Where Life Itself Lives

2019 ◽  
pp. 19-35
Author(s):  
Mayra Rivera
Keyword(s):  
Literary Genre ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Culturally Specific ◽  
Life Itself ◽  
Constructive Dimension

Sylvia Wynter’s work seeks to expose Man as an arbitrary conception inherently linked to racism and too often mistaken for the human as such. She also offers a more capacious model for being human—one that is culturally specific, relational and dynamic. This constructive dimension of her work is especially evident in her novel, The Hills of Hebron, for the literary genre is consonant with her argument that communities invent genres of being human from their local histories, the specificities of landscape, religious visions, and creative practices. This essay examines the contribution of the novel to Wynter’s broader project of deconstructing the doctrine of Man.

The Castle of Otranto

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Horace Walpole
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Literary Genre ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Gothic Fiction ◽  
English Novel ◽  
Game Changer ◽  
The Way ◽  
The Grotesque

‘Look, my lord! See heaven itself declares against your impious intentions’ The Castle of Otranto (1764) is the first supernatural English novel and one of the most influential works of Gothic fiction. It inaugurated a literary genre that will be forever associated with the effects that Walpole pioneered. Professing to be a translation of a mysterious Italian tale from the darkest Middle Ages, the novel tells of Manfred, prince of Otranto, whose fear of an ancient prophecy sets him on a course of destruction. After the grotesque death of his only son, Conrad, on his wedding day, Manfred determines to marry the bride–to–be. The virgin Isabella flees through a castle riddled with secret passages. Chilling coincidences, ghostly visitations, arcane revelations, and violent combat combine in a heady mix that terrified the novel's first readers. In this new edition Nick Groom examines the reasons for its extraordinary impact and the Gothic culture from which it sprang. The Castle of Otranto was a game-changer, and Walpole the writer who paved the way for modern horror exponents.

The Diaspora of the Novel

1992 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-146
Author(s):  
Artemis Leontis
Keyword(s):  
Uneven Development ◽  
Literary Genre ◽  
The Novel ◽  
History Of The Novel ◽  
The West ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
Economic Transformations ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Type

Reflection on the history of the novel usually begins with consideration of the social, political, and economic transformations within society that favored the “rise” of a new type of narrative. This remains true even with the numerous and important studies appearing during the past ten years, which relate the novel to an everbroadening spectrum of ideological issues—gender, class, race, and, most recently, nationalism. Yet a history of the genre might reflect not just on the novel’s national, but also its transnational, trajectory, its spread across the globe, away from its original points of emergence. Such a history would take into account the expansion of western markets—the growing exportation of goods and ideas, as well as of social, political, and cultural forms from the West—that promoted the novel’s importation by nonwestern societies. Furthermore, it could lead one to examine the very interesting inverse relationship between two kinds of migration, both of which are tied to the First World’s uneven “development” of the Third. In a world system that draws out natural resources in exchange for technologically mediated goods, the emigration of laborers and intellectuals from peripheral societies to the centers of power of the West and the immigration of a western literary genre into these same societies must be viewed as related phenomena.

A Thousand and One Nights and the Novel

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard van Leeuwen
Keyword(s):  
Magical Realism ◽  
World Literature ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Arabic Literature ◽  
Literary Genre ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The West ◽  
Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries ◽  
Modern Arabic

This chapter examines the influence of Alf layla wa layla (A Thousand and One Nights), the ingenious Arabic cycle of stories, on the development of the novel as a literary genre. It shows that the Nights helped shape the European novel in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The chapter first explains how the French translation of the Nights and its popularity in Europe led to its incorporation in world literature, creating an enduring taste for “Orientalism” in many forms. It then considers how the Nights became integrated in modern Arabic literature and how Arabic novels inspired by it were used to criticize social conditions, dictatorial authority, and the lack of freedom of expression. It also discusses the Nights as a source of innovation for the trend of magical realism, as well as its role in the interaction between the Arab world and the West.

scholarly journals TEORI DIALOGISME BAKHTIN DAN KONSEP-KONSEP METODOLOGISNYA

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 235
Author(s):  
Fadlil Munawwar Manshur
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
The Other ◽  
Literary Genre ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Universe

This paper discusses the theory advanced by Bakhtin about dialogism and methodological concepts. This theory to formulate the concept of human existence on the other, which is based on the idea that humans judge him from the viewpoint of others. Humans understand the moments of consciousness and take it into account through the eyes of others. According to this theory, the essence of human life is a dialogue. The Method of heteroglossia talks about signs in the universe of individuals because of the word "heteros" means "other" or different, while "glossia" means the tongue or language. In this method mentioned that people are saying needs to be heard, and the author also has the same rights that words need to be heard. A word is born from dialogue to address the problems of life. On the other hand, Bakhtin sees carnival method has spawned a new literary genre, the polyphonic novel. The polyphonic novel is a novel that is characterized by a plurality of voice or consciousness, and the voices or the overall awareness dialogical. Polyphonic essentially a "new theory of authorial viewpoint". Polyphonic appear in fiction when the position of the author freely allowed to interact with the characters. The characters in the novel are freely polyphonic appear to argue with each other and even with the author.

scholarly journals Alfred Döblin, crítico-romancista: propostas para o novo romance e a aliança da teoria e da prática em Berlin Alexanderplatz

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Izabela Baptista do Lago
Keyword(s):  
Literary Genre ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Artistic Practice ◽  
Work Of Art ◽  
Berlin Alexanderplatz ◽  
Alfred Döblin ◽  
Epic Novel ◽  
Theoretical Considerations

Resumo: A partir de ensaios de Alfred Döblin sobre o romance, publicados entre 1913 e 1930, o presente artigo examina as considerações críticas e teóricas do autor sobre o romance enquanto gênero literário e obra de arte em consonância com seu tempo. Considerando em especial a proposta romanesca de Döblin na forma do romance épico, uma breve análise do romance Berlin Alexanderplatz, publicado em 1929, verificará em que medida os elementos presentes nesta obra se adequam com o posicionamento expressado por seu autor. Por fim, conclui-se que Döblin concilia suas propostas teóricas com a sua prática artística, transformando-se no crítico-romancista do romance épico, alinhado com as transformações e aspirações culturais do século XX.Palavras-chave: Döblin; romance épico; crítico-romancista.Abstract: Based on Alfred Döblin’s essays on the novel, published between 1913 and 1930, this article examines the author’s critical and theoretical considerations of the novel as a literary genre and work of art in accordance with its time. Chiefly considering Döblin’s novelistic proposal in the form of the epic novel, a brief analysis of the novel Berlin Alexanderplatz, published in 1929, will verify the extent to which the elements present in this work can correspond with the position expressed by its author. Finally, it can be concluded that Döblin conciliates his theoretical proposals with his artistic practice, which turns him into a critic-novelist of the epic novel, aligned with the transformations and cultural aspirations of the 20th century.Keywords: Döblin; epic novel; critic-novelist.

Islam and the Limits of Translation: Orhan Pamuk and the Ottoman Revival

2020 ◽  
pp. 215-259
Author(s):  
Karim Mattar
Keyword(s):  
Religious Identity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Translation Theory ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Black Book ◽  
Aesthetics And Politics ◽  
Culturally Specific ◽  
The Face ◽  
Orhan Pamuk ◽  
Anglo American

This chapter addresses the carefully (self-)cultivated image of Orhan Pamuk as a worldly, cosmopolitan, and secular-liberal writer. This image, I argue, has come to define the aesthetics and politics, the ethos, of his novels in their worldly reception, and has functioned to undermine the nature and extent of his engagement with the local (especially his native city, Istanbul, and its Ottoman, Islamic heritage). I trace this argument through a sustained focus on The Black Book as this novel has been translated and read in Britain and the United States. Drawing on translation theory, I show that both English versions of the novel are unable to capture the logic and significance of Pamuk’s culturally-specific use of language, and have influenced its Anglo-American (mis)reading as a postmodernist work. In my counter-reading, I argue that anything but a postmodernist deconstruction of myths of national and religious identity, The Black Book in fact comprises an evocation of Istanbul’s Ottoman, Islamic heritage in the face of a Turkish secular modernity by which this heritage was historically repressed. I detail this argument through close attention to Pamuk’s treatment of Sufism and Hurufism. The Black Book, I conclude, inscribes what I call “cultural neo-Ottomanism” as form.

Modern Irish Fiction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-46
Author(s):  
Liam Harte
Keyword(s):  
Short Story ◽  
Literary Genre ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Central Concern ◽  
Critical Commentary ◽  
Early Twenty ◽  
Successive Generations

This chapter provides a detailed introduction to this Handbook’s central concern: the major lines of development of Irish fiction during the nineteenth, twentieth, and early twenty-first centuries. It sets out the book’s aims and objectives and provides cogent summaries of each of its chapters. In the process, it considers the significance of certain influential novelists and their works; highlights some of the distinctive thematic preoccupations of Ireland’s novelists and short story writers; discusses prominent literary trends and genres; and guides the reader through salient critical commentary. The analysis suggests that, in the hands of successive generations of Irish writers, the novel, the literary genre with newness at its etymological core, continually renews itself by absorbing, dethroning, and transforming precedent.

scholarly journals Representativeness in Corpora of Literary Texts: Introducing the C18P Project

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-48
Author(s):  
Iris Gemeinböck
Keyword(s):  
Early Development ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Literary Genre ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Prose Fiction ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Literary Genres ◽  
Victorian Era ◽  
Linguistic Research

Currently there are very few specialised corpora of literary texts that are tailored to the needs of literary critics who are interested in corpus stylistic analyses of prose fiction. Many existing corpora including literary texts were compiled for linguistic research interests and are often unsuitable for corpus stylistic purposes. The paper addresses three of the main problems: the absence of labelling of the texts for literary genre, the use of extracts, and the prevalence of linguistic periodisation schemes. C18P is a corpus of prose fiction designed specifically to address these issues. It traces the early development of the novel from 1700 up until the Victorian era. It can, for instance, be used for an analysis of the characteristic linguistic features of individual literary genres and forms. The following paper introduces the design of the corpus as well as some of its potential uses.

scholarly journals Nu vil jeg fortælle Jer mere – Fortællingen om Uglenspeil fra folkebog til roman

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 54-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simona Zetterberg Gjerlevsen
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Literary Genre ◽  
The Novel ◽  
English Novel ◽  
Literary Forms ◽  
Narrative Techniques ◽  
The Relationship

Now I will tell you more – The story of Uglenspeil from the Volksbuch to the Novel.“Nu vil jeg fortælle Jer mere – Fortællingen om Uglenspeil fra folkebog til roman” [Now I will tell you more – The story of Uglenspeil from the Volksbuch to the Novel] addresses one of the most frequently debated matters in the historiography of the novel, namely the question of continuity and rupture: did the novel grow out of earlier forms, or rise as a profoundly new genre? Whereas the question of legacy informs the historiography on the English novel, there are surprisingly few investigations of the 18th century Danish novel and its relation to previous literary forms. This article investigates the relationship between the novel and the most widely read literary genre before the novel in Denmark, namely the volksbuch. It does so through a comparative analysis of Carl August Thielo's novel Den Unge Uglenspeil, eller det slet opdragne Menneske [The Young Uglenspeil, or the Person who was brought up badly] (1759) and the Volksbuch Tiile Ugelspegel (1669) (in Jacobsen, Olrik and Paulli 1930). These works are particularly informative for understanding the relationship between the two genres as Thielo’s novel is built on – and at the same time comments on – the earlier genre. The article argues that the differences between the texts concerning fictionality, narrative techniques, structure, and their levels of reflections are so fundamental that the novel cannot be regarded a genre that simply grew out of the former. Especially with regard to fictionality, it becomes clear that the volksbuch and the novel are two very different genres. Whereas the novel comes to admit its own fictional status, the volksbücher were perceived of and intended to be taken as true stories. For those reasons, the article concludes that compared to previously most popular prose genre in Denmark, the Danish novel is to be considered a profoundly new genre.

scholarly journals Revealing Humanity: the Flexible Language of Literature

2018 ◽  
pp. 231-236
Author(s):  
K. Hewitt
Keyword(s):  
English Literature ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
Literary Genre ◽  
First Person ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Middle Aged ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Metaphorical Language ◽  
The Stranger ◽  
Russian Universities

The article features the linguistic peculiarities of four novels the author uses in her course on Contemporary English Fiction: Hilary Mantel’s A Change of Climate, Jim Crace’s Quarantine, Graham Swift’s Last Orders, and Adam Thorpe’s Ulverton. The novels probe deeply into some of the stranger aspects of human experience. Hilary Mantel writes of people who try to behave as balanced, rational beings, but to whom irrational and terrible things happen that have to be dealt with. The metaphorical language illuminates this philosophical exploration, which would otherwise be dull or unconvincing. The novel might seem strange for English readers, but the language carries the conviction of the true storyteller. J. Crace has a wonderful sense of exact words for an exact rhythm. Graham Swift’s novel is written as though it were the thoughts and memories of seven different characters. The language here is the colloquial vernacular, the language of elderly and middle-aged men and women with little education from south-eastLondon. The most extraordinary book of these four is Adam Thorpe’s Ulverton. It consists of twelve chapters, which are a chronological set separate ‘stories’ that happened between 1650 and 1988. Each chapter uses a different literary genre for the story-telling: for example, a simple first-person narrative, a sermon, a journal, letters to a lover, lecture notes, an internal monologue, and – ending the novel – a television script. Thorpe has therefore set himself a colossal task: to render into lively readable English, the concerns and passions of individuals, often illiterate individuals, while retaining a sense of the language appropriate to a particular era and a particular genre.Literature is an act of communication between writer and reader which does justice to humanity through expressive, imaginative language. Nobody would be so arrogant as to say that reading literature is the only way of ‘being human’ but more than most activities it forces us to think about people other than ourselves.Readers who would like to read more have available many other fine examples of contemporary English literature, provided by the Oxford Russia Fund for those taking part in the project on Contemporary English Literature in Russian Universities.

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