The Cave, the Gaze, the Bride, and her Lover The Constraints of Narrating Desire on a Hellenistic Mirror (original) (raw)

10. The Narrator, the Reflector and the Reader

Open Book Publishers, 2014

, and rooted in Hawthorne's "invention" of the genre at the beginning of the nineteenth century. This apparently comprehensive view of the genre, however, left a crucial missing link: critics tend to ignore the end of nineteenth century, despite the fact that this period has a strong claim as a major stage-if not the major stage-of the form. There is of course nothing groundbreaking in such an assertion: it is well documented that the short story was enormously popular at this time, and that innumerable periodicals were publishing countless stories. 4 It was also the time when more masters of the form were active than perhaps at any other time: Chekhov, Guy de Maupassant, Luigi Pirandello, Henry James, Mori Ōgai and Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, to name just a few. 5 The particular form of the genre has also been recognised. In 1985, Clare Hanson reminded us with force that not only was the short story of that time important, but also that it had initiated a whole tradition in itself: the "short story", as opposed to "short fiction". 6 Yet compared to the wealth and importance of these stories in their time, critical appraisals of this form have been very few. 7 The classic short 3 Charles E. May (ed.), Short Story Theories (Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 1976). The quote is from Charles E. May, "The Nature of Knowledge in Short Fiction", in The New Short Story Theories, ed. by Charles E. May (Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 1994), pp. 131-43 (p. 133). 4 Between 1885 and 1901 the publication numbers for cheap magazines in the United States went from 3,600 to 7,500. See Andrew Levy, The Culture and Commerce of the American Short Story (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993). In Europe, the figures are maybe even more impressive: in Italy alone, about 1,800 periodicals were published in 1891; in France, several papers had a circulation of nearly one million by 1900. On all this, and on the consequences for the form itself, see Part II. 5 Throughout the book, Japanese names will be given following the academic habit of using the surname first followed by the given name. 6 "Throughout this period [1880-1980], despite the development of Symbolist and Modernist short story forms, the 'traditional' tale continued to appear. Indeed, the major point which I wish to make about this period is that it is possible to distinguish in it two quite separate lines of development in the short story".

The Contemporary Lives of Age-Old Tales

Libri et liberi

Aligned with the sociocultural nature of traditional tales and other folk literature of the Western world, this study examines three picturebooks to consider the significance of contemporary retellings of traditional tales. A critical content analysis approach to text and images employs select tenets of a particular theory for each book inclusive of childism, post-colonial, and archetype theories. The findings relate each book to current sociocultural issues: the agentic child in building community; colonial and post-colonial understandings; and identity, stereotypes, and archetypes. Additionally, environmental themes are woven through each. The findings support the ongoing significance of these living folktales for personal and community development as they connect intertextually across eras and national cultures.