The Narrative Role of Films in Four Contemporary Novels
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The Narrative Role of Films in Four Contemporary Novels Hannasofia Hardwick Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies University of Helsinki Academic dissertation to be publicly discussed, by due permission of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Helsinki in lecture room 5, University Main Building, on the 23rd of September, 2017 at 10 o’clock. Copyright c Hannasofia Hardwick 2017 ISBN 978-951-51-3599-5 (paperback) ISBN 978-951-51-3600-8 (PDF) http://ethesis.helsinki.fi Helsinki, 2017 Unigrafia Abstract In my doctoral dissertation I explore the narrative function of cinema in twenty- first century fiction. In this study literary representations of films are regarded as a narrative strategy through which literary texts accentuate, reflect, and give rise to their principal themes and questions. Since filmic insertions have a noticeable impact upon the narrative construction and hence turn out to be pivotal in the reader’s inferential process, I also investigate this narrative phenomenon in the context of reader’s meaning-making. I have chosen four novels for my study, namely The Book of Illusions (2002) by Paul Auster, Point Omega (2010) by Don DeLillo, The Understudy (2005) by David Nicholls, and The Ice Cream Man by Katri Lipson, published in Finnish in 2012 as Jäätelökauppias and translated into English in 2014. In these works the dominant meanings are closely linked to the representations of cinema, and films appear both at the discourse level and within the fictional world. Owing to the diversity of the chosen texts in terms of style and genre, my study provides a comprehensive view of the ways in which recent fiction has utilised “moving images” in narration. In this study I draw on the theoretical concepts of intersubjectivity, framing, mise en abyme, possible worlds theory, and indexicality in order to analyse the narrative function of films in the novels and the subsequent effects in the reader’s hermeneu- tic process. I demonstrate that the literary use of cinema greatly affects narration and the reading experience: it disturbs the conventional narrative hierarchy and the subordination between the primary level and the embedded one. Simultaneously, it violates ontological stability, which separates the fictional “real” from the filmic “unreal”. My case studies testify to the importance of the reader’s role as an ac- tive interpreter whose knowledge of and experiences with cinema contribute to the textual processing of the novels. By pointing out the intricate interaction between au- diovisual and verbal sign systems in these texts, I show how the audiovisual upsurge in contemporary society has altered how we read literature. iii Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to thank my supervisors — Professor Emeritus Hannu Riiko- nen, Dr Sanna Nyqvist, and Docent Janna Kantola — for their support and guidance throughout the project. I have been blessed with competent, helpful, and encourag- ing supervisors. Hannu generously provided intellectual counseling and lent books I was unable to borrow from public libraries. Hannu has an eye for details, and he en- tertained me by relating funny little anecdotes in connection to my work. Sanna, in turn, decisively helped me through the final stages of re-writing the chapters. What I found extremely important was that we met regularly, which helped me keep up with the writing process — and finally complete it. I also thank Sanna for giving me valuable suggestions as to how to construct individual chapters and to create continuity between them. Without Sanna’s editorial advice my thesis would have lacked the needed integrity. As for our meetings with Hannu and Sanna, I enjoyed our get-togethers in Roihuvuoren Rio during the final year. I hope we will maintain our pleasant habit of congregating in a lovely “rural” scenery. I also want to thank Janna, who was my supervisor for the first three years. Janna helped me find rele- vant novels for case studies and look into applicable research literature. Janna was always supportive and gave me vital suggestions as to how to proceed with the work. I am very thankful for her contribution. Besides the help received from my supervisors, The Comparative Literature Re- search Seminars have been extremely important. During those meetings, I looked forward to hearing especially Professor Heta Pyrhönen’s opinions and proposals for continuing the study. Heta’s suggestions were crucial in determining which way to go with the analysis. I also want to warmly thank all my colleagues attending the seminars. The ideas and comments I received during the seminars over the years have been meaningful. I am grateful that the atmosphere in the seminars was always open and warm, as it encouraged me to present also those papers that were rather “unpolished”. A special thank you goes to Lotte