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    14 views5 pages

    Williams (1997) - Structures of Feeling

    Uploaded by

    Roberto Oscar Taccetta

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    Marxism and Literature RAYMOND WILLIAMS Oxdord University ross io | a cape 9. Structures of Feeling In most description and analysis, culture and society are expres tec nan habitual post tense, The strongest batir to the eco ‘ition of human culteral atvity fs this immedia and regular Conwersgn of experience into finished products, What defon- “Gin se m procedure in concious history, where on certain Stoumptions many actions can be definitively taken as having ‘talus hobituelly projected, not omy ito the always moving Sibstanee of the past, but Into contomporary life, in. hich tiatonships, institutions and formations in which we are still Setively involved are convert by this procadural mode, nto formed wholes rather than forming and formative processes ‘Noddy ia then centred on relations between these produced ‘Mattations, formations, and experiences, so that now, ein thet ‘duced past only the ixed explicit forms exist and living esence Is away, by definition. receding Prsihen w Lapin to grap the dominance ofthis procedure, to Tonk into scent an if possible pats edges, wo can de Taka" ia new ways that separation af the social som the Pe SEM which sto powerfl dnd directive acltura mode ths, “Sea always passin the sonab thts always formed, we ‘eit ndced to find cer terms forthe undenioble experience of {Roprosent not only the tomparal preseat.the realization ofthis oa eat iwspeely psn rns, ele ee eee ay deed Sinem nd 2 SS strane pty tl ae a ae ieneg peo, hed enon mcs te Saath wn rong. aang oe mnie Pens to acap rom ie fsed and the explicit ond cee rae ee dated eth pera tee tng aive ale, abject Ne toes dsincion. As thous tis esrb aa etic pt eng, indeed oo ifm ine Mand fatshod fos, ros mach oreven anything at weg ae ary ecognice as thinking tt wo ot aan i moe Eee lowbla, les. singular terms—consciousness ‘Sipurlnce,feling-and thon watch even these raven toward Structures of Feeling 129 Ane, into, reading forms. The points expel leet 9 workof an, which lve, noe seen erat gnu ‘cing “cea ebecs tn nT af siecedZonettons fd nitions emt igure nites ute gon elt {ito completa etrinberent proce we hance eae here preentinspechaliy ative eaiage Nisslsotstbesui Fe overt nth ps tne is aay oma Pct wie pede pant tant nai toy an insignia dren ways, oval ovens Prac of uch presence auch pocesses seh diese and reuse ave tg roi tl ed teclinedasinpacc of couse nofaealne asset thy at then oe nota ome eee, In cst wih thr kava forms he aubjectve a dsline ea the Sojcve:experena om Wee fing om thought te immediate rar the gna th personal fiom the sor. Ths Undenihn power etre pet" molers elope! se temsthe ‘geste’ and th paychologin eee Stetesly darned fom teva snes of sane a pe cx here oxperens, imma fig an hen ab SS and poronly ey newly gerade ‘aaa hee prsna fot ldclogal oysters ed sal generally, of etegoialposace af sislte forme ns erly pws int spc mento, One daminan sn nm hbase ok {the subjective" and the ‘persona this is expecially trae “Yelitis the reduction af the social to xed forms that remains the iasic eror. Marx offen said this, and some Maraiets quote Elin, in fixed ways before returning ta fised forms. The mista 50 often, i in taking terme of analyse as terms of substance, £ Thus we speak ofa world-view or ofa prevalling ideology. ofa class outlook, often with adequate evidence, but inthe regular slide towards a past tenso and a fixed form suppose, or oven do not know that we haveto suppose, that thee ented are lived specifically and definitively, n singular and doveloping forme, © Perhops the dead eam be reducad to fixed forms, though theit iviving records are against st, Dut the living wil not be seduced, at leat inthe fst person ving third persons may be diferent. All the known complexities the experiencod tensions, sls, and uncertainties, the intrieate forme of unevenness and Econfusion, are against the toms of th reduction end soon, by 190 Marxism and Lesture tention, against soi esp et. Sorel forms ae then ‘ten admitted for generalities but debarred, contemptuously, se ee eleven eine and eal Si fem ane Ta er tn sbtntons forme In aoe eA phe naman tempaaton, the oe ie neonutour wither con nat a a an nd depac formas a