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

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

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adapts a total <strong>of</strong> eleven functions; out <strong>of</strong> these eleven, six (marked by a star) are<br />

mandatory for the completion <strong>of</strong> a narrative sequence, while the middle seven are<br />

undertaking by a single character, the C-actant:<br />

*A (or a) disruptive event (or reevaluation <strong>of</strong> a situation)<br />

B request that someone alleviate A (or a)<br />

*C decision by C-actant to attempt to alleviate A (or a)<br />

*C’ C-actant’s initial act to alleviate A (or a)<br />

D C-actant is tested<br />

E C-actant responds to test<br />

F C-actant acquires empowerment<br />

G C-actant arrives at the place, or time, for H<br />

*H C-actant’s primary action to alleviate A (or a)<br />

*I (or I neg ) success (or failure) <strong>of</strong> H<br />

*K equilibrium<br />

(Kafalenos 119-120)<br />

In Kafalenos’s reading <strong>of</strong> The Ambassadors, the reader is forced to constantly reevaluate<br />

the functions <strong>of</strong> the narrative, as the primary narrative sequence evolves<br />

from one involving external action (the rescue <strong>of</strong> Chad Newsome) to one concerned<br />

with Strether’s personal growth. What emerges is a narrative that is modernist in at<br />

least two senses: it is incomplete (that is, we do not reach function K, but stop at<br />

function F), and it is inwardly focused. The result is a set <strong>of</strong> narrative actions that are<br />

“resonant in psychic impressions but utterly ineffectual in altering the external world”<br />

and thus “characteristic responses <strong>of</strong> modern man’s ironic reflections on his own<br />

84

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