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Reading for Space an Encounter Between Narratology and New Materialism in the Works of Virginia Woolf and Georges Perec

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Reading for Space an Encounter Between Narratology and New Materialism in the Works of Virginia Woolf and Georges Perec READING FOR SPACE AN ENCOUNTER BETWEEN NARRATOLOGY AND NEW MATERIALISM IN THE WORKS OF VIRGINIA WOOLF AND GEORGES PEREC Marlene Karlsson Marcussen Ph.D. Thesis, October 2016 Department for the Study of Culture, University of Southern Denmark 1 ‘Quite like old times,’ the room says. ‘Yes? No?’ Jean Rhys Good morning, Midnight (1939) L’espace semble être, ou plus apprivoisé, ou plus inoffensive, que le temps : on rencontre partout des gens qui ont des montres, et très rarement des gens qui ont des boussoles. Georges Perec Espèces d’espaces (1974) Frontpage illustration: Jesper Christiansen: “Well, We Must Wait for the Future to Show” from the exhibition Time Passes for Virginia Woolf (2012). 2 Table of Contents Acknowledgements…………………………………………………...... 5 Introduction 1. Space in the Novel………………………………………………..... 8 2. Rethinking Space in Light of the Material Turn…………………........ 14 3. Overview…………………………………………………………... 20 Chapter 1: Narratology and Space 1. The Role of Space in Classic Narratology 1. Field of Inquiry…………………………………………….. 26 2. Classic Narratology: Genette, Bal and Chatman…………..... 29 2. The Role of Space in Descriptive Theory 1. Field of Inquiry……………………………………………... 37 2. From Representation to Interpretation: Barthes and Hamon………………………………………… 40 3. From Interpretation to Presentation: Casey and Wolf……… 46 3. New Constellations 1. Dynamic Descriptions: Hamon, Sternberg, Mosher………… 50 2. The Inclusion of Space in German Narratology: Hoffmann and Dennerlein……………………………........... 54 Chapter 2: Foregrounding the Spatial Background as Background: New Materialism and Martin Heidegger 1. Setting the Scene – Virginia Woolf and New Materialism…………... 66 2. The Thing in New Materialism……………………………………... 70 3. Heidegger’s Critique of the Thing…………………………………... 77 4. Language, Thing and Space as Events……………………………… 86 1. Language as Event………………………………………….. 86 2. Thing as a Relational Gathering Event…………………….... 90 3. Space as Event……………………………………………… 92 5. Language as “Gelassenheit”………………………………………… 96 Chapter 3: Virginia Woolf and Space 1. The Presence of Space in the Works of Virginia Woolf 1. Preliminary Remarks……………………………………....... 101 2. Proceeding to Space by Indirection…………………………. 111 3. Materialism contra Life…………………………………........ 119 2. Spatial Readings of To The Lighthouse and The Waves 1. The Corridor and the Seasons………………………………. 124 2. Semicolon and Comma……………………………………... 131 3. The Bracketing of Narration 3 – The Greening of Modernism…………………………........ 142 4. A Descriptive Narration of Space…………………………... 153 1. “Time Passes” – Temporalizing Space…………….. 156 2. The Interludes – Vibrant Matter…………………… 163 5. The Discreetness of Air…………………………………….. 169 6. To Anthropomorphise…………………………………….... 173 7. Narrator –A View from Nowhere that Sees Everywhere…… 179 Chapter 4: Georges Perec and Space 1. The Essays 1. Preliminary Remarks: Still life/still leaf – Perec in the Light of New Materialism and Descriptive Theory…………. 187 2. Space as the Missing Link in the Reception of Perec’s Novels…………………………………………… 192 3. A Debate about Descriptions of Reality – the French Literary Scene around 1960…………………… 197 4. The Infra-ordinary Background…………………………….. 208 2. A Spatial Reading of La Vie mode d’emploi 1. Cahier des charges de La Vie mode d’emploi and the Oulipo……... 219 2. Space as Frame……………………………………………... 224 3. The Staircase – Showing the Infra-ordinary Background…… 227 4. Description – A User’s Manual 1. Winckler’s Apartment – a Description of Nothing….233 2. Towards a Descriptive Spectrum…………………... 238 5. The Apartment after the Event……………………………... 242 6. The Massiveness of Things…………………………………. 246 Concluding remarks 1. Framing the Spatial Background……………………………………. 252 2. A Sketch for a Reading for Space………………………………….... 256 Bibliography……………………………………………………………. 261 Dansk Resume………………………………………………………….. 270 English Summary……………………………………………………….. 276 4 Acknowledgments The following dissertation was made possible through a three-year PhD fellowship sponsored by the University of Southern Denmark. Of the many people that, in one way or another, have helped and supported the process of my work, I would first and foremost like to thank my two supervisors. Associate Professor Søren Frank – for always taking the time to thoroughly discuss every new turn or idea of my project, pushing me to reconceptualize and reframe. In particular, I look back with joy at our shared weeks spent in Palo Alto, where our discussions intensified under the open Californian sky. Associate Professor Sten Pultz Moslund – for engaging enthusiastically in numerous discussions on our common field of interest ‘space, materiality and literature’, always leaving me more energized and more motivated. Especially enjoyable was our stay in Kiel, which offered a splendid opportunity to further deepen our discussion. As Head of the research group on ‘new materialism’ at the University of Southern Denmark, Sten also provided me with a wider platform for developing my ideas. My project gained decisive impulses during my stay at Stanford University in the spring of 2014. I would like to give emphatic thanks to Professor Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht for his overwhelming enthusiasm and warmth. In the course of our fruitful conversations, he strengthened the theoretical direction of my dissertation and supported its final framework. Regarding the narratological aspects of my work, I have received various supports. A special thanks to Professor Monika Fludernik for encouraging my project. I would also like to extend a grateful thanks to the Narratological Research Group at Aarhus University, especially to Associate Professor Stefan Iversen for his kind interest and critical remarks. A cordial thanks to Cecilie Speggers Schrøder Simonsen with whom I not only shared a room in Giessen, but also an interest in the study of space. Likewise profound thanks to David Rodriguez for intense discussions during our stay in Amsterdam and for our continuing exchange and development of ideas. 5 For further suggestions, references, and critical readings I would also like to thank: Christian Benne, Benjamin Jon Boysen, Torsten Bøgh Thomsen, Marco Caracciolo, Anders Engberg- Pedersen, Adam Paulsen, Jürgen Ritte, Laura-Lucia Rossi, and Frederik Tygstrup. Pil Lindgreen has done a thorough job correcting and improving my text. I would like to thank her for her remarkable effort and commitment. Lastly, I owe a heartfelt thanks to my friend and colleague Martin Karlsson Pedersen for his eagerness and ever encouraging desire for discussion, often causing necessary critical self-reflection. Last but not least a loving thanks to my colleague and partner- in-crime Michael Karlsson Pedersen – our ongoing daily conversations made my work possible. The readiness always to engage in every little detail or obstacle was more than I could have hoped for. 6 INTRODUCTION 7 1. Space in the Novel Chez les Maheu, au numéro 16 du dexième corps, rien ne bougeait. Des ténèbres épaisses noyaient l’unique chambre du premier étage, comme écrasent de leur poids le sommeil des êtres que l’on sentait là, en tas, la bouhe ouverte, assommés de fatigue. Malgré le froid vif du dehors, l’air alourde avait une chaleur vivante, cet étouffement chaud des chambrées les mieux tenues, qui sentient le bétail humain (Zola 1978:60). So with the lamps all put out, the moon sunk, and a thin rain drumming on the roof a downpouring of immense darkness began. Nothing, it seemed, could survive the flood, the profusion of darkness which, creeping in at keyholes and crevices, stole round window blinds, came into bedrooms, swallowed up here a jug and basin, there a bowl of red and yellow dahlias, there the sharp edges and firm bulk of a chest of drawers. Not only was furniture confounded; there was scarcely anything left of body or mind by which one could say ‘This is he’ or ‘This is she’ (Woolf 2000:137). En attendant, la maison est vide. Toutes les fenêtres de la chambre sont ouvertes, ainsi que ses deux portes, sur le couloir et la salle de bains. Entre la salle de bains et le couloir, la porte est aussi ouverte en grand, comme celle donnant accès depuis le couloir sur la partie centrale de la terrasse. La terrasse est vide également ; aucun des fauteuils de repos n’a été porté dehors ce matin, non plus que la table basse qui sert pour l’apéritif et le café. Mais, sous la fenêtre ouverte du bureau, les dalles gardent la trace des huit pieds de fauteuils : deux fois quatre points luisants, plus lisses qu’alentour, disposés en carrés (Robbe-Grillet 1957:123-124). Tout serait brun, ocre, fauve, jaune : un univers de couleurs un peu passées, aux tons soigneusement, presque précieusement dosés, au milieu desquelles surprendraient quelques taches plus claires, l’orange presque criard d’un coussin, quelques volumes bariolés perdus dans les reliures. En plein jour, la lumière, entrant à flots, rendrait cette pièce un peu triste, malgré les roses. Ce serait une pièce du soir. Alors, l’hiver, rideaux tirés, avec quelques points de lumière – le coin des bibliothèques, la discothèque, le secrétaire, la table basse entre les deux canapés, les vagues reflets dans le miroir – et les grandes zones d’ombres où brilleraient toutes les choses, le bois poli, la soie lourde et riche, le cristal taillé, le cuir assoupli, elle serait havre de paix, terre de bonheur (Perec 1965:11). 8 Every novel takes place somewhere – yet what happens when space in the novel is not just setting for a narrative, but takes precedence over both characters and plot? This is the question that
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