The one vs. the many : minor characters and the space of the protagonist in the novel
09 Feb 2009-
About: The article was published on 2009-02-09. It has received 315 citations till now.
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01 Nov 2022
TL;DR: The authors examines the phenomenon of typicality as a horizon of the novel's activity and examines how it asserts itself through a kind of representational intensity that can shift from one mode or object to another and take different forms.
Abstract:
This essay examines the phenomenon of typicality as a horizon of the novel's activity. The novel's manner of representing seems to require a certain belief in the existence of types. Yet how the novel goes about demonstrating this belief does not sit easily with usual ideas about what classification looks like or how it proceeds. Novels seem to manifest typicality while pulling away from taxonomic endeavors in the empirical world. If taxonomy aims at systematically arranging things in order to express how they are related to each other, typicality in the novel proceeds differently. Instead of linking typicality to quantitative occurrence, this essay examines how it asserts itself through a kind of representational intensity that can shift from one mode or object to another and take different forms. This intensity comes about not so much through description, or through the accumulation of detail, as through a kind of supercharged observation and modulations of narrative pace and speed. If taxonomy ends in an array, the novel's typicality manifests itself more phenomenologically and affectively, through sentiments and hard-to-define sensations that include those of decline and deficiency, of something missing or of something running down. There is also a phenomenon that occurs when types suddenly disclose themselves in all their fullness; such an event can even bring the narrative to a halt. This essay focuses on the question of how types appear, or, in other words, the phenomenology of the novel as form.
1 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that Bloom's position as a cuckold vitally integrates the form and content of Ulysses, and that this character's secondary position facilitates narrative developments, particularly ones made possible by empathy and altruism.
Abstract: Although Leopold Bloom is probably Joyce’s most well-known and fully realized character, his position as a cuckold in Ulysses has not been fully understood. Critics have attributed personal and thematic reasons for Joyce’s historical reversal of the cuckold’s position, such as his obsession with infidelity and his explorations of tolerance, progressive sexual views, and changing male identity. Yet discussions of Bloom as a cuckold have not been able to account for him as a compositional resource for Joyce. I argue that Bloom’s position as a cuckold vitally integrates the form and content of Ulysses . Joyce elevates the cuckold’s status because this character’s secondary position facilitates narrative developments, particularly ones made possible by empathy and altruism. Bloom comprehends and tries to facilitate Molly’s and Stephen’s desires because he is sensitive to them, and he thus represents a space of potentiality for others in Joyce’s narrative.
1 citations
DOI•
30 Sep 2019
TL;DR: In this article, the authors study the characters of Marlow and Kurtz from Joseph Conrad's novel "Heart of Darkness" and their roles in the action and why they are called counterfoil to each other.
Abstract: The objective of this paper is to study the characters of Marlow and Kurtz from Joseph Conrad’s novel ‘Heart of
Darkness’ and their roles in the action and why they are called counterfoil to each other. Therefore, the focus is
not on what is done (action) but who is doing what (character). I propose to use systemic functional grammar to
explore these characters and their roles in the novel. Especially, I will make use of character’s transitivity
profile following Simpson’s (2004, p.119) statement that, ‘the transitivity profile embodied by a text is generally
a useful indicator of character in prose fiction’. This paper also aims to show how an investigation of process
types can function as a rewarding analytical tool for character analysis. Following this, it has been observed that
Marlow is a sensor while Kurtz turns out to be in an actor’s role which means that Marlow reflects while Kurtz acts.
Marlow observes everything but does not participate in action while Kurtz’s role is in clear contrast to him as he
is more of an action guy and his dominant process types are material processes
1 citations