Entangled voices : genre and the religious construction of the self / Frederick J. Ruf.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ruf, Frederick J., 1950-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Donne, John, 1572-1631. Holy sonnets.

Donne, John.

Wilson, Robert, 1928-1983. Einstein on the beach.

Wilson, Robert.

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 1772-1834. Biographia literaria.

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor.

Levi, Primo, 1919-1987. Sistema periodico.

Levi, Primo.

Religious literature, English--History and criticism--Theory, etc.

Religious literature, English.

Self in literature.

Literary form.

Physical Description:

x, 125 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, 1997.

Summary:

In this book, Ruf tries to understand how the concepts of "voice" and "genre" function in texts. To this end, he joins literary theorists in the discussion about "narrative." Ruf rejects the idea of genre as a fixed historical form that serves as a template for readers and writers; instead, he suggests that we imagine different genres, whether narrative, lyric, or dramatic, as the expression of different voices. Each voice, he asserts, possesses different key qualities: embodiment, sociality, contextuality, and opacity in the dramatic voice; intimacy, limitation, urgency in lyric; and a "magisterial" quality of comprehensiveness and cohesiveness in narrative. These voices are models for our selves, composing an unruly and unstable multiplicity of selves. Ruf applies his theory of "voice" and "genre" to five texts: Dineson's Out of Africa, Donne's Holy Sonnets, Primo Levi's The Periodic Table, Robert Wilson's Einstein on the Beach, and Coleridge's Biographia Literaria. Through these literary works, he discerns the detailed ways in which a text constructs a voice and, in the process, a self. More importantly, Ruf demonstrates that this process is a religious one, fulfilling the function that religions traditionally assume: that of defining the self and its world.

Contents:

Introduction: Hearing Voices 3

Chapter 1. The Voices of Narrative, Lyric, and Drama 11

The Three Characteristics of Narrative 15

Lyric 19

Drama 21

Chapter 2. "Jogona's Great Treasure": Narrative, Lyric, and Dramatic Intelligibility 25

Intelligibility: Comprehensiveness and Cohesion 29

Chapter 3. "Intoxicated with Intimacy": The Lyric Voice in John Donne's Holy Sonnets 37

Unruly Autobiography 39

Donne's Holy Sonnets 41

Donne's Lyric Self 42

The Lyric Voice 48

Chapter 4. "The Circle of Chalk": Narrative Voice in Primo Levi's The Periodic Table 51

The Periodic Table 53

The Aspiration to Narrative 54

Narrative Instability 58

"The Rich and Messy Domain" 62

Chapter 5. "Survival and Distance": The Dramatic Voice in Robert Wilson's Einstein on the Beach 63

Einstein on the Beach 66

Dramatic Voice in Einstein 67

The Dramatic Voice and Religion 71

The Dramatic Self 75

Chapter 6. "Harmonized Chaos": The Mixed Voice of Coleridge's Biographia Literaria 77

The Biographia Literaria 80

The Form of the Biographia 81

Dissociation, Fragmentation, and Incoherence 85

Harmony and Unity 86

Ramifications: The "Mixed" Self 89

Chapter 7. Conclusion: Genre and Instability 93.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 103-120) and index.

ISBN:

0195102630

OCLC:

35620299