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ABSTRACT Title of Document: BRITISH MODERNIST ... - DRUM

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afflement toward a scene that has been fully narrated (as opposed to the Jamesian<br />

habit <strong>of</strong> simple omission)—is related to a fourth: a fixed, rather than indeterminate, as<br />

is common in James, ambiguity <strong>of</strong> reference in the final deictic pronoun. “This” may<br />

refer to the news placard, which <strong>of</strong>fers no clue to Frobisher’s actions or the public<br />

response, or to the man’s own mind. Here again, Heppenstall emphasizes a key<br />

apparent break from the Jamesian modernist tradition: the investigation <strong>of</strong> the mind is<br />

not an opportunity for rich discovery and narrative redirection, but is instead an<br />

empty cul-de-sac, resulting in an absence <strong>of</strong> revelation and a narrative stasis.<br />

The man is next confronted with a stereotypical Negro other who initially<br />

seems to <strong>of</strong>fer some sense <strong>of</strong> wholeness to the fractured Frobisher, the Negro soon<br />

proves not to conform to stereotype:<br />

Coming towards him now was a tall, thin negro, flat-footed, with<br />

hands swinging loose, a big, curly-brimmed hat on the side <strong>of</strong> his<br />

head. The negro, too, was reassuring, being totally alien and remote.<br />

My man smiled at the negro and spoke.<br />

He said:<br />

‘Is this Soho?’<br />

‘Yeah, sure.’<br />

The negro said it like any English boy who has been to<br />

American films. The voice was not like any <strong>of</strong> the voices that negroes<br />

are supposed to have. That made the man I was following smile all the<br />

more. (76-77)<br />

200

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