VIITH SPECIAL THE FUNCTION OF SIT'ORY IN THE NO\TEL' REFERENCE TO FIELDING AND STERNE BY (Newcastle) Dia.nne osland, B-A- (hons'), Dip'Ed' J l Department of English, University of AdelaÍde submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy June, 1977 ¡- Table of ConLents Sununary l-L Acknowledgements vL I I "To invent good Storiesr and to teIl them weII 1 2 Story and Plot. 30 II 3. Narrative Structure in Epic and Romance 51 4 Story and plot in the Roinances of Chrétien, 74 Gottfried, and Wolfram 5. From Romance to Novel 101 III 6. Ttre Firle1it-ies of the DIot and the Rights of L24 the Story in TÕm Jones 7 lom Jones and Amelia: The Art of Reading and 158 [Lhe ART of LIFE" 8. Tristram Shandy: fkre Life and Opinions of 186 a Story-te1ler 9 Aftersrord: The Story-telling NuvulisL 216 Bibliography 228 I1 SummarY lÍtre impulse to tell a story has always been a fundamental dríving force in narrative lite::ature, Yet it is one which has been Iargely igDored in both the discussion and evaluation of prose fiction. This neglect is most marked in críticism of the noveI, where the simpler and more basic satj-sfactions provided by story are generally disparaged as irrelevant, and even detrirnental' to an appreciation of the novel as a serious artistic concern. The term ,,story,, itself is usually accompanied by the definite article to specify only the general characteristics peculiar to a particular narrative action, wÌ:iIe "plot" is used to refer to those aspects of structure and design which shape the action into a significant form' Indeed, to the extent that story is differentiated at all from plot, the distinction is between the incidental and the artful, between the products of the ,'gifted" story-teller and the "skilled" maker of plots' Storiesrhoweverrhavetheirowndistinctiveformal characteristics, and in Chapter I these are explored in an attempt to isolate story as an autonomous functional entity. Story is defined in terms of its emotional pattern, which characteristically begins with an undefined state of uneasiness or disquiet, followed by a steady increase in tension until, at the last possible moment, the tension is released in a resolution which generates a feeling of relief or satisfaction. This patter¡r follows a logic peculiar to story-telling' and often in conÈrast or indeed opposition to the logic of the plot' LLl- lltre latter is explored more fully in ChaPÈer 2, together with the relative value of story and plot to the noveÌ. Plot is seen as an intellectual ordering of the action, so that events are made to gain significance by their relatíonship to a developing meaning. Story, on the other hand, is a means of making emotional sense of the world, of satisfying basic human needs that cannot be ignored and should nct be despised. To ignore the felt consistencies of story is also to ignrore the ways Ín v¡hich they qualify and even subvert the rational consistencies of plot, 4nd to despise them is also to despise the value of sympathetic involvement in the experience of others, a quality fundamentàt to the compulsion of atl narrative literature. In Chapters 3, 4, and 5, the narrative structure of epic ancl romance is explored to provide an historical perspective which serves two related ends: first, an examination of, narrative genres which, unlike the novel, are not dominated by the concern to unify action under a coherent plot, revealing more clearly the demands and achievements of the story-telling art; secondly, a more detailed examination of the structure of romances by Chrétien, GotÈfried, I{o1fram, and Ariosto, Ieading to a better understanding of the timited extenÈ to which the novel diverges from its narrative heritage. The interest shown by novelists in plot as a unifying agent is seerr as a reflection of a change, not in the !"riterrs attitude tov¡ards the value of story, but in his understanding of the way in which stories should be to1d. In Chapters 6, 7, and 8, the narrative technique of two eighteenth-century novelists is examined in detail. Fíelding's Lv Tom Jones has long, and justifiably' been celebrated as a master- piece of plot-naking, but its success as a narrati.ve is owing to something more than a well-designed plot, as a comparison with Ame1ia only too well shows. In Amelia, the mechanisms of the plot place Booth clearly and unequivocably on trial, but in Tom Jones involvement in the story and sympathy for Tom also place the reader on trial. Furthermore, the story also makes fundamental and necessary qualifications to the terms of the trial, enforcing human rather than absÈract truths, and cultivating humane rather than coolly clinical judgements. rn Tristram Shandy, however, Sterne goes one step further, using story to subvert