Talk:Literary topos

Use of 'Meme'
Should we be using 'meme' here its not a literary-theory/social-science term/theory and to be frank its application ought to be restricted to 'internet meme' (of which it is, of course, itself the prime example). 'Discourse' would be more appropriate.Rykalski (talk) 11:31, 19 February 2009 (UTC)

- The use of 'meme' really doesn't seem appropriate. I've never come across any instance of its use in literary theory, so to use it in relation to as important a term as "topos" sticks out like a sore thumb. Someone more competent than me would do well to remove it. 2.123.163.255 (talk) 23:47, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

If I were competent to do so, I'd disambiguate the contemporary, extended sense of topos with trope. I think I'm using them incorrectly from fuzzy thinking. --Wetman 06:29, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

Meaning and History
Historically, how can we say "The biblical creation myths and "the flood" are two examples, as they are ***repeated*** in other civilizations' earliest texts..." (emphasis mine) when (for instance) the Epic of Gilgamesh is older than the biblical tale? What's earliest is not a repetition of what's written later. Nlaylah (talk) 17:53, 13 August 2017 (UTC)

Problematic Passage in "Meaning and History"
In the section "Meaning and History" I found this passage:


 * Critics have traced the use and re-use of such topoi from the literature of classical antiquity through the 18th century to postmodern literature. This is illustrated in the study of archetypal heroes and in the theory of The Hero With A Thousand Faces (1949), a book written by modern theorist Joseph Campbell. For example, stories passed down from pre-historic societies contain literary aspects, characters, or settings that appear again and again in stories from ancient civilizations, religious texts, and even more modern stories. The biblical creation myths and "the flood" are two examples, as they are repeated in other civilizations' earliest texts such as the Epic of Gilgamesh or deluge myth, and are seen again and again in historical texts and references.[citation needed]

Not one topos is mentioned in this paragraph, so there is no evidence of any work that critics have done to show that some topos has been in continual use from classical antiquity to the present day. Instead, the paragraph simply states that the flood myth has appeared in Gilgamesh, the bible, and in historical texts—but a myth is not a topos, so the observation is irrelevant. Since an archetype is not a topos, either, Campbell's book is unrelated to the topic as well. I have therefore removed the paragraph.Wordwright (talk) 14:24, 20 July 2018 (UTC)