived in the mind; a thought; idea: He jotted down the conceits of his idle hours. 3. imagination; fancy. 4. a fancy; whim; fanciful notion. 5. an elaborate, fanciful metaphor, especially of a strained or far-fetched nature. 6. the use of such metaphors as a literary characteristic, esp. in poetry. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) Note: 5 and 6 (above) are the relevant definitions for literary studies. consummate (verb) 1. to bring to a state of perfection; fulfill. 2. to complete (an arrangement, agreement, or the like) by a pledge or the signing of a contract: The company consummated its deal to buy a smaller firm. 3. to complete (the union of a marriage) by the first marital sexual intercourse. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) courtly love "A modern term for the literary cult of heterosexual love that emerged among the French aristocracy from the late 11th century onwards, with a profound effect on subsequent Western attitudes to love. [ . . . .] An elaborate code of behaviour emerged around the tormented male lover's abject obedience to a disdainful, idealized lady, who was usually his social superior. [. . . .] this form of adoration also imitated both feudal servitude and Christian worship, despite celebrating the excitements of clandestine adultery (as in stories of Lancelot and Guinevere) rather than the then merely economic relationship of marriage" (The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms).  A  philosophy of love and a code of lovemaking which flourished in chivalric times, first in France and later in other countries, especially in England. The exact origins of the system cannot be traced, but fashions set by the Provençal troubadours and ideas drawn from the Orient and especially from Ovid were probably the chief sources. The conditions of the feudal society and the veneration of the Virgin Mary, both of which tended to give a new dignity and veneration to woman,* also affected it.  [. . . .] Andreas Capellanus late in the twelfth century wrote a treatise in which he summarized prevailing notions of courtly love through imaginary conversations and through his thirty-one "rules"** (A Handbook to Literature). *Note that in some interpretations of history, the Catholic Church raised the profile and importance of the Blessed Virgin in order to counter the growing popularity and influence of courtly love.**In recent times, Ellen Fein and Sherrie  Sneider wrote a series of popular books with the repeated title of The Rules instructing women on how to behave on dates and in relationships with men." coy (adjective) 1. artfully or affectedly shy or reserved; slyly hesitant; coquettish. 2. shy; modest. 3. showing reluctance, especially when insincere or affected, to reveal one's plans or opinions, make a commitment, or take a stand (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) If we deconstruct (that is, study the history) of the word “coy,” we will discover that it is most often applied to women. In fact, being coy was for a long time considered part of traditional, typical and expected female behaviour. Being coy was considered part of the “essence” of being a woman. Therefore, when a woman said “no,” it was understood that she really meant “yes.” The word “coy” is a good example to demonstrate how sexism can be subtly inscribed in the language. In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet actually apologizes to Romeo for her failing to be coy, but she tells him, “I’ll prove more true than those that have the cunning to be strange.” “To be strange” here means the same thing as “to be coy.” cuckold (noun) 1. the husband of an unfaithful wife. (verb) 2. to make a cuckold of (a husband). [ allusion to the cuckoo's habit of laying its eggs in other birds' nests] (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) deconstruction (noun) a philosophical and critical movement, starting in the 1960s and especially applied to the study of literature, that questions all traditional assumptions about the ability of language to represent reality and emphasizes that a text has no stable reference or identification because words essentially only refer to other words [. . .] (Random House Unabridged Dictionary). This term and its verb form, “to deconstruct,” are strongly associated with Jacques Derrida, a French philosopher, and a paper he delivered in 1966 at Johns Hopkins University entitled “Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences.” When questioned after the presentation, Derrida defined deconstruction by saying: “Here or there I have used the word déconstruction, which has nothing to do with destruction. That is to say, it is simply a question of (and this is the necessity of criticism in the classical sense of the word) being alert to the implications, to the historical sedimentation of the language we use [. . .].” (Davis, Robert Con ed. Contemporary Literary Criticism 497). In Against Deconstruction, John M. Ellis pointed out that deconstruction turns out to be principally a movement against essentialism (35). By deconstructing words, and therefore concepts, we discover that they are constructed over time within a culture and in relation to other words. The meaning of a word does not come from its reference to an “essence” existing in reality and outside of language. decorum ( noun) 1. dignified propriety of behavior, speech, dress, etc. 2. the quality or state of being decorous; orderliness; regularity. 