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16
Introduction
TheHdramatic”andtheHtheatrical”areatfirstglancehighlycontro-
versialconceptsinthecontextofprosefiction.However,theHdramatic”
hasalonghistoryinnarrativetheorybecauseofitsassociationswith
theshowing(themimetic),traditionallyrelatedtodramasinceAristot-
le(Htheatre”comesfromtheGreekverbHtosee”whilstHdrama”comes
fromtheGreekHtodo”[Fortier2002:5;seeDavisandPostlewait,eds.
2013:2]).ManfredPfisterreferstoliteraryworkslikeHtheVictorian
fdramaticmonologue’ofTennysonandBrowningornovelswrittenin
dialogueform”[1988:6]asdramatic.Thediachronictheoryofnovel
alsoincludesscholarsandcriticswhoinbothexplicitandimplicitway
employedtheconceptofHdramaticnovel”intheirdiscussions.Thelist
includes,forexample,PercyLubbock,HenryJames,JosephConrad,
JohnW.Beach,PhyllisBentley,KazimierzWóycicki,and,toenumerate
morecontemporarytheorists,Chatman,Rimmon-KenanandFludernik.
Generallyspeaking,thisstudyseekstoinvestigatewhatPfistercalls
aHcertainsimilarity”betweennarrativeanddramatictexts,inwhich
theformerHreflects”andHapproximates”thelatter[Pfister1988:4].In
short,aconsiderableaccumulationofspecificnarrativedevices(imme-
diacy,present-ness,simultaneity,languageautonomy)affectsastory’s
semanticsandtransportsitfromthedomainofepictothedomainof
drama.Obviously,theHdramatic”inthecontextofprosefictiondoes
notmeanHatextfitfordramarealizationonstage”butpointstoamech-
anismsimulatingormimickingadramatext,mainlyintermsofform
andfunction.Thetermisthereforeametaphor.
Theatricality,whichmadeanextraordinarycareerinthetwentieth
century,isalsoametaphoricconceptintermsofnovel.AsThomasPos-
tlewaitandTracyC.DavisargueintheirHIntroduction”toacollection
ofessaysentitledTheatricality,HEveniflimitedtotheatre,its[theatri-
cality’s-B.L.]potentialmeaningsaredaunting”[DavisandPostlewait,
eds.2013:1].TheygoontoenumeratetheHpotentialmeanings:”perfor-
manceorsemioticcodesoftheatricalrepresentation;apracticeormode
ofrepresentation;interpretivemodelforanalysingpsychologicaliden-
tity,socialceremonies,communalfestivities,andpublicspectacles;an
aestheticandphilosophicalsystem[DavisandPostlewait,eds.2013:1].
Inthefieldofliterarytheory,however,andinthisstudy,thetheatricality
pertainstotheatretext,thatis,alivespectacle.Itthusincludesproper-
tiesofdramaticality,suchasimmediacy,present-ness,simultaneity,lan-
guageautonomy,butatthesametimereferstotheeventofanactualand
