In this Book

summary
Ross Chambers shifs the emphasis to precisely the play of authority and mastery by focusing on the narrative situation or the “point” of telling a story in given context.  He studies the relation between teller and listener in a set of French, English, and American short stories from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and detects in that relationship the key to the power of fiction.  In each of these stories, the author identifies the narrative situation by recourse to the metaphor of seduction, a phenomenon Chambers finds characteristic of literary production in the modern period.

“Story and Situation is a powerful work of criticism, the best work in short narrative I know, and will redirect critics’ attention to a form which has always engaged readers but has recently been neglected by literary theorists. . . . It is clear, assured, and intelligently paced.”-Jonathan Culler, Cornell University

Table of Contents

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  1. Cover
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  1. Title Page, About the Series, Copyright, Dedication
  2. pp. i-vi
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  1. Contents
  2. p. vii
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  1. Acknowledgments
  2. p. ix
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  1. Foreword. After the Storyteller...
  2. Wlad Godzich
  3. pp. xi-xxii
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  1. 1. Story and Situation
  2. pp. 3-17
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  1. 2. Self-Situation and Readability
  2. pp. 18-49
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  1. 3. Narratorial Authority and "The Purloined Letter"
  2. pp. 50-72
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  1. 4. Seduction Denied: "Sarrasine" and the Impact of Art
  2. pp. 73-96
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  1. 5. Seduction Renounced: "Sylvie" as Narrative Act
  2. pp. 97-122
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  1. 6. An Invitation to Love: Simplicity of Heart and Textual Duplicity in "Un Cœur Simple"
  2. pp. 123-150
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  1. 7. Not for the Vulgar? The Question of Readership in "The Figure in the Carpet"
  2. pp. 151-180
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  1. 8. Gabriel Conroy Sings for His Supper, or Love Refused ("The Dead")
  2. pp. 181-204
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  1. 9. Authority and Seduction: The Power of Fiction
  2. pp. 205-223
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  1. Appendix A: Saki, "The Open Window"
  2. pp. 227-230
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  1. Appendix B: Marcel Schwob, "Les Sans-Gueule"
  2. pp. 231-235
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  1. Bibliography
  2. pp. 239-245
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  1. Index
  2. pp. 249-255
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  1. About the Author
  2. p. 257
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