Mantissa
Mantissa (English Mantissa ) is a novel by John Fowles from 1982; the German-language edition appeared in 1984.
action
The actual novel consists largely of a dialogue between the writer Myles Green and the muse Erato . This conversation takes place in an isolated hospital room, which is either a metaphor of the creative brain or is present in reality (of course in the artificial reality of the novel).
At the same time, the subject of an extremely erotic reading that Green would like to write also develops . He personally plays the main male character in his book, which has not yet been written, and lets Erato take on the roles of women, even if she is supposed to portray two female characters at once.
The idea of Green is this: A patient's amnesia should be treated with the latest treatment methods. The latter are really nothing more than sexual stimulation, which, according to neurologist Dr. Delphi are very important for recovery. This extremely unusual treatment is very advanced in the first chapter of the novel, but then Erato defies the will of the author. At the point that she no longer likes, she interrupts the action in order to be able to talk to Green about the further development of his work.
Thus, the reader is confronted with two parallel actions that determine the structure and style of the novel.
The place of the action
It is unclear whether the conversation takes place in the hospital room, in the head of the green, or in the artificial reality of the novel.
The answer to this question is left to the reader, or we are repeatedly given contradicting hints, in that the action that has almost led to an answer suddenly changes its course and everything that was considered safe before this change suddenly becomes insignificant , superficial or even stupid.
The narrator's perspective
Due to the intersecting levels of action, the question arises during the interpretation of who takes on the narrative role in the text. In addition to Fowles himself, this task is performed by Green, as in a classic er- narrative . The writer develops his concept and the reader can watch the process "live".
But Erato soon becomes a co-designer. She always starts to position herself as a co-writer (at least) and even tells her own fables . Thus, the question arises in the novel whether writers are really the driving figures in literature or whether they only have a technical role, whether they retain control over their novels, their meaning and their interpretation . So who is the actual narrator remains a point of contention.
Literary theory as the content of the novel (metaroman)
Indeed, a large part of the dialogues is devoted to the literary problems of the 20th century. B. the thesis about the death of the classical novel is brought up as well as the changes in reading strategies. The author's death is discussed in great detail, i.e. the influence of the reader on the interpretation of the novel and the power that the protagonists, story, new generations of readers and the new scientific approaches have over the writer.
This gave the English literary scholar David Lodge the opportunity to call Mantissa a metaromaniac, a book about the essence of literature and the way of writing books.
Novel structure
Man perceives two perspectives: the one that was devised by Green and that that was influenced by Erato.
The plot created by Green, if it could be completed, would consist of a series of erotic encounters in the hospital.
His amnesia could only be cured by medically necessary sexual stimulation, which according to neurologist Dr. Delphy would help him regain his memory. This unusual treatment is very advanced in the first chapter of the novel, but then Erato defies the author's will.
At a point that she no longer likes, she interrupts the action in order to be able to speak to the green.
This is how the second, more important plot of the novel begins - the conversation between the two protagonists . However, this conversation is interrupted by additional subject lines and by the brief return to the treatment.
The most important issues
The guideline of the heated discussion is: Erato is not satisfied with the way the writer tells the story and wants to advise him so that the future novel will be better. In this context, a wide range of topics is discussed - the aforementioned literary issues, gender relations, male arrogance, postmodernism in literature, etc. The Greek myths are reinterpreted, theories on personalities e.g. B. created by Homer and Shakespeare . The influence of Christianity on modern culture is also addressed. The variety of topics makes very special demands on the reader - it is clearly a novel for the intellectuals.
style
The novel is written in the form of a dialogue that is largely chaotic. The features of this book include unexpected turns of phrase. You can never predict what two or three paragraphs will be about.
There is an existential dispute between Green and Erato . You strive to achieve an intellectual victory over the interlocutor. There is a lot at stake: in the case of Green, it is about self-respect as a person and the future as a writer, even more - about his male dignity. Erato fights to be able to continue to exist as a muse, to keep control over literature, i.e. to exist as a goddess .
The tension is achieved by exchanging the arguments, which are very radical and absolutely incompatible, so the golden mean is excluded from the fowles in this case. The arguments themselves are very often subject-specific and require a basic knowledge of literature, culture and other areas if the reader wants to follow them.
So that the reader doesn't get tired and follows the story, the author introduces pauses during which Erato and Green suddenly make peace, pretend they have admitted defeat or make songs. This is for relaxation and a smooth transition to other issues.
A very important element of the novel is erotic . Almost two thirds of the book are the two protagonists naked. They argue for a long time, lying in bed in a position that is normally assumed just before sex . The naked bodies are described in detail by the Fowles . In some places the book becomes almost pornographic.
As the book progresses, the favor of victory changes constantly - an almost perfect defeat for Green turns out to be the beginning of his triumph and vice versa.
The text contains many technical terms from literary studies (some of which are even fictitious), mostly of Greek origin. This makes it difficult to read, but the fact that some terms are in reality irrelevant is known to the reader (through footnotes). Thus, the reader can understand the technical terms as metalinguistic and even ignore them.
In addition, since Green is a specialist in English literature , innumerable authors from Great Britain are named and cited who are very popular or important there, but seem to be less well known abroad.
The end of the novel is open. Many questions remain unanswered.
By and large, "Mantissa" is an intellectual novel. Reading is not that easy and requires goodwill and a keen interest in the sophisticated literature.
interpretation
The literary critic John Leonard put forward the slightly ironic thesis that the novel's unusual structure and demanding content were a kind of revenge on literary critics who had not interpreted the content and style of other works by Fowles to their satisfaction.
Individual evidence
- ^ German John Fowles Society (DJFG) - Fiction / Narrative Works. Retrieved February 19, 2019 .
- ↑ Dirk Frank: Narrative Mind Games: The metafictional novel between modernism and postmodernism . Springer-Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-3-322-90385-3 ( google.de [accessed on February 21, 2019]).
- ^ John Leonard: Books Of The Times. Retrieved February 14, 2019 .