Narrative Thickness
McGregor, Rafe (2015) Narrative Thickness. Estetika: The Central European Journal of Aesthetics, 52 (1). pp. 3-22. ISSN 0014 –1291 DOI bwmeta1.element.cejsh-42c14bdc-b84e-4cc6-8183-0ad75b1d36c
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Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the experience of a literary narrative qua literary narrative is an experience of narrative thickness, i.e. an experience in which narrative form and narrative content are inseparable. I explain my thesis of poetic thickness in §1, showing why it does not admit of extension from poetry to literary narratives. §§2-3 synthesise the work of Derek Attridge and Peter Lamarque, advancing narrative thickness as a necessary condition of literary narratives. I propose a work of didactic literature – J.M. Coetzee’s “The Lives of Animals” – as a paradigmatic counter-example to narrative thickness in §4. I show, in §5, that narrative thickness holds for this work in particular and didactic works which are literary in general, concluding that narrative thickness is indeed a necessary condition of literary narratives.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Subjects: | P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) |
| Divisions: | Law and Criminology |
| Date Deposited: | 27 Nov 2018 12:35 |
| URI: | http://repository.edgehill.ac.uk/id/eprint/10876 |
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