Internal Chronotopic Genre Structures : The Nineteenth-Century Historical Novel in the Context of the Belgian Literary Polysystem

One of the most fundamental problems of systemic approaches to literature is the question of how systemic principles might be translated into a manageable methodological framework. This contribution proposes that a combination of functionalistsystemic theories (in casu Itamar Even-Zohar’s Polysystem theory – especially the textually oriented versions – and the prototypical genre approach proposed by Dirk De Geest and Hendrik Van Gorp 1999) with Mikhail Bakhtin’s chronotope theory shows great promise in this respect. Since I am primarily interested in literary genres, the prototypical genre approach assumes a central position in my theoretical framework. My main argument is that Bakhtin’s chronotope concept offers interesting perspectives as a heuristic tool within a functionalist-systemic approach to genre studies, enabling the study not only of the constitutive elements of genre systems, but also of their mutual relations. Bakhtin’s own vague definitions of the concept somewhat hamper the process of putting it into practice for this purpose, but with the aid of the distinction between generic and motivic chronotopes, that problem can be solved. A detailed, comprehensive account of the theoretical premises underlying my proposal can be found in Bemong (under review); here I restrict myself to the basics

Bakhtin’s Theory of the Literary Chronotope : Reflections, Applications, Perspectives

The aim of this introductory article [to the volume of the same title], firstly, is to recapitulate the basic principles of Bakhtin’s initial theory as formulated in “Forms of Time and of the Chronotope in the Novel: Notes toward a Historical Poetics” (henceforth FTC) and “The Bildungsroman and its Significance in the History of Realism (Toward a Historic Typology of the Novel)” (henceforth BSHR). Subsequently, we present some relevant elaborations of Bakhtin’s initial concept and a number of applications of chronotopic analysis, closing our state of the art by outlining two perspectives for further investigation. Some of the issues which we touch upon receive more detailed treatment in other contributions to this volume. Others may offer perspectives for future Bakhtin scholarship

Bakhtin’s theory of the literary chronotope: reflections, applications, perspectives

This edited volume is the first scholarly tome exclusively dedicated to Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of the literary chronotope. This concept, initially developed in the 1930s and used as a frame of reference throughout Bakhtin’s own writings, has been highly influential in literary studies. After an extensive introduction that serves as a ‘state of the art’, the volume is divided into four main parts: Philosophical Reflections, Relevance of the Chronotope for Literary History, Chronotopical Readings and Some Perspectives for Literary Theory. These thematic categories contain contributions by well-established Bakhtin specialists such as Gary Saul Morson and Michael Holquist, as well as a number of essays by scholars who have published on this subject before. Together the papers in this volume explore the implications of Bakhtin’s concept of the chronotope for a variety of theoretical topics such as literary imagination, polysystem theory and literary adaptation; for modern views on literary history ranging from the hellenistic romance to nineteenth-century realism; and for analyses of well-known novelists and poets as diverse as Milton, Fielding, Dickinson, Dostoevsky, Papadiamandis and DeLill

Bakhtin's theory of the literary chronotope: reflections, applications, perspectives

This edited volume is the first scholarly tome exclusively dedicated to Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of the literary chronotope. This concept, initially developed in the 1930s and used as a frame of reference throughout Bakhtin’s own writings, has been highly influential in literary studies. After an extensive introduction that serves as a ‘state of the art’, the volume is divided into four main parts: Philosophical Reflections, Relevance of the Chronotope for Literary History, Chronotopical Readings and Some Perspectives for Literary Theory. These thematic categories contain contributions by well-established Bakhtin specialists such as Gary Saul Morson and Michael Holquist, as well as a number of essays by scholars who have published on this subject before. Together the papers in this volume explore the implications of Bakhtin’s concept of the chronotope for a variety of theoretical topics such as literary imagination, polysystem theory and literary adaptation; for modern views on literary history ranging from the hellenistic romance to nineteenth-century realism; and for analyses of well-known novelists and poets as diverse as Milton, Fielding, Dickinson, Dostoevsky, Papadiamandis and DeLillo

Bakhtin’s Theory of the Literary Chronotope: Reflections, Applications, Perspectives

