FINDING THE SADNESS IN LITERATURE (COMMENT). The analytical approach that was applied to comics in yesterday’s post can be applied to almost any novel or play. The technique consists of positing that the protagonist is the only real character, that all the other characters are figments of his or her imagination, and that the protagonist’s imagining is an effort to deal with overwhelming misery. The approach is akin to one that treats the action of the novel as a dream, but it is the protagonist who is dreaming. Parts of DON QUIXOTE and ULYSSES, with explicit dream sequences, are apt subjects for this kind of theorizing. Think of applying it to JANE EYRE, with Mr. Rochester being imagined by an unhappy Jane, or PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, with Mr. Darcy being a dream lover imagined by an Elizabeth Bennett who is isolated with an intolerable mother and no marriage prospects. I tried out the last two examples on Mary Jane, and she didn’t like them.
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