Mantissa (1982) Part 1

1. Mantissa (1982) Part 1 By John Fowles Presentation: Dr Jason M. Ward http://yunus.hacettepe.edu.tr/~jason.ward/ 1/20

2. 400-Word Synopsis 1/5 • The story is prefixed by quotations about the nature of epistemology, being as desiring, and the mutable seductive nature of the Muses. • It opens with the protagonist regaining consciousness in a hospital bed. He is greeted by a woman who claims to be his wife and another a doctor. After being informed that his name is Miles Green, he realises that he is suffering from amnesia, which he assumes is from an accident but which the doctor describes as a “power cut”. 2/20

3. 400-Word Synopsis 2/5 • The doctor, who is called Delfie and is young and pretty, states that she will start his treatment immediately and the wife leaves – upset that Miles cannot remember her or their children’s names. Miles suddenly realises that he is naked under the bed clothes and blurts it out, prompting the doctor to admit that she is naked under her uniform too. She informs him that she is a neurologist and he needs to be patient about his prescribed treatment. 3/20

4. 400-Word Synopsis 3/5 • When Nurse Cory arrives, who is black, young and attractive, and with the same eyes as Delfie, they start to manipulate Miles’s genitals to provoke a physical response. The doctor then puts Miles’s hand on her naked breasts and instructs him to fondle her. Miles reacts with alarm, but is reassured that this is legitimate treatment to reactivate his memory by reawakening his ID to overpower his Superego – and his wife has agreed to it. The seduction grows in intensity culminating with both nurses stripping naked and climbing into bed with him and kissing him. 4/20

5. 400-Word Synopsis 4/5 • Although he continues to protest, Miles becomes aroused and starts to feel like some memories might be about to return. He believes that he might be a politician and that this seduction could be a set-up. Despite Miles’s professed reluctance, Doctor Delifie begins to have sex with him but they continue to quarrel even as they copulate. Miles notices that the nurse is busy with some papers in the corner and now worries he might be in an asylum. 5/20

6. 400-Word Synopsis 5/5 • After reaching his climax, he begins to fall into a slumber with Delfie but is woken by the nurse who tells him that he has just written a lovely little story. She begins to read it and it is the exact same words as the start of the chapter of the book he is in. There is a “CRASH!” and the chapter ends. 6/20

7. 1. What is the connection between the opening quotations from Descartes, Marivaux and Lempriere and the text we are reading? • The Descartes quotation is about consciousness, presence and how we know what we know. The character Miles does not know who, what, where, or how he is and as the novel unfolds the reader doesn’t know what to believe either. • The Marivaux quotation suggests that we find meaning in desire, even when it is is not reciprocated, which foreshadows Miles’s tumultuous relationship with his muse. • Lempriere’s definition of the Muses as a changeable seductresses prepares us for Delfie and Cory and their further incarnations. 7/20

8. 2. Mantissa is the decimal part of a logarithm. E.g.: In the logarithm 2.95424, the mantissa is 0.95424.Why do you think that Fowles chose the name Mantissa for this book? • I think it might be because these decimals are fractions of a whole that do not exist as solid entities yet without them the whole numbers could not exist or change. The book is about the notion of muses, which could be seen as the calculations within the author’s whole creativity. Mathematics is also another inescapable language. Coincidentally, the two disciplines from which Dr. Delfie chose her questions for Miles were from literature and mathematics. 8/20

9. 3. What is your opinion of the characterisation of Miles Green? • He seems contradictory and unlikeable. He claims not to remember his politics but still remembers questionable racial stereotypes about wealthy Jews and “agile” blacks. He protests against sex yet imagines breasts in the room’s décor and recalls the sex references from Shakespeare. He complains that he is being abused but is verbally abusive to Delfie. His resistance to the seduction may represent the super ego but his childish petulance and language, his physical preference for the nurse, and his wish to convey this to Delfie in order to make her jealous reflects the Id. He is inconsistent and exasperating – like his muses. 9/20

