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Unlived Lives in English Literature

A Typological Study

Linne, Lena

Anglistische Forschungen, Bd. 467

2019

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Abstract

“If I had acted differently, then...” – Most human beings indulge in counterfactual thought experiments at one point or another. For the fictional characters analysed in this book, they are a central preoccupation. The characters obsessively review their past, looking at a road they did not take, pondering on a life they did not live. Drawing on narratology, theories of counterfactuality and the study of motifs, the book suggests a typology of unlived lives, which is based on more than fifty works from the nineteenth century to the present. In addition, the book offers seven readings. These focus on texts in which the motif of the unlived life features in an especially characteristic or challenging manner: Henry James’s “The Diary of a Man of Fifty” and “The Jolly Corner,” Virginia Woolf’s ‘Mrs Dalloway’, Vita Sackville-West’s ‘All Passion Spent’, Samuel Beckett’s ‘Krapp’s Last Tape’ and Alice Munro’s “Carried Away” and “Dolly.”

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Zwischenüberschrift Seite Aktion Preis
Cover C
Title 3
Imprint 4
Acknowledgements 5
Contents 7
I Introduction 11
II Towards a Definition of “Unlived Life” 17
1 The Figurative Understanding 18
2 The Literal Understanding 20
2.1 Counterfactuality 20
2.1.1 Counterfactuality and Fiction 22
2.1.2 Counterfactual Fictional Worlds 24
2.1.3 Counterfactual Thought Experiments in the Fictional World 27
2.2 Counterfactual Unlived Lives 31
2.2.1 Untimely Deaths and Alternate Biographies 31
2.2.2 Multiple Unrealised Possibilities 33
2.2.3 A Particular Unrealised Possibility in the Past 35
2.2.3.1 A Counterfactual Course of Events 36
2.2.3.2 A Retrospective Focus 39
2.2.3.3 A Sustained Focus and Involvement of the Character 42
2.2.3.4 A Definition of “Unlived Life” 44
III A Typology of the Unlived Life 47
1 The Unlived Life: Some Preliminary Distinctions 48
1.1 The Direction: Upward and Downward Counterfactuals 48
1.2 The Antecedent: Personal and External Responsibility 50
1.3 Trigger Mechanisms: Visits and Other Issues 53
1.4 The Consequent: Behavioural and Characterological Counterfactuals 55
1.5 The Consequent: Love Relationships and Other Issues 56
1.6 Feasibility: Lives (Not) Irrevocably Lost 57
1.7 Feasibility: Realistic Options and Retrospective Pipe Dreams 59
2 Responses to the Unlived Life 60
2.1 Emotional Responses 60
2.2 Internal and External Effects 62
2.3 Development and Stagnation 65
2.4 Degrees of Awareness 66
2.5 Degrees of (Self-)Control 67
3 Representing the Unlived Life 68
3.1 The Unlived Life – A Motif? 68
3.2 Explicit and Implicit Techniques 73
3.2.1 Implicit Techniques 75
3.2.1.1 Metonymic Memory 75
3.2.1.2 Excessive Repetition 77
3.2.1.3 Foil Characters 78
3.2.1.4 Duality or Division of Personality 79
3.2.1.5 Projection 81
3.2.1.6 Symbolic Analogue 82
3.2.1.7 Contrastive Juxtaposition 86
3.2.1.8 Cross-References 87
3.3 Treatment of Time in Unlived-Life Narratives 88
3.4 Narrator and Point of View in Unlived-Life Narratives 91
4 From Typology to Selected Readings: Historical Tendencies 93
IV Selected Readings 99
1 Classic Cases 99
1.1 Henry James, “The Diary of a Man of Fifty” (1879) 103
1.1.1 Introduction: Unlived Lives in Henry James 103
1.1.2 The Diarist’s Counterfactual Contemplations 108
1.1.3 The Diarist’s Self-Delusion and Learning Process 111
1.1.4 Conclusion 117
1.2 Samuel Beckett, ‚Krapp’s Last Tape‘ (1958) 118
1.2.1 Introduction 118
1.2.2 Krapp: Weary, Lonely, and Disappointed 120
1.2.3 ‚Krapp’s Last Tape‘ as Monodrama 123
1.2.4 An Open and Yet Static Ending 130
1.2.5 Conclusion 133
2 Classic Cases Reversed 136
2.1 Vita Sackville-West, ‚All Passion Spent‘ (1931) 137
2.1.1 Introduction 137
2.1.2 The Antecedent: The Marriage Proposal 139
2.1.3 Lady Slane’s Actual Marriage and Counterfactual Career 141
2.1.4 Lady Slane’s Late Rebellion 149
2.1.5 Conclusion 156
2.2 Alice Munro, “Carried Away” (1994) 158
2.2.1 Introduction: Unlived Lives in Alice Munro 158
2.2.2 Before the Antecedent: An Exchange of Love Letters 160
2.2.3 The Antecedent: Personal or External Responsibility? 164
2.2.4 After the Antecedent: Louisa’s Emotional Involvement 168
2.2.5 Unresolved Mysteries 172
2.2.6 The Treatment of Time: Going Back to the Past 182
2.2.7 Conclusion 185
3 Uncertainty and the Unlived Life 188
3.1 Virginia Woolf, ‚Mrs Dalloway‘ (1925) 188
3.1.1 Introduction 188
3.1.2 Clarissa’s Unlived Life with Peter 191
3.1.3 Peter’s Unlived Life with Clarissa 200
3.1.4 Connectedness and “Moments of Being” 207
3.1.5 Conclusion 214
3.1.6 Postscript: Michael Cunningham, ,The Hours’ (1998) 216
3.2 Henry James, “The Jolly Corner” (1908) 219
3.2.1 Introduction 219
3.2.2 Brydon’s Actual and Counterfactual Life 220
3.2.3 The Apparition: Its Nature and Meaning 227
3.2.4 A Happy and Yet Ambiguous Ending 231
3.2.5 Conclusion 234
4 A Self-Reflexive Case 236
4.1 Alice Munro, “Dolly” (2012) 237
4.1.1 Introduction 237
4.1.2 Franklin and Gwen’s Unrealised Relationship 239
4.1.3 A Playful Treatment of the Motif: The Final Twist 242
4.1.4 Conclusion 246
V Conclusion 249
Appendix 1 A List of Unlived Lives in English Literature 257
Appendix 2 Nostalgia and the Unlived Life 259
Works Cited 263
INDEX 9
Backcover 288