The Rhetoric of Fiction (2nd Edition)

Cover......Page 1
Copyright page......Page 6
Contents......Page 9
Foreword to the Second Edition......Page 13
Preface to the First Edition......Page 15
Acknowledgments
......Page 19
Part I: Artistic Purity and the Rhetoric of Fiction......Page 23
Authoritative "Telling" in Early Narration......Page 25
Two Stories from the Decameron......Page 31
The Author's Many Voices......Page 38
From Justified Revolt to Crippling Dogma......Page 45
From Differentiated Kinds to Universal Qualities......Page 51
General Criteria in Earlier Periods......Page 55
Three Sources of General Criteria: The Work, the Author, the Reader......Page 59
Intensity of Realistic Illusion......Page 62
The Novel as Unmediated Reality......Page 72
On Discriminating among Realisms......Page 75
The Ordering of Intensities......Page 82
Neutrality and the Author's "Second Self"......Page 89
Impartiality and "Unfair" Emphasis......Page 99
Impassibilité......Page 103
Subjectivism Encouraged by Impersonal Techniques......Page 105
"True Artists Write Only for Themselves"......Page 111
Theories of Pure Art......Page 113
The "Impurity" of Great Literature......Page 120
Is a Pure Fiction Theoretically Desirable?......Page 131
"Tears and Laughter Are, Aesthetically, Frauds"......Page 141
Types of Literary Interest (and Distance)......Page 147
Combinations and Conflicts of Interests......Page 155
The Role of Belief......Page 159
Belief Illustrated: "The Old Wives' Tale"......Page 166
6  Types of Narration......Page 171
Person......Page 172
Dramatized and Undramatized Narrators......Page 173
Observers and Narrator-Agents......Page 175
Scene and Summary......Page 176
Variations of Distance......Page 177
Variations in Support or Correction......Page 181
Privilege......Page 182
Inside Views......Page 185
Part II: The Author's Voice in Fiction......Page 189
Providing the Facts, Picture, or Summary......Page 191
Molding Beliefs......Page 199
Relating Particulars to the Established Norms......Page 204
Heightening the Significance of Events......Page 218
Generalizing the Significance of the Whole Work......Page 219
Manipulating Mood......Page 222
Commenting Directly on the Work Itself......Page 227
Reliable Narrators as Dramatized Spokesmen for the Implied Author......Page 233
"Fielding" in Tom Jones......Page 237
Imitators of Fielding......Page 240
Tristram Shandy and the Problem of Formal Coherence......Page 243
Three Formal Traditions: Comic Novel, Collection, and Satire......Page 246
The Unity of Tristram Shandy......Page 251
Shandean Commentary, Good and Bad......Page 256
Sympathy and Judgment in Emma......Page 265
Sympathy through Control of Inside Views......Page 267
Control of Judgment......Page 271
The Reliable Narrator and the Norms of Emma......Page 278
Explicit Judgments on Emma Woodhouse......Page 284
The Implied Author as Friend and Guide......Page 286
Part III: Impersonal Narration......Page 291
"Exit Author" Once Again......Page 293
Control of Sympathy......Page 296
Control of Clarity and Confusion......Page 306
"Secret Communion" between Author and Reader......Page 322
"The Turn of the Screw" as Puzzle......Page 333
Troubles with Irony in Earlier Literature......Page 338
The Problem of Distance in "A Portrait of the Artist"......Page 345
12  The Price of Impersonal Narration, II: Henry James and the Unreliable Narrator......Page 361
The Development from Flawed Reflector into Subject......Page 362
The Two Liars in "The Liar"......Page 369
"The Purloining of the Aspern Papers" or "The Evocation of Venice"?......Page 376
"Deep Readers of the World, Beware!"......Page 386
Morality and Technique......Page 399
The Seductive Point of View: Céline as Example......Page 401
The Author's Moral Judgment Obscured......Page 407
The Morality of Elitism......Page 413
Afterword to the Second Edition: The Rhetoric in Fiction and Fiction as Rhetoric: Twenty-One Years Later......Page 423
A.  ''I have... ruled out many of the most interesting questions about fiction." [Preface]......Page 426