10. 4. What is the effect of the following statements? “it was forced to the inescapable conclusion that far from augustly floating in the stratosphere, couched as it were in iambic pentameters, it was actually lying on its back in bed” (5) and ““How long have I been here?” “Just a few pages” (10). From within the narrative, these statements about the sentences’ own poetic structure and the physical reality of the book that holds the words that create this fictional world. This reflexively draw our attention back to the inescapable nature of language. 10/20

11. 5 [EXTRA QUESTION-YOU ONLY NEED FOUR IN YOUR PPT]. Is Fowles’s story about the man with amnesia or the mode of his seduction original? Definitely not. Both are well-worn clichés. There is a genre called Amnesia Noir with 64 films listed on IMDB in which the hero wakes up with no memory and has to piece together what is happening and who is telling the truth. Also, the seduction sequence could be the plotline for any tacky hospital-set porn flick in which the hero lies helpless as the beautiful dominant uniformed staff take care of him. Threesome, multi-racial and even hospital porn are all part of the parlance/ genres of porn – something, which Fowles cheekily demonstrates his knowledge of by using the term “Brazilian fork” twice! The more interesting question is why such an intellectual and gifted writer should resort to such cheesy hackneyed scenarios . 11/20

12. MCQ [multiple-choice quiz] 1 What is NOT one of the professions that Miles thinks that he did before he lost his memory? • Navy captain • Public school headmaster C. Musician D. Politician Please note that for your presentation, instead of including a MCQ like this one, you should include fourkey quotations, each one with your reasonswhy you selected it. I have done this part differently here because we will be discussing the quotations in a separate activity2 11/20

13. MCQ [multiple-choice quiz] 1 What is NOT one of the professions that Miles thinks that he did before he lost his memory? • Navy captain • Public school headmaster C. Musician D. Politician 13/20

14. MCQ 2 How many children does Miles Green have? • One • Two C. Three D. None Please note that for your presentation, instead of including a MCQ like this one, you should include fourkey quotations, each one with your reasonswhy you selected it. I have done this part differently here because we will be discussing the quotations in a separate activity. 14/20

15. MCQ 2 How many children does Miles Green have? • One • Two C. Three D. None 15/20

16. MCQ 3 What is a Synecdoche? A. a part that represents a whole B. a group of people working together C. a sinful unpleasantness D. a synthetic bag Please note that for your presentation, instead of including a MCQ like this one, you should include fourkey quotations, each one with your reasonswhy you selected it. I have done this part differently here because we will be discussing the quotations in a separate activity. 15/20

17. MCQ 3 What is a Synecdoche? A. a part that represents a whole B. a group of people working together C. a sinful unpleasantness D. a synthetic bag 17/20

18. MCQ 4 What is Doctor Delfie’s view of monogramy (single-partner relationships)? A. She believes that it is sinful to have sex with anyone who you are not lawfully married with. B. She thinks it is necessary to maintain a productive society. C. She thinks it is nonsense because a man is genetically programmed to spread his genes to as many women as possible. D. She thinks that women should be allowed to have more than one partner because she is a actually a muse who inspires many men by sleeping around. 18/20

19. MCQ 4 What is Doctor Delfie’s view of monogramy (single-partner relationships)? A. She believes that it is sinful to have sex with anyone who you are not lawfully married with. B. She thinks it is necessary to maintain a productive society. C. She thinks it is nonsense because a man is genetically programmed to spread his genes to as many women as possible. D. She thinks that women should be allowed to have more than one partner because she is a actually a muse who inspires many men by sleeping around. 19/20

20. Thank you! • Now it is your turn… • Remember to include the section with four quotations and the reasons why you chose them instead of the MCQ section that I used for this demonstration PPT. • Also, don’t forget to include one slide explaining who did which parts. • Please see the syllabus for a detailed description of how you should do this assignment: http://yunus.hacettepe.edu.tr/~jason.ward/ied485britnovel4/IED486NovelIVFall16SyllabusJasonMWard.pdf 20/20