A theory of discourse deviation : the application of schema theory to the analysis of literary discourse

Schema theory suggests that people understand texts and experiences
by comparing them with stereotypical mental representations of similar
cases. This thesis examines the relevance of this theory (as developed
in some Artificial Intelligence (AI) work of the 1970s and 1980s) to
literary theory and the analysis of literary texts. The general
theoretical framework is that of discourse analysis. In this approach,
the usefulness of schema theory is already widely acknowledged for the
contribution it can make to an explanation of 'coherence': the quality of
meaningfulness and unity perceived in discourse. Building upon this
framework, relevant AI work on text processing is discussed, evaluated,
and applied to literary and non-literary discourse.
The argument then moves on to literary theory, and in particular to
the 'scientific' tradition of formalism, structuralism and Jakobsonian
stylistics. The central concept of this tradition is 'defamiliarization':
the refreshing of experience through deviation from expectation. In
structuralism, attention has been concentrated on text structure, and in
Jakobsonian stylistics on language.
It is argued that whereas AI work on text pays little attention to
linguistic and textual form, seeking to 'translate' texts into a neutral
representation of 'content', the literary theories referred to above have
erred in the opposite direction, and concentrated exclusively on form.
Through contrastive analyses of literary and non-literary discourse, it
is suggested that neither approach is capable of accounting for
•literariness* on its own. The two approaches are, however,
complementary, and each would benefit from the insights of the other.
Human beings need to change and refresh their schematic
representations of the world, texts and language. It is suggested that
such changes to schemata are effected through linguistic and textual
deviation from expectation, but that deviations at these levels are no
guarantee of change (as is often the case in advertisements).
Discourses which do. effect changes through text and language are
described as displaying 'discourse deviation*. Their primary function and
value may be this effect. Discourse categorized as 'literary' is frequently
of this type. Discourse deviation is best described by a combination of
the methods of A1 text analysis with formalist, structuralist and
Jakobsonian literary theories.
In illustration of these proposals, the thesis concludes with analyses
of three well-known literary texts.