Narrative spaces and their function/meaning : The Chapel in “Nightwood” by Djuna Barnes
Project description
The point of the paper is to discuss the narrative space of the Chapel in the book “Nightwood” by Djuna Barnes.
The teacher did not print out a rubric for this paper, although i did attach the syllabus for quick instructions. So I am going to explain what points the teacher made about the paper in general, and in specific regarding this topic, what we talked about in class . I am also going to type in my other notes on the topic, so you know where our disucssions went in class. I want the paper to be based off the notes and main points i’m giving you, because I know that is what she is looking for.
PAPER FORMATTING ETC
1. Must meet length requirement
2. MLA
3. Academic intro – contextualize , and state aims and focus
4. make you claims in the present tense
5. Maintain a rhetorical aspect
6. Good transitions
7. Avoid skimpy paragraphs, avoid sprawling
8. USE a vocabulary
9. avoid simple binaries
10. Do not over quote
11. Sharp Conclusion- off another view to the argument
12. support your claims- contextualize evidence
13. Use formal diction – No cloakialism, contractions, or using “you”
PAPER TOPIC
discuss the narrative space of the chapel and its meaning/function
Below are CONCEPTS that need to be discussed::
The anonymity- Robins disappearing acts, and how she isn’t there as a person. She forgets who she is and goes down in to the anonymous primitive self. which is a great release. There is this anonymous co-mingling of robin and the dog inside the church.
The Animality — Robin fighting with the dog, while the dog is acting like a human, the human is acting like a dog. and instinctually finding her way back to Nora. Robin is a metaphor for an untamed wild thing, robin being primitive self
The fluid self – how the identity of oneself, is a process always changing . Oneself is always “under construction”
carnivalesque – Going down on all four, There is this movement of pulling down throughout the entire book. That sense of degradation of pulling down to materiality, where only basic instincts exist. There is a rehearsing of a falling arch throughout the book
Other notes TO BE USED>
The chapel looses some of its meaning, but there is a weathered reunion. Barnes hijacks the idea of a chapel but doesn’t circumvent its representation completely. Everything is a degraded version of itself. But its not totally destroyed.
The chapel is not being used, and looses some of its scaredness like robin and nora’s relationship.
There is also the fact that while in this church , robin, who is a cipher, and an embodiment of desire, is on all fours acting like a dog.
There is also an aspect of literary voyeurism in the church . ( someone who gets off to watching others get off) – We are watching Nora who is watching Robin .