Eng 268 Ba thesis Todorov Flashcards
What does Todorov mean by duality in the whodunit?
That there are two stories in the a whodunit. The story of the crime and the story of the investigation.
What happens in the first story -the story of the crime? and in the story of the investigation?
The story of the crime tells ‘what really
happened,’ whereas … the story of the
investigation explains ‘how the reader
(or the narrator) has come to know
about it.’
What happens in the second story, the story of the investigation?
In the story of the investigation, they do not act, they learn. The detective is immune, and we examine clue after clue in a story that has a circular structure.
Give example of a geometeric structrured book
murder on orient express: 12 suspects, 12 chapters, 12 interogations, a prologue and epilogue which is the discovery of the crime and the the discovery of the killer.
Is the second story told by a friend of the detective?
Yes, because he is “writing a book” and explains how it came to be written.
Does the first story ignore the book compleately?
Yes, because no author can permit himself to indicate directlly the imaginary character of the story as it happens in literature.
What does the first story tell? The story of the crime
what really happend
What did the russians formalists isolate ?
The fable (story) from the subject (plot) of a narrative. The story is what happened in life , the plot is the way the author presents it to us.
what does the second story tell? The story of the investigation
Explains how the reader or how the narrator came to know about it.
what happens with time in the story?
No inversion in time, actions follow their natural order
Can the author present the results in the plot?
Yes, The author can present the results before their causes. The end before the beginning.
What does Todorov mean by thee story of the crime is absent but real? And the story of the investigation is present but insignificant?
The story of the crime is not talked about or explained, therefore it is absent but real.
The story of the investigation is talked about and explained, but insignificant as the murder is more important.
The second story contains things that are aspects of the narrative, what are these and what should be done about them?
Literary devices which are in fact the plot aspects of the narrative, that the author cannot leave them unexplained.
In the second story, theese devices are ?
Justified and naturalised, to give them the natural quality he must explain that he is writing a book.
What is a thriller according to Todorov?
A type of detective fiction that fuses he story of the crime with the story of the investigation, in other words, supresses the first and vitalises the second.We are no longer told about a crime anterior to the moment of the narrative: the narrative coincides with the action.