From structuralism to post-structuralism

This meta-theoretical inquiry tries to demonstrate that criticizing structuralism may seek to improve its efficiency, rather than lead to a dismissal of the method as such. Indeed, our internal critique is basically positive, as its aim is to legitimate the use of the prefix post in the expression post-structuralism. This article, based on the examination of works by Celine, Genet, Nabokov, Borges, and Bioy Casares, thus deals with various difficulties within the framework of structuralist analysis, especially when studying narrative voice (author / narrator, narratee / reader) - in relation to genre and the status of texts -, intertextuality, hypertextuality, irony, affects and values. This overview of the aporias of internal structuralist analysis ends on a call for a form of diversified post-structuralism; this methodological variety is necessary because of the esthetical peculiarities of literary texts : it is these particularities which must determine our critical and theoretical approaches, and not the other way around.