Book Analysis - Bal's Narratology

7/28/2019 Book Analysis - Bal's Narratology

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BalsnarratologyandCalvinosItalianFolktalesByDaniloLopez

How Mieke Bal was introduced into the world of literary criticism, structuralism, and

narratology isa storyshetellsinher websiteandalso isrelatedin the introductiontoherbook.

Buildingupon Arisotle,Bakhtin,Propp, Derrida,Culler, andGenette, Bal proceeds to recoinnew

names for existing concepts and proposes, or elaborates on, new ones [focalization, types of

description,levelsofnarration]tounderstandandadvancethefieldofnarratology.

Shenolongerdoesnarratology,shehasmovedontootherculturalstudies,anditissaidthat

hercontributionstoseveraldissimilarfieldshasbeentremendous.Intheageofpostmodernismand

theflourishingofmultimediaobjects[artistsmixofsound,image,color,text]haveprovidednew

meaningstoherconceptofembeddedtextsandintertextuality[Bakhtin].Agoodsampleisanalyzed

inthebookstartingonpage66.

Theintroductionisverydetailedandprovidedaglimpseofwhatthebookisaboutandthe

mainconcepts[adictionary]ofwhatsheproposesintherestofthebook.Havingthe[online]full

versionofthebookisessentialtounderstandwhatiswrittenonpages42andfollowing,whichare

ratherintricateandmeticulous.

Allisnarrative

One concept that caught my attention is her definition of narratology as the theory of

narratives that tell a story. It isbroad and includesnot just the written word, but also image,

spectacle,events,etc.Film,painting,multimediaobjects,architecturecanandareincludedinher

definitionofnarrative.Iwouldventuretosaythatdanceandallperformingandvisualartscouldbe

includedasculturalartifactsthattellastory.InanotherplaceIsaidthatwecanuseembedded

textsorsubtextsaspartofanarrativeorasthemainnarrativetotellastory.Legaldepositionsare

oneexample.Balalsomentionstouristguidesinherdefinition.

This postmodernist approach that everything goes, that truth is not absolute, that the

individualreignsandallhaveequalstandontheflatlandofrelativism,hascontributedtothefusion

ofhorizonswhereallisart,allisvalid[ tudovale].Herviewisthatofparticularsegmentsofreality,

thereisnotheoryofeverythingonlybitswecan analyzeand theorizeabout.Themodernhomo

sapiensisincapabletograspallofreality,thereisnoRenaissanceman[orwoman]thatisversedin

allfields,thereisnorealityperseonlyperceptionsthatvaryfromindividualtoindividualinboth,

timeandspace.


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Definingheruniverse

SoBal, consequent with modern scientific methods, proceeds todefine the object ofher

study, the conventions that will beused, and the relationships of the parts of the system she is

proposing.Heraimistoprovidereadersandcriticswithtoolsthatwillallowthemtounderstand,to

graspthetextsinfrontofthem,tomakesenseofthemandenjoythembetter.Shemakesclearthat

sheisnotbuildingamachine[likeBakhtininhisearlyapproach]butmerelyprovidingintellectual

tools[4].

Herbookthenproposesdefinitionsandconventionstobeusedinthestudyofnarrativeor

of the new field of narratology; how narratives are constructed; what are the components of a

narrative system; how they interact among each other; and what variations these interactions

assume.

Sheleavesopentheargumentofwhattextstellastory:arecomicstripsincluded?Theway

to resolve discrepancies and disagreements is by way of dialogue and argumentation. Rhetoric,

conferences,essays,etc.arethemediumforfurtheranalysisanddevelopmentofthefield.Thisisa

typical structuralistpositionwhichoriginated intheFormalistsviewthat thehistoryof literature

was/is in constant change with no eternal truth of single canon [what Jakobson called the

dominant].

Thisprocessofreasoning[6]iswhatdistinguishestheRomantic,pessimisticviewofliteraturefrom

the Modernist, reasonable view started byT.S. Eliot. Except that Eliot stopped at the canon. TheFormalistsandStructuralistsdidrevilethecanonanddivedintotheinnersanctumoflanguageand

literature.TherewasnocanonofWesternliteratureandculture,onlyconstantchange.

