Naslov
Methodical Approach to a Literary Character
(Metodički pristup književnom liku)

Autori
Šušić, Mirela

Izvornik
European Journal of Language and Literature (2411-4103) 6 (2020), 3; 39-53

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
literature methodology, teaching literature, literary character, characterization, interpretation
(metodika književnosti, nastava književnosti, književni lik, karakterizacija, interpretacija)

Sažetak
The literary character is a structural and semantic element of the literary work as a whole. Depending on the perspective from which it is observed, the predominant spiritual and scientific basis and the genre in which it appears, the literary character is further referred to as a hero, personality, figure, agent or actor. It is an instance of a literary text and one of the structural elements of a literary work, but also an independent system. The terms “personality” and “character” are often equated, but at the same time there are differences in the context of their use. In this sense, character is usually regarded as a “broader concept”, whilst personality is attributed to people when a certain individuality and relative stability with respect to changes is assumed. The vagueness of the term personality is also due to the fact that it is generally used in everyday speech as a positive or negative trait of an individual in the ethical and psychological sense and a description of their psychological characteristics, particularly in relation to attitudes, emotional relationships and motivation. It is precisely this usage of the term personality in everyday speech that makes it closer and more relevant to students in teaching literature. Therefore, personality as a structural component of a literary work is oftentimes given as the starting point for the interpretation of a literary work in teaching literature. Nevertheless, in the traditional personality analysis in literary works, this vagueness of the concept of personality is often reduced to an evaluation of their ethical attitudes, i.e. attention is paid to whether the personality is positive or negative. In this way, one loses sight of the fictionality of the literary personality as a phenomenon that exists exclusively in a literary work, which is the only one “giving” it ethical attributes and psychological characteristics. In contrast to traditional literary analysis, the character analysis in recent literary science frequently focuses on the characterization process, which has also had a rather positive effect on the methodological approach to the literary character in teaching literature.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Književnost

POVEZANOST RADA