Jameson and Frye: The continued discussion of the romance genre in theory and practice.

摘要

Critical theory's prominence and influence in the last two decades have significantly altered critical standards. One such standard that has come under theoretical scrutiny is genre. A preeminent and influential theorist who has assessed the nature of genre is Fredric Jameson. His pivotal text, The Political Unconscious: Narrative as Socially Symbolic Act, has been treated as a major polemical statement in theory and has been assessed as a significant reassessment of genre theory. This study analyzes Jameson's contribution to genre studies, focussing primarily on his work with the romance genre.; To grasp Jameson's effect and significance, this study presents some preliminary analysis of the romance genre. In the second chapter, this study reassesses Northrop Frye's contributions to romance genre studies. In the third chapter, this study assesses two critical claims on the romance. The first claim is that the romance is still readable because the genre's thematics are "universal" and transcend local historical contexts. The second claim involves the relationship between the romance and the novel. These preliminary discussions of readability, genre relationships, and Northrop Frye contribute to this study's analysis of Fredric Jameson.; In chapters four and five, this study critiques Jameson's work on the romance. Jameson's discussions of genre theory and the romance genre are deeply embedded with the ideological elements that he absorbed from Northrop Frye. His work also returns to the romance as a viable narrative alternative to pure realism. Nevertheless, Jameson's work is surrounded by discussions on his controversial theoretical polemics. At the same time, his discussion of the relationship of genre (especially the romance) to a materialist critique is treated as a logical, if not elegant, understanding of praxis. In this sense Jameson's work has been institutionalized by theory and composed in part by the previous practices in criticism.; In chapter six, this study finally confronts June Howard's discussion of Jameson's genre theory. Howard's discussion reveals how recent theory's engagements are not to be construed as pure and neutral but are constituted by previous practices, either theoretically or traditionally.