CLosure and disclosure: An Althusserian Marxist-classic realist reading of Edith L. Tiempo's One, Tilting Leaves

• Main Author: Franco, Sharon B.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1997
• Subjects: Classical literature; Reality in literature; Tiempo; Edith L > Criticism and interpretation; One; Tilting Leaves (Novel); Marxist criticism
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/1545
• Institution: De La Salle University

After reading a particular work of literature, the reader initially relates with the text's characters and scenarios. However, a meaningful literary experience does not end there. To have a meaningful literary experience, the reader must probe deeper into the text, get to know the characters, and immerse him/herself in the world of the text. Such ways of having a meaningful literary experience are integrated in Althusserian Marxism and Catherine Belsey's classic realism model. This study involves a critical reading of Edith L. Tiempo's One, Tilting Leaves using Althusserian Marxism and classic realism. In addition, this study involves the uncovering of the social and individual concerns, the enigmas and their resolutions, the truths about social reality, and the different subject-positions that the text presents to the reader. The analysis shows how One, Tilting Leaves evokes social awareness and social responsibility. Yet, the novel is also escapist. It does not present concrete actions and permanent solutions to the problem. More over, it removes threats in the social formation. As for its literary relevance, the text constructs a critical yet conservative consciousness. In addition, the text is didactic. It is preachy and imposes moral values, and imparts lessons regarding humanity. The study ends with a recommendation that a re-reading of the novel must be conducted to produce other meanings and interpretations. In addition, the study recommends that Althusserian Marxism and Belsey's classic realism be applied to other works of literature dealing with socio-political issues.