#structuralism

• Actant — A structural concept developed in linguistics by L. Tesnière and extended into narratology by A.J. Greimas. In linguistics, it defines the being, object, or concept actively or passively participating in the process expressed by a verb (equivalent to verbal arguments). In literary theory and semiotics, it represents an abstract unit or a functional role within a narrative model (e.g., Subject, Object, Sender, Receiver, Helper, Opponent), regardless of whether it is embodied by a character, a group, or an inanimate object.
• Althusser — A surname of French origin; references especially Louis Althusser, a famous 20th-century structuralist Marxist philosopher, recognized for his renowned theory on ideological state apparatuses and for reframing the critical analysis of Karl Marx's work.
• Anachrony — A structural discordance between the chronological order of events in a story and their textual arrangement order within the narrative discourse. Conceptualized in modern narratology by Gérard Genette, this aesthetic device includes fundamental techniques such as analepsis (flashback) and prolepsis (anticipation), being used to break the linearity of time and generate complex psychological or dramatic effects.
• Analepsis — An aesthetic device and syntactic figure of speech in modern narratology consisting of interrupting the chronological thread of a story to insert events, memories, or details that took place prior to the present moment of the action; commonly known in cinematography as a flashback. Structurally conceptualized by Gérard Genette as a dominant form of narrative anachrony, this mechanism breaks temporal linearity to illuminate characters' pasts and provide essential psychological keys of interpretation.
• Ahistoricism — A theoretical attitude, doctrine, or methodological orientation that denies the importance of history, ignores the laws of historical development in explaining social phenomena, or refuses to recognize the historical determination of culture and human institutions. It represents a stance often found in radical Enlightenment or classical structuralism, where emphasis is placed on the rational or formal constants of humanity.
• Anti-humanism — A philosophical movement, ideological stance, or critical attitude based on the radical rejection or deconstruction of classical humanism and the anthropocentric concept that man is the measure of all things. In modern and postmodern theory (associated with thinkers like Louis Althusser or Michel Foucault), anti-humanism questions the illusion of absolute individual autonomy and universal human nature, demonstrating how identity and consciousness are structurally determined by language, ideology, power networks, and impersonal socio-economic processes.
• Atomal — Pertaining to semantic or lexical atoms; composed of minimal, indivisible units of meaning or formal structure. In structural linguistics and modern mathematical logic, the term describes a simple proposition, expression, or concept that can no longer be decomposed into smaller components without losing its functional identity.
• Autodiegetic — Designating a type of narrator who is at the same time the protagonist, the main character of the narrative text; relating to first-person narrative where the storyteller recounts their own experiences lived within the fictional universe.