Inaction as theme and structure in Dostoyevsky's "Notes from underground" and Melville's "Bartleby, the scrivener"

Çenebaşı, Ergin (2010) Inaction as theme and structure in Dostoyevsky's "Notes from underground" and Melville's "Bartleby, the scrivener". [Thesis]

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Abstract

This study aims to reveal the significance of inaction on both thematic and structural levels in Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener" and Dostoyevsky's "Notes from Underground". It explores the ways in which inertia, as the dominant theme of both works, affects the responses of readers and critics. It focuses primarily on the bipolarity inherent in the concept of inaction, which brings binary opposites together. Drawing on the key terms acedia, ressentiment and potentiality, it examines various causes and consequences of this bipolarity with a special emphasis on its anti-dialectical nature. Posing inaction as the problem not only of the protagonists, but also of the readers and critics, this study underlines the correspondence between theme and structure which characterizes both works. Although it identifies inaction as the main commonality between the two short novels, it points out the fundamental differences separating the ways in which inaction functions within each work.
Item Type: Thesis
Uncontrolled Keywords: Inaction. -- Ressentiment. -- Acedia. -- Potentiality. -- Modern criticism. -- Eylemsizlik. -- Ressentiment. -- Akedia. -- Potansiyel. -- Modern eleştiri.
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Divisions: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences > Academic programs > Cultural Studies
Depositing User: IC-Cataloging
Date Deposited: 27 Jan 2012 14:53
Last Modified: 26 Apr 2022 09:55
URI: https://research.sabanciuniv.edu/id/eprint/18828

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