“The Paper Old and Faded and Falling to Pieces”: Absalom, Absalom! and the Pulping of History

2017 ◽  
pp. 177-191
Author(s):  
Brooks E. Hefner
Keyword(s):  
Print Culture ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
Crime Fiction ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Literary Production ◽  
Domestic Sphere ◽  
Yellow Peril ◽  
Adventure Fiction

This chapter examines how Faulkner's dramatization of the historical endeavor reflects the print culture conventions of his era. It argues that Absalom's “fluid and flexible” relationship to history amounts to a “pulping” of the historical record, “self-consciously destroying, recycling, and repurposing” it in ways gleaned from the “popular literary production” of the 1920s and 1930s. The so-called shudder pulps, with their emphasis on terror and the occult; “hero pulps” and other modes of popular adventure fiction; Black Mask-school hard-boiled crime fiction; Yellow Peril narratives and other tales depicting “racialized threat[s] to sexual purity” and the domestic sphere—the novel employs all of these pulp genres to shape and sensationalize the Sutpen saga and its central figures, in what amounts to a lowbrow version of the “emplotment” process that Hayden V. White finds at work in all historical narrative.

V.S. Naipaul, Caribbean Writing, and Caribbean Thought

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Ghosh
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Development ◽  
Public Intellectual ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Derek Walcott ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Kamau Brathwaite ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
History Of ◽  
Principal Subject ◽  
Intellectual Formation

This book presents a new portrait of V.S. Naipaul, one of the twentieth-century’s most controversial writers about colonialism and its aftermath, by looking at his relationship with the Caribbean, the region of his birth. It argues that whilst Naipaul presented himself as a global public intellectual—a citizen of nowhere—his writing and thought was shaped by his Caribbean intellectual formation, and his investment in Caribbean political debates. Focusing on three key forms of Caribbean writing—the novel, the historical narrative, and the travel narrative—it shows how the generic, stylistic, and formal choices of writers had great political significance. Telling the story of his creative and intellectual development at three crucial points in Naipaul’s career, it offers a new intellectual biography of its principal subject. By showing Naipaul’s crucial place in the history of Caribbean ideas, it also provides new perspectives on a number of major writers and thinkers from the region, including C.L.R. James, Eric Williams, Kamau Brathwaite, Sylvia Wynter, George Lamming, Derek Walcott, Maryse Condé, and David Scott.

scholarly journals Place matters: geographical context, place belonging and the production of locality in Mediterranean Noirs

GeoJournal ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Gabellieri
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Crime Fiction ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
Geographical Discourse ◽  
Detective Stories ◽  
Narrative Medium ◽  
Geographical Context

AbstractScholars have been investigating detective stories and crime fiction mostly as literary works reflecting the societies that produced them and the movement from modernism to postmodernism. However, these genres have generally been neglected by literary geographers. In the attempt to fill such an epistemological vacuum, this paper examines and compare the function and importance of geography in both classic and late 20th century detective stories. Arthur Conan Doyle’s and Agatha Christie’s detective stories are compared to Mediterranean noir books by Manuel Montalbán, Andrea Camilleri and Jean Claude Izzo. While space is shown to be at the center of the investigations in the former two authors, the latter rather focus on place, that is space invested by the authors with meaning and feelings of identity and belonging. From this perspective, the article argues that detective investigations have become a narrative medium allowing the readership to explore the writer’s representation/construction of his own territorial context, or place-setting, which functions as a co-protagonist of the novel. In conclusion, the paper suggests that the emerging role of place in some of the later popular crime fiction can be interpreted as the result of writer’s sentiment of belonging and, according to Appadurai’s theory, as a literary and geographical discourse aimed at the production of locality.

Rīgas humānistu motīvs Roalda Dobrovenska romānā „Magnus, dāņu princis”

2021 ◽  
pp. 172-180
Author(s):  
Ausma Cimdiņa
Keyword(s):  
Life Story ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Human Society ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Russian State ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Role

