Raymond Picard
Encyclopedia
Raymond Picard was an author, prominent Sorbonne
professor and Jean Racine
scholar noted for his scathing tract "Nouvelle critique ou nouvelle imposture?" ("New Criticism or New Fraud?"), which was aimed at the "subjective" analytical approach of Roland Barthes
(as found in "On Racine") and other non-traditional approaches by writers of the so called "New Criticism", including Lucien Goldmann
, Charles Maroun, Jean-Paul Weber and Jean-Pierre Richard
. Barthes' response to this critique came in the form of "Critique et vérité", which postulated a 'science of criticism' to replace the 'university criticism' perpetuated by Picard and his colleagues The heated, public debate between Picard and Barthes became somewhat of a watershed moment in the development of literary structuralism
. Picard felt that "Barthes was 'the instrument of a criticism that operates by instinct,' that uses a pseudoscientific jargon to make inept and absurd assertions in the name of biological, psychoanalytic and philosophic knowledge" and of "New Criticism" believed that "the mixture of impressionism and dogmatism set to a modernist rhythm of indetermination 'makes it possible to say absolutely any stupid thing'."
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
professor and Jean Racine
Jean Racine
Jean Racine , baptismal name Jean-Baptiste Racine , was a French dramatist, one of the "Big Three" of 17th-century France , and one of the most important literary figures in the Western tradition...
scholar noted for his scathing tract "Nouvelle critique ou nouvelle imposture?" ("New Criticism or New Fraud?"), which was aimed at the "subjective" analytical approach of Roland Barthes
Roland Barthes
Roland Gérard Barthes was a French literary theorist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. Barthes' ideas explored a diverse range of fields and he influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiotics, existentialism, social theory, Marxism, anthropology and...
(as found in "On Racine") and other non-traditional approaches by writers of the so called "New Criticism", including Lucien Goldmann
Lucien Goldmann
Lucien Goldmann was a French philosopher and sociologist of Jewish-Romanian origin...
, Charles Maroun, Jean-Paul Weber and Jean-Pierre Richard
Jean-Pierre Richard
Jean-Pierre Richard, is a French writer and literary critic.- Biography :Jean-Pierre Richard began his advanced studies at the École normale supérieure in the rue d'Ulm in 1941, passed the "agrégation" in literature in 1945, and got his doctoral degree in 1962...
. Barthes' response to this critique came in the form of "Critique et vérité", which postulated a 'science of criticism' to replace the 'university criticism' perpetuated by Picard and his colleagues The heated, public debate between Picard and Barthes became somewhat of a watershed moment in the development of literary structuralism
Structuralism
Structuralism originated in the structural linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure and the subsequent Prague and Moscow schools of linguistics. Just as structural linguistics was facing serious challenges from the likes of Noam Chomsky and thus fading in importance in linguistics, structuralism...
. Picard felt that "Barthes was 'the instrument of a criticism that operates by instinct,' that uses a pseudoscientific jargon to make inept and absurd assertions in the name of biological, psychoanalytic and philosophic knowledge" and of "New Criticism" believed that "the mixture of impressionism and dogmatism set to a modernist rhythm of indetermination 'makes it possible to say absolutely any stupid thing'."