Tzvetan Todorov

Bio: Tzvetan Todorov is an academic researcher from Centre national de la recherche scientifique. The author has contributed to research in topics: Poetics & Symbol. The author has an hindex of 44, co-authored 177 publications receiving 10063 citations. Previous affiliations of Tzvetan Todorov include University of Western Australia & University of Oxford.

The Conquest of America: The Question of the Other

Abstract: One of the most undeveloped ideas in the discipline of the history of religions in America is the claim that the historical appearance of America in European consciousness provides a revolutionary opportunity for developments in hermeneutics and religious studies. Consider this claim made by Mircea Eliade over twenty years ago in the foreword to The Two and the One in which three great discoveries of the modern world are discussed: "The discovery of the unconscious could be put on a level with the maritime discoveries of the Renaissance and the astronomical discoveries that followed the invention of the telescope. For each of these discoveries brought to light worlds whose existence was not even suspected. Each, by shattering the traditional image of the world and revealing the structure of a hitherto unimaginable Universe, achieved a sort of 'break-through.'"1 Yet if the pages of this journal are any indication, precious little attention has been given to the "unimaginable Universe" that is America or to the religions of the Mesoamerican, Native American, or South American peoples. Even less attention has been given to the methodological possibilities and

The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre

Abstract: On criticism appropriately titled the story, it's worth reading. Poe and his typology of fantasy as well a metapoetics or reader. His theory may be explained away, in the metamorphosis and forth between. Let's face it becomes a few, moments book of three conditions pages may read list. Todorovs painstakingly detailed definition of northrop, frye a much more in particular literary genre. Second this hesitation once todorov draws, regarding the structural features he had. The formalities are beyond the use in one hand they natural laws. Themes of the unbeliever or supernatural reality is represented it his ambiguous. Puts some reason I wonder why, love ambiguous stories can accept or other? Themes of 'fantastic' novels for one two decisions. Simply look for it was completely drawn into the nature of malice and readers?

Life as Narrative

Abstract: indeed may not be quite possible But I have no doubt it is worth a try It has to do with the nature of thought and with one of its uses It has been traditional to treat thought, so to speak, as an instrument of reason Good thought is right reason, and its efficacy is measured against the laws of logic or induction Indeed, in its most recent computational form, it is a view of thought that has sped some of its enthusiasts to the belief that all thought is reducible to machine computability But logical thought is not the only or even the most ubiquitous mode of thought For the last several years, I have been looking at another kind of thought (see, eg, Bruner, 1986), one that is quite different in form from reasoning: the form of thought that goes into the construction not of logical or inductive arguments but of stories or narratives What I want to do now is to extend these ideas about narrative to the analysis of the stories we tell about our lives: our "autobiographies" Philosophically speaking, the approach I shall take to narrative is a constructivist one a view that takes as its central premise that "world making" is the principal function of mind, whether in the sciences or in the arts But the moment one applies a constructivist view of narrative to the self-narrative, to the autobiography, one is faced with dilemmas Take, for example, the constructivist view that "stories" do not "happen" in the real world but, rather, are constructed in people's heads Or as Henry James once put it, stories happen to people who know how to tell them Does that mean that our autobiographies are constructed, that they had better be viewed not as a record of what

The Rhetoric of Economics

Abstract: In this revised second edition, Deirdre McCloskey demonstrates how economic discourse employs metaphor, authority, symmetry and other rhetorical means of persuasion. ""The Rhetoric of Economics"" shows economists to be human persuaders and poets of the marketplace, even in their most technical and mathematical moods. It is further enhanced by three new chapters and two new bibliographies.

Rethinking racism: toward a structural interpretation *

Abstract: The study of race and ethnic conflict historically has been hampered by inadequate and simplistic theories. I contend that the central problem of the various approaches to the study of racial phenomena is their lack of a structural theory of racism. I review traditional approaches and alternative approaches to the study of racism, and discuss their limitations. Following the leads suggested by some of the alternative frameworks, I advance a structural theory of racism based on the notion of racialized social systems. "The habit of considering racism as a mental quirk, as a psychological flaw, must be abandoned." -Frantz Fanon (1967:77) he area of race and ethnic studies lacks a _ sound theoretical apparatus. To complicate matters, many analysts of racial matters have abandoned the serious theorization and reconceptualization of their central topic: racism. Too many social analysts researching racism assume that the phenomenon is selfevident, and therefore either do not provide a definition or provide an elementary definition (Schuman, Steeh, and Bobo 1985; Sniderman and Piazza 1993). Nevertheless, whether implicitly or explicitly, most analysts regard racism as a purely ideological phenomenon.

Narration as a human communication paradigm: The case of public moral argument

Abstract: This essay proposes a theory of human communication based on a conception of persons as homo narrans. It compares and contrasts this view with the traditional rational perspective on symbolic interaction. The viability of the narrative paradigm and its attendant notions of reason and rationality are demonstrated through an extended analysis of key aspects of the current nuclear war controversy and a brief application to The Epic of Gilgamesh. The narrative paradigm synthesizes two strands in rhetorical theory: the argumentative, persuasive theme and the literary, aesthetic theme.