In an unspecified setting, they wait for the light to hit a mark. The first chapters of the title story introduce a man, a woman, a child and, later, a boy. Moreover, “Homunculi” hints at the ritualistic quality of its language by thematising rituals. The excerpt of “Homunculi” above, for example, occurs frequently in the text, with minimal variations (p. The repetition that is crucial for the ritualistic does not exclusively rely on the repetition of poetic segments like stanzas, but can be realised as the repetition of sounds, short phrases or entire paragraphs that function as refrains. While Culler reserves this ritualistic quality for lyrical poetry, prose texts like “Homunculi” expose the same captivating capacity. The seductive quality of “Homunculi” can be associated with what Jonathan Culler calls “the ritualistic”: “memorable writing to be received, reactivated and repeated by readers” (2015: 7). What is striking is the form of the text, rather than the motivations of the impersonal, nameless characters and their trivial actions. Looking, smiling, getting up, taking a seat, looking down, the man (p. Placing the hands on the hips, taking a seat, smiling. Nodding at the man, and then slowly raising the hands. Looking up, looking at the man, How much longer?, saying. It was more important than our arrangement, then saying, smiling. The following typifying excerpt from the title story is not what one expects to find in prose fiction:ĭead, saying, the boy, looking at the woman, and getting up. These features are conventionally associated with lyrical poetry, rather than with narrative texts. They deviate from grammatical rules, and are characterized by rhythmic repetition and musicality. While the first stories in the collection mainly experiment with content, breaking social taboos, the two final stories “Homunculi” and “Jericho” experiment with style and the narrative structure. Krijgelmans publishes Homunculi, his first short story collection, which challenges narrative conventions. In 1967, the Flemish-Belgian experimental writer Claude C. Against that background, this paper demonstrates the need for a narratology that considers the interaction between narrativity and other modes, like lyricality. Next, the focus on lyricality reveals new interpretative possibilities for “Homunculi”. First, it situates the prose text in a wider tradition of lyrical, ritualistic texts. Approaching “Homunculi” with lyricality as an interpretative lens has theoretical as well as analytical advantages. The focus on lyricality enables a working definition of the ritualistic. Formally, the ritualistic is memorable, non-representational language. Semantically, it is characterised as an impersonal quality of language. The ritualistic involves both semantic and formal aspects. The ritualistic quality associated with this mode can be defined as a recurrent combination of lyrical tendencies. I define lyricality as a literary mode that consists of lyrical tendencies, which can be realised in different ways. This article focuses on the lyrical elements in “Homunculi” and associates them with the ritualistic. Moreover, the text thematises rituals, which hints at the presence of a ritualistic quality that is often linked with lyrical texts. The title story of the collection mainly experiments with formal conventions: it foregrounds rhythmic repetition and musicality, and deviates from grammatical rules. The stories challenge narrative conventions. Homunculi (1967) is the first short story collection by the Flemish-Belgian experimental writer Claude C.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |