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ABSTRACT WHY WE TURN THE PAGE: A LITERARY THEORY OF DYNAMIC STRUCTURALISM Justin J. J. Ness, Ph.D. Department of English Northern Illinois University, 2019 David J. Gorman, Director This study claims that every narrative text intrinsically possesses a structure of fixed relationships among its interest components. The progress of literary structuralism gave more attention to the static nature of what a narrative is than it did to the dynamic nature of how it operates. This study seeks to build on the work of those few theorists who have addressed this general oversight and to contribute a more comprehensive framework through which literary critics may better chart the distinct tensions that a narrative text cultivates as it proactively produces interest to motivate a reader’s continued investment therein. This study asserts that the interest in narrative is premised on three affects— avidity, anxiety, and curiosity—and that tensions within the text are developed through five components of discourse: event, description, dialog, sequence, and presentation. NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY DEKALB, ILLINOIS MAY 2019 WHY WE TURN THE PAGE: A LITERARY THEORY OF DYNAMIC STRUCTURALISM BY JUSTIN J. J. NESS ©2019 Justin J. J. Ness A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH Dissertation Director: David J. Gorman ACKNOWLEDGMENTS David Gorman, the director of my project, introduced me to literary structuralism six years ago and has ever since challenged me to ask the simple questions that most people take for granted, to “dare to be stupid.” This honesty about my own ignorance was—in one sense, perhaps the most important sense—the beginning of my life as a scholar. I am likewise indebted to my other three dissertation committee members. Brian May, whose incredible attention to the subtleties of my every thought—and often, with benign provocation, of my every word—has continually held me to a higher standard than I had set for myself. Tim Ryan taught me how to write like a scholar, and this was no simple task. With inexhaustible patience, he has invested unknown hours in detailing the most scrupulous feedback as well as offering the most generous encouragement. Wolf Schmid, though a scholar of global repute, welcomed me—an unknown, unremarkable, and underwhelming student—to join him in a critical discussion that continues today. Such is his gracious hospitality and his genuine enthusiasm for thinking. I am likewise thankful for the support and guidance of many of my teachers throughout my collegiate experience. With no disrespect intended toward those professors whom I do not mention, I want to name those who have influenced me most: Phil Mayo, Bill Barnes, Bill Johnson, and Lara Crowley. iii As the one of the one-in-three Ph.D. students globally who have struggled with mental illness, it is no exaggeration to say that I could not have done this without the determined care of Drs. Billie Cali and Dennis Long. A special thanks to Gail Jacky, the best boss I’ve ever had, who always made room in my schedule for me to pursue career opportunities. To list the friends I would like to thank, I certainly would exceed the acceptable limitations for these acknowledgments. There are a few, though, whom I thank for directly assisting me with this project: Max Hoover for plunging with me into the murky depths of narratology, Yonina Hoffman for charting the fissures in my theoretical groundwork, Simona Zetterberg Gjerlevsen for sifting my central claims from my digressions, and Megan Milota for notifying me when the abstract reader needs to shave. And to my family, who support me without understanding what it is I do or why I do it, thank you. Lastly, and most importantly, Lindsay and June—you made my life whole without a Ph.D., which I had not thought was possible. To Lindsay specifically, I once believed that I could accomplish my goals by myself, and you were there for me when I learned this isn’t true. DEDICATION To every teacher who took the time TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................................................... Page LIST OF APPENDICES ............................................................................................................... vii Chapter INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 1 Abstract Reader ..................................................................................................................... 7 Character Likability .............................................................................................................. 9 The Nature of Narrative Tensions ....................................................................................... 11 Organization of Project ....................................................................................................... 15 1. AVIDITY IN ROMANCE FICTION ................................................................................... 18 A Room with a View (1908), E. M. Forster ......................................................................... 20 Oscar & Lucinda (1988), Peter Carey ................................................................................ 44 Possession: A Romance (1990), A. S. Byatt ....................................................................... 62 Chapter One Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 81 2. ANXIETY IN HORROR FICTION ..................................................................................... 83 Dracula (1897), Bram Stoker ............................................................................................. 86 The Woman in Black (1983) by Susan Hill ....................................................................... 101 Beyond Black (2005), Hilary Mantel ................................................................................ 113 vi Chapter ....................................................................................................................................... Page Chapter Two Conclusion .................................................................................................. 128 3. CURIOSITY IN DETECTIVE FICTION ......................................................................... 130 Murder on the Orient Express (1934), Agatha Christie ................................................... 135 The Lighthouse (2005) by P. D. James ............................................................................. 148 Alias Grace (1996) by Margaret Atwood ......................................................................... 157 Chapter Three Conclusion ................................................................................................ 170 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 172 WORKS CITED ......................................................................................................................... 178 APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................... 188 LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix ................................................................................................................................... Page A. ORIGINS OF INTEREST STRUCTURE ...................................................................... 188 B. GLOSSARY ................................................................................................................... 198 Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say . ‘By God,’ the king said to himself, “I am not going to kill her until I hear the rest of the story.” —The Arabian Nights …if I were perfectly content with the way things are in contemporary criticism, I would not have spent so much time dreaming about the alternatives. —David J. Gorman, “The Future of Literary Study” INTRODUCTION “In novel-writing, as in mechanics, every obstruction is a loss of power; every superfluous page diminishes the artistic pleasures of the whole. Individual tastes will always differ; but the laws of the human mind are universal.”1 Beyond the external aspects of importance and significance, what makes a narrative interesting? What is the difference between a novel that sits on the coffee table for weeks on end, the bookmark languorously shifting toward the back, and a novel that results in delayed meals and postponed bedtimes? In other words, why do we turn the page? This study focuses on the components internal to a narrative that intrinsically endow it with interest. To understand what narrative interest is, first consider what it is not. There is the cultural value of a narrative—the political, psychological, gendered, racial, and historical ramifications of what the author has to say. Moreover, there are the philosophical implications, the theoretical experimentations, and the cognitive manifestations. Whether the lot of these imbue a text with meaning through an understanding of the global zeitgeist or through a capacity to connect with an individual reader’s worldview, much of the attention paid to any narrative lies outside it. Before all this, though, there is the text itself. The theoretical framework of literary structuralism