B.  "But it would be a serious mistake to think that what we need is a return to Balzac... or to Fielding...." [P. 397]......Page 428
C.  "... [absolute silence ]..."......Page 429
A.  "we might become too fully immersed in his
[Marcher's] own highly plausible view of things..." [P. 280]......Page 431
C.  "We can go on and on [if we are trying to purge
works of all signs of the authors voice], purging..." [Pp. 18–19]......Page 434
A.  "... I have arbitrarily isolated technique from all of the social and psychological forces that affect authors and readers." [Preface]......Page 435
A.  "...rhetoric in the larger sense... rhetoric in the narrower sense." [P. 109]......Page 437
B.  "...the question of Lawrence's impartiality seems completely unrelated to his choice of technical devices..." [Pp. 80–81]......Page 438
A.  "The best of these [reasons for our sympathetic engagement in narrative events] has always been the spectacle of a good man facing moral choices that are important." [P. 131]......Page 439
B.  "But is there no choosing among effects?... impersonal narration has raised moral difficulties too often for us to dismiss moral questions as irrelevant to technique." [P. 378]......Page 440
A.  "Even if we conclude... we may... we should be... Unless we are quite sure... we must entertain the possibility that... We certainly meet this difficulty...." [P. 321—and too many other pages]......Page 442
B.  "The 'implied author' chooses... what we read..." [Pp. 74–75]......Page 443
C.  "In short, we have looked for so long at foggy landscapes reflected in misty mirrors that we have come to like fog..." [P. 372]......Page 447
A.  "In dealing with point of view the novelist must always deal with the individual work...." [Pp. 164–65]......Page 454
V.  A "Living Plot" of a Special Kind......Page 458
Beckett's Company As Example......Page 463
Authoritative Refusal-To-Tell in Modern Narration......Page 466
Starting Over......Page 479
No. 1......Page 481
A.  The Telling-Showing Distinction, The Author's Voice and Reliable Narration  [no. 81]......Page 487
No. 175......Page 495
C.  Realism, Distance from the Real, and Technique  [no. 208]......Page 498
III.  The Author's Objectivity and the "Second Self"  [no. 239]......Page 500
IV.  Artistic Purity, Rhetoric, and the Audience  [no. 259]......Page 502
A.  General Discussions of Irony, Ambiguity, and Obscurity  [no. 282]......Page 504
No. 300......Page 505
Ford Madox Ford......Page 506
No. 325......Page 507
James Joyce......Page 509
No. 350......Page 510
1.  Examples of self-conscious narration used as ornament in comic fiction before Sterne  [no. 362]......Page 511
No. 363......Page 512
4.  Examples of imitations of Tristram Shandy and other works influenced by Sterne......Page 513
D.  A Gallery of Unreliable Narrators and Reflectors......Page 514
Supplementary Bibliography, 1961–82......Page 517
No. 375......Page 518
No. 500......Page 526
B.  Realism, Distance from the Real, and Technique  [no. 590]......Page 531
III.  The Author's Objectivity and the Second Self  [no. 615]......Page 533
No. 625......Page 534
No. 750......Page 541
A......Page 543
B......Page 544
C......Page 545
D......Page 548
E......Page 549
F......Page 550
H......Page 551
I......Page 552
J......Page 553
K......Page 554
M......Page 555
N......Page 556
P......Page 557
R......Page 558
S......Page 559
T......Page 561
V......Page 562
Z......Page 563
Index to the Bibliographies......Page 565
B......Page 566
D......Page 567
G......Page 568
J......Page 569
L......Page 570
P......Page 571
S......Page 572
T......Page 573
Z......Page 574
Index to the Bibliographies by Number......Page 0
No. 25......Page 483
No. 50......Page 484
No. 75......Page 486
No. 100......Page 489
No. 125......Page 491
No. 150......Page 493
No. 200......Page 497
No. 225......Page 499
No. 250......Page 501
No. 275......Page 503
No. 400......Page 520
No. 425......Page 521
No. 450......Page 522
No. 475......Page 524
No. 525......Page 527
No. 550......Page 529
No. 575......Page 530
No. 600......Page 532
No. 650......Page 535
No. 675......Page 537
No. 700......Page 538
No. 725......Page 539
No. 765......Page 542