Difference between revisions of "Problems of Genre"

Revision as of 07:49, 24 June 2008

This page is for the expert group "Problems with Genre". I would suggest that everyone posts what he /she has already found out so that everyone has access to the same information! Katrin Menzel 20:14, 15 June 2008 (CEST)

Leitfragen für die Diskussion

1. Wie lassen sich die Texte, die wir gelesen haben zeitlich und strukturell unterteilen?

2. Gibt es eine Entwicklung, die festzustellen ist? Falls ja, gibt es dafür Erklärungen?

Der Vergleich der Texte ist das interessante, da es sich bei allen um historical novels handelt. Zumindest laut Titel.

Ergebnisse 18.06.08

1. Wie lassen sich die Texte, die wir gelesen haben zeitlich und strukturell unterteilen?

Wann sind die Texte erschienen?

• Tachmas: 1676

• Tudor: 1678

• Dacres: 1797

• Waverley: 1814

Wo sind strukturelle Unterschiede?

Tudor & Tachmas: Printed material for the upper class (those who could read),not for the learned world  belles letters?

Charles Dacres: Something between belles letters and literature?

Waverley: Historical novel (in Borgmeier's sense)

1. Authentic historical character: Tudor and Tachmas: some; Charles Dacres: yes, Bonnie Prince Charly; Waverley: yes

2. Real historical events are combined with fictional people and characters: Tudor and Tachmas: little; Charles Dacres: yes; Waverley: yes

3. Use of historical details: Tudor and Tachmas: no; Charles Dacres: no; Waverley: yes

4. Protagonist is a mediocre hero: Tudor and Tachmas: no; Charles Dacres: yes; Waverley: yes

5. Action takes place in the near past: Tudor and Tachmas: no; Charles Dacres: yes

6. The world is shown through the perspective of an individual and his individual thoughts/ experiences and feelings, sentiments and manners of the characters: Tudor and Tachmas: no; Charles Dacres: no

7. Fictional actions show consequences/ effects of history: Tudor and Tachmas: little

8. Language and style of writing --> show contrasts: Tudor and Tachmas: Delightful and expressive language; Charles Dacres: Something in between delightful and neutral language; Waverley: More neutral language

Biographical story : Tudor and Tachmas: no; Charles Dacres: yes; Waverley: yes

2. Gibt es eine Entwicklung? Falls ja, gibt es dafür eine Erklärung?

1. Time:

Tudor and Tachmas: not bound to time

Charles Dacres: concrete dates ( French Revolution)

Waverley: bound to time

2. Space:

Tudor and Tachmas: not bound to space, as long as it takes place at court

Charles Dacres: not bound to space all the time?

Waverley: bound to space

3. Characters:

Tudor and Tachmas: royal persons, not complex characters, reader does not know anything about the past or the development of the characters

Charles Dacres: "normal" mediocre people, more complex characters, reader knows about the past and development of the characters

Waverley: "normal" mediocre people, more complex characters, reader knows about the past and development of the characters

More general: the development of the genre might be called the development from romance to the historical "Bildungsroman"....(Needs to be discussed)

"Possible explanation"

Tudor and Tachmas: can be described as popular fiction, was not intended to be discussed

Tudor and Tachmas: no author is named, just the publisher

Charles Dacres: author is afraid of telling his real name because of the critics (talks about his political opinion)- (is aware that his work will be discussed)

Waverley: Scott wanted to stay anonymous at first; in the last chapter (political opinion??)

