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36 A GUIDE FOR DISCUSSION Readers expecting to attend the Conference on English Fiction in Transition in Chicago might consider questions such as the following in connection with the two Conference papers printed on the preceding pages. These questions are intended only to suggest some problems which might be considered in the discussions following the presentation of the two papers. 1. If more artist-novels were published in the 40 years between 1880 and 1920 than in the preceding 100 years or the succeeding 40 years, then the artistnovel appears to be a particular feature of the EFT period. Why? What, specifically, distinguishes the 1880-1920 type of this genre from the earlier or later versions? 2. Some critics use the terms alienation, detachment, disengagement, estrangement, and isolation interchangeably, Can some more exact definitions be made and illustrated by reference to specific works? Do these terms apply more precisely to the artist-novels of 1880-1920 than to earlier novels of this type? Which of these terms apply more precisely to the artist-novel after 1920? 3. Do the following types of alienation or estrangement define valid distinctions: Bohemian life, isolation, exile, and suicide? 4. Between 1880 and about 1920 what is the relationship of the genres Burgerroman and Künstlerroman? Is the conflict between the Burger and the Kunst 1er element more pronounced, more dramatic, and more profound in the artist-novel dir ing the EFT period? Is the dramatic conflict between these two elements more often evaded in the earlier and later artist-novels? 5. Are there any other major categories of alienation or estrangement novel between 1880 and 1920 than those which have an artist as protagonist? 6. Division of self had been a literary device in novels before 1880, even in the gothic novel. Is this device particularly useful in the artist-novel? How might one distinguish between Butler's use of this device and, say, Dickens' use of it in GREAT EXPECTATIONS, or Joyce's in ULYSSES, or Dostoevsky's in CRIME AND PUNISHMENT? &. What are the implications of the divided self for the study of biography? 8. What problems are raised for the artist and for the critic in the writing and the reading of "autobiographical" fiction? ...

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