The novel “Magnus, the Danish Prince” by the Russian diaspora in Latvia writer Roald Dobrovensky is seen as a specific example of a biographical and historical genre, which embodies the historical experience of different eras and nations in the confrontation of globalisation and national self-determination. At the heart of the novel are the Livonian War and the historical role and human destiny of Magnus (1540–1683) – the Danish prince of the Oldenburg dynasty, the first and the only king of Livonia. The motif of Riga’s humanists is seen both as one of the main ideological driving forces of the novel and as a marginal reflection in Magnus’s life story. Acknowledged historical sources have been used in the creation of the novel: Baltazar Rusov’s “Livonian Chronicle”; Nikolai Karamzin’s “History of the Russian State”; Alexander Janov’s “Russia: 1462–1584. The Beginning of the Tragedy. Notes of the Nature and Formation of Russian Statehood” etc. In connection with the concept of Riga humanists, another fictitious document created by the writer Dobrovensky himself is especially important, namely, the diary of Johann Birke – Magnus’s interpreter, a person with a double identity, “half-Latvian”, “half-German”. It is a message of an alternative to the well-known historical documents, which allows to turn the Livonian historical narrative in the direction of “letocentrism” and raises the issue of the ethnic identity of Riga’s humanists. Along with the deconstruction of the historically documented image of Livonian King Magnus, the thematic structure of the novel is dominated by identity aspects related to the Livonian historical narrative. Dobrovensky, with his novel, raises an important question – what does the medieval Livonia, Europe’s common intellectual heritage, mean for contemporary Latvia and the human society at large? Dobrovensky’s work is also a significant challenge in strengthening emotional ties with Livonia (which were weakened in the early stages of national historiography due to conflicts over the founding of nation-states).

Magazines and the Making of America: Modernization, Community, and Print Culture, 1741–1860

2017 ◽  
Vol 91 (2) ◽  
pp. 377-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine O'Donnell
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Student ◽  
Print Culture ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
New Yorker ◽  
Freshman Year ◽  
Loved One ◽  
Vanity Fair ◽  
One Year

Someone could go a long way toward telling the story of my life through its magazines: the Highlights my parents gave me, determined that my small self should be as entertained and enlightened as possible; my grandparents’ neatly collected Readers’ Digests, which I eagerly read until learning my freshman year in college that they were hopelessly bourgeois; the New Yorkers I loved and displayed in my graduate student apartment, the Vanity Fairs I loved and hid under the bed. Magazines tell the story of who I was supposed to be and who I wanted to be. Or perhaps they don't; how much of what the magazines meant to me is visible in the historical record? I didn't purchase all that I read, after all, nor did I read all that I purchased. A magazine I loved one year might embarrass me the next, and then find its way back into favor, my subscription all the while remaining unchanged. Magazines, in short, are both perplexing and promising subjects of analysis, with the question of how they create communities of readers posing perhaps the most promising and perplexing question of all.

scholarly journals Immigrants in Finland as a Problem Discussed in Leena Lehtolainen’s Minne Tytöt Kadonneet

2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-76
Author(s):  
Martyna Kokotkiewicz
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Crime Fiction ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Main Subject ◽  
Racial Hatred ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Different Cultures

Abstract Leena Lehtolainen belongs to the most appreciated Finnish authors of crime fiction. One of the significant features of her works is that she discusses some most alarming social issues in them. The problem concerning immigration and its different aspects can definitely be considered as an example of such an issue. Since the problem of cultural antagonisms, racial hatred and xenophobia has been widely discussed by many other Scandinavian authors of crime fiction as well, it is worth analyzing how Lehtolainen herself approaches the problem. The aim of this article is to discuss some aspects concerning the problems of immigrant societies in Finland, basing on one of Leena Lehtolainen’s novels, Minne tytöt kadonneet, which main subject could be described as a collision of two completely different cultures and attitudes to the reality. Its aim is not, however, to discuss any formal aspects of the text, since such a kind of detailed analysis cannot be the subject of one article only. That is why the article concentrates on the plot of the novel and its possible relations to some actual problems the Finnish society faces. Taking it all into consideration it may be seen as an introduction to a wider analysis of Leena Lehtolainen’s works.

scholarly journals The Logical Basis of a Literary Text, or What Does Porfiry Petrovich Hide in F. M. Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”?

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 239-259
Author(s):  
Valentina E. Vetlovskaya
Keyword(s):  
Literary Text ◽  
Crime Fiction ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Crime And Punishment ◽  
Logical Basis ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
The Individual

<p>The article explores the role of logical connections in an epic text. It is these connections, according to the author of the article, that connect the individual components of the narrative (motifs, complexes of motifs) and make up in the reader&rsquo;s perception for the missing elements. The reticence and failures to mention, common in fiction, appear in the narrative for various reasons. Sometimes due to the aesthetic principles of the writer who prefers ambiguity to a completed statement depriving readers of the opportunity to finish thinking over a vague idea. And sometimes, due to the author&rsquo;s conviction that there is no need to explain the idea implied by what has been earlier said. But it also happens that the omissions in the narrative are engendered by the requirements for the presentation of a chosen topic, for example in crime fiction. But these reasons may go together as it occurs in Crime and Punishment. These ideas are illustrated by the analysis of one of the themes of the novel Crime and Punishment.</p>

scholarly journals TRACING THE ARMENIAN DESCENDANTS AND SELF-IDENTITY: AN ANALYSIS OF CAN THESE BONES LIVE?

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 01-10
Author(s):  
Muhammad Nasir
Keyword(s):  
Crime Fiction ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
New Historicism ◽  
Ethnic Cleansing ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Literary Critic ◽  
Self Identity

Purpose of the study: The purpose of this study demonstrated how Armenian Massacres as crime fiction developed in response to finding their identity by tracing the ethnic criminal or heritage against their descendants. Besides, by looking at this genocide against the Armenian racial, I found it increasingly difficult to ignore the link between self-identity and the race criminalization conducted by the authority Methodology: In this study, the writer implemented New Historicism theory by looking at the historical background, and combined with Horney Psychoanalysis of Personality, through the activities conducted by the characters. Then, through analyzing the plot and the whole story, the writer found that self-awareness of those characters could be seen in different forms and cultures. Based on those theories that people who know themselves will know what they think, feel, and believe; they will be able to take responsibility for themselves and be able to determine their values by reflecting their personality Main Findings: Self-identity and Armenian descendants could be portrayed significantly, and they were very appropriate with the identity of the characters shown in the texts. Here, the writer also found that a novelist like Tom Frist (2015) used the backdrop of massacres to write about the inner lives of Turkish criminals. He focused directly on the narrative dilemmas posed by American Armenian. His work attempted to uncouple race from crime, and this writer showed us how massacres fiction became a necessary identity form for American Armenian who lived as migration and diaspora. Applications of this study: So, the study of Armenian descendants was not only useful for a literary critic but also presented the history and ethnic cleansing in Turkey. And through this analysis, we learned more about the bitter experiences faced by deportees as shown in the setting places and the author’s perspective. Novelty/Originality of this study: Finally, I believed that tracing the Armenian descendants and self-identity was fascinating by identifying the characters shown in the novel.

László Krasznahorkai's War and war as an apocalyptic metahistorical novel

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-65
Keyword(s):  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Historical Novels ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Turn Of The Millennium ◽  
Historical Process ◽  
The Past

Abstract This paper looks at a novel by László Krasznahorkai in the context of the narrative turn in history, which also stimulated a revaluation of the fictional historical narrative. War and War was one of a series of Hungarian historical novels, or mixed novel formations with a historical theme, published at the turn of the millennium, whose primary aim was not to recount a self-assured historical tale but rather to highlight, via the story, the models/schemas/shifts/blank spaces in our present-day comprehension of the past. This paper interprets the novel with reference to historic-philosophical conceptions (Löwith, Koselleck), tracks its references to the Judaeo-Christian tradition, and argues that it transforms the teleological idea of the historical process into an apocalyptic model of history.

The Reanimation of Yellow-Peril Anxieties in Max Brooks’s World War Z

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy R. Fox
Keyword(s):  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
The Novel ◽  
World War ◽  
Publishing History ◽  
Yellow Peril ◽  
First Time

Max Brooks made publishing history with his World War Z, bringing bestseller status to a zombie-themed novel for the first time. Well-researched, entertaining, and massive in scope, the novel spoke to the American fascination with apocalypse and the anxious suspicion of readers still reeling from the horrors of the 9/11 terrorist attacks—the feeling that anything can happen, and probably will. But the appeal of World War Z for American readers may also have something to do with the echo throughout the novel of a nationalistic and even racist paranoia that has been a part of the American cultural psyche for over a century: the fear of Asian invasion, or “yellow peril anxiety.” This chapter reads Brooks’ novel for instances of yellow peril anxiety, which can be most easily recognized in the portrayal of China’s rulers as the source of the worldwide zombie plague.

scholarly journals Food and Crime Fiction: Two Complementary Approaches to the Vietnamese Past in Tran-Nhut's Les travers du docteur Porc

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tess Do
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Food Habits ◽  
17Th Century ◽  
Crime Fiction ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Detective Novels

With a series of detective novels set in 17th century Dai-Viet that showcase the traditions, beliefs and customs of an exotic culture, in which the food and food habits of the Vietnamese people play a prominent role, Thanh-Van Tran-Nhut, an engineer-turned-novelist of Vietnamese origins, has carved a niche for herself in the popular crime fiction market in France. This paper focuses on the novel Les Travers du Docteur Porc, in which Doctor Porc, forensic investigator and gourmand extraordinaire, adopts the mantle of chief detective from Tran-Nhut’s usual protagonist, the loyal mandarin Tan. In this movement, we argue, the author has shaped two different but complementary approaches to her birth-country’s turbulent past that coalesce in the gargantuan figure of the (politically unencumbered) doctor and connoisseur of Vietnamese cuisine. Whereas the process of ‘solving the crime’ can be read as an attempt to seek answers and restore order in the wake of senseless bloodshed, it is food, we contend, that emerges, not only as a source of pleasure, succour and stability, but as a cultural heritage that war and upheaval failed to destroy.

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