Unlived Lives in English Literature: A Typological Study

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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'. Cover Title Imprint Acknowledgements Contents I Introduction II Towards a Definition of “Unlived Life” 1 The Figurative Understanding 2 The Literal Understanding 2.1 Counterfactuality 2.1.1 Counterfactuality and Fiction 2.1.2 Counterfactual Fictional Worlds 2.1.3 Counterfactual Thought Experiments in the Fictional World 2.2 Counterfactual Unlived Lives 2.2.1 Untimely Deaths and Alternate Biographies 2.2.2 Multiple Unrealised Possibilities 2.2.3 A Particular Unrealised Possibility in the Past 2.2.3.1 A Counterfactual Course of Events 2.2.3.2 A Retrospective Focus 2.2.3.3 A Sustained Focus and Involvement of the Character 2.2.3.4 A Definition of “Unlived Life” III A Typology of the Unlived Life 1 The Unlived Life: Some Preliminary Distinctions 1.1 The Direction: Upward and Downward Counterfactuals 1.2 The Antecedent: Personal and External Responsibility 1.3 Trigger Mechanisms: Visits and Other Issues 1.4 The Consequent: Behavioural and Characterological Counterfactuals 1.5 The Consequent: Love Relationships and Other Issues 1.6 Feasibility: Lives (Not) Irrevocably Lost 1.7 Feasibility: Realistic Options and Retrospective Pipe Dreams 2 Responses to the Unlived Life 2.1 Emotional Responses 2.2 Internal and External Effects 2.3 Development and Stagnation 2.4 Degrees of Awareness 2.5 Degrees of (Self-)Control 3 Representing the Unlived Life 3.1 The Unlived Life – A Motif? 3.2 Explicit and Implicit Techniques 3.2.1 Implicit Techniques 3.2.1.1 Metonymic Memory 3.2.1.2 Excessive Repetition 3.2.1.3 Foil Characters 3.2.1.4 Duality or Division of Personality 3.2.1.5 Projection 3.2.1.6 Symbolic Analogue 3.2.1.7 Contrastive Juxtaposition 3.2.1.8 Cross-References 3.3 Treatment of Time in Unlived-Life Narratives 3.4 Narrator and Point of View in Unlived-Life Narratives 4 From Typology to Selected Readings: Historical Tendencies IV Selected Readings 1 Classic Cases 1.1 Henry James, “The Diary of a Man of Fifty” (1879) 1.1.1 Introduction: Unlived Lives in Henry James 1.1.2 The Diarist’s Counterfactual Contemplations 1.1.3 The Diarist’s Self-Delusion and Learning Process 1.1.4 Conclusion 1.2 Samuel Beckett, ‚Krapp’s Last Tape‘ (1958) 1.2.1 Introduction 1.2.2 Krapp: Weary, Lonely, and Disappointed 1.2.3 ‚Krapp’s Last Tape‘ as Monodrama 1.2.4 An Open and Yet Static Ending 1.2.5 Conclusion 2 Classic Cases Reversed 2.1 Vita Sackville-West, ‚All Passion Spent‘ (1931) 2.1.1 Introduction 2.1.2 The Antecedent: The Marriage Proposal 2.1.3 Lady Slane’s Actual Marriage and Counterfactual Career 2.1.4 Lady Slane’s Late Rebellion 2.1.5 Conclusion 2.2 Alice Munro, “Carried Away” (1994) 2.2.1 Introduction: Unlived Lives in Alice Munro 2.2.2 Before the Antecedent: An Exchange of Love Letters 2.2.3 The Antecedent: Personal or External Responsibility? 2.2.4 After the Antecedent: Louisa’s Emotional Involvement 2.2.5 Unresolved Mysteries 2.2.6 The Treatment of Time: Going Back to the Past 2.2.7 Conclusion 3 Uncertainty and the Unlived Life 3.1 Virginia Woolf, ‚Mrs Dalloway‘ (1925) 3.1.1 Introduction 3.1.2 Clarissa’s Unlived Life with Peter 3.1.3 Peter’s Unlived Life with Clarissa 3.1.4 Connectedness and “Moments of Being” 3.1.5 Conclusion 3.1.6 Postscript: Michael Cunningham, ,The Hours’ (1998) 3.2 Henry James, “The Jolly Corner” (1908) 3.2.1 Introduction 3.2.2 Brydon’s Actual and Counterfactual Life 3.2.3 The Apparition: Its Nature and Meaning 3.2.4 A Happy and Yet Ambiguous Ending 3.2.5 Conclusion 4 A Self-Reflexive Case 4.1 Alice Munro, “Dolly” (2012) 4.1.1 Introduction 4.1.2 Franklin and Gwen’s Unrealised Relationship 4.1.3 A Playful Treatment of the Motif: The Final Twist 4.1.4 Conclusion V Conclusion Appendix 1 A List of Unlived Lives in English Literature Appendix 2 Nostalgia and the Unlived Life Works Cited INDEX Backcover