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Leonard Hastings Schoff Lectures
Plots (Leonard Hastings Schoff Lectures) by Robert L. Belknap
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Published January 1, 1784
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 4, 2016
A little dry, and the foreword killed me. BUT I learned some interesting things (including some new words!). However, I think some of this wouldn't have been surprising or new for someone who had perhaps studied English and/or literature in college.
Mostly this helped me place some of the things I had noticed about what made a plot but didn't necessarily have a name for.
Mostly this helped me place some of the things I had noticed about what made a plot but didn't necessarily have a name for.
August 3, 2016
You may never look at a story the same way again after reading Robert Belknap’s incisively clear and illuminating book, titled simply, Plots. In her very helpful Introduction, Robin Feuer Miller calls Belknap’s achievement “a magnum opus that is particular, profound, original, and short.” I absolutely agree. The first part of the book presents the fundamental dynamic that authors use to create plots: the active arrangement (and re-arrangement) of incidents in the story world to make a narrative for the reader. Belknap’s explanation of the varieties of ways incidents can be linked is indeed particular and profound. The second part of the book analyzes two test cases, Shakespeare’s King Lear and Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. As a Slavic languages expert and scholar of Dostoevsky, Belknap is especially at home writing about the distinctive tools Dostoevsky uses in his novels, but he has insights to offer on numerous authors and genres.
The key tool he will use to do this are the distinction between the fabula and siuzhet. These are Russian words drawn from Russian formalism, an approach to story structure put forward by Vladimir Propp in his 1928 book Morphology of the folktale and also by Viktor Shklovsky. But we don’t need to go back to these sources to figure out this pair of concepts; just read Belknap’s title for his Chapter 3:
"The Fabula Arranges the Events in the World the Characters Inhabit; the Siuzhet Arranges the Events in the World the Reader Encounters in the Text."
In other words, the fabula is the “true” arrangement of incidents in the story world as they “happened” to the characters. The siuzhet arranges these incidents to present to readers in the readers’ world. In short fairy tales, these two arrangements usually track each other quite closely. But longer stories often employ big discrepancies between them. Flashbacks or other devices for telling events out of chronological order are familiar ways in which the siuzhet can diverge from the fabula to create the readers’ experience.
Belknap points out that both the fabula and the siuzhet are arrangements of incidents fabricated in the creation of a work of fiction and, furthermore, they are closely interdependent. How do we as readers discover the fabula, the true order of events? Only by the narration, in whatever order the author chooses to reveal its incidents. Conversely, there can be no narration unless we presume an underlying chronology of events in the fictional world. The narration is only “out of order” with respect to it.
Manipulating incidents in narration then becomes the whole work of storytelling, something that modern narrative technique sometimes takes to new heights of bizarreness in the effort to find original ways of splitting and dissecting that bond between fabula and siuzhet. The fabula is inherently mimetic, a representation of our four-dimensional world (three dimensions of space, one dimension of time), whereas the siuzhet is rhetorical, one-dimensional or linear in the sense that, in the telling, incidents are fed to the reader one at a time (unless she flips back and forth!)–“shaped to make the reader share and participate in the action of the text.” Belknap notes that detective stories achieve suspense when the fabula outpaces the siuzhet, leaving the reader in ignorance about “who-done-it” until the end when the siuzhet catches up, so to speak, in a revelatory scene. Dramatic irony occurs, he says, “when the siuzhet outpaces the fabula and characters living within the fabula act in ignorance of some fact in their world that the audience already knows.” These are the times that you want to shout at the characters to tell them what is really going on! Shakespeare used dramatic irony very effectively in his plays. We wish we could tell Romeo that Juliet is not really dead, as she appears, and thereby stop his hasty suicide. We wish we could disabuse Othello of Iago’s cruel deception and save Desdemona.
Belknap argues that, although much narrative theory has gravitated toward its uses in characterization, narrative manipulation of plot (siuzhet) can be just as fundamental for achieving the goals of a novel, including characterization. He will return to this theme in his analysis of Crime and Punishment and the character of Raskolnikov.
Before he gets there, he offers many more examples of how all this works in practice. He asserts that there are only a small set of ways that one incident can be related to another: chronologically, spatially, causally, associatively, or narratively. These apply somewhat differently in the siuzhet and in the fabula. Belknap carefully explains the many possible variations and their ramifications.
The remarkable thing he finds about Crime and Punishment is the skill with which Dostoevsky uses the plotting technique of picaresque–one thing after another in a string of tightly focused adventures–to draw the reader into Raskolnikov’s world and his mind. Belknap says that the first part of the book is like a self-contained novella called “Crime” with a very long sequel called “Punishment.” But our involvement in this long sequel–the protracted journey of guilt and confession–very much depends on the narrative strength of the opening novella.
This book will surely be a classic for critics and writers to mull over, argue about, and study for clues to the mysteries of plotting a story. It packs so many insights into a small, beautifully written text, which I highly recommend! It should be of great interest to anyone who loves literature and is looking for those “a-ha” moments when the art of writing comes into clearer focus.
For my full review, in which I discuss many of Belknap's literary examples, visit The Fictional 100.
The key tool he will use to do this are the distinction between the fabula and siuzhet. These are Russian words drawn from Russian formalism, an approach to story structure put forward by Vladimir Propp in his 1928 book Morphology of the folktale and also by Viktor Shklovsky. But we don’t need to go back to these sources to figure out this pair of concepts; just read Belknap’s title for his Chapter 3:
"The Fabula Arranges the Events in the World the Characters Inhabit; the Siuzhet Arranges the Events in the World the Reader Encounters in the Text."
