Weird Beyond Description: Weird Fiction and the Suspicion of Scenery
This paper uses Algernon Blackwood's weird tale “The Willows” (1907) to argue that the genre of weird fiction is characterized by a disproportionate investment in descriptive modes of writing. The weird tale's fascination with description contravenes narratology and conventional reading pr...
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| Veröffentlicht in: | Victorian studies 2020-01, Vol.62 (2), p.244-252 |
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| creator | Miller, John MacNeill |
| description | This paper uses Algernon Blackwood's weird tale “The Willows” (1907) to argue that the genre of weird fiction is characterized by a disproportionate investment in descriptive modes of writing. The weird tale's fascination with description contravenes narratology and conventional reading practices alike, as both privilege narration over description. Tales such as “The Willows” insist that significant subjects and agents have been overlooked in anthropocentric modes of storytelling and that description itself has been instrumental in this oversight, as scene-setting and other descriptive modes effectively cast such subjects as static backgrounds to more important human affairs. By repeatedly dramatizing the discovery of subjects and agents hidden within apparently static descriptive passages, weird tales offer a critique of anthropocentric modes of storytelling and point the way toward a more ecological understanding of interconnection. |
| doi_str_mv | 10.2979/victorianstudies.62.2.12 |
| format | Article |
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The weird tale's fascination with description contravenes narratology and conventional reading practices alike, as both privilege narration over description. Tales such as “The Willows” insist that significant subjects and agents have been overlooked in anthropocentric modes of storytelling and that description itself has been instrumental in this oversight, as scene-setting and other descriptive modes effectively cast such subjects as static backgrounds to more important human affairs. By repeatedly dramatizing the discovery of subjects and agents hidden within apparently static descriptive passages, weird tales offer a critique of anthropocentric modes of storytelling and point the way toward a more ecological understanding of interconnection.</description><identifier>ISSN: 0042-5222</identifier><identifier>EISSN: 1527-2052</identifier><identifier>DOI: 10.2979/victorianstudies.62.2.12</identifier><language>eng</language><publisher>Bloomington: Indiana University Press</publisher><subject>American literature ; Analysis ; Blackwood, Algernon ; Criticism and interpretation ; Description (Rhetoric) ; Fiction ; Genre ; Lovecraft, H P (1890-1937) ; Narratology ; Novels ; Ontology ; Speculative fiction ; Storytelling ; Works ; Writers</subject><ispartof>Victorian studies, 2020-01, Vol.62 (2), p.244-252</ispartof><rights>2020 Indiana University Press</rights><rights>Copyright © The Trustees of Indiana University.</rights><rights>COPYRIGHT 2020 Indiana University Press</rights><rights>COPYRIGHT 2020 Indiana University Press</rights><rights>Copyright Indiana University Press Winter 2020</rights><lds50>peer_reviewed</lds50><woscitedreferencessubscribed>false</woscitedreferencessubscribed><citedby>FETCH-LOGICAL-c673t-1a4f07152d0bdb3445894546022144657ac79b6cb7b470cc91e254719f96fe933</citedby></display><links><openurl>$$Topenurl_article</openurl><openurlfulltext>$$Topenurlfull_article</openurlfulltext><thumbnail>$$Tsyndetics_thumb_exl</thumbnail><link.rule.ids>314,780,784,803,27924,27925</link.rule.ids></links><search><creatorcontrib>Miller, John MacNeill</creatorcontrib><title>Weird Beyond Description: Weird Fiction and the Suspicion of Scenery</title><title>Victorian studies</title><addtitle>Victorian Studies</addtitle><description>This paper uses Algernon Blackwood's weird tale “The Willows” (1907) to argue that the genre of weird fiction is characterized by a disproportionate investment in descriptive modes of writing. The weird tale's fascination with description contravenes narratology and conventional reading practices alike, as both privilege narration over description. Tales such as “The Willows” insist that significant subjects and agents have been overlooked in anthropocentric modes of storytelling and that description itself has been instrumental in this oversight, as scene-setting and other descriptive modes effectively cast such subjects as static backgrounds to more important human affairs. By repeatedly dramatizing the discovery of subjects and agents hidden within apparently static descriptive passages, weird tales offer a critique of anthropocentric modes of storytelling and point the way toward a more ecological understanding of interconnection.