Literary form depends on the deep logic of its raw material

Evidence

The interest for us of such an analysis, as well as those of Lukács in The Historical Novel, which follow much the same line of reasoning, lies in the idea that the form of the work is dependent on some deeper logic of the raw material itself; the word typical merely serves as a name for the articulation into individual characters of this basic reality which is the substance or content of the work of art. — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 389

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘typical’ — the concept’s formulation, useful even for advanced readers as a precise recall of the term.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: how does this early Lukácsian notion of the typical (via the Sickingen debate) evolve into Jameson’s own theory of allegory and figura in later chapters?
• XREF: connects to: Form and content are mutually translatable terms in dialectical criticism — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 769; Modern literary inner form takes production and labor as its hidden subject — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 778; Formal sedimentation names genres as layered deposits of past ideology — Fredric Jameson, The Political Unconscious, 3243 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• The form-content distinction is the central operative mechanism of dialectical thinking #expands (0.82) — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 670
• Formal sedimentation names genres as layered deposits of past ideology #corroborates (0.75) — Fredric Jameson, The Political Unconscious, 3243