scholarly journals The Author is Dead, Long Live the Author! Postmodern Metanarrative and the Performance of the Author Function

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnab Dasgupta ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Structure ◽  
Nobel Laureate ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Postmodern Literature ◽  
Artistic Creation ◽  
Postmodern Fiction ◽  
Historical Factors ◽  
Reality Effect ◽  
Authorial Voice

This research paper critically examines the meta-narrative text The Master of Petersburg, a novel by Nobel laureate J.M. Coetzee, which has the figure of the author at the centre of its narrative structure. In his fictions, Coetzee is not shy of dislodging what Roland Barthes calls ‘reality effect’ in order to critically assert the role of the authorial figure; this is also to be seen in the novel Slow Man where Coetzee ruptures the realist texture of the narrative by introducing the figure of Elizabeth Costello who enters the text, as well as the life of Paul Rayment an amputee, as the author figure who is responsible for her creation i.e. Paul Rayment himself. At the same time Coetzee in order to explore the issues of writing at its ethical dimension, transforms some realist tropes at his disposal. For instance, in Elizabeth Costello, Coetzee with a brilliant manoeuvre plays on the trope of epistolary novels and presents the novel in a form of a series of lectures delivered by Elizabeth Costello, an Australian author of international fame. But in a brilliant ironical move, Coetzee through the performance of the authorial voice breaks the realist structure of the Novel. The paper will, however, primarily focus on the novel The Master of Petersburg (1994), which is a meta-narrative in which Coetzee actively interrogates the ethics of writing as in this novel he places the fictively re-imagined figure of Dostoevsky in Petersburg in late 1868, after the murder of his step-son Pavel. In this novel like his earlier novel Foe(1986), Coetzee examines the process of artistic creation and ethics involved in the event of writing, as Coetzee in his novel evokes a mix of historical factors and fictive characteristics which inspired and featured in Dostoevsky’s novel The Devils. Through a close examination of the interstitial spaces between the two novels, this paper explores the figure of the author and its performance in postmodern fiction. The author as the figure has caused much debate in the postmodern fiction and narrative theory. Post Roland Barthes’s declaration ‘author is dead’ many deconstructionist and narrative theories have debated the relevance of author figure in fiction, and the meta-narrative and self-referential nature of postmodern literature make these debates even more potent. This paper seeks to explore the debate concerning the author figure from Bakhtin, Barthes, Bennet and Foucault and try to understand the implications which the author figure has in a postmodern text through a close examination of Coetzee’s The Master of Petersburg.

scholarly journals THE STUDY OF FEMINISM IN THE NOVEL NAYLA BY DJENAR MAESA AYU

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Ni Ketut Veri Kusumaningrum ◽  
I Wayan Rasna ◽  
Gde Artawan
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Structure ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Public ◽  
Library Research ◽  
The Social ◽  
Show Business ◽  
The Status ◽  
Role Of Women ◽  
Relationship Of

This research aims to determine (1) the narrative structure of novel Nayla by Djenar Maesa Ayu, (2) the role of women figure in the novel Nayla by Djenar Maesa Ayu, (3) the struggle of women figure in the novel Nayla by Djenar Maesa Ayu. This research uses feminism study with qualitative research. The data was collected by using library research. The library method was used at finding out the data in the novel Nayla by Djenar Maesa Ayu and in other literature which supports this research. The analyzed data are narrative structure, the role of women figure and the struggle of women figure in the novel Nayla by Djenar Maesa Ayu. The data were analyzed through the stage of reduction, presentation and data collection. The subject of this research is the novel Nayla by Djenar Maesa Ayu, the object of this research is the narrative structure, the role of women figure and the struggle of women figure in the novel Nayla by Djenar Maesa Ayu. The result of this research refers to (1) The Narrative structure in the novel Nayla by Djenar Maesa Ayu was include figure, characterization, plot and background. (2) The role of women figure in the novel Nayla by Djenar Maesa Ayu was found in the social domain, domestic and public. (3) The struggle of women figure in the novel Nayla by Djenar Maesa Ayu was manifested by struggling in maintaining in the status as women, the struggle in maintaining the gender. The form of feminism was described in the novel Nayla as never surrender, not dependent to the parents, and behaves deviate. Novel Nayla to present the relationship of gender that leads to a superior. Novel Nayla as the main character show business to make a women who has the dignity of which is equivalent to the men. Based on the results of analysis and advice for women in order to improve the quality of the field of education, domestic, and the public so that gender equality can be achieved.

scholarly journals Lingual Aspects of Mystical Narration in V. Shevchuk’s Novel “The Beginning of Horror”

2020 ◽  
pp. 109-125
Author(s):  
Florij Batsevych
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Narrative Structure ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Unreliable Narrator ◽  
Narrative Structures ◽  
Christian View ◽  
Flow Of Time ◽  
The Individual

In recent decades, the researchers of artistic stories have paid their attention to the narrative analysis of a set of weird texts of mystical and absurd content, works of “black humour”, fantastic (khymerna) prose created by a non-anthropic narrator or by an author in a changed state of consciousness. These texts serve the field of actualizing atypical and non-usual narrative structures, the sphere of meaningful changes within the bounds of narrative categories and, which is important, of forming special communicative senses of aesthetic nature. The basic problems of the linguistic analysis of “unnatural” stories are identifying the types of changes in the narration constituents, reasons of these changes and narrative categories (first of all, events, participants, objects, chronotope characteristics, points of view, moduses, modalities, etc.). The article analyses one of the texts of mystical content aiming at the revealing of some specificities of the structure and functioning of the so-called “unnatural artistic narrations”. The object of the research is V. Shevchuk’s novel “The Beginning of Horror”. The subject of the analysis is lingual means of the narrative structure formation, the author’s objectification of the mystical artistic sense and lingual “signals” of a reader’s perception of these senses. The most important semantic means of creating mystical atmosphere of the story are predicates that ascribe the names of their referents atypical dynamic and static features connected with the Christian view of the infernal world. It helps to form narrative events that root in weird situations, which cannot take place in reality. Non-dispositional nature of these situations correlates with the reference to the mystery that goes far beyond the bounds of a usual perceptive and psycho-mental background. Among the pragmatic means of creating mystical atmosphere of the main hero’s story as well as of the novel in general, we specify the individual inimitative perception of the flow of time and modality of “real unreality” formed by the role of an unreliable narrator and a vague point of view of the described event with its perceptive, ideological and time planes of objectification. Due to the increasing interest to various expressions of the esoteric, the increase of the number of artistic works of such content and growth of their popularity, we consider it topical to proceed in further investigations of lingual-narrative aspects of “unnatural” stories, in particular, the ones with the modus of mystical in them.

scholarly journals Le Rabelais ressuscité (1611) de Nicolas de Horry et la tradition des mandements joyeux

Neophilologus ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 104 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-47
Author(s):  
Rozanne Versendaal
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Narrative Structure ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Institutional Approach ◽  
Modern Novel ◽  
Critical Content ◽  
French Author ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractThis article discusses the role of mandements joyeux or joyful writs in the novel Rabelais ressuscité (1611) by the little-known French author Nicolas de Horry. The article first provides insight into the tradition and parodic nature of joyful writs. In a next step, the joyful writs in Horry’s text are identified, and the functions of these parodic passages in the narrative structure of the novel are analysed. Finally, the article demonstrates how an institutional approach to this Early Modern novel, concentrating on the identification of possible readers of the text, can contribute to a better understanding of the critical content of the joyful writs.

scholarly journals FORMS OF OPPOSITIONS IN THE NARRATIVE STRUCTURE OF “ANNE OF GREEN GABLES” BY L.M. MONTGOMERY

2021 ◽  
pp. 20-25
Author(s):  
K. NIKOLENKO ◽  
O. NIKOLENKO
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Narrative Structure ◽  
Original Text ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Anne Of Green Gables ◽  
Stylistic Elements

The paper aims to explore different forms of oppositions in the narrative structure of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s critically acclaimed novel “Anne of Green Gables”, which was first published in 1908. Because L. M. Montgomery’s works have not been sufficiently explored in the realm of narratology, the following paper seeks to begin covering this gap by analysing key oppositions in “Anne of Green Gables” while also taking into consideration their significance in terms of a broader cultural and historical context, as well as accounting for the changes introduced by L.M. Montgomery to the genre of the novel (specifically, Bildungsroman). Having analysed the original text of the novel, we have determined that the key oppositions in “Anne of Green Gables” (commonplace/romantic worldview, religion/godlessness, love/friendship, woman/man (girl/boy), childhood/adulthood, orphancy/family, loneliness/belonging, mercy/indifference, etc) play an important role in defining the conflict dynamic between characters. By opposing stylistic elements, thematic and plot formulae, the author is able to provide an in-depth perspective of her heroine’s experiences, as well as exploring various viewpoints (Anne Shirley, Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, Rachel Lynde, etc) when it comes to the same events. L.M. Montgomery has also updated the genre of Bildungsroman by reimagining the conventional topics of “female” literature (raising girls to be future wives and mothers, their love afflictions and desire to get married) and replacing them with new and relevant issues (the influence of literature and culture on one’s personality, the role of friendship in a young person’s life, using creativity as a means to reinterpret one’s surroundings and overcome inner conflict, etc).

The Professionalization of the Woman Artist in Anne Brontëë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

2003 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonia Losano
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Narrative Structure ◽  
Gradual Transition ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Women's Role ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Historical Transition ◽  
Nineteenth Century Novels

Critics of Anne Brontëë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848) have frequently noted the artistic endeavors of the novel's heroine, Helen Graham, yet they have not fully considered the historical and narratological ramifications of Helen's career as a painter. This essay argues that Helen's artworks cannot be considered as mere background to the novel or as simply symbolic reflections of the heroine's (or the author's) emotions. Instead, we must see the scenes of painting in Tenant as indicators of the novel's radical view of women's role as creative producers during a particularly complex moment in art history, one in which early-nineteenth-century female amateurism began its gradual transition from amateur "accomplished" woman to the professional female artist——a historical transition that, as is suggested in readings of various nineteenth-century novels, is in its earliest stages at precisely the moment of the writing and publication of Tenant. At the narrative level, the novel's many scenes of painting provide its readers with detailed, if oblique, guidelines for interpretation; the novel is formally and ideologically impacted by the presence of its painter-heroine. Most particularly, such a reevaluation of the role of painting in the novel resolves a central critical debate over the novel's problematic narrative structure.

scholarly journals In Search of Hope in J.M. Coetzee’s Diary of a Bad Year

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-87
Author(s):  
Kinga Jęczmińska
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Artistic Creation

The article discusses J.M. Coetzee’s Diary of a Bad Year to argue that although the main protagonist’s views upon social, ethical, political, and scientific matters may be described as rather pessimistic, the novel still portrays artistic creation as a source of solace, hope, and a motivation for improvement in human life. The validity of the protagonist’s despondent outlook upon human life is undermined by the tripartite composition of the narrative, in which his opinions are questioned when juxtaposed with the alternative views voiced by the other characters. It is argued in particular that the story narrated in the novel reinforces the image of the positive role of literature in human existence. W poszukiwaniu nadziei w Diary of a Bad Year J.M. Coetzeego Niniejszy artykuł omawia Diary of a Bad Year J.M. Coetzeego w celu wykazania, że chociaż poglądy głównego bohatera na kwestie społeczne, etyczne, polityczne i naukowe można określić jako dość pesymistyczne, powieść przedstawia jednak twórczość artystyczną jako źródło ukojenia, nadziei i motywację do doskonalenia w życiu człowieka. Zasadność posępnego spojrzenia głównego bohatera na życie ludzkie jest zakwestionowana przez trójdzielną kompozycję narracji, w której jego opinie są podważane w zestawieniu z alternatywnymi poglądami pozostałych postaci. Tekst w szczególności dowodzi, że ukazana w powieści historia bohaterów umacnia obraz pozytywnej roli literatury w ludzkim istnieniu.

What Is Novel in Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Antón Barba-Kay
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Structure ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Phenomenology Of Spirit ◽  
Fictional Narrative ◽  
The Social ◽  
Modern Self ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Formal Features

AbstractWhile it has long been commonplace to advert to the Phenomenology of Spirit's peculiar prosaic form, there has been no sustained, thematic attempt to understand the relationship between that form—as a continuous, quasi-fictional narrative—and the work's philosophical content. I argue that some of what has been felt to be outlandish about the form may be better accounted for by reading it as connected to purposeful literary decisions, decisions in turn exhibiting philosophical claims about the new mode of modern self-understanding that the argument is concerned with advancing. Extending Allen Speight's suggestions that Hegel sees literature as closely connected to his theory of agency, I argue that the Phenomenology's narrative should be understood as itself specifically and deliberately novelesque. I focus on three points that help clarify the book's form as not simply in keeping with, but as expressing aspects of its content: (1) the narrative structure of consciousness (as a unified, unfolding activity through which Hegel explores the notion of actuality), (2) the theatricalizing counterpoint between the ‘in itself’ and ‘for itself’ (as a dramatic device that Hegel connects to the social underpinnings of consciousness), and (3) the role of confession and forgiveness in the argument (as a theme that Schlegel had singled out as essential to the novel, and that Hegel repurposes both to criticize and to overcome Romanticism). I do not say that the Phenomenology is itself a novel, but that construing some of its formal features and gestures as evoking the genre of the novel can help us to see more of what is philosophically at stake in them, and therefore in the work as a whole.

The Motif of Losing Oneself in The Novel Generation “P ” by Victor Pelevin

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-82
Author(s):  
Zhang Chengdong ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Russian Literature ◽  
Narrative Structure ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Spiritual Transformation ◽  
Basic Unit ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Value

In traditional Russian literature, the motif of losing oneself regularly serves as the motivation for spiritual transformation and search for salvation of the character, promoting the plot of a literary text and creating new types of characters. However, it is not difficult to notice the transformation in the utilization and implementation of this motif in the plot composition of postmodern texts based on the principle of uncertainty and randomness, which is opposed to the teleology of the classical narrative. The relevance of the topic is due to the insufficiency of research on such changes, especially in the postmodern works by Viktor Pelevin. Though there have been several observations on Pelevin’s textual structure, the role of motifs in organizing and constructing the plot remains outside the scope of researchers’ attention. This article aims to reveal the role and specifics of the motif “the loss of oneself” as a plot-forming component in the novel Generation “P” by V. O. Pelevin. Based on the contemporary motif theory, it particularly pays attention to the context of allomotifs and events associated with the motifeme of losing oneself, following A. Dundes, who understands the motifeme as the basic unit in the paradigmatics of the narrative, and allomotifs as its syntagmatic variants. Through analyzing various variations of allomotifs “the loss of oneself” (losing the feeling of eternity, symbolic death, metamorphosis, manipulation, etc.), the paper attempts to reveal constructive components of the narrative structure in this novel, which determined its artistic semantics. Arguing the tragic essence of the individual value orientation on consumerism in the context of the eschatological media mythology, it also finds out that Pelevin constructs the plot as Tatarsky’s rising up the career ladder, accompanied by the loss of personality, the replacement of Homo sapiens by Homo Zappiens. To achieve this purpose, he widely uses different schemes that implement the emic motifeme through various variations of allomotifs. That’s why, the success of the protagonist in the ending does not mean the spiritual salvation, but the totality of submission to the God of money and immersion in the void, where the way out of the new social and mental impasse is impossible not only for the protagonist but also for the novelist himself. Keywords: Victor Pelevin, Generation “P”， motifeme of losing oneself, set of allomotifs, mythopoetics

scholarly journals The Bounds of Narrative in Don DeLillo’s Underworld: Action and the Ecology of Mimêsis

Humanities ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 40
Author(s):  
Andrew Bowie Hagan
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Narrative Structure ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Novel Studies ◽  
Indirect Discourse ◽  
Meaningful Relationship ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Cold War

The interrelationship of natural and cultural history in Don DeLillo’s Underworld presents an ecology of mimesis. If, as Timothy Morton argues, ecological thought can be understood as a “mesh of interconnection,” DeLillo’s novel studies the interpretation of connection through secular and postsecular faiths. Underworld situates its action in the Cold War era. DeLillo’s formal techniques examine the tropes of paranoia, containment, excess, and waste peculiar to the history of the Cold War. Parataxis and free-indirect discourse emphasize the contexts of reference in the novel, illustrating how hermeneutics informs the significance of boundaries. DeLillo’s use of parataxis exemplifies the conditions that propose and limit metaphor’s reference to reality, a condition that offers the terms for meaningful action. I utilize Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutics to demonstrate how Underworld situates the reference to reality in its temporal and narrative condition. The historical situation of the novel’s narrative structure allows DeLillo to interrogate the role of discourse in producing and interpreting connection. Underworld offers layers of significance; the reader’s engagement with the novel’s discourse reaffirms the conditions of a meaningful relationship with reality in the pertinence of a metaphor.

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