</description><subject>American literature</subject><subject>Analysis</subject><subject>Blackwood, Algernon</subject><subject>Criticism and interpretation</subject><subject>Description (Rhetoric)</subject><subject>Fiction</subject><subject>Genre</subject><subject>Lovecraft, H P (1890-1937)</subject><subject>Narratology</subject><subject>Novels</subject><subject>Ontology</subject><subject>Speculative 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John MacNeill</creator><general>Indiana University Press</general><scope>AAYXX</scope><scope>CITATION</scope><scope>8GL</scope><scope>IHI</scope><scope>IMW</scope><scope>ISN</scope><scope>ILR</scope><scope>3V.</scope><scope>7XB</scope><scope>8FK</scope><scope>8G5</scope><scope>ABUWG</scope><scope>AFKRA</scope><scope>AIMQZ</scope><scope>AVQMV</scope><scope>AZQEC</scope><scope>BEC</scope><scope>BENPR</scope><scope>CCPQU</scope><scope>CLO</scope><scope>DWQXO</scope><scope>GB0</scope><scope>GNUQQ</scope><scope>GUQSH</scope><scope>K50</scope><scope>LIQON</scope><scope>M1D</scope><scope>M2O</scope><scope>MBDVC</scope><scope>PAF</scope><scope>PPXUT</scope><scope>PQEST</scope><scope>PQHSC</scope><scope>PQLNA</scope><scope>PQQKQ</scope><scope>PQUKI</scope><scope>PROLI</scope><scope>Q9U</scope></search><sort><creationdate>20200101</creationdate><title>Weird Beyond Description: Weird Fiction and the Suspicion of Scenery</title><author>Miller, John MacNeill</author></sort><facets><frbrtype>5</frbrtype><frbrgroupid>cdi_FETCH-LOGICAL-c673t-1a4f07152d0bdb3445894546022144657ac79b6cb7b470cc91e254719f96fe933</frbrgroupid><rsrctype>articles</rsrctype><prefilter>articles</prefilter><language>eng</language><creationdate>2020</creationdate><topic>American literature</topic><topic>Analysis</topic><topic>Blackwood, Algernon</topic><topic>Criticism and interpretation</topic><topic>Description (Rhetoric)</topic><topic>Fiction</topic><topic>Genre</topic><topic>Lovecraft, H P (1890-1937)</topic><topic>Narratology</topic><topic>Novels</topic><topic>Ontology</topic><topic>Speculative fiction</topic><topic>Storytelling</topic><topic>Works</topic><topic>Writers</topic><toplevel>peer_reviewed</toplevel><toplevel>online_resources</toplevel><creatorcontrib>Miller, John MacNeill</creatorcontrib><collection>CrossRef</collection><collection>Gale In Context: High School</collection><collection>Gale In Context: U.S. History</collection><collection>Gale In 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Resource</delcategory><fulltext>fulltext</fulltext></delivery><addata><au>Miller, John MacNeill</au><format>journal</format><genre>article</genre><ristype>JOUR</ristype><atitle>Weird Beyond Description: Weird Fiction and the Suspicion of Scenery</atitle><jtitle>Victorian studies</jtitle><addtitle>Victorian Studies</addtitle><date>2020-01-01</date><risdate>2020</risdate><volume>62</volume><issue>2</issue><spage>244</spage><epage>252</epage><pages>244-252</pages><issn>0042-5222</issn><eissn>1527-2052</eissn><abstract>This paper uses Algernon Blackwood's weird tale “The Willows” (1907) to argue that the genre of weird fiction is characterized by a disproportionate investment in descriptive modes of writing. The weird tale's fascination with description contravenes narratology and conventional reading practices alike, as both privilege narration over description. Tales such as “The Willows” insist that significant subjects and agents have been overlooked in anthropocentric modes of storytelling and that description itself has been instrumental in this oversight, as scene-setting and other descriptive modes effectively cast such subjects as static backgrounds to more important human affairs. By repeatedly dramatizing the discovery of subjects and agents hidden within apparently static descriptive passages, weird tales offer a critique of anthropocentric modes of storytelling and point the way toward a more ecological understanding of interconnection.</abstract><cop>Bloomington</cop><pub>Indiana University Press</pub><doi>10.2979/victorianstudies.62.2.12</doi><tpages>9</tpages></addata></record> |
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| language | eng |
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| source | JSTOR Archive Collection A-Z Listing |
| subjects | American literature Analysis Blackwood, Algernon Criticism and interpretation Description (Rhetoric) Fiction Genre Lovecraft, H P (1890-1937) Narratology Novels Ontology Speculative fiction Storytelling Works Writers |
| title | Weird Beyond Description: Weird Fiction and the Suspicion of Scenery |
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