Old Formalisms: Character, Structure, Action
This is an essay about characters who do nothing. It is my claim here that such characters—those who do not mobilize important information or objects; those who passively acquiesce to the machinations of others—illuminate the impact of inactivity on narrative form. Whereas formalist theories of narr...
| Κύριος συγγραφέας: | |
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| Τύπος μέσου: | Ηλεκτρονική πηγή Άρθρο |
| Γλώσσα: | Αγγλικά |
| Έλεγχος διαθεσιμότητας: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Φόρτωση...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Έκδοση: |
2019
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| Στο/Στη: |
New literary history
Έτος: 2019, Τόμος: 50, Τεύχος: 2, Σελίδες: 245-269 |
| Διαθέσιμο Online: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Σύνοψη: | This is an essay about characters who do nothing. It is my claim here that such characters—those who do not mobilize important information or objects; those who passively acquiesce to the machinations of others—illuminate the impact of inactivity on narrative form. Whereas formalist theories of narrative have traditionally prioritized aspects of action (the "plot") over aspects of being ("states" and "descriptions"), I posit that stative dimensions not only define narrative agency but formally constitute it. In this view, the distribution of nonactivity is as integral to the formation and enumeration of actors, actants, and plots as its positive counterpart. A study of inactivity thus promises to renovate our notions of character's structural properties and those twentieth-century formalisms that solidified the bond between narrative figures and action. |
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| ISSN: | 1080-661X |
| Περιλαμβάνει: | Enthalten in: New literary history
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/nlh.2019.0014 |