Familiarandnewconcepts

Bal affirms that concepts that are used too often [4] take a life of their own and lose

significance for from one reader to the next they may have a different meaning. In the field of

literatureandtext,shegoeson,thisiscommon.Shedoesnotproposetheuseofdefamiliarization,a

writerstechniqueproposedbytheearlyFormalistShklovsky,butinsteadintroducesthereaders

technique of focalization and the creation of dictionaries or conventions to level the field and

analyze texts from and within a common agreed upon frame of reference. This is also a post

modernistapproach:allmeaningiscontextbound.

After defining language text, theory, text, and narrative text [an agent tells a story], Bal

proceedstoelaborateonherproposed tools.The main definitionshereare: text [artifact, a finite


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structuredwholecomposedof languagesigns],story[afabulapresentedinacertainmanner],and

fabula[aseriesoflogicallyandchronicallyrelatedeventscausedorexperiencedbytheactors].

Herdefinition ofnarrative text includes the word text in it. Ive learned that the defined

objectcannotbepartofthedefinition,sotomeitshouldbemodified.Herdefinitionoffabulaisalso

flawedinthesensethattherelationisneitheralwayslogicalnorchronological;therearetimeshifts,

thereisfantasywherelogicisnotpresent.Itshouldbeclarifiedthatthestoryanditsworldmayhave

aninternallogic,thattimemaybemanipulated,andthattherulesoflogiccanandarebrokenoften

evenwithinthestory,especiallyinfolktalesliketheonesCalvinopublished,wherecharactersare

notfleshedoutduetotheshortexpanseofthetextandthesimplicityoftheplot.WhydidntSilver

Nosegoback looking for Lucia? Illogical,unless wefocus [focalization?] onthepointof the story

[fabula,moral?],whichisthatclevernesscanfooleventhedevilifourintentionsaregood.

The text is a series ofwords [symbols]. InCalvinos folktales his version is I am sure

different to that of the originals, which were probably told orally using different words and

languages?throughoutthecenturies.The fabulamightbethesameingeneralterms,thestart,the

middleand the endmighthavethesameresults.Theway inwhichit ispresented,though,might

vary;ithastodowiththesympathyareadermayormaynothavefordifferentcharacters.Inthe

caseofSilverNose,hardlyanyonewouldsympathizewiththedevil,unlessoneisadevilworshiper.

Actorsarejustnamesorlabels:theprince,thewitch,theking,thedragon,thehorse.Only

when we see the actors in action, in timespace, and making decisions and choices, is that they

becomecharacters[Proppsfunctions].Thegoodandthebadonthestory,therightandthewrong,thesympatheticandtheantipatheticcomeoutthen,andtheactorsbecomecharacters.Theyhavea

personality [Propps dramatispersonae] and act according to [logically] that personality [Propps

spheresofaction].

Theworldofthestorytakesplaceinanabstractland[Bakhtin]orspacewhichexistsina

timethatissusceptibleofviolation,likeintheDragonwithSevenHeads,wherethechildrengrowup

inamatterofparagraphs.Onlyinformationthatisrelevanttothestoryispresented.Timeis.Years

happen in seconds. We see fragments only, but these fragments [adventures in timespace or

chronotope in Bakhtin] are relevant and make sense. The rest of the dark matter that fills the

spacetimeisnotmissed.Wefocusfromeventtoeventbecauseonlythesechangethepreviousstatus

quo.Onlythefirstantthelasteventcount:theprincesswassenttothecastlebyherstepmotherin

TheCanaryPrince,theprincessandthePrincegotmarried.

Thematerialsofthefabula,events,actors,time,andlocation[Balseparatestimefromspace]

isanotherconceptofferedinthebook.AristotlementionstheseinhisPoetics,exceptfibula,inhis


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timetheherowasalwaysidentifiedandtheantiheroaswell,butthesympathyorpreferenceforany

ofthemwasnotrelevant.Allwereactorscharactersbehavinghumanlyorlikedemigods,filledwith

emotions,flaws,andqualitiesthatwerenotgoodorbadperse.Thecenter,thepointofthestorywas

toexaltthegreatnessofmankind[epic]alongwithitsbefall[tragedy].Baloffersatoolthatservesto

identifythesympathyorabsencethereofforacharacterbeyondmorals.Shetellsusthatthewritercanpresentthestoryinamannerthatcanmanipulateandchallengeourfeelingsandreasoning,our

beliefs and ideology. When she resorts to a desired effect [7] she is saying that the author, the

narrator,thewriter[doublevoiced,singlevoiced,orpolyphonic/heteroglossia]mayindeedhavean

intention.Thisintentionmaybeembeddedinasubtextorimbuedwithacertain,aimedrhetoric.