Troupp, who kindly volunteered in correcting my English. We had lovely meetings during which, besides discussing v vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS grammatical issues, I was able to test various hypotheses presented in the disserta- tion. I warmly thank Lotte for the linguistic consultation and mental support. In the course of the PhD project, I also attended several working seminars that were in- tended for all the post-graduate students in the Doctoral Programme in Philosophy, Arts, and Society. The ideas and suggestions I received in the seminars were very helpful and insightful. I also want to thank my pre-examiners, Professor Ernst van Alphen (Leiden Uni- versity) and Professor Marina Grishakova (University of Tartu) for their perceptive comments. Without their suggestions this thesis would have been much less coher- ent. I also want to thank Professor Grishakova for agreeing to be my opponent. As for independent chapters, I want to thank Merja Polvinen for commenting on chapter five, on David Nicholls’s The Understudy. Merja aptly reminded me of the role of humour in Nicholl’s book, which is, after all, a romantic comedy. She also widened my conception of fictive immersion and urged me to think about the process of reading from new perspectives. I thank her for that. There are three persons to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for all they have done to help me finish the dissertation. Firstly, Glenda Goss did excellent and meticulous work in checking the language of the dissertation. Apart from correcting my English and taming my lengthy sentences, Glenda made a huge effort in helping me with small details. It was great fun to have online correspondence with her during the final months and to find (non-academic) similarities between our doctoral projects. I thank Glenda for all her work and mental support. Secondly, my beloved husband, Sam, was my technical support and mentor with- out whom the layout of the dissertation would have been a mess. I thank him for relentlessly seeking solutions for several problems. I also thank him for not being angry at my carelessness in techological matters and for hanging out with the kids while I was doing the final corrections. I love you. Thirdly, I warmly thank my dear mother, who unhesitatingly and unselfishly spent innumerable days with the children so that I was able to meet several deadlines during the project. Without her — and my father — I would not have been able to complete the work in time, in this tricky life situation. I cannot thank you enough. Last but not least, I want to thank all my other relatives and my friends for all the support and help received over the years. I thank you for being understanding during the most stressful periods. A special thank you goes to Anna, my one-year-old baby girl, who as a newborn spent a lot time in a baby carrier while I was completing the manuscript for pre-examination last fall. I therefore thank Anna for her superb vii sleeping habits. The writing of this dissertation would not have been possible without the three- year grant provided by The Finnish Cultural Foundation (Suomen Kulttuurirahasto). The continuity of the project and the ability to concentrate on working instead of having to make new grant applications helped me to accomplish the work in a rea- sonable time. Helsinki, August 2017 Hannasofia Hardwick Contents Abstract iii Acknowledgements v Abbreviations xi 1 Introduction 1 Theoretical Framework and Previous Research . 6 Outline of the Study . 14 2 Reading for the Plot, Reading through the Film 17 Sharing Film Stories: Motivations, Responses, Consequences . 19 Embedded Films Mirroring the Literary Whole . 30 Beyond the Fictional “Real”/the Filmic “Unreal” Divide . 42 Films Embodying the Problematics of Representation . 52 3 Filmic Illusions of the Self and the Other in Paul Auster’s The Book of Illusions 63 Reflections of the Self and the Other in Silent Films . 66 Illusions of the Self and the Other in “The Inner Life of Martin Frost” 77 Filmic Evocations of Intermental Thinking, Distancing, and Alignment 89 The Power of Storytelling and Imagination . 100 4 The Novel Engulfed by the Video: Framing in Don DeLillo’s Point Omega 109 Multiple Frameworks: Structure of the Novel . 112 The Desire to See and the Desire to Know . 122 The Video Reflecting the Narrative: 24 Hour Psycho as Mise en abyme 133 Breaking the Frames: From Metalepsis to the Omega Point . 145 5 Film Entering the “Real”: Acting, Faking, and Possible Worlds in David Nicholls’s The Understudy 153 “Romantic-Comedy Behaviour”: Constructing the Fictional “Real” . 156 Filmic Schemata and the Narratorial Actual World . 164 The Filmic “Reel” Intersecting the Textual Actual World . 173 Back to the Disillusioned and Unsentimental Reality . 181 ix x CONTENTS 6 Filmic Indexes for a Traumatic Past in Katri Lipson’s The Ice Cream Man 189 Slipping in and out of Roles: History versus Fiction Problematised .