3. Usually, decorums. an observance or requirement of polite society. —Synonyms: politeness, manners, dignity. See etiquette. dialectic (adjective) Also, dialectical. 1. of, pertaining to, or of the nature of logical argumentation. 2. dialectal. –(noun). 3. the art or practice of logical discussion as employed in investigating the truth of a theory or opinion. 4. logical argumentation. 5. Often, dialectics. a. logic or any of its branches. b. any formal system of reasoning or thought. 6. See Hegelian dialectic. dysphemism (noun) 1.   the substitution of a harsh, disparaging, or unpleasant expression for a more neutral one. 2.   an expression so substituted. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) The antonym (word meaning the opposite) is euphemism. Some examples of common dysphemisms are: "knocked up" (for pregnant),  "to fuck" (for " to have sexual intercourse"), "on the rag" (for "menstruating"), " pissed off" (for " angry"). dystopia (noun) a modern term invented as the opposite of utopia, and applied to any alarmingly unpleasant imaginary world, usually of the projected future. The term is also applied to fictional works depicting such worlds. A significant form of science fiction and of modern satire, dystopian writing is exemplified in H.G. Wells's The Time Machine (1895) and George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). (Concise  Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms) earnest (adjective) 1. serious in intention, purpose, or effort; sincerely zealous: an earnest worker. 2. showing depth and sincerity of feeling: earnest words; an earnest entreaty. 3. seriously important; demanding or receiving serious attention. Synonyms: fervent, intent, purposeful, determined, industrious, ambitious. EARNEST, RESOLUTE, SERIOUS, SINCERE imply having qualities of depth and firmness. EARNEST implies having a purpose and being steadily and soberly eager in pursuing it: an earnest student. RESOLUTE adds a quality of determination: resolute in defending the right. SERIOUS implies having depth and a soberness  of attitude that contrasts with gaiety and frivolity; it may include the qualities of both earnestness and resolution: serious and thoughtful.  SINCERE suggests genuineness, trustworthiness, and absence of superficiality: a sincere interest in music. (Random House  Unabridged Dictionary) essay (noun) a short written composition in prose that discusses a subject or proposes an argument without claiming to be a complete or thorough exposition. A minor literary form, the essay is more relaxed than the formal academic dissertation. The term ('trying out') was coined by the French writer Michel de Montaigne in the tile of his Essais (1580), the first modern example of the form. Francis Bacon's Essays (1597) began the tradition of essays in English. (Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms) essentialism  The idea that words get their meanings from one-to-one correspondence with the “essences” of objects in the world.   etiquette (noun) 1. conventional requirements as to social behavior; proprieties of conduct as established in any class or community or for any occasion. 2. a prescribed or accepted code of usage in matters of ceremony, as at a court or in official or other formal observances. 3. the code of ethical behavior regarding professional practice or action among the members of a profession in their dealings with each other: medical etiquette. [ —Synonyms:  DECORUM, PROPRIETY imply observance of the formal requirements governing behavior in polite society. ETIQUETTE refers to conventional forms and usages: the rules of etiquette. DECORUM suggests dignity and a sense of what is becoming or appropriate for a person of good breeding: a fine sense of decorum. PROPRIETY (usually plural) implies established conventions of morals and good taste: She never fails to observe the proprieties. ethnocentrism (noun) 1. the belief in the inherent superiority of one's own ethnic group or culture. 2. a tendency to view alien groups or cultures from the perspective of one's own. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) etymology (noun) 1. the derivation of a word. 2. an account of the history of a particular word or element of a word. 3. the study of historical linguistic change, esp. as manifested in individual words (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) euphemism (noun) 1.   the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt. 2.   the expression so substituted: "To pass away'" is a euphemism for "to die." (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) The antonym (word meaning the opposite) is dysphemism. Some examples of euphemisms are: "being in a family way" (for "pregnant") "having her lady's time" (for menstruating), "making love" or "being intimate" (for "having sexual intercourse"), "powder room" (for "toilet") fate (noun) 1. something that unavoidably befalls a person; fortune; lot: It is always his fate to be left behind. 2. the universal principle or ultimate agency by which the order of things is presumably prescribed; the decreed cause of events; time: Fate decreed that they would never meet again. 3. that which is inevitably predetermined; destiny: Death is our ineluctable fate. 4. a prophetic declaration of what must be: The oracle pronounced their fate. 5. death, destruction, or ruin. 6. the Fates, in Classical Mythology, three goddesses of destiny, known to the Greeks as the Moerae and to the Romans as the Parcae. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) NB This word is important and often comes up in discussions of tragedy.  Be careful not to confuse the word “fate” (destiny) with “faith” (religious or spiritual belief). Fate is often an important theme in tragedy. We see this theme in Oedipus, the King and Romeo and  Juliet. Some readers might also see the theme of fate in Streetcar Named Desire. genre (noun)  A type or category of literature or film marked by certain shared features or conventions. The three broadest categories of genre include poetry, drama, and fiction. These general genres are often subdivided into more specific genres and subgenres. For instance, precise examples of genres might include murder mysteries, westerns, sonnets, lyric poetry, epics, tragedies, etc. Bookstores, libraries, and services like Redbox or Netflix may label and subdivide their books or films into genres for the convenience of shoppers seeking a specific category of literature.  (Literary Terms and Definitions at http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_G.html) I have typically listed the literary genres as poetry, drama and prose, with prose divided in fiction and non-fiction, fiction into novels and short stories.  As you can see the number of genres can quickly expand and become a bit chaotic.  I have found it useful to offer this pie chart to illustrate the differences and connections among tragedy, comedy, satire and melodrama--the most typical genres of drama and fiction. Comedy and tragedy are in direct opposition to each other in terms of their most typical features; nonetheless, there is a genre called  tragicomedy which incorporates features of both.  Satire and melodrama are directly opposed to each other, but G.B. Shaw labelled his  play The Devil's Disciple "a melodrama," while intending it to be a satire.  All variations are possible.  However, the line between  side-by-side genres is sometimes blurry and often debated when it comes time to categorize a specific literary work. For example,  historically some critics have claimed that the play, Streetcar Named Desire isn't a tragedy, but that it is a melodrama.  Both genres  share intense emotions as a potential feature.  A melodrama shares features of both tragedy and comedy.  Some comedies seem close  to melodrama, in particular, if they are love stories.  We typically categorize these plays, films and stories as romantic comedies.  Some  satires lean strongly toward comedy, like the short stories and novels of Kurt Vonnegut.  Some satires lean toward tragedy like Orwell's  1984 and Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. The pie chart is useful in clarifying some of what is going on in the film adaptations of literary works; i.e. how much a work is being  transformed and effects of specific changes.  For example, Kurt Vonnegut's short story "Who am this time?" is a comic satire, but is  transformed into a romantic comedy in the TV movie of the same name.  By changing the ending of the play in the film version, Elia  Kazen transformed Streetcar Named Desire from a tragedy with satiric leanings into a melodrama.  Film adaptation of A Handmaid's  Tale transformed the story into a melodrama, and so on. grammar (noun) 1. the study of the way the sentences of a language are constructed; morphology and syntax. 2. these features or constructions themselves: English grammar. 3. an account of these features; a set of rules accounting for these constructions: a grammar of English. 4. Generative Grammar. a device, as a body of rules, whose output is all of the sentences that are permissible in a given language, while excluding all those that are not permissible. 5. See prescriptive grammar. 6. knowledge or usage of the preferred or prescribed forms in speaking or writing: She said his grammar was terrible. 7. the elements of any science, art, or subject. 8. a book treating such elements. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) haste (noun) 1. swiftness of motion; speed; celerity: He performed his task with great haste. They felt the need for haste. 2. urgent need of quick action; a hurry or rush: to be in haste to get ahead in the world. 3. unnecessarily quick action; thoughtless, rash, or undue speed: Haste makes waste. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) Adjective form is "hasty." Traditional expression "to make haste" means "to hurry" or "to rush." Hegelian dialectic (noun) an interpretive method, originally used to relate specific entities or events to the absolute idea, in which some assertible proposition (thesis) is necessarily opposed by an equally assertible and apparently contradictory proposition (antithesis), the mutual contradiction being reconciled on a higher level of truth by a third proposition (synthesis). hegemony (noun) "the OED defines that which is 'hegemonic' as 'the ruling part, the master-principle'. Often used to refer to power which is so dominant that it appears unquestionable, even natural" ("Glossary." Allen, Graham. Intertextuality). hermeneutics (noun) The science of interpretation. heterosexual ( adjective) 1. of, pertaining to, or exhibiting heterosexuality. 2. Biol. pertaining to the opposite sex or to both sexes. –n. 3. a heterosexual person. heterosexuality (noun) sexual feeling or behavior directed toward a person or persons of the opposite sex. hyperbole (noun) A figure of speech that is an intentional exaggeration for emphasis or comic effect. (Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature) hypocrisy (noun) 1. a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess. 2. a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude. hypocrite (noun) 1. a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, esp. a person whose actions belie stated beliefs. 