Richard L. W.

Clarke LITS3304 Notes 05D

RO M AN JAKOBSON THE DO M INANT (1935) Jakobson, Rom an. Poetry of Gram m ar and Gram m ar of Poetry. Vol. 3 of Selected W ritings. 7 Vols. The Hague: Mouton, 1981. 751-756. Here, with specific reference to poetry for the most part, Jakobsons focus is on the concept of the dom inant (751), what he defines as the focusing com ponent of a work of art: it rules, determ ines, and transforms the rem aining com ponents. It is the dom inant which guarantees the integrity of the structure (751). The dom inant specifies the work (751). In poetry, for exam ple, the dom inant is that elem ent which specifies a given variety of language (751) that dom inates the entire structure and thus acts as its m andatory and inalienable constituent dom inating all the rem aining all the rem aining elem ents and exerting direct influence upon them (751). To put this another way, verse is a system of values; as with any value system , it possesses its own hierarchy of superior and inferior values and one leading value, the dom inant, without which (within the fram ework of a given literary period and a given artistic trend) verse cannot be conceived and evaluated as verse (751). Jakobson argues that one may seek a dominant not only in the poetic work of an individual artist and not only in the poetic canon, the set of norm s of a given poetic school, but also in the art of a particular epoch, viewed as a particular whole (752). For exam ple, during the Renaissance, the visual arts were dom inant and accordingly shaped the poetry of the period. Sim ilarly, Rom antic poetry oriented itself toward m usic: its verse is m usically focused; its verse intonation im itates musical melody (752). Moreover, Jakobson argues, the definition of an artistic work as compared to other sets of cultural values changes as soon as the concept of the dom inant becom es our point of departure (752). Equating a poem with an aesthetic, or m ore precisely poetic function . . . is characteristic of those epochs which proclaim self-sufficient, pure art, lart pour lart (752). The Formalists were guilty of adopting a m onistic point of view (753), he argues, in their attem pt to reduce poetry solely to the aesthetic or poetic function for it has in addition m any other functions. Actually, the intentions of a poetic work are often closely related to philosophy, social didactics, etc. (752). By the sam e token, just as a poem is not exhausted by its aesthetic function, sim ilarly aesthetic function is not lim ited to the poetic work; an orators address, everyday conversation, newspaper articles, advertisements, a scientific treatise all m ay em ploy aesthetic considerations, give expression to aesthetic function, and often use words in and for them selves. (752-753) Opposed to the one-sided (753) m onistic point of view, Jakobson argues, is the m echanistic standpoint (753) or what he term s one-sided pluralism (753) which recognises the m ultiplicity of functions of a poetic work and judges that work . . . as a m echanical agglom eration of functions (753). For the adherents of this view, because a poem also has a referential function (753), a poem is often reducible to a being a straightforward docum ent of cultural history, social relations, or biography (753). The Structuralist point of view on the work, by contrast to both these perspectives, combines an awareness of the multiple functions of a poetic work with a com prehension of its integrity, that is to say, that function which unites and determ ines the poetic work (753). From this point of view, a poem is a work fulfilling neither an exclusively aesthetic function nor an aesthetic function along with other functions; rather, a poetic work is defined as a verbal m essage whose aesthetic function is its dom inant (753). The marks (753) of the im plem entation of the aesthetic function (753) are not unchangeable or always uniform (753) in that each concrete poetic canon, every set of tem poral poetic norm s . . . com prises indispensable, distinctive elem ents without which the work cannot be identified as poetic (753). The equation of the aesthetic function with the dom inant of a poetic work allows one

Richard L. W. Clarke LITS3304 Notes 05D

to determ ine the hierarchy of diverse linguistic functions within the poetic work (753). In the referential function, the sign has a m inim al internal connection with the designated object, and therefore the sign in itself carries only a m inim al im portance (753). However, the expressive function dem ands a m ore direct, intim ate relationship between the sign and the object, and therefore a greater attention to the internal structure of the sign (753). In this regard, em otive language, which primarily fulfills an expressive function, is as a rule closer to poetic language (which is directed precisely toward the sign as such). Poetic and em otive language often overlap each other (753) with the result that the two varieties of language are often quite erroneously identified (753). If the aesthetic function is dom inant in a given m essage, the message may use m any devices of expressive language but they are transform ed by its dom inant (753), that is, they are subject to the decisive function of the work (753). The notion of the dom inant has im portant consequences for Form alist views of literary evolution (753): in the evolution of poetic form it is not so m uch a question of the disappearance of certain elem ents and the em ergence of others as it is the question of shifts in the m utual relationship am ong the diverse com ponents of the system , in other words, a question of the shifting dom inant. Within a given complex of poetic norm s in general, or especially within the set of poetic norm s valid for a given poetic genre, elem ents which were originally secondary becom e essential and primary. On the other hand, the elem ents which were originally the dom inant ones becom e subsidiary and optional. (754) Moreover, there arose the accurate conception of a poetic work as a structured system , a regularly ordered hierarchical set of artistic devices. Poetic evolution is a shift in this hierarchy (754) which changes within the fram ework of a given poetic genre (754). This change, m oreover, affects the hierarchy of poetic genres, and, sim ultaneously, the distribution of artistic devices am ong the individual genres (754). The result is that genres which were originally secondary paths, subsidiary variants, now come to the fore, whereas the canonical genres are pushed toward the rear (754). However, problem s of evolution (754) are not lim ited to literature per se. Questions arise concerning changes in the m utual relationship between individual arts (754) hence the im portance of scrutinising transitional regions (754) between, for exam ple, painting and poetry (e.g. the illustration [754]) or between m usic and poetry (e.g. the rom ance [754]). Moreover, sim ilar questions arise concerning the changes in the relationship between literature and other kinds of verbal m essages (654) which result in the instability of boundaries (754), changes to the content and extent of the individual dom ains (754). Again, transitional genres (755), such as letters, diaries, notebooks, travelogues, etc. (755) becom e im portant in this regard: som e such genres are evaluated as extraliterary and extrapoetical, while in other periods they m ay fulfill an im portant literary function because they com prise those elem ents which are about to be em phasised by belles lettres, whereas the canonical literary form s are deprived of these elem ents (755). In other words, continual shifts in the system of artistic values im ply continua shifts in the evaluation of different phenom ena of art. That which, from the point of view of the old system , was slighted or judged to be im perfect, dilettantish, aberrant, or sim ply wrong or that which was considered heretical, decandet, and worthless m ay appear, and from the perspective of a new system , be adopted as a positive value. (755) This shifting, the transform ation, of the relationship between individual artistic com ponents becam e the central issue in Form alist investigations (755) with enorm ous significance for linguistic research in general (755). In particular, it provided im portant im pulses toward overcom ing and bridging the gap between the diachronic historical m ethod and the

Richard L. W. Clarke LITS3304 Notes 05D

synchronic m ethod of chronological cross section (755-756). It showed that shifting and change are not only historical statem ents (first there was A , and then A 1 arose in place of A ) but that shift is also a directly experiences synchronic phenom enon, a relevant artistic value (756). It forces the reader to be aware of two orders: the traditional canon and the artistic novelty as a deviation from the canon. It is precisely against the background of that tradition that innovation is conceived (7556). Form alist research showed that this sim ultaneous preservation of tradition and breaking away from tradition form the essence of every new work of art (756).