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The Implied Reader: Patterns of Communication in Prose Fiction from Bunyan to Beckett
01 Jan 1974-
TL;DR: Iser as mentioned in this paper analyzed major works of English fiction ranging from Bunyan, Fielding, Scott, and Thackeray to Joyce and Beckett, and provided a framework for a theory of such literary effects and aesthetic responses.
Abstract: Like no other art form, the novel confronts its readers with circumstances arising from their own environment of social and historical norms and stimulates them to assess and criticize their surroundings. By analyzing major works of English fiction ranging from Bunyan, Fielding, Scott, and Thackeray to Joyce and Beckett, renowned critic Wolfgang Iser here provides a framework for a theory of such literary effects and aesthetic responses. Iser's focus is on the theme of discovery, whereby the reader is given the chance to recognize the deficiencies of his own existence and the suggested solutions to counterbalance them. The content and form of this discovery is the calculated response of the reader -- the implied reader. In discovering the expectations and presuppositions that underlie all his perceptions, the reader learns to "read" himself as he does the text.
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01 Jan 2004
TL;DR: A ficcao seriada televisiva constitui-se num espaco em que a realidade empirica interage com a criacao ficcional.
Abstract: A ficcao seriada televisiva constitui-se num espaco em que a realidade empirica interage com a criacao ficcional. Ali, a Historia e recontada a partir de criterios ditados pelos principios que regem as praticas de construcao do espetaculo televisivo. O fluxo dessa narrativa percorre um caminho de duas maos: os fatos que marcam o cotidiano da midia pautam a ficcao e vice-versa. Assim, a telenovela torna-se objeto das conversas informais, propondo um amplo debate que ultrapassa as esferas convencionais da narrativa ficcional, fornecendo ao cidadao comum elementos para opinar sobre questoes de interesse da polis. O presente artigo discute esse modo especifico de interacao da midia com o publico, mapeando alguns elementos essenciais para a compreensao de questoes mais abrangentes que marcam a interacao da midia televisiva com a cultura.
TL;DR: In this article , the authors focus on the inevitable incompleteness of in-game affordances, the unique ways in which players experience the boundaries of gameworlds, and how the encounters with repeated instances of the same game assets become apparent.
Abstract: This paper presents and analyzes forms of fictional incompleteness that are commonly encountered as part of the experience of playing digital games. While some of these forms are recognized to be compatible with the incompleteness that characterizes non-interactive fictions (such as novels, paintings, and films), some of the ways in which fictional worlds are only partially presented to their users are unique to computer-mediated, interactive fictions. In this regard, this paper specifically focuses on the inevitable incompleteness of in-game affordances, the unique ways in which players experience the boundaries of gameworlds, and how incompleteness in digital games becomes apparent in the encounters with repeated instances of the same game assets
20 Feb 2022
TL;DR: In this article , the authors analyze the intertextual allusions in the Qurʾan narratives of the prophet Jonah and the story of Abraham's intercession for Lot's people.
Abstract: Intertextuality, as an overarching concept concerning the interrelations between texts, can be defined as "the ways in which texts refer to and build on other texts." The narratives of the Qurʾān are amongst the clearest manifestations of this intertextual phenomenon. This is not only because they are concerned with pre-Islamic figures who have parallels in Jewish and Christian traditions, but also because many verses in these narratives obviously allude to such extra-Qurʾānic traditions. The present dissertation addresses this issue in Qurʾānic studies, which constitutes a main question in modern research on the intertextual allusions in Islam’s revealed scripture. Hence, it deals with the virtual absence of reliance upon a literary approach to these allusions, informed by contemporary allusional studies. In particular, the dissertation analyzes the intertextual allusions (to such extra- Qurʾānic traditions) evident in three groups of Qurʾānic narrative pericopes. These concern: (1) The story of the biblical Prophet Jonah (Q 68:48-50, 37:139-48, 21:87-8, 10:98, 6:86, and 4:163); (2) The creation account on the sin of the first human couple, Adam and Eve, and of God teaching Adam the names of everything (Q 20:120-121, 7:19-22, 2:31-3 and 2:35-6); and (3) The laughter of Sarah, wife of Abraham, and the story of Abraham’s intercession for Lot’s People (Q 51:24-30 and 11:69-76). The main goal of the dissertation is (by means of a systematic application of an approach primarily based on a method developed in allusional studies) to explore the significance of the intertextual allusions contained in the aforementioned narrative pericopes. Thus it will shed new light on the function of intertextual allusions in the narratives of the Qurʾān and highlight the significance of these allusions in forming an “inter-textual conversation” between the narrative pericopes in the Qurʾān and their Jewish and Christian antecedent traditions. It is hoped that the impact of this dissertation will extend beyond the boundaries of the academic study of religion and that its findings will contribute meaningfully to the contemporary dialogue between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
10 Jun 2022
TL;DR: In this article , the authors propose a feminist narratological study of texts by Ananda Devi, a contemporary Francophone writer from Mauritius, who employs narrative strategies that allow marginalized narrators to intervene in dominant structures of narrative construction and create hybrid magical spaces for feminine expression.
Abstract: This dissertation proposes a feminist narratological study of texts by Ananda Devi, a contemporary Francophone writer from Mauritius. I examine three principle narrative strategies that allow Devi to challenge the dominant androcentric discourses. These discourses ignore the feminine world of domesticity and impose images of submission on women, thereby curbing feminine expression and quest. Inspired by the efforts of critics such as Alison Case, Robyn Warhol, Susan Lanser to study narrative structures in the context of cultural constructions of gender, I argue that Devi employs narrative strategies that allow her marginalized narrators to intervene in dominant structures of narrative construction and create hybrid magical spaces for feminine expression. In the first chapter I analyze how Devi subverts the romance plot to bring to the fore alternative models of romance and sexuality that go beyond the binary man-woman opposition. Furthermore, drawing upon Susan Lanser’s notion of “plotlessness,” I argue that Devi’s plotless novels not only valorize feminine space but also allow the narrator to connect with her narratees, creating a sense of feminine solidarity. The second chapter analyses how she questions the Western notion of linear temporality by privileging cyclical narratives that create space for feminine dialogue as her works connect women across time. This chapter also examines Devi’s transgression of narrative boundaries by introducing multiple narrators through narrative metalepsis, thus introducing multiple consciousnesses by inviting different voices to construct the narrative. The third chapter probes Devi’s non-Western techniques as she merges Western reality with the magic of the Orient and allows her characters accessibility to extra-real and magical spaces that become tools for them. In this section I also examine how Hindu myths and folktales intervene in the reality of Devi’s novels, influencing her characters and narrators. In the process, however, Devi also scrutinizes the myths themselves by questioning their representations of women. In this way Devi has effectively used different strategies to create a hybrid space where the West meets the non-West, the feminine meets the androcentric, the real meets the extra-real and the traditional distinctions between these categories are challenged for alternate and new possibilities.