258 Bible Poems

A comparative study of the literary theories of structuralism and deconstruction--both of which aim to pursue the meaning of the text. The view that structuralism and deconstruction are completely opposite is wrong. The basic ideas of structuralism and deconstruction on text interpretation should be complementary, and in the final analysis, they are essentially aimed at tracing back and excavating the deep meaning of the text. 1. Structuralism and Deconstruction: Marriage behind "Confrontation" Saussure's symbolic theory divides symbols into signifier and signified. Any language, from words to sentences, is composed of signifier and signified. Saussure's signifier and signified concepts constitute a structural model for finding language meaning, which plays an important role in the interest and development of structuralism. However, in Derrida's view, Saussure's structuralist language is a branch of Logocentrism in western metaphysics and must be dispelled. Logocentrism originated from the Greek word Logos, which means "language" or "definition". The New Testament says that "everything begins with words", so language is promoted to the center of the ultimate source of all truth. From the perspective of language differences, structuralism and deconstruction seem to be opposite, but they are related in origin and complementary in text interpretation. 1 From center to edge. Since Saussure, structuralism has stepped into the steps of form, mode and structure, and its purpose is to establish a discourse authority center that tracks the deep meaning structure. Jacobson uses phonetics to analyze poetry and make it form a functional structure. The principle that all its elements can only be understood within the same framework actually establishes a poetic authority structure center for the creation and interpretation of poetry. Levi-Strauss created a structuralist analysis method through the analysis of Oedipus and other mythological structures, which is actually moving towards the authoritative discourse center of a mythical structure. Bart advocates an authoritative center and thinks that manufacturing activities are meaningful. "Center" thus forms a certain reliable deep discourse structure. Binary opposition text analysis method is an analysis mode, that is, the research object is regarded as some structural components, and the conversion relationship of opposition, connection and arrangement is found from these components, so as to understand the composite structure of the object. [1] (P 17), a dual structure pattern, exists in a large number in the history of literature. Balzac wrote in his letter to The Duchess of Distortion: "As far as I know, my personality is the most special. I observe myself like others; My five-foot-two body contains all possible differences and contradictions. Some people think I am arrogant, romantic, stubborn, frivolous, rash, arrogant, negligent, lazy, slack, reckless, calm, talkative, rash, impolite, surly and good-natured, while others think I am frugal, modest, brave, tenacious, resolute, untidy, diligent and persistent. People who call me timid are not necessarily more unreasonable than those who call me brave. For example, it is the same whether I have knowledge or ignorance, ability or stupidity. " [2] Balzac's two opposing personalities are reflected in his works, forming a complex group of characters with beauty and ugliness, good and evil, and authenticity. [1] (P 172) These two opposing concrete concepts and contents are all completed by the narrative of language structure, and literature has now become the language of the language state itself. Therefore, Barthes concluded that "what happened in narrative works, from the point of view of (real) things, is completely false. What happened is only language, which is the experience of language, and the production of language has been warmly welcomed." [3] Lacan also introduced some linguistic viewpoints in Psychoanalysis, arguing that the subconscious can only be described scientifically with the help of structuralist linguistics: "Unconscious discourse has a linguistic structure", and he also reinterpreted Freud's psychoanalytic view from a linguistic perspective. [4] (P258) In this way, a structuralist discourse power center based on language structure is constructed, and all text creation, analysis, interpretation and criticism point to this discourse power center, so that it does not dare to cross the line. 1968 France's "May Storm" just proved this point. At that time, in the "May Storm", passionate students took to the streets to demonstrate, which threatened and frightened the French capitalist state machine to a certain extent, while structuralist scholars hid in their study and did not come forward to support the student movement in order to maintain the balance and stability of the overall structural order, which was very conservative. At this time, the fierce student movement began to attack the whole, structure, order, hierarchy and authoritarianism, and turned to believe in deconstruction represented by Derrida. This is a rebellion against the "center" and alienation, which marks the beginning of deconstruction. Derrida 1966' s paper "Structure, Symbols and Games in Humanistic Discourse" read at Hopkins University clearly shows the end of structuralism and the arrival of deconstruction. From then on, Derrida began his deconstruction and lashed out at structuralism. Derrida's deconstruction began with structuralist linguistics, the originator of structuralism. Saussure said: "Language can be compared to a piece of paper: thoughts are positive and voices are negative. We can't just cut the front without cutting the back. Similarly, in sound, we can't make the sound (signifier) leave the thought (signified), nor can we make the thought leave the sound. " [5] (P 15 1) Derrida called this signifier and its reference metaphysical theology, because he believed that the whole practice of limiting the principle of arbitrariness and difference to the signifier rather than including the signifier showed that the signifier has a direct relationship with the logos-centered theology, and such a signifier always turned to a creative existence or recourse, just as it always attached to its signified object. [4] (P368) Derrida is clearly aware of the historical task before him: we must break this metaphysical thought for thousands of years to dispel Logocentrism. Derrida's deconstruction of Logocentrism means that the future text and text language will gradually drift away from the discourse authority center of the mainstream ideology, which makes the mainstream ideology of text and text language marginalized, which also provides a theoretical footnote for "aphasia" in the post-modernism period. 2 from the whole to the broken. Structure is the core concept of structuralism, but it has also caused different interpretations by scholars. Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, believes that "a structure includes three characteristics: integrity, transformation and self-regulation". The whole is a whole system with internal organic relations, which is combined according to certain laws. Transformation is also called isomorphism, that is, the elements inside the structure are exchanged according to certain laws, which play a role in building the structure and determine the boundary of the structure. Self-discipline refers to the nature that the internal elements of the structure restrict each other and are not affected by the outside world. [6] The wholeness of structuralism (and the narrative study of the text) provides a very meaningful tool for text interpretation. For example, propp advocated the method of systematically describing fairy tales without paying attention to the exploration of origin, which was highly praised by Levi Strauss. [4] (P234) propp found that "fairy tales have duality: on the one hand, they are strange and colorful, on the other hand, they are the same" [4] (P235), which reflects his logical judgment from the perspective of fairy tales as a whole. "Same, same" is the surface structure of fairy tales, which can be perceived clearly without too much analysis. But the most puzzling thing is the deep structure, which is the unit of deep meaning lurking in the text and is invisible and intangible. We should use abstract methods to find out this deep-seated meaning unit under the integrity of narrative. In the structural analysis of stories, Hugo Mas attributed myths to three elements: [1] (p186) structure-the structural legal system of myths: a narrative type is the sum of the structural attributes of all fairy tales; B narrative type should not only regard myth as a cross-sentence unit, that is, a normative system, but also reflect the internal structure displayed by narrative mode. (2) Conventional classification narrative unit (meaning group): test meaning group (test); B contract meaning group (contract signing and cancellation); Separate meaning groups (leaving and returning). (3) The special meaning of information, namely the mythical phonetic symbol: a narrative information and a narrative interpretation; B. structural interpretation-structural information. According to Hugo Mas's classification of the three elements of myth, structuralist narratology regards genre as a systematic symbolic norm to highlight the integrity of text thinking and analysis. Deconstruction is also based on the systematization and integrity of the text, but its purpose is not to make the systematization and integrity of the text more perfect, but to destroy the system and the whole and dismember them into pieces. Derrida achieved his own deconstruction by overthrowing the fixed system or the whole order and reversing it. He believes that "in the two concepts of opposites in traditional philosophy, the parallel juxtaposition of opposites does not exist. In the hierarchical relationship of violence, the opposing party always dominates the other party (in the sense of axiology and logic, etc. To deconstruct this opposition, we must first subvert this sub-relationship under certain circumstances. " [7] In order to realize his subversive thought, he first started with the deconstruction of language centrism and purposefully created a very difficult concept: "difference". This means that there is no longer the so-called constant meaning of words and origins. All symbolic meanings are temporarily determined in a huge symbolic network, and new meanings are constantly emerging in the process of differentiation and delay. The new meaning of the text is also distinguished in delay, and another new meaning appears in delay. In this way, the system is disintegrated and the whole is broken, and a text can produce infinite meaning in "differentiation" and "delay" like a "magic cube". Besides delay, Derrida also created three important concepts: diffusion, trace and substitution. "Propagation" is Derrida's further expansion of the concept of "delay". The spread of words makes it impossible to convey meaning in a straight line, nor can it radiate from the center to the periphery like metaphysics, but it spreads everywhere like sowing seeds. "Trace" is the original loss, the absence in the presence and the shadow of existence. "Substitution" is a supplement and increase, but it implies a fundamental vacancy. These concepts fundamentally dismember the systematicness, integrity and stability of structuralism, just as a watch can never be reassembled after being disassembled (Miller's language). 3 From meaningful to nothingness. Both structuralism and deconstruction care about the same theme: the meaning of the text. Structuralism is to establish a meaningful structure to reveal the deep meaning of the text. Chomsky, an American linguist, believes that "language is not exhausted by its specific performance." It contains potential sentences that have never been said so far, which can present meaning and grammatical structure; For a person who has studied English, because he has the ability to understand sentences he has never touched, he has the language ability beyond language expression. [8] (P30) Structuralism is to find the potential discourse meaning in a stable structure with a rational attitude. In fact, long before structuralism appeared as a kind of "ism", Vico of Italy had tried to find some kind of text meaning structure. In New Science, he tried to find out the general formula of human phenomena, construct a kind of "human physics" and seek the "structure" of early human thinking. By Levi Strauss, structural anthropology had been formed, and he found that the change of any component in the structure (1) would cause the change of other components. (2) For any structure, it is possible to list a series of changes of the same kind. In this way, the meaning of the text can be framed in a constant pattern to avoid being "misread". This repetitive structure highlights the deep meaning of the text: meaningless and illogical language of human beings, emptiness and hopelessness of life and a kind of careless cruelty. Although the purpose of deconstruction is to discover the existence of meaning, it makes meaning illusory by destroying the eternal meaning structure. Derrida replaced "structure" with "meaning chain". Because the meaning chain is infinite and aimless, it excludes the idea that there is a dominant whole in the system; Because it is both spatial and temporal, it will not fall into the position of a whole or an object. [4] (P365) The "meaning chain" has lost its "object status" and can only wander in the air without any foundation, so the meaning will always become uncertain, and the text interpretation in this case will always be a "misunderstanding". De Man emphasizes the inconsistency between symbols and meanings of text language, and thinks that all languages have modifiers (such as metaphors and symbols), so all languages are deceptive, unreliable and uncertain. In his book Blindness and Insights, he pointed out that this contradiction, which is formed by the critic's unintentional displacement of the center and constantly appears in his own deconstruction, is a kind of "blindness", and the critic can only obtain "insights" with the help of some kind of blindness. In this sense, De Man's point of view is that insight is based on the hypothesis refuted by insight, and insight lies in blindness. [10] There is no doubt that this concept has made De Man completely slide into the abyss of nihilism, so the meaning of "flowers in the mirror, the moon in the water" mentioned in this paper is just an "illusion" that cannot be touched at all!