For a novel to exist you need a writer…but you also need a reader. Brave New World Lesson 2 AUTHOR AND READER For a novel to exist you need a writer…but you also need a reader. When the author writes a book s/he has in mind a reader: the implied reader. The implied reader is the reader that shares a set of values and assumptions with the writer.

AUTHOR -------------------IMPLIED READER Brave New World Lesson 2 AUTHOR -------------------IMPLIED READER IMPLIED READER-------ACTUAL READER Implied and actual reader are like past and present: the first one goes back to the time the book was written, the second one comes to life each moment the book is read.

Brave New World Lesson 2 From a strictly logical point of view, it follows that each time we read a book again, it is always a different book because we are different in time. This is not entirely false: think, for instance, at music. You liked a song three years ago that now you find awful, as though it’s a different song. In practical terms, however, enough of that book remains the same for you to know that you are re-reading the same book.

The implied reader of BNW is: Brave New World Lesson 2 The implied reader of BNW is: a)a male; b)white; c)European; d)English;e)upper class; d)good cultural background; f)updatd about science; g)tolerant about drugs; g)possibly agnostic.

WORK-IMPLIED READER- ACTUAL READER-WORK Brave New World Lesson 2 WORK-IMPLIED READER- ACTUAL READER-WORK There’s a complex negotiation going on: the work tend to create its own implied reader by manipulating her/his mind. The implied reader tend to rewrite mentally the work to suit her/his own experience and beliefs.

Brave New World Lesson 2 Utopia as a hibryd literary genre, partly adventure novel, partly political essay, partly travel literature. It lacks the richness and the involvement of the novel, the solidity and compliteness of the essay and the realism of travel literature. Yet it is very successful genre – think of Gulliver’s Travel, or 1984, or Farehneit 451.

UTOPIAN LITERATURE= ADVENTURE NOVEL+ POLITICAL ESSAY+ Brave New World Lesson 2 UTOPIAN LITERATURE= ADVENTURE NOVEL+ POLITICAL ESSAY+ TRAVEL LITERATURE

Thus in an utopian novel we find: Brave New World Lesson 2 Thus in an utopian novel we find: a thesis to prove and an interest in life and society; a successful adventure (the hero must be able to come back); an unknown reality and a presenter.

One major problem of utopian literature is that it might be boring. Brave New World Lesson 2 One major problem of utopian literature is that it might be boring. That happens when the first of its three components – the adventure novel – is not given enough weight.

NARRATION = EXCEPTION What is narration? Brave New World Lesson 2 What is narration? NARRATION = EXCEPTION The prerequisite for a story is that we are outside normality. A should marry B but loves C: that’s the beginning of narration. And the conclusion? A marries B

DEVELOPMENT NORMALITY EXCEPTION Brave New World Lesson 2 DEVELOPMENT NORMALITY EXCEPTION

Brave New World Lesson 2 Utopia tends to have a fixed situation and a mobile frame made of a traveller that goes to Utopia and falls in love with a girl. Four phases: 1)Here in time and space; 2)there in time and space; 3)life in Utopia; 4)back to us. Dystopia tends to concentrate on the third phase and to be a fight of one against all: the protagonist is more than a person, a super human being.

Brave New World Lesson 2 IN BOTH CASES THE TEXT RUNS THE RISK OF BEING BORING. WHETHER LIFE IS PERFECT OR A NIGHTMARE, WE HAVE A NORM WE CANNOT ESCAPE FROM AND THUS THERE’S NO ROOM FOR NARRATION

TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM, THE WRITER HAS TWO MEANS: Brave New World Lesson 2 TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM, THE WRITER HAS TWO MEANS: LOVE; TRAVEL. THEN HE CAN EMPLOY SOME TECHNICAL TRICKS LIKE HE DOES AT THE BEGINNING OF BNW

HUXLEY starts in the middle of things; He has a presenter; Brave New World Lesson 2 A reversal of roles: action & description; HUXLEY starts in the middle of things; He has a presenter; The description is told as a dialogue.