Greimasian semiotic squares generate narrative characters from logical combinations of semes

Evidence

It now becomes clear that of the four chief logical combinations avail­ able here, we so far have only identified two. From this perspective, then, we can observe the way in which a semic system generates those anthropomorphic combinations that are narrative characters, and in particular, in the present instance, how the semes S and -S produce the representation of the “Chevalier,” while the combination -S and S gives anthropomorphic content to that other proper name, “Du Bousquier.” What is so far missing are the two combinations designated by Greimas as the complex and the neutral term respectively: the ideal synthesis which would “resolve” the initial binary opposition by subsuming it under a single unity, and that union of purely negative or privative terms which would subsume the simple contradictories of the two terms of the initial binary opposition. Our methodological hypothesis would be validated, and our demonstration of a character system ful­ filled, if it could be shown that these two additional logical possibilities have their equivalent in the Balzacian text. — Fredric Jameson, The Political Unconscious, 3984

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains Greimas’ semiotic square as generating characters from the four logical combinations of a binary opposition.
• XREF: Directly connects to Jameson’s methodological core of ‘always historicize’; the semiotic square is a key structuralist tool he both uses and critiques. — connects to: Narrative characters can be decoded as permutations of a semic opposition system. — Fredric Jameson, The Political Unconscious, 6586; Postmodern villains occupy the structural role of the squares without any social content — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 640

Broader Connections

• Narrative characters can be decoded as permutations of a semic opposition system. #corroborates (0.95) — Fredric Jameson, The Political Unconscious, 6586
• Postmodern villains occupy the structural role of the squares without any social content #complicates (0.80) — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 640