rather than simply qualify plot. In a world which cannot be understood rationally' the intuitive s¡npathy encouraged by story-telling techniques becomes a feasible alternatíve to reason as a means of knowing this world and the people in it. v I hereby certify that ttris thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diplorna in any university and that, to the best of ny knowledge and belief, it contains no material written or published by another person, except when due reference is made in the text. Signed i l I I I I I vL ACKNOWT,EDGEMENTS . Like Tristram Shandy, my thesis has had several midwives though, I hasten to add, mine have all proven of invaluable assistance. To Èhe list. following should be added countless colleagues and friends, and one very understand'ing husband' who have all given their time and knowledge' But my personal' heartfelt thanks need to be expressed to my supervisors' Professor Colin J. Horne and Dr Michael Toiley, whose incisive and enlightening criticism and refusal to accept second-best made ne realize the true meaning and value of scholarship; to Dr Tony Hassall, whose enthusiastic and penetrating discussions of Fielding and sterne provided the initial inspiratíon for -uhis study, and whose encouïagement and support saw it through to the end; to Associate professor Norman Talbot and Mrs Robyn wallace for their interest and judicious conunentaryt to my typist, Mrs Shirley Byron' whose patience and attention to detail would not be broken even by Sterne's punctuation; and finally to Southern Review for permission to reprint material from an article, "fhe Rationalization of Romance: From Chrétien to GotÈfried and lrlolfram", which was based on Chapter 4 and Part of ChaPter 5. CHAPTER 1 "To invent good Stori.es, and to tell them well Although tellíng stories and writing novels are generally regarded as being closely related activíties, the impression gained from much literary criticism is that the relationship, far from being profit.tble or enlightening, is rather one of those unfortunate facts of life which have to be Iíved with and borne stoically' Vexed by the capacity of a good story to lead its reader blindly along by the heart-strings, and wary of a compulsion which seems detrimental to Èhe appreciation of more serious, intellectual concerns, the critic tends to see story as something which the reader should rise above. rypical of the patronizing attitude is E. M. Forsterrs response to stories and their stubborn association with the business of writing novels: The story is prirnitive, it reaches back to the orígins of literature, before reading was discovered, and it appeals to what is primitive in us. That is why \¡/e are so unreasonable over the stories we Iike, and so read'y to bully those who like something else. - Intolerance is the atmosphere stories generate. Ttre story is neither moral nor is it favourable Èo the understanding of the novel ín its ot-her aspects' I If we want to do that we must come out of the cave' 1 E. M. Forster, Aspects of the Novel (L927; rPt. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, L962) P- 48. 2 It is wit]. evident distaste that Forster feels himself compelled to allow that "low atavistic form" a place in the writing of novels. He makes it clear that he does so only as a concession to the readerrs primitive yearnings, to appease in him the residual spirit of his ancestral 'faudience of shockheads" hanging expectantly on each word for what happens next. In return he expects the reader to come out of the eave and read novels not for tl1e story but for the nobler interests of character, plot, theme' pattern' and rhythm' Forster,s dismissal of story may not be matched for truculence, but he does at least articulate what so much criticism, from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, has simply inplied: It is easy to sense, f.ot example, the general feeling of eager anticipation for just deserts behind Samuel Johnson's conu'nent that if Richardson were read for the story the read.er would hang himsetf .? Similarly, it takes little critical acumen to discern the present directÍon of scholarly opinion when a noted critic can pr:blish an anthology of short narratíves which seem to have little claim to note-worthiness beyond the literary disposition expressed in the title of the collection, Anti-story.3 Íhese examples may be untypícat in the extremity of their renunciation, but they are of a kind with the more usual critical practice of disowning story by ignoring it. If the much abused inter-planetary visitor were introduced to narrative literature via a standard critical text, he could be forgiven for 2 James Boswell, Life of Johnson (London: Oxford University Press, 1953), p.