I would like to
return to the discussion we had during the last lesson. I agree with Renata,
and, what is more important, so does Michael Bakhtin, one of the founders of
modern narratology. He wrote that one should never put the sign of equality
between the author of the text and the real physical person this author was. According
to Bakhtin the author of the text is a literary figure, a subject of
narratologic analysis. Like his heroes, the author of the text lives literary
life, not physical one. The life of the author of the text is always connected
with this particular text. It will be another author’s figure, another author’s
voice in another text, even though the both texts are written by the same
physical person.
The writer’s
biography may be reflected in his texts. In the case of Melville we can say
that the image of Ishmael reflects the facts from Melville’s biography –
Melville also worked as a teacher and then served in the whaling ships. But the
vice-verse conclusion is impossible. If we did not know Melville’s biography,
we would not be able to say that he was a sailor proceeding just from his text.
We never know whose image or experience inspired the writer to create this or that
character. So if some characters of Moby Dick are cruel, misogynist, homosexual
etc., it does not mean that these qualities were proper to Melville himself. The
absence of female characters in Melville’s text in no way means that Melville
hated women. There is just no place for women in his narrative like in many
other marine stories. It’s just the literature “for boys”.
Hi Elana,
ReplyDeleteOn one hand I tend to agree that the physical person writing can be the exact opposite than his fictional chracter, since to begin with that's the whole purpose of creating a fictional work, as opposed to composing a non-fictional work. Yet, on the other hand, there are times according to which as readers I believe knowing facts concerning the physical person, may direct the reader into a different interpretation than withought that knowledge. This kind of new subjective interpretation may also alter as a result of any new info the reader may encounter, for example a new outrageouse biographical data as we discussed in clas. We need to keep in mind though, that not all biographical works are approved and may in fact be incorrect and therefore if taken under serious consideration might be misleading. In any case, personally I find biographies at times extreemly helpfull, and at other times simply too much inforamtion we might have cared to disregard.
thank you,
Adi