Thisisadeparture[acontradiction?]fromtheclassicalstructuralistviewthattheauthorisdeadand

theintentiondoesnotexistormatters.Desiredeffectalsoimpliestheneedonthepartoftheauthor

tocommunicate,toestablishalink,tomakeherstory interesting[James?].Sotheauthordoesmatter

afterall;themessagecomesnext.

Balalsotalksabouttimeanditscharacteristics[8]makingclarificationsaboutchronology,

expanse,character traits, locationsand specificplaces,andchoicesmadefromPOVs.Therelation

whoperceiveswhatisperceivedisthefocalizationthatcolorsthestorywithsubjectivity[8].Propp

is not interested with the message as for the mechanics of the folktale; he looks at conjunctive

elementsas techniqueofthetrade[exmachine,announcementofmisfortune,chancedisclosure]as

wellastoattributiveelements.Themotivationsheidentifiesdonotgobeyondthereasonsandaims

within the plot. The author is never addressed, probably because these were anonymous. Bals

framework isaimedatall narrative texts, whether the author isknown ofnot.But she doesnot

includetheauthorinherframework,unlessasapartoftheheteroglossia,likeBakhtindid.

ApartialcomparisonofBalsandProppsconceptsintheirstudyofnarrativefollows:

Propp Bal IsmailianMerchant

Dramatispersonae

actor character

31functions

fabula

Spheresof action

story

Conjunctiveelement

f.0Initial:Merchant,

Giumento,>good

man,humble,just,

prophet

f.1:Absentation>thesongoesawayto

learnthetrade.

Princessfallsinlove

withGiumentosson

f.19:Resolution>

afteraseriesof

exchanges,thesonis

revealed

[recognition],then

theGiumentois

revealedaswell[transfiguration]


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Balconsidersthereaderastheobserver[asinquantummechanicsphenomena]andthetext

doesnotreallytakesuplifeuntilitisobserved.ThedoublevoicenessofBakhtin,Balcallsagentthat

relates [utters] the signs with the withdrawal of the author. Except that the narrator, in her

exposition,changes:eachcharactertakesthefunctionofnarratorass/hespeaks[9].Allactorsare

narrators,Iwouldaddthatthespaces,thetime,theworldofthestoryisalsoatype,participateasnarrators.

Somerandomobservations

Structuralists subdivide a problem so much, at the peril of compartmentalization that

makesus lose sightof the big picture, the widerperspective. Weget lost in the treesand dont

perceivetheforest.Itisthefracturedmirrorofpostmodernism.

Thefabula,seenastheresultofinterpretationbythereader,seemslikeariddlethereader

mustguess.Andanyanswerisvalid.PossibilityisthefieldofBalstheory[9].

Asinanytheoryinformation,intuitionplaysabigrole[10]inreadinganartifact.Isthisa

break withthe reignof Reason establishedby the Encyclopedists?Bal finds joy inthe tripofthe

theorymorethanintheend,fortheendisalwaysinflux.Subjectivitybecomesthebasictenetof

herbook,nouniversalpropositionsexist.Therightquestionbecomes:whatdoesthistexttellme

today?

Finalthought

Bal includes in her definition of narrative images and other cultural artifacts. The

painting/textsheanalyzesonpages6773fitsthisdefinition.Whetheritislookedfromafarofat

closerange,theobjecttellssomething,inimageandinwrittenwords.Buteventhewrittenwords

[symbols]aremockedbytheuseofgibberishthatresemblesHebrewcharacters.Astoryistoldina

paintingandinapoem.Thesinglenarratorispolyphonicaswell.Morethanonelanguageisused

[bilinguismasartifact?],thelevelsmultiplythemselvesatseveralrealms:media,size,typeofsymbol,

abstraction,concreteness.

Bals book (1) provides mewith plenty of ideas to interpret and more importantly to

createtextsthatchallengedifferentreaders.Calvinosbook(2)servesasexcellentbackdroptotestBalstheories.

(1) Narratology: Introduction to the theoryofNarrative,publishedDecember31,1997| ISBN

10:0802078060|ISBN13:9780802078063|Edition:2nd(2) ItalianFolktalesItaloCalvino,Harcourt,1980

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Book Analysis - Bal's Narratology