Handout: Narration

from Jahn, Manfred. Narratology 3.0: A Guide to the Theory of Narrative.

Epiphany

Originally, a Greek term denoting the "manifestation" or appearance of divine quality or power. The term was appropriated by James Joyce in Stephen Hero (1905) to denote a moment of intense insight, usually occasioned by the perception of a more or less ordinary object or event. The term is closely related to what other authors variously term "moment of vision" (Conrad, Woolf), "moment of being" (Woolf, again), or "glimpse" (Mansfield). According to Beja, "epiphany is a sudden spiritual manifestation, whether from some object, scene, event, or memorable phase of the mind – the manifestation being out of proportion to the significance or strictly logical relevance of whatever produces it" (Beja 1984, 719). Here is the relevant passage from Joyce's Stephen Hero:

In the practice of many authors, notably Woolf and Mansfield, epiphanies may turn out to be deceptive, misguided, or otherwise erroneous (see Mansfield's "Bliss" for a particularly striking pseudo-epiphany). In many modernist texts, epiphanies are made to serve as climaxes or endings ("epiphanic endings").

Focalization

Genette: "different points of view from which . . . the action is looked at" (1980, 161).

• Who sees?
• Who perceives?
• Who is the character whose point of view orients the narrative perspective?
• Who serves as a text's center of orientation?
• In what way is narrative information restricted with respect to completeness of information or omniscience?

focalization: The selection and restriction of narrative information relative to somebody's perception, knowledge, and point of view.

Internal focalization

Using a reflector character produces a subjective and impressionistic view of the story world. It allows the reader to co-experience what it is like to be in the head of somebody participating in the story's events. Third-person internal focalization is basically identical to the figural narrative situation (3.3.3), which, strictly speaking, wasn't invented until the early 20C period called "modernism.

Example: Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)

The passage closely represents the reflector’s current perceptions – things he sees, feels, and hears ("he could see," the "pine-needled floor," the "gently" sloping ground; the wind blowing "high overhead".) Note that all narrative information is restricted and aligned to the reflector's current spatial and temporal co-ordinates. The notable effect of this technique is that the reader is sucked into the story, invited to see the world just as the character sees it, and co-experience what it is like to be a participant in the events. It is a hugely successful stylistic device, and we squarely owe it and its many variations to Henry James, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf.

[...]

Texts employing fixed focalization are exclusively presented from the point of view of a single reflector as in Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916). (2) Variable focalization occurs in narratives that employ several reflectors (in Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, events are variously seen through the eyes of six major characters). (3) Multiple focalization (a special case of variable focalization) occurs in texts in which the events are told two or more times, each time seen through a different reflector [...]

Stream of consciousness

Presenting the mental processes of characters, their thoughts and perceptions, their memories, dreams, and emotions became a prime point of interest as well as a challenge for late 19C and early 20C novelists such as D.H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, William Faulkner, Dorothy Richardson, Patrick White, and many others. The following excerpt from one of Virginia Woolf’s essays succinctly formulates the program of literary impressionism and anticipates the genre of the novel of consciousness.

stream of consciousness -- A generic term for the textual rendering of mental processes, especially by capturing the random, irregular, disjointed, associative and incoherent character of these processes. Originally coined by the American psychologist William James (the brother of Henry James), stream of consciousness refers to the disjointed character of mental processes and the layering and merging of central and peripheral levels of awareness.

interior monologue -- An extended passage of free direct thought (FDT). [...] As Dujardin (1931, 118), usually credited for being the inventor of the style, puts it, "The essential innovation introduced by interior monologue consists in the fact that its aim is to invoke the uninterrupted flow of thoughts going through the character's being, as they are born, and in the order they are born, without any explanation of logical sequence and giving the impression of ‘raw’ experience.

From James Joyce, Ulysses:

Narrative space

literary space: The environment which accommodates objects and characters; more specifically, the environment in which characters move and live in.

Spatial features can significantly influence characters and events. This is often referred to as the "semanticization" or "semantic charging" of space. For instance, in Katherine Mansfield's "Miss Brill," the protagonist’s room is likened to a "cupboard," a simile that not only captures the dimensions of the room but also expresses its cramped atmosphere and Miss Brill’s isolation.

Example from "Araby":

Here the spatial details of the boy's journey to the bazaar named "Araby" (a name suggesting an exotic foreign space) foreshadow his frustrating experience there. The emotive connotations of the "magical name" are partly mirrored, and partly contrasted in the drab Dublin environment through which he passes. Hint: consider also the initiation aspects of this story.