1. Studying the night watch
ENG10003 Literary Analysis
The Night Watch - 1
Studying the night watch
Dr Jamie Bernthal

2. Sarah waters Born in Wales in 1966 PhD in English Literature (London)
Tipping the Velvet (1998) – controversial
Credited with creating the ‘lesbian Victorian romp’ genre (Jordan 2006)
Is this fair?
The Night Watch published in 2005

3. Structure of the novel ‘Double chronology’ (Sarah Chatman)
Part One – Part Two – Part Three
Kay: ‘Sometimes I go in [to the cinema] half-way through and watch the second half first. I almost prefer [films] that way – people’s pasts, you know, being so much more interesting than their futures’ (Waters, 2006, pp )
‘Double chronology’ (Sarah Chatman)
‘Analepsis’ and ‘Prolepsis’ (Gerard Genette)
See also:
Time’s Arrow by Martin Amis
Betrayal by Harold Pinter

4. bibliography
Gerard Genette, Narrative Discousrse (1979), Cornell University Press
Justine Jordan (4 Feb 2006), ‘Through the Bomb-Site, Backwards’, The Guardian, accessed online: rahwaters
Sarah Waters (2005/2006), The Night Watch, London: Virago

5. Julia Standing

6. Introducing Julia Standing
Enigmatic
Confident
Successful crime writer
Unreal to Helen?
Possible influences

7. Julia’s Characterisation
1947
Introduced as a voice on the phone (pp )
Connected with secrecy (p. 116)
Helen’s jealousy
1944
In control or very lonely?
1941
‘A grand person’, unnamed (p. 501)

8. Images and Themes
Cigarettes
Secrets
Love Triangles

9. Conclusion We never know Julia The war never ends for Julia
She belongs in the past