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The Moonstone II

The Moonstone II. Narratology. The scientific or formalistic study of narratives Mikhail Bakhtin , Roland Barthes, Gerard Genette. Story / Discourse. Story = the actual chronology of events in a narrative ;

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The Moonstone II

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  1. The Moonstone II

  2. Narratology • The scientific or formalistic study of narratives • Mikhail Bakhtin, Roland Barthes, Gerard Genette

  3. Story / Discourse • Story = the actual chronology of events in a narrative; • Discourse = The manipulation of that story in the presentation of the narrative • AKA: “Fabula” and “Sjuzh” • “Fabularefers to the chronological sequence of events in a narrative; sjuzhet is the re-presentation of those events (through narration, metaphor, camera angles, the re-ordering of the temporal sequence, and so on). The distinction is equivalent to that between story and discourse, and was used by the Russian Formalists, an influential group of structuralists.” • See http://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/narratology/terms/narrativetermsmainframe.html

  4. “The Age of Progress” • Nineteenth Century: “The Age of Progress”; Queen Victoria: 1837-1901 • Revolutions on the Continent: 1789 (and after), 1848 • Revolutions in England: 0; Reform Bills (1832, 1867, 1884) • Threats to Nation in Romantic Era: REVOLUTION! • Threats to Nation in Victorian Era: CLASS WAR! GLOBAL CLASS WAR! • Different strategies arise to narrate and forestall these new dangers…

  5. Bildungsroman: Dickens • “Formation Novel” – Prototype of development stories • National “coming of age” story – one representative character • Subject = Nation? • Johanne Von Goethe, Sorrows of Young Werther (1790s) • Great Expectations, David Copperfield (1850s) • Kunstlerroman: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) • Child  Adolescent  Adult • Typically Retrospective Adult (“Now”) Child (“Then”)

  6. National Marriage Plot • Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South (1855): Romance of National Consolidation: two representative characters • Margaret – Southern England, Agrarian, “Pre-Modern,” Anglican, “Classy,” Bookish, Philanthropic. (But also superstitious: “Burning cats!”) OLD ENGLAND • Mr. Thornton – From Manchester (North), Mercantilist, “New Money,” Reformist, Rich (But also crass: bad table manners, and doesn’t read any literature) MODERN ENGLAND • “And yet, yo’ see, North and South has both met and made kind o’ friends in this big smoky place” (73) }

  7. National Marriage Plot • Thornton and Margaret’s marriage as the business of England’s future: “Mr. Thornton did not speak, and she went on looking for some paper on which were written down the proposals for security; for she was most anxious to have it all looked upon in the light of a mere business arrangement, in which the principle advantage would be on her side. While she sought for this paper, her very heart pulse was arrested by the tone in which Mr. Thornton spoke. His voice was hoarse, and trembling with tender passion, as he said: -- “‘Margaret!’” (424)

  8. The Historical Novel Waverly dreams of his dead Scottish friends: “These reveries he was permitted to enjoy… and it was in many a winter walk by the shores of Ullswater, that he acquired a more complete mastery of a spirit tamed by adversity than his former experience had given him; and that he felt himself entitled to say firmly, though perhaps with a sigh, that the romance of his life was ended, and that its real history had now commenced.” (415) Waverly’s Journey { } Past Future “Romance”“Realism”

  9. Progressive Stories of Progress: Be Careful! • Ian Watt, The Rise of the Novel: Studies in Defoe, Richardson, and Fielding • (1957) tells the story of just that: the “rise” of “the novel.” • Who is the main character of this story? What happens to “him”? Joyce? “Now” Daniel Defoe “Then”

  10. Progressive Stories of Victorian Progress • Prince Albert’s Speech at the Mansion House • “How dull it is to pause, to make an end, to rust unburnished, not to shine in use!” • “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield” • Victorian State: “Free,”“Pluralistic,”“Democratic”

  11. Anti-Developmental Models? • Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights (1848) • Two houses (Thrushcross Grange, Wuthering Heights) • Two generations of lovers (Heathcliff/Catherine, Linton/Catherine 2) • Ends with scene at the graveyard, looking backward • James Joyce, Finnegan’s Wake (1939): Circularity • Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita (1955). Semi-Moonstony Structure? • Narrator (HumbertHumbert) is a visionary author, an immoral tyrant. But his “manuscript” is introduced and partially “edited” by John Ray Jr., Ph.D, an idiot moralist. • Structure allows both positions to be made fun of, ironized. We don’t (or can’t) “sympathize” with either position…

  12. Form and Narrative • Novels as Tacit Claims of How History Happens • Developmental History (“Progress!”) • Cyclical History (“It all comes back”) • History as Decline (“The world isn’t what it used to be”) Possible Political Stakes of These Models of History? • Developmental (“Whig”: Progressive?) • Cyclical (Quietist?) • Decline (“Tory”: Conservative?)

  13. Point of View • First Person; A point of view in which an "I" or "we" serves as the narrator of a piece of fiction. The narrator may be a minor character, observing the action or a major participant in the story. • Third-Person: A method of storytelling in which a narrator relates all action in third person, using third person pronouns such as "he" or "she." Third person may be omniscient or limited. • Third-Person Limited: Third person limited point of view is a method of storytelling in which the narrator knows only the thoughts and feelings of a single character, while other characters are presented externally. • Third-Person Omniscient; A method of storytelling in which the narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all of the characters in the story, as opposed to third person limited, which adheres closely to one character's perspective.

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