The Kindly Ones and the “Scorched Earth” Principle

Leona Toker*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

A Joycean notion borrowed from military history, the 3scorched-earth´ principle entails exploring specific narrative strategies or themes to the fullest, as if to exhaust them as artistic or ideological resources. The Kindly Ones seems to seek a maximal, sequel-preempting development of the theme of a Nazi perpetrator who represents himself as a victim. This paper discusses the enhancement of motifs and narrative strategies (such as the unreliable narrator, reader-entrapment, and allusion as a principle of plot-construction) at the service of this agenda, while underlining corresponding motifs and techniques in Flaubert, Joyce, Hemingway, Pasternak, and Nabokov. Of course, scorched earth cannot be expected to lie fallow for long.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationFaux Titre
PublisherBrill Academic Publishers
Pages153-163
Number of pages11
DOIs
StatePublished - 2012

Publication series

NameFaux Titre
Volume381
ISSN (Print)0167-9392

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2012 Brill. All rights reserved.

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