concept summaries
Part of my portfolio for Reading Fiction entailed two short summaries of literary concepts, to choose from: genre, narrator, realism, symbolism, modernism, post-modernism, intertextuality and metafiction. I had to apply them to two (or more) of the novels we had read. My initial choices were genres and narrators, but due to the fact that I decided to write the actual essay on narrative voices, I switched gears and settled on intertextuality. :)
The Scope Of The Story
*
Concept Summary: GENRE.
In the context of literature, genres serve the purpose of classifying and differentiating between different texts. Assigning a book to a genre is another way of summarising the story based on the characteristics it has in common with other works; what the reader expects to find in a science-fiction novel is not what he or she would expect to read in a detective story. One genre does not necessarily exclude the other, as is the case presented by David Lodge: 'Popular science fiction [...] is a mixture of invented gadgetry and archetypical motifs.' [1] Nonetheless, defining novels by genres is restricting the scope of the story to a set standard of conventions and stylistic rules; Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut makes an incisive impression on its readers by virtue of defying the conventions. The book opens with a piece of experimental fiction wherein the author breaks the illusion of the novel and throughout the book Vonnegut himself emerges into the narration. [2] Moreover, he seems to exploit the science fiction genre to convey the feeling of an unreal environment that his generation was experiencing after the war. As a consequence, many episodes in the book contradict the expectations the readers have about science fiction and war novels, giving the whole work an aura of pastiche.
Also breaking from conventional narrative styles of its genre, Fiesta by Ernest Hemingway illustrates via hyper-realistic situations, the state of another generation, one that struggles to deal with the aftermath of the First World War. Hemingway's exaggerated style is as unsettling as Vonnegut's and they both seem to use repetition to convey the sense of lives ruled by the rhythmic noise of enemy and friendly fire. The genre of historical post-bellum novels that should encompass both books would be an imprecise way of describing them. Fiesta gives the impression of being made up of a slow succession of trivial episodes that can only be made sense of through the characters' development. Slaughterhouse Five instead appears to be, as the title page states, a perplexing tale 'of the planet Tralfamadore' and its appreciation depends on the readers' willingness to suspend their disbelief and accept that 'so it goes'. [3] What is significant in these terms is how less unsettling the books come across if understood in different terms than the historical ones; the unbelievable story of Billy Pilgrim would not be out of place if labelled as a science-fiction novel, but the story would unquestionably lose the quality that is integral to war novels. Talking about the parts of the book that deal with how the aliens see humanity, David Lodge says: 'these passages are both amusingly parodic of science fiction and philosophically serious.' [4]
Ascribing any novel to any genre means limiting its potential, but it is also true that when read in the context of their genres, books gain from the comparison with similar works. Texts like Fiesta and Slaughterhouse Five challenge the boundaries of their genre and instil new life in the literature that is yet to come; furthermore, Baldick states that major genres like that of the novel 'have no agreed rules, although they may include several more limited subgenres'. [5] One of the reasons why novels have no agreed rules is that the novel itself emerged in its modern form as a novelty of the 18th century and it relies on the expectations of the readers. Choosing a book based on its genre is choosing a book expecting to get a certain reaction out of it, but within such vague edges books like Slaughterhouse Five can still thrive.
Word Count: 649/800.
Many Versions Of The Same Story
*
Concept Summary: INTERTEXTUALITY.
When Lord Tennyson wrote Idylls of the King, he modelled it after the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and, more specifically, after Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur. Malory and Tennyson are part of a great number of authors who drew inspiration from the Arthurian cycle and each work is intrinsically linked with the others, as many versions of the same story. [6] This seems to suggest, in David Lodge's words, that 'intertextuality is the very condition of literature, that all texts are woven from the tissues of other texts, whether their authors know it or not.' [7] Jean Rhys uses intertextuality as the starting point of Wide Sargasso Sea; the greater part of the novel is recounted by Antoinette, who is the real name of Bertha Mason, the beast-like wife of Mr Rochester in Jane Eyre. Yet, Rhys shifts the focus of the narration to Antoinette's husband twice, though the man remains unnamed. [8] Nonetheless, these intrusions convey crucial points as where the attention of the reader is brought to the two characters' mismatched dispositions towards their marriage in Part II. The subtleties of the first person narrative that Charlotte Brontë exploits to make Jane likeable in her novel serve a different purpose in Wide Sargasso Sea. Mr Rochester speaks of 'doubts and hesitations', of the incessant rain and of the 'extreme green' on the hills [9]; his attitude towards Antoinette and her world is condensed in the seemingly throwaway words he uses.