In other words, the fabula is the “true” arrangement of incidents in the story world as they “happened” to the characters. The siuzhet arranges these incidents to present to readers in the readers’ world. In short fairy tales, these two arrangements usually track each other quite closely. But longer stories often employ big discrepancies between them. Flashbacks or other devices for telling events out of chronological order are familiar ways in which the siuzhet can diverge from the fabula to create the readers’ experience.
Belknap points out that both the fabula and the siuzhet are arrangements of incidents fabricated in the creation of a work of fiction and, furthermore, they are closely interdependent. How do we as readers discover the fabula, the true order of events? Only by the narration, in whatever order the author chooses to reveal its incidents. Conversely, there can be no narration unless we presume an underlying chronology of events in the fictional world. The narration is only “out of order” with respect to it.
Manipulating incidents in narration then becomes the whole work of storytelling, something that modern narrative technique sometimes takes to new heights of bizarreness in the effort to find original ways of splitting and dissecting that bond between fabula and siuzhet. The fabula is inherently mimetic, a representation of our four-dimensional world (three dimensions of space, one dimension of time), whereas the siuzhet is rhetorical, one-dimensional or linear in the sense that, in the telling, incidents are fed to the reader one at a time (unless she flips back and forth!)–“shaped to make the reader share and participate in the action of the text.” Belknap notes that detective stories achieve suspense when the fabula outpaces the siuzhet, leaving the reader in ignorance about “who-done-it” until the end when the siuzhet catches up, so to speak, in a revelatory scene. Dramatic irony occurs, he says, “when the siuzhet outpaces the fabula and characters living within the fabula act in ignorance of some fact in their world that the audience already knows.” These are the times that you want to shout at the characters to tell them what is really going on! Shakespeare used dramatic irony very effectively in his plays. We wish we could tell Romeo that Juliet is not really dead, as she appears, and thereby stop his hasty suicide. We wish we could disabuse Othello of Iago’s cruel deception and save Desdemona.
Belknap argues that, although much narrative theory has gravitated toward its uses in characterization, narrative manipulation of plot (siuzhet) can be just as fundamental for achieving the goals of a novel, including characterization. He will return to this theme in his analysis of Crime and Punishment and the character of Raskolnikov.
Before he gets there, he offers many more examples of how all this works in practice. He asserts that there are only a small set of ways that one incident can be related to another: chronologically, spatially, causally, associatively, or narratively. These apply somewhat differently in the siuzhet and in the fabula. Belknap carefully explains the many possible variations and their ramifications.
The remarkable thing he finds about Crime and Punishment is the skill with which Dostoevsky uses the plotting technique of picaresque–one thing after another in a string of tightly focused adventures–to draw the reader into Raskolnikov’s world and his mind. Belknap says that the first part of the book is like a self-contained novella called “Crime” with a very long sequel called “Punishment.” But our involvement in this long sequel–the protracted journey of guilt and confession–very much depends on the narrative strength of the opening novella.
This book will surely be a classic for critics and writers to mull over, argue about, and study for clues to the mysteries of plotting a story. It packs so many insights into a small, beautifully written text, which I highly recommend! It should be of great interest to anyone who loves literature and is looking for those “a-ha” moments when the art of writing comes into clearer focus.
For my full review, in which I discuss many of Belknap's literary examples, visit The Fictional 100.
April 7, 2018
I enjoyed the first half of this, having to do with the theory, but I found the second half, which applied the theory to Shakespeare and Dostoevsky, to be rather fragmented and difficult to follow.
May 11, 2016
How Plot Affects the Reader's Experience
In this short treatise, Belnap gives a cogent discussion of how the structure of a plot affects the reader's experience and how it relates to the period in which the work was created. To illustrate his thesis, the author used Shakespeare's King Lear and Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment.
In King Lear, Belnap discusses the use of characters and how scenes such as recognition scenes or reconciliation scenes affect the audience. I found the discussion fascinating. It made me think about how Shakespeare structures both scenes and characters to get the reaction he wants from the audience.
In Crime and Punishment, Belnap discusses how effectively Dostoevsky works with the psychological plot to draw the reader into the murder committed by Raskoinkov. His discussion highlighted for me how Dostoevsky uses thoughts and feelings to increase the tension leading up to the final act.
The treatise by Belnap is preceded by a long introduction by Robin Feuer Miller. Although the introduction is informative, I found Belnap's discussion easier to follow. I particularly enjoyed how he introduced other books and authors to illustrate the points he made primarily using Shakespeare and Dostoevsky.
I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys literature either writing or reading. It will enhance your understanding of how authors work to draw you into their fiction.
I received this book from Net Galley for this review.
In this short treatise, Belnap gives a cogent discussion of how the structure of a plot affects the reader's experience and how it relates to the period in which the work was created. To illustrate his thesis, the author used Shakespeare's King Lear and Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment.
In King Lear, Belnap discusses the use of characters and how scenes such as recognition scenes or reconciliation scenes affect the audience. I found the discussion fascinating. It made me think about how Shakespeare structures both scenes and characters to get the reaction he wants from the audience.
In Crime and Punishment, Belnap discusses how effectively Dostoevsky works with the psychological plot to draw the reader into the murder committed by Raskoinkov. His discussion highlighted for me how Dostoevsky uses thoughts and feelings to increase the tension leading up to the final act.
The treatise by Belnap is preceded by a long introduction by Robin Feuer Miller. Although the introduction is informative, I found Belnap's discussion easier to follow. I particularly enjoyed how he introduced other books and authors to illustrate the points he made primarily using Shakespeare and Dostoevsky.
I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys literature either writing or reading. It will enhance your understanding of how authors work to draw you into their fiction.
I received this book from Net Galley for this review.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews