Explication de texte

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The explication de texte , often also referred to as explication française , is a method for analyzing literary texts that characterizes literary teaching in France and is a compulsory exercise for obtaining the Baccalauréat , the Concours , Agrégations and many other examination regulations.

It was introduced in 1880 by Gustave Lanson as part of the reform of the French university system and is still the defining way of looking at literature in French education, regardless of all paradigm shifts in literary theory. On various occasions, Romanists have characterized the practice of explication de texte as “sacrosanct”, “religion” or as a “rite of initiation”.

Much more than the usual German school essay , an explication follows a strict three-stage structure ( introduction, development, conclusion ). The given text, such as a poem or an excerpt from a novel, is first examined in detail for its formal and stylistic features, which are then put in relation to the whole in a second step to show how they serve the message of the text, and what this consists of. The method is strongly formalistic and basically inherent in the work , if only because the test person generally explores a text that is unknown to him, it is based on the assumption that the meaning of the text can be inferred through careful hermeneutic reading; Extra-textual references such as the historical context, the biography of the author or sociological and ideological considerations are neglected or deliberately excluded.

As a counter-reaction to biographical, historical or sociological causal analyzes of literary texts, the explication de texte established itself as a specific school or orientation in literary studies mainly from the 1930s to the early 1960s. In literary theory, the postulate of the autonomy of the individual literary work as a linguistic-aesthetic unit was taken as a basis. Accordingly, the literary study and text interpretation is not about a function or effect analysis of the literary text, but about the proof of the literary quality of individual works presupposed from the outset. This is objectified according to the ideas of the representatives of the explication de texte in the stylistic harmony as well as the coherence and consistency of all formal components in a text, i.e. the work style, or in the entire work of an author, i.e. the personal style, or in some cases in specific works in a specific time, ie the epoch or time style. Aspects such as the author's intention are not taken into account, since, as Staiger puts it, only “flawless beauty should be understood as such”. Works that do not conform to this implicit norm of aesthetic literariness have no claim to validity in the explication de texte .

In the English-language literary theory and didactics of the mid-20th century, the explication de texte found its counterpart in the practical criticism of IA Richards and the close reading of the New Critics , which, however, is much more strongly influenced by literary theoretical and ideological preconditions. Compared to the explication de texte , the new criticism and the work-immanent interpretation emphasize the moment of empathy in the process of understanding; The initially spontaneous understanding of the text's coherence is methodically followed by an objectifying style analysis and summary to form a judgment based on literary studies.

In the criticism of this interpretation method, however, the objection is raised that the interpretation ignores essential constituents of meaning and is influenced to a not inconsiderable extent by an individual taste judgment of the respective interpreter, which is not scientifically verifiable.

literature

  • Daniel Bergez: L'explication de texte littéraire . 3rd, revised edition. Armand Colin, Paris 2010. ISBN 2200249314
  • Antoine Compagnon : La Troisième République des lettres. De Flaubert à Proust . Seuil, Paris 1983, ISBN 2-02-006583-5 .
  • Marie-Annick Gervais-Zanninger: L'explication de texte en littérature. Méthodes et modèles . Hermann, Paris 2006, ISBN 2-7056-6527-7 .
  • Bernard Gicquel: L'explication de textes et la dissertation (Que sais-je; Vol. 1805). 5th edition Presses Universitaires de France, Paris 1999, ISBN 2-13-039814-6 .
  • Friedel Thiekötter : Explication de texte. In: Heinz Ludwig Arnold , Volker Sinemus (Hrsg.): Fundamentals of literature and linguistics, Vol. 1: Literary studies. Dtv, Munich 1973, pp. 371–374, ISBN 3-423-04226-5 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Burckhard Dücker: Explication de texte . In: Ansgar Nünning (ed.): Basic concepts of literary theory . Metzler Verlag, Stuttgart and Weimar 2004, ISBN 3-476-10347-1 , pp. 54f. Staiger's text quotation at this point is taken from Emil Staiger: The Art of Interpretation. Studies on German literary history 1945-1955 , Munich 1971 [1955], ISBN 3-423-04078-5 , p. 17.
  2. ↑ See Burckhard Dücker: Explication de texte . In: Ansgar Nünning (ed.): Basic concepts of literary theory . Metzler Verlag, Stuttgart and Weimar 2004, ISBN 3-476-10347-1 , p. 55.
  3. ↑ See Burckhard Dücker: Explication de texte . In: Ansgar Nünning (ed.): Basic concepts of literary theory . Metzler Verlag, Stuttgart and Weimar 2004, ISBN 3-476-10347-1 , p. 55.