This edited volume is the first scholarly tome exclusively dedicated to Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of the literary chronotope. This concept, initially developed in the 1930s and used as a frame of reference throughout Bakhtin’s own writings, has been highly influential in literary studies. After an extensive introduction that serves as a ‘state of the art’, the volume is divided into four main parts: Philosophical Reflections, Relevance of the Chronotope for Literary History, Chronotopical Readings and Some Perspectives for Literary Theory. These thematic categories contain contributions by well-established Bakhtin specialists such as Gary Saul Morson and Michael Holquist, as well as a number of essays by scholars who have published on this subject before. Together the papers in this volume explore the implications of Bakhtin’s concept of the chronotope for a variety of theoretical topics such as literary imagination, polysystem theory and literary adaptation; for modern views on literary history ranging from the hellenistic romance to nineteenth-century realism; and for analyses of well-known novelists and poets as diverse as Milton, Fielding, Dickinson, Dostoevsky, Papadiamandis and DeLillo

Bouwstenen voor een natie in de steigers: de mise-en-scène van het verleden in P.J. Heuvelmans' De twee reizigers (1843)

"De twee reizigers" can in many ways be regarded as a curious example of historical fictional prose from the first two decades after independence. Whereas other Belgian historical novels were primarily concerned with defining a homogeneous national identity, thus helping to legitimate independence, Heuvelmans’ work highlights precisely the heterogeneous plurality of histories of the ‘fatherland’ that was established during the Protocol of London. Heuvelmans’ principal aim was to make his compatriots acquainted with the history of one of the lesser known regions of this new nation state. This article investigates how the use of characters and the narrative communication situation help to realize this didactic function within a chronotope that can be characterized as documentary and that permeates space with historicity. A correct understanding of the past, so the text argues, can only be imparted in the essential connection of that past and the space where it occurred.status: publishe

De schaduwzijde van de vooruitgang in Nederlandstalige typebeschrijvingen

De schaduwzijde van de vooruitgang en de industrialisering was niet alleen een belangrijk thema in negentiende-eeuwse zedenromans die wantoestanden in de maatschappij (zoals de uitbuiting van de arbeidersklasse) aan de kaak stelden. Ook in de typebeschrijving of karakterschets, een genre dat in de Nederlandse literatuur (samen met de fysiologie) een korte bloei kende in de jaren 1840, was het thema aanwezig. In een aantal typebeschrijvingen worden de recente technologische en industriële ontwikkelingen zelfs verantwoordelijk gesteld voor het dreigende uitsterven van bepaalde sociale en beroepsgroepen, en dus van allerlei types. De voornaamste oorzaak ligt in de ‘gelijkmaking’, de uniformiserende tendens die het gevolg is van de technologische vernieuwingen, en vooral van de vernieuwingen in de transportsector: de komst van de stoomtrein heeft immers ‘van gansch een land eene enkele buurt’ gemaakt, en de verschillen tussen naties en beroepsgroepen verdwijnen hoe langer hoe meer. De nakende verdwijning van de verschillende types houdt op haar beurt verstrekkende gevolgen in voor de literatuur: precies het genre van de typebeschrijving wordt namelijk in zijn voortbestaan bedreigd omdat er geen onderwerpen voor de schetsen meer dreigen over te blijven. Deze bijdrage onderzoekt hoe het genre op deze dreiging reageerde. The drawback of progress and industrialization was not only an important theme in nineteenth-century novels of manners that denounced social abuses in society (such as the exploitation of the working class). It was also present in the ‘type description’ (portraits or sketches of different types), a genre that flourished shortly in Dutch literature (along with the physiologies) in the 1840s. In a number of these texts, recent technological and industrial developments are even held responsible for the imminent disappearance of certain social and professional groups, and thus of all kinds of types. The main cause lies in the ‘levelling’, the unifying trend that results from technological innovations, especially from the innovations in transport: the advent of the steam train has turned ‘an entire country into a single neighbourhood’, and differences between nations and professions disappear ever more. The imminent disappearance of the various types in turn has far-reaching implications for the literary system: precisely the type description is threatened in its very existence because of the risk that there will be no more characteristic types left to describe. This contribution examines how the genre responded to this threat.status: publishe

Democratiseringen in de leescultuur, of Twee eeuwen boekgeschiedenis in een notendop

status: publishe

Inleiding

status: publishe

Alessandro Manzoni and the Historical Novel in the Low Countries: Influence and Reception of a European Icon in the Genre

In this paper, I investigate both the reception and the influence in the Low Countries of the literary and essayistic works of one of the greatest nineteenth century European historical novelists. This contribution is not only meant to provide insights into the reputation of Alessandro Manzoni in other parts of Europe; its comparative nature also reveals interesting differences between Belgium and the Netherlands regarding the reception of Manzoni. I argue that these differences are caused by significant distinctions between the literary systems of Belgium and the Netherlands in the nineteenth century. Those distinctions, for their part, are largely the result of the political climate in both countries.edition: firststatus: publishe