It is, however, Rhys's choice to have the narration revolve around Antoinette whilst allowing her husband to have a voice that sets the book apart from Jane Eyre, where the sole point of view available in that of the eponymous heroine. Throughout the novel, Jane is telling her story in retrospect and she makes sure that the readers are on her side from the beginning; the book is then a long flashback through which Jane is able to select the events of her life that shaped her as a character. Jean Rhys's heroine, on the other hand, is not granted the same privilege; 'by putting Antoinette's story into more than one mouth, Rhys creates intimate insights into her characters and emphasises their knotty, intertwined relationships.' [10]
In comparison, Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin deals with a different kind of intertextuality. The book is interspersed with biblical quotations given without a reference to the original text, as if Baldwin were saying that the word of God is everywhere and free from the constraint of printed-paper. Equally significant is the title of the first part of the novel: The Seventh Day, Sunday, is the day John remembers best. [11] It is also a reference to the seventh day of the creation and to the number regarded as perfect by Christians. [12] The two levels of significance of the day are juxtaposed and create dramatic irony as the readers perceive the stark contrast between the Christian meaning and the account of John and Elisha in the church. The title of the novel itself is a reference to a famous gospel song that announces the birth of Jesus Christ and maybe it is a subtle message from the author, inviting the readers to regard John as the next messiah. In view of the fact that the quotations and references are not explained within the text, the ambiguity of the novel is entirely preserved and makes it fit multiple interpretations. As with the Arthurian legends though, biblical excerpts have been extensively read, translated and manipulated over the centuries, it is then possible to interpret Go Tell It On The Mountain as much as the sources it draws on.
Word Count: 694/800.
*
Footnotes.
[1] David Lodge, The Art of Fiction (London: Penguin, 1992), p. 137.
[2] Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death (Vintage), p. 160.
[3] Ibid., p. 17.
[4] Lodge, The Art of Fiction (London: Penguin, 1992), p. 78.
[5] 'Genre' in Chris Baldick, Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), p. 140.
*
[6] For more information on this subject, see John Rhys, Studies in the Arthurian Legend (Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, 2004).
[7] Lodge, The Art of Fiction (London: Penguin, 1992), p. 98.
[8] Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea (London: Penguin, 2000), p. 55-89, 98-142.
[9] Ibid., p. 55-58.
[10] Andrea Ashwort in Ibid., p. xiii.
[11] James Baldwin, Go Tell It On The Mountain (London: Penguin), p. 11.
[12] Based on the Pythagoreans' perfect shapes: a triangle, Christianised to symbolise the Holy Trinity, on top of a square, the four elements.
The Scope Of The Story
*
Concept Summary: GENRE.
In the context of literature, genres serve the purpose of classifying and differentiating between different texts. Assigning a book to a genre is another way of summarising the story based on the characteristics it has in common with other works; what the reader expects to find in a science-fiction novel is not what he or she would expect to read in a detective story. One genre does not necessarily exclude the other, as is the case presented by David Lodge: 'Popular science fiction [...] is a mixture of invented gadgetry and archetypical motifs.' [1] Nonetheless, defining novels by genres is restricting the scope of the story to a set standard of conventions and stylistic rules; Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut makes an incisive impression on its readers by virtue of defying the conventions. The book opens with a piece of experimental fiction wherein the author breaks the illusion of the novel and throughout the book Vonnegut himself emerges into the narration. [2] Moreover, he seems to exploit the science fiction genre to convey the feeling of an unreal environment that his generation was experiencing after the war. As a consequence, many episodes in the book contradict the expectations the readers have about science fiction and war novels, giving the whole work an aura of pastiche.
Also breaking from conventional narrative styles of its genre, Fiesta by Ernest Hemingway illustrates via hyper-realistic situations, the state of another generation, one that struggles to deal with the aftermath of the First World War. Hemingway's exaggerated style is as unsettling as Vonnegut's and they both seem to use repetition to convey the sense of lives ruled by the rhythmic noise of enemy and friendly fire. The genre of historical post-bellum novels that should encompass both books would be an imprecise way of describing them. Fiesta gives the impression of being made up of a slow succession of trivial episodes that can only be made sense of through the characters' development. Slaughterhouse Five instead appears to be, as the title page states, a perplexing tale 'of the planet Tralfamadore' and its appreciation depends on the readers' willingness to suspend their disbelief and accept that 'so it goes'. [3] What is significant in these terms is how less unsettling the books come across if understood in different terms than the historical ones; the unbelievable story of Billy Pilgrim would not be out of place if labelled as a science-fiction novel, but the story would unquestionably lose the quality that is integral to war novels. Talking about the parts of the book that deal with how the aliens see humanity, David Lodge says: 'these passages are both amusingly parodic of science fiction and philosophically serious.' [4]
Ascribing any novel to any genre means limiting its potential, but it is also true that when read in the context of their genres, books gain from the comparison with similar works. Texts like Fiesta and Slaughterhouse Five challenge the boundaries of their genre and instil new life in the literature that is yet to come; furthermore, Baldick states that major genres like that of the novel 'have no agreed rules, although they may include several more limited subgenres'. [5] One of the reasons why novels have no agreed rules is that the novel itself emerged in its modern form as a novelty of the 18th century and it relies on the expectations of the readers. Choosing a book based on its genre is choosing a book expecting to get a certain reaction out of it, but within such vague edges books like Slaughterhouse Five can still thrive.
Word Count: 649/800.
Many Versions Of The Same Story
*
Concept Summary: INTERTEXTUALITY.
When Lord Tennyson wrote Idylls of the King, he modelled it after the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and, more specifically, after Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur. Malory and Tennyson are part of a great number of authors who drew inspiration from the Arthurian cycle and each work is intrinsically linked with the others, as many versions of the same story. [6] This seems to suggest, in David Lodge's words, that 'intertextuality is the very condition of literature, that all texts are woven from the tissues of other texts, whether their authors know it or not.' [7] Jean Rhys uses intertextuality as the starting point of Wide Sargasso Sea; the greater part of the novel is recounted by Antoinette, who is the real name of Bertha Mason, the beast-like wife of Mr Rochester in Jane Eyre. Yet, Rhys shifts the focus of the narration to Antoinette's husband twice, though the man remains unnamed. [8] Nonetheless, these intrusions convey crucial points as where the attention of the reader is brought to the two characters' mismatched dispositions towards their marriage in Part II. The subtleties of the first person narrative that Charlotte Brontë exploits to make Jane likeable in her novel serve a different purpose in Wide Sargasso Sea. Mr Rochester speaks of 'doubts and hesitations', of the incessant rain and of the 'extreme green' on the hills [9]; his attitude towards Antoinette and her world is condensed in the seemingly throwaway words he uses.
It is, however, Rhys's choice to have the narration revolve around Antoinette whilst allowing her husband to have a voice that sets the book apart from Jane Eyre, where the sole point of view available in that of the eponymous heroine. Throughout the novel, Jane is telling her story in retrospect and she makes sure that the readers are on her side from the beginning; the book is then a long flashback through which Jane is able to select the events of her life that shaped her as a character. Jean Rhys's heroine, on the other hand, is not granted the same privilege; 'by putting Antoinette's story into more than one mouth, Rhys creates intimate insights into her characters and emphasises their knotty, intertwined relationships.' [10]
In comparison, Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin deals with a different kind of intertextuality. The book is interspersed with biblical quotations given without a reference to the original text, as if Baldwin were saying that the word of God is everywhere and free from the constraint of printed-paper. Equally significant is the title of the first part of the novel: The Seventh Day, Sunday, is the day John remembers best. [11] It is also a reference to the seventh day of the creation and to the number regarded as perfect by Christians. [12] The two levels of significance of the day are juxtaposed and create dramatic irony as the readers perceive the stark contrast between the Christian meaning and the account of John and Elisha in the church. The title of the novel itself is a reference to a famous gospel song that announces the birth of Jesus Christ and maybe it is a subtle message from the author, inviting the readers to regard John as the next messiah. In view of the fact that the quotations and references are not explained within the text, the ambiguity of the novel is entirely preserved and makes it fit multiple interpretations. As with the Arthurian legends though, biblical excerpts have been extensively read, translated and manipulated over the centuries, it is then possible to interpret Go Tell It On The Mountain as much as the sources it draws on.
Word Count: 694/800.
*
Footnotes.
[1] David Lodge, The Art of Fiction (London: Penguin, 1992), p. 137.
[2] Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death (Vintage), p. 160.
[3] Ibid., p. 17.
[4] Lodge, The Art of Fiction (London: Penguin, 1992), p. 78.
[5] 'Genre' in Chris Baldick, Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), p. 140.
*
[6] For more information on this subject, see John Rhys, Studies in the Arthurian Legend (Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, 2004).
[7] Lodge, The Art of Fiction (London: Penguin, 1992), p. 98.
[8] Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea (London: Penguin, 2000), p. 55-89, 98-142.
[9] Ibid., p. 55-58.
[10] Andrea Ashwort in Ibid., p. xiii.
[11] James Baldwin, Go Tell It On The Mountain (London: Penguin), p. 11.
[12] Based on the Pythagoreans' perfect shapes: a triangle, Christianised to symbolise the Holy Trinity, on top of a square, the four elements.