etn, cor dingall pete sail coed area oles nly elope ay endo ore cng whan they ect cu tare een tl ne ep aaa fetal sd sins Wo conser ga 8 enema dominant sym of olet ond edo 10 oa past exlanton at ogumen. Altes aera ee Gary ae eed a Slr and so St etre ake ey vel nen ete hy a sa ei nen scones in = oe eto rl cosoumen ont Toya ved, actly, in el reationhip, and moreover in aoe ees demote San nsenate chants be a ee enn ect lisoneturnes sce sen endl rely batho relsinship Pcl Andihpactcaconeiousnms salwar ae gat ack ferme an unt Theres ean wa a ie vcard. nepeation end pratc ‘ston et hs eatoneanteinae Sect Seen atte inept icra wears aa tra eel eo for Bet the tenon weit ar nen, sow, a dinlacement a tency. (he § weet taro ot oan tao ae a compast by io ns te Oy ea, Fan ee mpetant, Tae rhe exer To which the fixed forme do not speak tll, which indord they ono, lodeationselowhece: what th agreement seemed 1 Structures of Feeling 391 Consciousness what stl being Lived and not oly what ite thought is being Ived, Ye the actual ltarntive eee ‘etd and produc ted forms sno slone, nok he threes, be unconscious, which barges ste tae tye Shed tse na offing and heking which ide et tnd tate, bu ech 8 an embeyotic suse tele fa become lly aust and defined Cohenge Ie neaaia the lady arulate and defined ae tan xcepunany coor mle This process can be directly observed in the history of « language, In spite of substantial and at woine levels docisive sontnties in grammar and vocabulary 0 greralion peeks = gite the same language as is predecessors. The difference can be defined in terms of additions, deletions, nd modifications, but these do aot exhaust it. What really changes fs something ulte gener}, over a wide rang, andthe description that often fis the change best is the literary term ‘style! It is @ general ‘hange, rather than stof deliberate choices yetchoicescan be leduced from it as well as effects: Similar Kinds of change can beabserved in manors, dres, building, and other similar forms fof social lf. Its an open question~that is to sey, @ set of B specific historical qustions—whether in any ofthese changes this o that group bas boon dominant or ifluental o whether Ey are the rest of much more general interaction. For what ‘we are defining is a particular quality of socal experience and ftclalionship, historically distinct from other particular qus!- flies, which gives the sense of a generation ar ae period. The relations between this quality andthe ater specifying historia! fsa of changing institutions, formations, and belief and Fe beyond these the changing socal and economic relations be- fitween and within clases, are again an open question: tnt into set of specific historical questions. The methodlogieal pfconsequence of such a definition, however Is thatthe spoeiic gualtative changes are not assumed to be epipheaomena of changed institutions, formatlans, and beliefs, or merely secon Faaty evidence of changed social and econoini relations be ‘and within classes. At the same time they are from the ng taken as socal experience rather than a8 personal x82 Marsism and Literature the formal: first, that they arechanges of presence (while they woe ana lived this fs obvious wen they have been lived ite Sr tub charectecsich ond, na tong ‘Tay ane omargeat or pre-emerget, they do not have to awalt Tefalton clsicaton, or rationeization befor they exert aetfable pressures nd seteffetive limits on experienceand on Sieh changes canbe defined a changes in structures of jel ing ‘Ths turns afiatt but feeling is chosen to emphasize ire atom om more formal concepts of world-view” or ideo aa galy thal we must go yond formally held ead By matt beliots though of course we have always o include thom tis tat we are concord with measiogs and values ce {hay are actively Lived and fel and the relations between hess ‘he rma oraystemati belies are in practice variable (includ {Rg bistoriclly variable), vera enge from formal assent with sree’ dlreat te the more ‘Tuanoed interaction between Pesated oad ntorpreted beliefs and acted and justified exper seem alternative definition would be structures of exper race rasa sense the better and wider word, but wits the Ji ifncalty that one of ity senses has tat past tense which isthe sn gportant ebstacle to ecogaition of the aoe of socil ra donpe which ie being defined. We aetalking about charac: TeeSte elements of impulse, restraint, and