This talk is a part of the Narrative Studies Seminar
Time: Wed 4 December 3:15 pm (EET); Place: Pinni B4113 or Zoom (Link). (Meeting ID: 668 4700 7494 Passcode: 045076)
Fictionality Meets Paratextuality: “Intentionally Signaled, Communicated Invention” Redistinguished
This paper discusses Simona Zetterberg Gjerlevsen and Henrik Skov Nielsen’s (2020) rhetorical definition of fictionality as “an intentionally signaled communicated invention” in terms of paratextuality. Paratexts, such as the author’s name, titles, prefaces, etc., frame and guide the reception of the text in question (Genette 1997). Richard Walsh (2007), in his seminal work on the rhetoric of fictionality, emphasizes paratexts’ role in guiding the interpretation of the text as fictional or nonfictional. In contrast to Walsh’s contextual approach, Zetterberg and Nielsen seek to shift the notion to include the textual signaling of fictionality.
By presenting a case study of Søren Kierkegaard’s paratexts (pseudonymous names, and prefaces) in his philosophical writings (Concluding Unscientific Postscript and Prefaces), this paper shows how these paratexts perplex both paratextual and textual signaling of fictionality. In doing so, I will employ the notion of resignaling fictionality (Jacobsen 2022) and the distinction between global and local fictionality. In addition to signaling, I wish to investigate the uses and limits of intentionality, not to mention its intertwined relationship with signaling. Consequently, the presentation offers some critical but constructive remarks to improve the rhetoric of fictionality.
References
Genette, Gérard. 1997. Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation. Trans. Jane E. Lewin. Literature, Culture, Theory 20. Cambridge: University Press.
Gjerlevsen, Simona Zetterberg & Henrik Skov Nielsen. 2020. “Distinguishing Fictionality.” In Exploring Fictionality: Conceptions, Test Cases, Discussions., eds. Cindie Aaen Maagaard, Daniel Schäbler & Marianne Wolff Lundholt, 1–18. University of Southern Denmark Studies in Literature 69. Odense: University Press of Southern Denmark.
Jacobsen, Louise Brix. 2022. “Paratext.” In Fictionality and Literature: Core Concepts Revisited, eds. Lasse R. Gammelgaard, Stefan Iversen, Louise Brix Jacobsen, James Phelan, Richard Walsh, Henrik Zetterberg-Nielsen & Simona Zetterberg-Nielsen, 141–60. Theory and Interpretation of Narrative. The Ohio State University Press.
Walsh, Richard. 2007. The Rhetoric of Fictionality: Narrative Theory and the Idea of Fiction. Theory and Interpretation of Narrative. Columbus: Ohio State University Press.
The Narrative Studies Seminar is open to all interested persons. The aim of the seminar is to allow for a multi- and interdisciplinary discussion on data, methods, theories, and the state of narrative research. Sessions consist of introductory presentations by researchers from different fields studying narratives at Tampere University (up to 20 min), and general discussion