Digressions in European Literature : From Cervantes to Sebald

With studies of, amongst others, Miguel de Cervantes, Anton Chekhov, Charles Baudelaire and Henry James, this landmark collection of essays is a unique and wide-ranging exploration and celebration of the many forms of digression in major works by fifteen of the finest European writers from the early modern period to the present day. This landmark collection of fifteen essays by a group of leading scholars is an original and wide-ranging exploration of digression in major works by fifteen of the finest European writers from the early modern period to the present day, with an emphasis on the twentieth century. Studies of works by Miguel de Cervantes, Laurence Sterne, Charles Dickens, Charles Baudelaire, Henry James, Anton Chekhov, Andre Gide, Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf, Robert Walser, Flann O'Brien, Samuel Beckett, Italo Calvino, Javier Marias and W.G. Sebald celebrate the variety of forms of digression and show it to be more than just a traditionally neglected rhetorical figure or literary technique: digression emerges as a way of making the most of the potential of the freeedom that narratives and the novel form can offer and of contemplating a world in which, as Henry James said, 'really, universally, relations stop nowhere' This Landmark Collection Of Fifteen Essays By A Group Of Leading Scholars Is An Original And Wide-ranging Exploration Of Digression In Major Works By Fifteen Of The Finest European Writers From The Early Modern Period To The Present Day, With An Emphasis On The Twentieth Century. Studies Of Works By Miguel De Cervantes, Laurence Sterne, Charles Dickens, Charles Baudelaire, Henry James, Anton Chekhov, Andř Gide, Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf, Robert Walser, Flann O'brien, Samuel Beckett, Italo Calvino, Javier Mar̕as And W.g. Sebald Celebrate The Variety Of Forms Of Digression And Show It To Be More Than Just A Traditionally Neglected Rhetorical Figure Or Literary Technique: Digression Emerges As A Way Of Making The Most Of The Potential Of The Freeedom That Narratives And The Novel Form Can Offer And Of Contemplating A World In Which, As Henry James Said, 'really, Universally, Relations Stop Nowhere'. Introduction -- The Twists And Turns Of Life: Cervantes's Trials Of Persiles And Sigismunda / Jeremy Robbins -- Digressive And Progressive Movements: Sympathy And Sexuality In Tristram Shandy; Or, Plain Tales / Judith Hawley -- Little Dorrit: Dickens, Circumlocution, Unconscious Thought / Jeremy Tambling -- Concerning Metaphor, Digression And Rhyme (fetish Aesthetics And The Walking Poem) / Ross Chambers -- Henry James, In Parenthesis / Ian F. A. Bell -- A Slice Of Watermelon: The Rhetoric Of Digression In Chekhov's The Lady With The Dog / Peter J. Rabinowitz And Corinne Bancroft -- Let's Forget All I Have Just Said: Diversions And Digressions In Gidean Narratives / David Walker -- Errant Eyes: Digression, Metaphor And Desire In Marcel Proust's In Search Of Lost Time / Margaret Topping -- Virginia Woolf And Digression: Adventures In Consciousness / Laura Marcus -- Stealing The Story: Robert Walser's Robber-novel / Samuel Frederick -- Negotiating Tradition: Flann O'brien's Tales Of Digression And Subversion / Flore Coulouma -- 'going On': Digression And Consciousness In The Beckett Trilogy / Edmund J. Smyth -- Straight Line Or Aimless Wandering? Italo Calvino's Way To Digression / Olivia Santovetti -- Roving With A Compass: Digression, The Novel And The Creative Imagination In Javier Marías / Alexis Grohmann -- The Sense Of Sebald's Endings-- And Beginnings / J. J. Long. Edited By Alexis Grohmann And Caragh Wells.a Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 8 Foreword......Page 10 Acknowledgements......Page 12 Notes on Contributors......Page 13 Introduction......Page 16 1 The Twists and Turns of Life: Cervantes's Trials of Persiles and Sigismunda......Page 24 2 Digressive and Progressive Movements: Sympathy and Sexuality in Tristram Shandy; or, Plain Stories......Page 36 3 Little Dorrit: Dickens, Circumlocution, Unconscious Thought......Page 51 4 Concerning Metaphor, Digression and Rhyme (Fetish Aesthetics and the Walking Poem)......Page 64 5 Henry James, in Parenthesis......Page 79 6 A Slice of Watermelon: The Rhetoric of Digression in Chekhov's 'The Lady with the Dog'......Page 97 7 'Let's Forget All I Have Just Said': Diversions and Digressions in Gidean Narratives......Page 109 8 Errant Eyes: Digression, Metaphor and Desire in Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time......Page 121 9 Virginia Woolf and Digression: Adventures in Consciousness......Page 133 10 Stealing the Story: Robert Walser's Robber-Novel......Page 145 11 Negotiating Tradition: Flann O'Brien's Tales of Digression and Subversion......Page 158 12 'Going On': Digression and Consciousness in The Beckett Trilogy......Page 171 13 Straight Line or Aimless Wandering? Italo Calvino's Way to Digression......Page 184 14 Roving with a Compass: Digression, the Novel and the Creative Imagination in Javier Marías......Page 196 15 The Sense of Sebald's Endings ... and Beginnings......Page 208 Index......Page 220