2. a person who feigns some desirable or publicly approved attitude, esp. one whose private life, opinions, or statements belie his or her public statements. —hypocritical (adjective) —hypocritically (adverb) —Synonyms: deceiver, dissembler, pretender, pharisee. ideology (noun) 1.the body of doctrine, myth, belief, etc., that guides an individual, social movement, institution, class, or large group. 2. such a body of doctrine, myth, etc., with reference to some political and social plan, as that of fascism, along with the devices for putting it into operation. 3. in philosophy, the study of the nature and origin of ideas.a system that derives ideas exclusively from sensation. 4. theorizing of a visionary or impractical nature. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) in his book Ideology: An Introduction, Terry Eagleton describes ideology as follows: " A dominant power may legitimate itself by promoting beliefs and values congenial to it; naturalizing and universalizing such beliefs so as to render them self-evident and apparently inevitable; denigrating ideas which might challenge it; excluding rival forms of thought, perhaps by some unspoken but systematic logic; and obscuring social reality in ways convenient to itself. Such `mystification', as it is commonly known, frequently takes the form of masking or suppressing social conflicts, from which arises the conception of ideology as an imaginary resolution of real contradictions" (5-6). intertextuality (noun) a term coined by Julia Kristeva to designate the various relationships that a given text may have with other texts. These intertextual relationships include anagram, allusion, adaptation, translation, parody, pastiche, imitation and other kinds of transformation. The literary theories of structuralism and post-structuralism, texts are seen to refer to other texts (or to themselves as texts) rather than to external reality. The term intertext has been used variously for a text drawing on other texts, for a text thus drawn upon, and for the relationship between both. (Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms) In Intertextuality, Graham Allen describes "intertextuality" in the opening of the book this way: The idea that when we read a work of literature we are seeking to find a meaning which lies inside that work seems completely commonsensical. Literary texts possess meaning; readers extract that meaning from them. We call the process of extracting meaning from texts reading or interpretation. Despite their apparent obviousness, such ideas have been radically challenged in contemporary literary and cultural theory. Works of literature, after all, are built from systems, codes and traditions established by previous works of literature. The systems, codes and traditions of other art forms and of culture in general are also crucial to the meaning of a work of literature. Texts, whether they be literary or non-literary, are viewed by modern theorists as lacking in any kind of independent meaning. They are what theorists now call intertextual. The act of reading, theorists claim, plunges us into a network of textual relations. To interpret a text, to discover its meaning or meanings, is to trace those relations. Reading thus becomes a process of moving between texts. Meaning becomes something which exists between a text and all other texts to which it refers and relates, moving out from the independent text into a network of textual relations. The text becomes the intertext. (1) irony (noun) The three traditional types of irony are: i) verbal irony, saying something but you mean something else, sometimes the opposite (antiphrasis); this is the dictionary definition (i.e., opposite meaning) but this is rare in real life and literature.  When people think of "irony," what often comes to mind is "sarcasm," which is a low form of verbal irony. ii) situational irony; when the opposite of what we expect to happen happens; also called the irony of fate; this strongly applies to Oedipus, the King iii) dramatic irony; so-called because it often occurs in plays (theatre, film and TV); a situation becomes amusing because we know something that one or more of the characters doesn’t; example, John starts talking to his wife Mary about his “good friend” Steven while Steven is hiding in the bedroom closet Linda Hutcheon, in Irony's Edge, describes what she calls "semantic irony" as always having two meanings and those meanings rub against each other. What is the final meaning of an ironic statement? Consider the rabbit/duck image:  As with the duck/rabbit image,  irony “happens” when we are faced with two or more meanings and they conflict with each other. We have to hold on to both (or all) the meanings. The problem with these various descriptions and types of irony (verbal, situational, dramatic, semantic) is that they all seem so different from one another.  In my own thinking, Paul de Man's description of irony as an extended form of "parabasis" (179) is useful because it is more encompassing and comprehensive than anything else I have encountered. "Parabasis," in de Man's words, "is the interruption of a discourse by a shift in rhetorical register" (178). I see the shift of register (of say from a serious tone to comic or vice versa, or maybe religious register to scientific, or formal to vernacular) as the key to signaling verbal irony. The idea of "the interruption of a discourse" goes a long way in describing all forms of irony.  "Discourse" in a basic sense is just the way sentences are held or glued together with expression like "on the other hand,"  "however," "additionally" and "in conclusion."  A discourse can be something broader and vaguer like the theme of a composition or  speech which we can demonstrate by noting repeated words, synonyms or concepts. Putting something into a speech that contracts or seems to mock the seriousness of your own theme can be called "ironic."  A "narrative discourse" is how a story is held together, usually through a build-up of expectations based on the formulas that stories often follow or thematic elements and the ethos of the characters.  Irony in this case is a particular twist in the story that contradicts expectation in a particularly sharp, incisive, poetic and surprising way; i.e, "situational irony."  To reach my conclusion I have to invent another form of discourse, which I would have to call "mental discourse" which is a mental construct of our expectations which erases the absolute distinction between a discourse and a situation.  Imagine you are looking out the window on a cold, rainy, sleet-filled day and a friend sidles up beside you and says "Beautiful weather."  You both know that he is being ironic because his comment contradicts, is incongruous in, this situation.  I would describe this situation as a "mental discourse" of expectations which his comment "interrupts."  The same argument can be applied to dramatic irony. You might argue that the "interruption of a discourse" could be something random rather than ironic.  I have noticed that many instances of what I would call "ironic" and consequently comic or dramatic, my son and his cohort call "random."   The ironic and the random are clearly on the same axis.   To return to the pedagogical issue discussed in my posting on irony (Do No Harm Part II:  Avoid Irony), keep in mind, that if you employ irony in your teaching or lecturing, you are "interrupting" your own discourse. literal (adjective) 1. in accordance with, involving, or being the primary or strict meaning of the word or words; not figurative or metaphorical: the literal meaning of a word. 2. following the words of the original very closely and exactly: a literal translation of Goethe. 3. true to fact; not exaggerated; actual or factual: a literal description of conditions. 4. being actually such, without exaggeration or inaccuracy: the literal extermination of a city. 5. (of persons) tending to construe words in the strict sense or in an unimaginative way; matter-of-fact; prosaic. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) literary (adjective) 1. pertaining to or of the nature of books and writings, especially those classed as literature: literary history. 2. pertaining to authorship: literary style. 3. versed in or acquainted with literature; well-read. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) love (noun) 1. a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person. 2. a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend. 3. sexual passion or desire. 4. a person toward whom love is felt; beloved person; sweetheart. 5. (used in direct address as a term of endearment, affection, or the like): Would you like to see a movie, love? 6. a love affair; an intensely amorous incident; amour. 7. sexual intercourse; copulation. 8. (cap.) a personification of sexual affection, as Eros or Cupid. 9. affectionate concern for the well-being of others: the love of one's neighbor. 10. strong predilection, enthusiasm, or liking for anything: her love of books. 11. the object or thing so liked: The theater was her great love. 12. the benevolent affection of God for His creatures, or the reverent affection due from them to God. 13. Chiefly Tennis. a score of zero; nothing. 14. a word formerly used in communications to represent the letter L. 15. for love, a. out of affection or liking; for pleasure. b. without compensation; gratuitously: He took care of the poor for love. 16. for the love of, in consideration of; for the sake of: For the love of mercy, stop that noise. 17. in love, infused with or feeling deep affection or passion: a youth always in love. 18. in love with, feeling deep affection or passion for (a person, idea, occupation, etc.); enamored of: in love with the girl next door;  in love with one's work. 19. make love, a. to embrace and kiss as lovers. b. to engage in sexual activity. 20. no love lost, dislike; animosity: There was no love lost between the two brothers. –v.t. 21. to have love or affection for: All her pupils love her. 22. to have a profoundly tender, passionate affection for (another person). 23. to have a strong liking for; take great pleasure in: to love music. 24. to need or require; benefit greatly from: Plants love sunlight. 25. to embrace and kiss (someone), as a lover. 26. to have sexual intercourse with. –v.i. 27. to have love or affection for another person; be in love. 28. love up, to hug and cuddle: She loves him up every chance she gets. —Syn. 1. tenderness, fondness, predilection, warmth, passion, adoration. 1, 2. LOVE, AFFECTION, DEVOTION all mean a deep and enduring emotional regard, usually for another person. LOVE may apply to various kinds of regard: the charity of the Creator, reverent adoration toward God or toward a person, the relation of parent and child, the regard of friends for each other, romantic feelings for another person, etc. AFFECTION is a fondness for others that is enduring and tender, but calm. DEVOTION is an i ntense love and steadfast, enduring loyalty to a person; it may also imply consecration to a cause. 2. liking, inclination, regard,  friendliness. 21. like. 22. adore, adulate, worship. —Ant. 1, 2. hatred, dislike. 21, 22. detest, hate. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) maidenhead (noun) 1. the hymen. 2. maidenhood; virginity. metaphor (noun) 1. a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in "A mighty fortress is our God.' 2. something used, or regarded as being used, to represent something else; emblem; symbol (Random House Unabridged Dictionary). metaphysical (adjective) 1.pertaining to or of the nature of metaphysics. 2. In philosophy: concerned with abstract thought or subjects, as existence, causality, or truth. Concerned with first principles and ultimate grounds, as being, time, or substance. 3. highly abstract, subtle, or abstruse. 4. designating or pertaining to the poetry of an early group of 17th-century English poets, notably John Donne, whose characteristic style is highly intellectual and philosophical and features intensive use of ingenious conceits and turns of wit metonym (noun) a figure of speech that consists of the use of the name of one object or concept for that of another to which it is related, or of which it is a part, as "scepter' for "sovereignty,' or "the bottle' for "strong drink,' or "count heads (or noses)' for "count people." (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) See Wikipedia for a discussion of the concept of metonymy, as opposed to metaphor, and its importance in cognition and linguistics. nature (noun) Few terms are so important to the student of literature--and so difficult--as this one. [. . . .] Both neoclassicists and romanticists would  "follow Nature"; but the former drew from the term ideas of order, regularity, and universality, both in "external" nature and in human nature, while the latter found in nature the justification for their enthusiasm for irregularity ('wildness") in external nature and for individualism in human nature. Other contradictory senses may be noted: the term nature might mean, on the one hand, human  nature (typical human behavior), or, on the other hand, whatever is antithetical to human nature and human works--ahs has not been  "spoiled" by human beings. (A Handbook to Literature) novel (noun) a prose narrative fiction of considerable length and complexity oxymoron (noun) a figure of speech which seems incongruous or contradictory, or has a seemingly self-contradictory effect, as in "cruel kindness' or "to make haste slowly." (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) In the poem "To His Coy Mistress," "vegetable love" is an example of an oxymoron. In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet tells Romeo that "parting is such sweet sorrow." "Sweet sorrow" has become the most famous oxymoron in English literature. (Random House  Unabridged Dictionary) pantheism (noun) A philosophic-religious attitude which finds the spirit of God manifest in all things and which holds that whereas all things speak the glory of God it is equally true that the glory of God is made up of all things. Finite objects are at once both God and the manifestation of God. The term is impossible to define exactly since it is so personal a conviction as to be differently interpreted by different philosophers but for its literary significance, it is clearly enough described as an ardent faith in NATURE as both the revelation of deity and deity itself. (A Handbook to Literature) personification (noun) 1. the attribution of a personal nature or character to inanimate objects or abstract notions, esp. as a rhetorical figure. 2. the representation of a thing or abstraction in the form of a person, as in art. 3. the person or thing embodying a quality or the like; an embodiment or incarnation: He is the personification of tact. 4. an imaginary person or creature conceived or figured to represent a thing or abstraction. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) play (noun) 1. a dramatic composition or piece; drama. 2. a dramatic performance, as on the stage. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) poem (noun) a composition in verse postmodernism (noun) term used to designate a multitude of trends in the arts, philosophy, religion, technology, and many other areas that come after and deviate from the many 20th-century movements that constituted modernism. [. . .. ] Widely debated with regard to its meaning and implications, postmodernism has also been said to relate to the culture of capitalism as it has developed since the 1960s. In general, the postmodern view is cool, ironic, and accepting of the fragmentation of contemporary existence. It tends to concentrate on surfaces rather than depths, to blur the distinctions between high and low culture, and as a whole to challenge a wide variety of traditional cultural values. (The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition) poststructuralism (noun) Any of various theories or methods of analysis, including deconstruction and some psychoanalytic theories, that deny the validity of structuralism's method of binary opposition and maintain that meanings and intellectual categories are shifting and unstable. (The  American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.) promiscuity (noun) 1. the state of being promiscuous. 2. promiscuous sexual behavior. 3. an indiscriminate mixture. promiscuous (adjective) 1. characterized by or involving indiscriminate mingling or association, esp. having sexual relations with a number of partners on a casual basis. 2. consisting of parts, elements, or individuals of different kinds brought together without order. 3. indiscriminate; without discrimination. 4. casual; irregular; haphazard. —Syn. 1. unchaste. 2. hodgepodge, confused, mixed, jumbled. See miscellaneous. 3. careless. —Ant. 1, 2. pure. 3. selective. propriety (noun) 1. conformity to established standards of good or proper behavior or manners. 2. appropriateness to the purpose or circumstances; suitability. 3. rightness or justness. 4. the proprieties, the conventional standards of proper behavior; manners: to observe the proprieties. —Synonyms: decency, modesty. See etiquette. 2. aptness, fitness, seemliness. 3. correctness. psychoanalysis ( noun) 1. a systematic structure of theories concerning the relation of conscious and unconscious psychological processes. 2. a technical procedure for investigating unconscious mental processes and for treating psychoneuroses. (Random House  Unabridged Dictionary) pun (noun) 1. the humorous use of a word or phrase so as to emphasize or suggest its different meanings or applications, or the use of words that are alike or nearly alike in sound but different in meaning; a play on words. 2. the word or phrase used in this way. (verb) 3. to make puns. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) For examples and further discussion see: http://grammar.about.com/od/pq/g/punterm.htm Puritan (noun) 1. a member of a group of Protestants that arose in the 16th century within the Church of England, demanding the simplifications of doctrine and worship, and greater strictness in religious discipline: during part of the 17th century the Puritans became a powerful political party. 2. a person who is strict in moral or religious matters, often excessively so. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) Note: When referring to a member of this religious group, "Puritan" is capitalized. When referring to someone who is "strict in moral or religious matters" but not a member of the religious group, "puritan" is in lower case. The adjective form is "puritanical." quenchen (verb) Middle English verb meaning "quench, extinguish, put an end to." ("Glossary." The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. 2nd Edtion, edited by F.N. Robinson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1957.) queynte (noun) "pudendum" [that is, female genitalia, vulva, vagina] ("Glossary." The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. 2nd Edtion, edited by F.N. Robinson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1957.) Note: the word is derived from the verb "quenchen." queynte (adjective) "strange, curious, curiously contrived; elaborate, ornamented; neat; artful, sly; graceful; 'make it queynte,' be offish or disdainful, make it strange or difficult; also show pleasure or satisfaction. ("Glossary." The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. 2nd Edtion, edited by F.N. Robinson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1957.) Note we can see both the noun and adjective forms of the Middle English word "queynte" in the description of Nicolas's first attempt to make a pass at Alyson in "The Miller's Tale": Whil that hir housbonde was at Oseneye, As clerkes ben ful subtile and ful queynte And privelyy he caught hire by the queynte, And seyde, "Ywis, but if ich have my wille, For deerne love of thee, lemman, I spille." (3274-3278) raisonneur (noun) A character in a drama who is the level-headed, calm personification of reason and logical action. (A Handbook to Literature) restoration (noun) 1. the act of restoring; renewal, revival, or reestablishment. 2. the state or fact of being restored. 3. a return of something to a former, original, normal, or unimpaired condition. 4. restitution of something taken away or lost. 5. something that is restored, as by renovating. 6. a reconstruction or reproduction of an ancient building, extinct animal, or the like, showing it in its original state. 7. a putting back into a former position, dignity, etc. 8. Dentistry. a. the work, process, or result of replacing or restoring teeth or parts of teeth. b. something that restores or replaces teeth or parts of teeth, as a filling, crown, or denture. 9. the Restoration, a. the re-establishment of the monarchy in England with the return of Charles II in 1660. b. the period of the reign of Charles II (1660–85), sometimes extended to include the reign of James II (1685–88). –adj. 10. (cap) of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the Restoration: Restoration manners. Restoration comedy English comedy of the period of the Restoration, stressing manners and social satire. rhetoric (noun) 1. (in writing or speech) the undue use of exaggeration or display; bombast. 2. the art or science of all specialized literary uses of language in prose or verse, including the figures of speech. 3. the study of the effective use of language. 4. the ability to use language effectively. 5. the art of prose in general as opposed to verse. 6. the art of making persuasive speeches; oratory. 7. (in classical oratory) the art of influencing the thought and conduct of an audience. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) satire (noun) "a text which ridicules [mocks] or ironically comments on socially recognizable tendencies [and the tendencies of a society] or the style or form of another text or author" ("Glossary." Allen, Graham. Intertextuality). scabbard (noun) The holster or case in which the blade of a sword or dagger is kept; a sheath. The English word "vagina" (1682) and the French word "vagin" derive from the Latin "vagin" or "vagino" meaning scabbord or sheath. Pictures of scabbards and swords. semiotics, or semiolgogy "The systematic study of signs, or, more precisely, of the production of meanings from sign-systems, linguistic or non-linguistic" (Baldick, Chris. Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms). "Sign-systems can be any recognizable field of human communication. Clothing might signify withing the cultural fashion system, for example. semiotics and semiology as developed in structuralism and poststructuralism can treat anything emanating from a signifying system as a text to be read" (Allen, Graham. Intertextuality. "Glossary."). short story (noun) a piece of prose fiction, usually under 10,000 words. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) shrift (noun) 1. the imposition of penance by a priest on a penitent after confession. 2. absolution or remission of sins granted after confession and penance. 3. confession to a priest. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) simile (noun) a figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly compared, as in "she is like a rose." (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) structuralism (noun) 1.   any theory that embodies structural principles. 2.   See structural anthropology. 3. See structural linguistics." a movement which stems particularly from Saussure's vision of semiology, the study of all the sign-systems operative in culture. Structuralism took texts, from works of literature to aspects of everyday communication, and accounted for them in terms of the system from which they were produced" ("Glossary." Allen, Graham. Intertextuality. ) structural anthropology a school of anthropology founded by Claude Lévi-Strauss and based loosely on the principles of structural linguistics structural linguistics 1.   approach to language study in which a language is analyzed as an independent network of formal systems, each of which is composed of elements that are defined in terms of their contrasts with other elements in the system. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) tragedy (noun) 1. a dramatic composition, often in verse, dealing with a serious or somber theme, typically that of a great person destined through a  flaw of character or conflict with some overpowering force, as fate or society, to downfall or destruction. 2. the branch of the drama that is concerned with this form of composition. 3. the art and theory of writing and producing tragedies. 4. any literary composition, as a novel, dealing with a somber theme carried to a tragic conclusion. 5. the tragic element of drama, of literature generally, or of life. 6. a lamentable, dreadful, or fatal event or affair; calamity; disaster: the tragedy of war. [[ goat + song; reason for name variously explained] (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) transtextuality (noun) " . . . all that sets the text in a relationship, whether obvious or concealed, with other texts" (Genette, Gérard. Palimpsests: Literature  in the Second Degree). Genette's term "transtextuality" is his particular variation on the idea most other critics call intertextuality. He reduces the term intertextuality to "a relationship of copresence between two texts or among several texts . . . the actual presence of one text within another." ("Glossary." Allen, Graham. Intertextuality. ) Genette categories the various forms of transtextuality; that is, all the possible relations between two texts, as follows: i) intertextuality: quotation, allusion and plagiarism ii) paratextuality: titles, covers, epigraphs, introductions iii) metatextual: a critical relationship iv) architextuality: genre suggested by title v) hypertextuality: hypertext to hypotext; film adaptations are often described as "hypertexts" with the literary upon which the film is based called a "hypotext" Utopia [or utopia] (noun) 1. an imaginary island described in Sir Thomas More's Utopia (1516) as enjoying perfection in law, politics, etc. 2. an ideal place or state. 3. any visionary system of political or social perfection. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) [literally, "utopia" = no where] woo (verb) to seek the favor [favour], affection, or love of, especially with a view to marriage. Synonyms: court, pursue, chase. Origin: before 1050; Middle English "wowe," Old English "wōgian"  (Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2015.) As discussed in my earlier posting, "How to Make Love to a Logophile," until the 1920s the expression "to make love" meant "to court" or "to woo."  "Woo" is used a half dozen times in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.  My favourite instance occurs when Juliet realizes that she has not followed the proper feminine behaviour according to the rules of courtly love and tells Romeo: "[. . .]if thou think'st I am too quickly won, I'll frown and be perverse an say thee nay, So thou wilt woo; [. . .]"