ESSAY CEMETERY

1. Introduction: Spiegelman's Maus and Ricoeur's concept of narrative time Art Spiegelman is the author of Maus , a two-volume book in cartoon form. The book is an autobiography as well as a biography of Art's father, Vladek, who was a Holocaust survivor. Maus moves back and forth between scenes from Art's life in New York City and depictions of Vladek in the Holocaust. Spiegelman explores his father's past, his own past and his own present as part of the struggle he experiences in being the child of a Holocaust survivor. Throughout the work, Spiegelman's story is closely twined with that of his father. Indeed, the narrative moves between time frames so frequently that story of father and story of son begin to merge, and Spiegelman's identity becomes closely associated with the life of his father. Paul Ricoeur's concept, which he develops in his essay "Narrative Time," is a valuable aid in understanding the role of these shifts be

Ricoeur, Paul. "Narrative Time."   Narrative Dynamics: Essays on Time, Plot, Closure, and Frames . Ed. Brian Richardson. Columbus: Ohio State UP, 2002. 35-45. Print. 1. Presuppositions Narrativity and temporality are closely related. Language refers constantly to temporality, and temporality is necessary for narrative. Time is not, in regards to narrative, simply a linear succession of moments. On a superficial level, time is that "within" which events take place. On a deeper level, time is historicality- emphasis placed on the weight of the past. Plot is the "intelligible whole that governs a succession of events in any story". As such the plot is characterized by temporal complexity. 2. What occurs happens "in" time We will present an analysis of time and an analysis of narrativity, and relate them. Time must be considered by what happens "in" it. Time is subjective, according to the importance we attribute to the e

Gerard Genette is a French structuralist. Genette suggests approaching narrative as though it is a discourse (a discussion, or dissertation on a topic). He discusses time in relation to narrative in terms of order, duration and frequency of events within the narrative. Order In most works of literature the order in which events are related in the text is different from the chronological succession of events. Instead there are flashbacks or flash forwards. The story may go back and forth between relating events chronologically or achronologically.  Anachronisms may be repetitive if the event has already been related in the narrative, or completive if they fill in an earlier blanks in the narrative ( recalls ) or later blanks in the narrative ( announcements ). These anachronisms are used to enhance or create meaning in the narrative or foreshadow occurrences. There are variations on these, retrospections within anticipations etc. There are also achronic events, whic

The term chronotope indicates the relationship between time and space as expressed in literature. It is a term borrowed from Einstein's Theory of Relativity. Just as it is in physics, in literature too time and space are inseparable, and one cannot be described independently of the other. Indicators are used to describe the position in time and space within the narrative. We may regard the narrative as plottable on the axes of time and space. The chronotope can be said to define the genre of a piece. Different genres have characteristic chronotopes. We cannot directly and simply recognize the historical background upon which every text draws because chronotopes from different time periods became intertwined and co-influential. Thus it may be difficult to strictly define the genre of a text based on the structure of its chronotope. A work's relationship with reality can be deduced from the chronotope as well. The Chronotope of the Road Time and space as are tight