The Nature of Narrative

Halliburton, David; Scholes, Robert; Kellogg, Robert

doi:10.2307/429141

Cited by 7 publications

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“…266. is neither a character in the narrative nor an authorial presence, but "the narrator as inquirer, constructing a narrative on the basis of such evidence as he has been able to accumulate." 431 The histor, then, takes the teller's neutral, mediating position of unaffected observation, while the epic bard "can reveal unspoken thoughts when he wants to," 432 the latter hence contributing to the sense of a "mimetic narrative" and yielding to the potential lyrical eminence of speech and thought. These two facets of narratorial speech, of the histor and the epic bard, also surface in Ulysses, another prose epic, indicating the necessity of relating more than one voice to the work's structural and textu(r)al presence which has been identified as the narrator.…”

Section: Lyrically Opaque Narration 1 the Roots Of Lyrical Narration ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Fabric of Textual Relations in James Joyce’s Ulysses

Véry¹

2018

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Literature, as a written artefact, then, is singled out by its eminence. As Gadamer puts it, it is the particular mode of manifestation, or rather, self-manifestation which makes one consider texts of literature as distinct from other, non-artistic texts.[Literature] is text in an essential and demanding sense, namely, a text which does not refer back to a speech, be it thought or voiced, as its fixation, but is untied from its origin, claiming its own validity, as the ultimate authority on its own account for the reader and interpreter. 12 In this sense, it comes to light in its significance that "the artistic or literary work seals its own unity, that is to say, it establishes its own autonomy." 13 Texts, as works of literature, creating a different status of writing than it is customary in everyday use, articulate themselves as pieces of opaque writing, i.e. ones that necessitate the conscious effort of interpretation As Gadamer makes it explicit from this perspective,[t]he concept of the text is hermeneutic in itself. […] It is in this respect that the most extensive concept of the 'text' is related to 'understanding' and is disposed to 'interpretation'. But a text which is a literary artefact, seems to me a text in an eminent sense. It is not only disposed to, but necessitates interpretation. 14 As such does the text become a fundamental hermeneutical concept. "It articulates the authoritative potentiality [Gegebenheit], to which understanding and interpretation have to measure themselvesit is the hermeneutical point of identity, which keeps every variable within bounds." 15 The eminence of the work of literature, as text, exhibits itself in its laying 12 "Sie ist in einem wesentlichen und anspruchsvollen Sinne Text, nämlich ein solcher Text, der nicht als Fixierung einer gedachten oder gesprochenen Rede auf diese zurückweist, sondern, von seiner Herkunft abgelöst, eine eigene Geltung beansprucht, die ihrerseits für den Leser und Interpreten eine letzte Instanz ist." Gadamer, "Der 'eminente' Text und seine Wahrheit," p. 286.13 "[D]as Werk der Literatur oder Kunst sich durch sich selbst zur Einheit schließt, sich sozusagen autonom konstituiert." Gadamer, "Philosophie und Literatur," p. 254. 14 "Der Begriff des Textes ist selber ein hermeneutischer. […] Insofern ist auch im weitesten Begriff 'Text' auf 'Verstehen' bezogen und ist der 'Auslegung' fähig. Aber ein Text, der ein literarisches Kunstwerk ist, scheint mir ein Text im eminenten Sinne. Es ist der Auslegung nicht nur fähig, sondern bedürftig." Gadamer, "Philosophie und Literatur," p. 248. [italics mine -D. V.] 15 "Er formuliert die autoritative Gegebenheit, an sich Verstehen und Auslegen zu messen hatgleichsam als der hermeneutische Identitätspunkt, der alles Variable begrenzt." Gadamer, "Der 'eminente' Text und seine Wahrheit," p. 289.

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Section: Lyrically Opaque Narration 1 the Roots Of Lyrical Narration ...mentioning

confidence: 99%