Milieu (literature)

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Under environment in the narrow sense is in the literature and theory in general, the venue or Handlungsort or more precisely the environment (or environments) understood the literary text, in turn, as a metonymic or metaphorical expression of the acting characters or figures in the literature can be viewed. For example, the house or the place of residence of a literary character can be interpreted as an extension of himself or his personality, for example Balzac's information about the house of the miser in The Human Comedy or the description of the Pension Vauquer are by no means insignificant for the statement of the respective works superfluous. In this case, the houses are an expression of the personalities of the owners and, as a bourgeois atmosphere, also have an effect on the other characters who live in them.

The milieu can also be the expression of a human will , the description of a landscape can be the z. B. represent the projection of this will or a state of mind of the protagonist . In romantic literature , for example, a stormy, passionate hero throws himself into the storm, whereas a cheerful temperament prefers the bright sun.

Likewise, in literary representations, the milieu can be designed as something that has a lasting effect on which the individual has little or no influence. Examples of this can be found in Thomas Hardy's Egdon Heath from The Return of the Native or in the description of the city of Zenith in Sinclair Lewis ' Babbitt or the city of Lübeck in Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks .

In the literary or critical analysis and interpretation of literary works such as B. lyrical , epic or narrative or dramatic texts are usually three essential components, the plot , the characterization and the milieu , which in some more modern literary theoretical treatises is also referred to as atmosphere or tone .

In a broader sense, the term milieu is also used in literary studies in the analysis of the social or cultural background of the author or the genesis of a work. The social strata or classes that created or demanded a certain type of literature can differ at a certain time or in a certain place.

In literary interpretation, the term milieu is also used, as in cultural sociology, to characterize the historical or social statement of a work or its content and content or to examine the influence of literature or a literary individual work or author on society.

Individual evidence

  1. René Wellek, Austin Warren: Theory of Literature . Athäneum Fischer Tischenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1972, ISBN 3-8072-2005-4 , pp. 239f. See also Percy Lubbock, The Craft of Fiction . Viking Press, New York 1957, pp. 205-235.
  2. René Wellek, Austin Warren: Theory of Literature . Athäneum Fischer Tischenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1972, ISBN 3-8072-2005-4 , pp. 239f.
  3. René Wellek, Austin Warren: Theory of Literature . Athäneum Fischer Tischenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1972, ISBN 3-8072-2005-4 , pp. 239f.
  4. René Wellek, Austin Warren: Theory of Literature . Athäneum Fischer Tischenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1972, ISBN 3-8072-2005-4 , pp. 233f.
  5. See in more detail the examples in René Wellek, Austin Warren: Theory of Literature . Athäneum Fischer Tischenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1972, ISBN 3-8072-2005-4 , pp. 136f.
  6. See more detailed René Wellek, Austin Warren: Theory of Literature . Athäneum Fischer Tischenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1972, ISBN 3-8072-2005-4 , p. 96f.

literature

  • René Wellek, Austin Warren: Theory of Literature . Athäneum Fischer Tischenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1972, ISBN 3-8072-2005-4 .
  • Percy Lubbock, The Craft of Fiction . Viking Press, New York 1957.

Web links

Meaning and use of the term milieu in narrative texts . On: English language Wikipedia . Retrieved November 6, 2013