tone: specifically ‘Heute elements of consciousness and relationships not fel- sre thounit but tought as lt and feeling ae thought ‘tial conseigusiess of present hind, na iving and Paha conti. We are thon defining these elements 0 & eee ean ee with specibe internal restons, once seeing and i tnsion, Yet we are also defining sci aanesnes ch sl in proves, often indeed nt YeteCoe- i filed ar soil token tobe pa Sonnet. ond th Bid put wc in analyse (Bough aol otherovise) agit seating e aoting, and dominant characteristics, indeed its smears These ar often more recognizable tlt Free they nove bon (as oft happens) formalized cls SHES tnd im many cases ult int institutions an By sme tho cases different anew srostre of oeing will aan teeny have begun t for 1a the tre socal present Ta akSorlally, ten, a stuctre of feling. i 2 cuter Tee ee cally derived from atoms to understand such Structures of Feeling 139 slements and thi connections na genration or ptid, and seolinglvayrtobratarned ntately.tosucqidene Ensayo imps ante omy stared sys Of th sol is sow sdagte tthe actual png of Cait evene his certain, bteren ote tnt sor) nor presen ella proces The ota escheat nants rant witht conte ita siglican numberof eat ti rset an it ot tin ee ae ‘soos netutions,oroxplet general eltonhip tag “Bly nla al hss at edn apeiancd, tho wit tnuan itso eden ices len of Sol ed ‘trl phyla or natura experience which nay beyond, Orbe uncovered or inpestatycoverty, hn esawhere org SRW Sema sont The wom presence Ein clots nt whlch ar nol covered by {og Se mide thy may be mdsced to) eee feral Syston Ui say sure ofthe apaalng ep fe arti ad “nagintve ttre’ We nes on the one ten to acknowiige and wecoms) the spay ofthese Shiments—apcie esting, specie thythne-and yet fed svn of rcngising tel speci ind fsx ths po- Tota etecton foment eh cco: J ie only whon soll experience teal hs been eateprcally id at rot Rn node, We are hen wa ey ce ‘Sat withheestorton sf esa contentin fal seek geese amedcy. The idesolaoscurect ting eos bs pot sleted ote evidence of fom ond ene {ara gues nh aron rt en fie the very fs inicalon tha ach new soocare Horm. Tims relations wl be dissed in more deal in nt chp, but ara mater of cual he isa ay of daining fore andconvonons nwt and iseaure Ethane semen soi mterl pes notoy dere : toca forma and prof ute vc osma PSone pont kind whch in nb tmnt atl ten te tr sty fly sea scl) of sever ot pring whch avin prcese mach mowed oops forstructures of fooling can bo defined as social experiencos ji solution, as distinet from other eocial semantic formations 134 Marxism and Literature which have been precipitoted and are more evidently and more mmmeditely available, Not all art, by any means, relatos to @ ESatmporsry structure offeling. The effective formations of host actual art rate to already manifest socal formations, ‘Tonant or residual, and itis primarily tovmergent formations {though often in the form ofrmadiiction or disturbance in older fone] that he structure of forling, as solution, relates, Yet this ereie solution is nover mere hx Ts strutted formation ‘Bile cause tina the very edge somanticavallablity has TEES Gfhthe characteristics ofa preformation, unt specific culations sew semaatlc figures—are discovered in, ater {Ei practice: often, ab lt happens, in relatively isolated ways, ‘uRi are only later seen to compose significant often i act veatonity) generation: tis often, in turn, the generation that ‘Rbstantally connects to Us successors. 1 is thue e specie Ethsture of particular linkages, particular emphases and sup- ‘Nesslons and. in what azp often Its most recognizable forms Perinalrdeop tvting-points and conclusions. arly Victorian earvteny fortcample specified teexposurecausod by poversy 4 Sy debtor by legitimacy as social flluce or deviation; the CEmomporary structure of feeling, meanwhile, in the new SEs figures of Dickens, of Emily Bronté, and others; SeEted exposure and jolaion as a genoral condition, ond Peery, dab or Hlgitimacy as its connecting instances, An Fiammatve ideology. relating auch exposure tothe nature of te Ue ner, was only later genorlly formed: offering explans sae er ase at a reduced tension: the social explanation fully mtted. the intensity of experionced fear and shame now dis persed wid generalized. “Tne crample emis Us, finaly, ofthe complex relation of

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