Ergebnisse vom 19.06.08

Entwicklung - neue Überlegungen

Mode of presentation:

Tachmas: 1 Buch

Tudor: 2 Bücher

Charles Dacres: 6 Bücher, 2 Volumes

Waverley: 1 Buch, 2 Volumes, 72 Kapitel

--> Bücher werden umfangreicher, auch von den Geschichten her

Preface:

Tudor: keins

Tachmas: Epistle, Dedication, preface

Charles Dacres: Preface, Vorstellung der Characters, retrospect  Gesamtbetrachtung, Ausblick vor jedem Kapitel

Waverley:

1. For whom were these pieces written?

Tudor: educated reader but not academics or scholars

Tachmas: educated reader but not academics or scholars

Charles Dacres: enger, konservativer Kreis von Gebildeten

Waverley: scholars , the public, maybe especially English --> patriotism

Forum der Diskussion wird größer, political intention; Scott states that he wants to create a novel for Scottland as Maria Edgeworth has created for Ireland (--> she is his "role model")

2. What were the intentions for writing that piece at that point of time?

Tudor and Tachmas: entertainment, moral?? Oder eher Lebensweisheiten

Charles Dacres: Auftragsarbeit, Gesellschaftskritik, ideologische Sicht auf die Geschichte, moral??

Waverley: Nationalbild fördern, (Geld??), presentation of history

3. What strategies were used to make it look good?

Tudor and Tachmas: romance, language, Möglichkeit sich in die Geschichte hineinzuversetzen --> Phantasie

Charles Dacres: latin, french words, telling names (schlüssel roman), trying to be funny by using „funny“ expressions, side stories

Waverley: Patriotism, authenticity  description of space, mediocre hero  identification

Features zu Charles Dacres

Sprachgebrauch wird an Personen angepasst ( der Franzose spricht Französisch)

Aufbau wie bei einem Drama

Vorgaben vor jedem Kapitel --> Inhaltsverzeichnis

Lebensgeschichte

Ideological view on history

substories

Borgmeiers Gattungsmodell: Gattungsmerkmale für Waverley

1. different kind of characters, at least one authentic historical character

2. real historical events are combined with fictional people and characters

3. historical elements are not only background but center of the story, use of historical details

4. protagonist is a mediocre hero

5. action takes place in the near past

6. the world is shown through the perspective of an individual and his individual thoughts/ experiences

7. fictional actions show consequences/ effects of history

8. language and style of writing --> show contrasts

9. feelings, sentiments and manners of the characters--> foundation of the historical novel (the reader can not only see historical realtionships. He also can emotionally feel complex living-conditions of the past)

These are the features that I wrote down in class. I'm not sure if they are all right so please have a look at them and add or change any features, especially numbers 8 and 9.

Typical features of Historical Novels of the late 17th and early 18th century

1. Two protagonists --> man and woman, relation is based on romance -->Struggle for love (Tudor p.126; Tachmas p. 42) We definitely have to talk about this feature again. We already found last week that there is more than 1 couple in the stories

2. Very expressive, delightful use of language (Tudor p.20; Tachmas p.6)

3. Texts do not intend to present space or society, focus on romance and actions at court --> homogeneous social class (Tudor p.19; Tachmas p. 5)

4. Not tightly bound to space and time

5. Historical references are minor points or are even invented (Tudor p.28; Tachmas p. 104)

6. Emphasis on emotions (Tudor p. 152; Tachmas p. 54) o Emotions vs. Rationality (Tudor p.124; Tachmas p.39)

7. Contains intrigues and treacheries (Tudor p.149 ; Tachmas p.78)

8. Overlapping actions --> „in the meantime“ (Tudor p.147,p.138,p.137; Tachmas p.30,p.50,p.65)

9. Imply moral values to the audience (Tudor p. 10; Tachmas p.91)

10. Tragic ending (Tudor p. 154; Tachmas p. 109)

Observations on prefaces

Used prefaces: Charles Dacres, Mary Stewart, The Unequal Match

1. All observed prefaces seem to be justifications. The author tries to justify their way of writing. All authors claim that they based their novel on the real historical background. A justification could be a sign for a late preface (Genette). That means that the first edition might not have had a preface but a preface might have been added to later editions.

2. Mary Stewart has two prefaces, one written by the author and one written by the translator. The translator says that he has to polish the character of Mary Stewart. --> Still need to be discussed

3. The preface of "The Unequal Match" reminds of a letter of admiration.

- All of the authors stay anonymous in our observed novels.

These are just our observations. We need to discuss them at our group meeting.

Charles Dacres

Research on Charles Dacres