In "The Problem of Speech Genres," Bakhtin writes, "Any utterance--oral or written, primary or secondary, and in any sphere of communication--is individual and there can reflect the individuality of the speaker (or writer); that is, it possesses individual style. But not all genres are equally conducive to reflecting the individuality of the speaker in the language of the utterance, that is, to an individual style. The most conducive genres are those of artistic literature" (63).
Artistic literature is a marvelous platform for enunciating one's own views and ideas in the style of one's choosing. But how is someone to know what genre would be most conducive to (a) reflecting their individual style and (b) conveying their message successfully?
For Marjane Satrapi, two genres conducive. "Persepolis" is delivered through a visual/verbal narrative genre, both in the printed comic and in the French-produced animated film. These are two separate conveyances, relying on differing functions of communication, and yet both are capable of reflecting her personal style and her memories of the Iranian Revolution.
In thinking about conducive genres, my mind turns to adaptations. How often is it that someone doesn't say, "The book was better" after seeing a film adaptation of a novel or nonfiction account? Would someone say the same of "Persepolis," considering the easy transferability of a comic book to animated film? I have not seen the film, but I would bet that Satrapi's book was used as the storyboards during production so as to closely reproduce the original work on celluloid. Although not a literary genre, which Bakhtin argues as the best, would the film be any less conducive?
Even staying within artistic literature, how does a writer decide on the most conducive genre? Feature journalism, biographies, and stage plays each have the capacity for appropriately telling the same story. Novels and comics may convey the same themes.
Perhaps Bakhtin does not mean to say that certain genres within artistic literature are better than the other (although he seems certainly fond of the novel) so long as it is conducive to expressing individuality. Each writer must overcome the problem of speech genres on their own.
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ReplyDeleteVanessa -
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering whether "The Intentional Fallacy" (tomorrow's reading) might offer some insight into the problem that you articulated about adaptations of books into film. Wimsatt and Beardsely state, "The poem is not the critic's own nor the author's (it is detached from the author at birth and goes about the world beyond his power to intend about it or control it). The poem belongs to the public" (812). Perhaps this same thing happens when books are adapted for films. As the book has been published, it is not the "property" of the public, and as such, the author's intention is no longer the primary measure of conducive-ness. Rather, the film genre does not just reflect the individuality of the author, but also of the others involved in the production. This may account in part for why movies, even if the strive to be close to the book, usually end up straying in some form the book itself. The genre of film cannot be the result of only one person's artistic intent.
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ReplyDeleteI think you bring up a pivotal point in the artist's process, and one that Longinus and Roman Jakobson assist creators with.
Longinus helps creators choose a genre by encouraging analysis. He contends that even nature can be analyzed, saying it "... is not a random force and does not work without method" (p. 347). Longinus goes on to say that there are other things, less complex, that should be analyzed.
Jakobson continues Longinus' work, facilitating and so encouraging analysis by categorizing a six-part model of communication. (Richter, "Structuralism and Deconstructionism, p. 822). Making writers aware of aspects to examine (sender, contact, receiver, message, etc.)could help an author prioritize (is this about what I have to say? Would readers hear this better from one of my characters? Is this material more about the polictical?) the points or aspects of a piece that he or she wants to emphasize, and so assist them in choosing a style or narrative that fits their writing. When an author chooses to work in a certain style or with a certain narrative, they're also choosing a genre, at least to an extent.