There’s lots more to say about ring composition; I may return to the topic if I come across a ring that deserves comment, but this post will be the last in this series of posts. I. A story may be constructed so that the first link in the temporal sequence matches the last link. Thus … Continue reading One Last Kick at the Can: Three More Rings
Author: Matthew Clark
Matthew Clark is a classical philologist and literary critic. He received his BA and MA degrees from the University of Toronto and his PhD degree from Harvard University. He has published five books: Out of Line: Homeric Composition Beyond the Hexameter (Rowman and Littlefield, 1997); A Matter of Style: Writing and Technique (Oxford University Press, 2002); Narrative Structures and the Language of the Self (Ohio State University Press, 2010); Exploring Greek Myth (Blackwell, 2012); Debating Rhetorical Narratology: The Synthetic, Mimetic and Thematic Aspects of Narrative, with James Phelan (Ohio State University Press, 2020). His current project has the working title How to Reread a Novel: Essays in Narrative Analysis.
More on Rings: Closure, Frames, and Dreams
In this post I continue my discussion of whole-plot ring composition with discussions of closure, frames, and dream narratives. I. Closure: The repetition at the end of a novel (or a story or a poem) of material from the beginning can create a feeling of closure, as we can see in Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky”: ’Twas … Continue reading More on Rings: Closure, Frames, and Dreams
On the Road with Lena and Étienne
In my previous post I looked at an instance of Ring Composition in E. R. Eddison’s fantasy novel, The Worm Ouroboros. Rings come in various sizes and shapes. In a simple ring the beginning of a passage is repeated at the end: ABA. Some rings are more complicated: ABCBA or even more. (See, for instance, … Continue reading On the Road with Lena and Étienne
Ring Composition and The Worm Ouroboros
In this post I want to talk about an interesting example of ring composition in E. R. Eddison’s fantasy novel The Worm Ouroboros. Ring composition is a figure of speech, though it isn’t listed in any of the handbooks of figures of speech that I’ve looked at, nor is it discussed in any of the … Continue reading Ring Composition and The Worm Ouroboros
It’s Time to Wake Up!
In my previous post I discussed a figure of speech which, so far as I know, had never up till then been described or named. In this figure the last word of a clause (or nearly the last word) is repeated and then expanded upon to provide some explanation or expansion or specification. I have … Continue reading It’s Time to Wake Up!
Naming a Figure of Speech
Readers of this blog will know that I’m fascinated by rhetorical figures, the figures of speech. I’ve written comments and even entire posts on tricolon, anaphora, antithesis, congeries, chiasmus, anadiplosis, polyptoton, epimone, palilogia, and several more. In the old days, from the time of the ancient Greeks down to the nineteenth century, the figures of … Continue reading Naming a Figure of Speech
The Old Wives’ Tale
I recently reread The Old Wives’ Tale, by Arnold Bennett (first published in 1908) and I thought the first part of the first chapter was worth some analysis and comment. Bennett was born in 1867 and died in 1931. He wrote 34 novels and 96 short stories; I’ve read three of his novels: The Old … Continue reading The Old Wives’ Tale
Novels: The Formless Form?
I just happened to read a book of literary criticism that I’ve owned for many years but never got around to reading: The World and the Book: A Study of Modern Fiction, by Gabriel Josipovici (Macmillan 1971). Josipovici is a prolific writer, a novelist and a critic and a playwright. This is the only book … Continue reading Novels: The Formless Form?
From Paragraphs to Plots
My new book, “From Paragraphs to Plots”, has just been officially published by Louisiana State University Press. This volume complements “How to Reread a Novel”, which was published not quite a year ago. There will be a facebook digital booklaunch next Wednesday, Oct 2, at 12:00 Eastern time. All are welcome to join. I’ll talk … Continue reading From Paragraphs to Plots
Datelines and Chronotopes
Every story has to occur at some time and in some place. An essential part of building a narrative world is establishing the time and place of the story. The Russian literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin used the term “chronotope” for the combination of time and space in a literary work—“chrono” meaning “time” (as in “chronology”) … Continue reading Datelines and Chronotopes
The Art of Reading Slowly 