Abstract
As the title of the novel indicates, the act of writing her story is primarily motivated by the narrator Frances Hinton's narcissistic desire for recognition. Despite the fact that Look at Me is the story of a fictional character and not an autobiography, Mark Freeman's characterization of the features of autobiography serves as a means of understanding Frances's story. Mark Freeman argues that: "Memory ... which often has to do not merely with recounting the past, but with making sense of it ... is an interpretive act the end of which is an enlarged understanding of the self."1 Frances's narrative, on the other hand, is characterized by a complete lack of an understanding of herself and therefore displays, instead of a psychic development, a cyclic pattern that renders the impression that Frances's story is the repetition of the time of which she never speaks, as she tells the reader on various occasions. The cyclic pattern. however, becomes most explicit at the end of the novel where Frances' lack of an understanding of herself points at a future victimization due to the fact that Frances refuses to step out of her assumed passivity.
Keywords
References
- Brookner. Anita: Look at Me. London. Triad Grafton. 1982.
- Berman. Jeffrey: Narcissism and the Novel. New York and London. New York University Press. 1990.
- Fisher-Wirth. Ann: "Hunger Art: The Novels of Anita Brookner," Twentieth Centllry Literature. Vol. 41. 1995. pp. 1-15.
- Freeman. Mark: Rewriting the Se({' History, Memory, Narrati ve. London and New York, Routledge, 1993.
- Kurz. Helga: ''The Impossibility of Female Friendship: A Study of Anita Brookner's Female Characters," AAA-Arbeiten w1s Anglistik 1111d Amerikanistik, Band 15, Heft 1, 1990. TU bingen. Gunter Narr Verlag.
- Lacan. Jacques: Ecrits. New York and London. Norton. 1977.
- Sadler. Lynn Veach: Anita /Jrookner. Boston. MA. Twayne Publishers. 1990.
- Skimmer. John: The Fictions of Anita /Jrookner: 11/llsions of Romance. Basingstoke at al., Macmillan, 1992.
- Walker, Nancy A.: The Disobedient Writer: Women and Narrative Tradition, Austin, University of Texas Press, 1995.
Abstract
As the title of the novel indicates, the act of writing her story is primarily motivated by the narrator Frances Hinton's narcissistic desire for recognition. Despite the fact that Look at Me is the story of a fictional character and not an autobiography, Mark Freeman's characterization of the features of autobiography serves as a means of understanding Frances's story. Mark Freeman argues that: "Memory ... which often has to do not merely with recounting the past, but with making sense of it ... is an interpretive act the end of which is an enlarged understanding of the self."1 Frances's narrative, on the other hand, is characterized by a complete lack of an understanding of herself and therefore displays, instead of a psychic development, a cyclic pattern that renders the impression that Frances's story is the repetition of the time of which she never speaks, as she tells the reader on various occasions. The cyclic pattern. however, becomes most explicit at the end of the novel where Frances' lack of an understanding of herself points at a future victimization due to the fact that Frances refuses to step out of her assumed passivity.
Keywords
References
- Brookner. Anita: Look at Me. London. Triad Grafton. 1982.
- Berman. Jeffrey: Narcissism and the Novel. New York and London. New York University Press. 1990.
- Fisher-Wirth. Ann: "Hunger Art: The Novels of Anita Brookner," Twentieth Centllry Literature. Vol. 41. 1995. pp. 1-15.
- Freeman. Mark: Rewriting the Se({' History, Memory, Narrati ve. London and New York, Routledge, 1993.
- Kurz. Helga: ''The Impossibility of Female Friendship: A Study of Anita Brookner's Female Characters," AAA-Arbeiten w1s Anglistik 1111d Amerikanistik, Band 15, Heft 1, 1990. TU bingen. Gunter Narr Verlag.
- Lacan. Jacques: Ecrits. New York and London. Norton. 1977.
- Sadler. Lynn Veach: Anita /Jrookner. Boston. MA. Twayne Publishers. 1990.
- Skimmer. John: The Fictions of Anita /Jrookner: 11/llsions of Romance. Basingstoke at al., Macmillan, 1992.
- Walker, Nancy A.: The Disobedient Writer: Women and Narrative Tradition, Austin, University of Texas Press, 1995.
Details
| Primary Language | English |
|---|---|
| Subjects | Creative Arts and Writing |
| Journal Section | Makaleler |
| Authors | |
| Publication Date | August 16, 2014 |
| Submission Date | August 16, 2014 |
| Published in Issue | Year 2004 Issue: 16 |