Page 211 - DENG501_LITERARY_CRITICISM_AND_THEORIES

Unit 18: Mikhail Bakhtin and his ‘From the Prehistory of Novelistic Discourse (Textual Analysis with Chronotopes...

Ronsse's historical novel Arnold van Schoorisse (1845) can, however, be seen as symptomatic for Notes
a great number of Belgian historical novels. First Bakhtin's characterization of this chronotope. In
FTC, Bakhtin analyses the chronotope of the adventure novel of ordeal predominantly in the
cases of the very earliest examples of this type of novel, the so called Greek or Sophistic romances.
As Carlos García Gual has demonstrated, some of these Greek romances (especially Chariton's
Chareas and Callirhoë and Heliodorus' Aethiopica) may be regarded as historical novels, and
were indeed received as such in ancient times. The action in these romances is projected towards
a - albeit only feebly characterized - past, historical characters figure in a minor role (often as
parents of the heroes), and certain characters and scenes echo the works of historians like Herodotus
and Thucydides.
As for space, in these novels it 'figures in solely as a naked, abstract expanse of space', 'measured
primarily by distance on the one hand and by proximity on the other'. Thus, '[t]he adventure
chronotope is […] characterized by a technical, abstract connection [not an organic one, nb]
between space and time, by the reversibility of moments in a temporal sequence, and by their
interchangeability in space'.
As I would like to illustrate, the traditional chronotope of the adventure novel of ordeal as Bakhtin
described it has undergone particular - and in some novels quite significant - changes under the
influence of the specific poetics of the Belgian historical novel, as it is expressed mainly in
prefaces and works of literary criticism. In previous articles, I have argued that the case of the
early 19th century Belgian historical novel shows how prefaces—which in the 18th century had
proved to be the privileged loci for expressing the literary novelistic consciousness - also offered
an ideal discursive climate for addressing issues of nation building and collective memory. Detailed
analyses of the nationalist discourse in the prefaces to the historical novels written in Belgium in
the first two decades after independence, focussing on the discourses about memory and national
identity, have revealed that both the concept of the native soil (space) and the genealogical link
between the glorious ancestors and their descendants (time) have played a major role in the
construction of this nationalist discourse.
The historical chronotope in this type of historic adventure novels of ordeal, as we can now call
them, can be encountered predominantly, and sometimes only, in the footnotes and endnotes.
The nationalist discourse that can be found in the prefaces thus cannot be said to have greatly
increased the amount of concretization of time and space. However, it is certainly explicitly and
abundantly present in the discourse of certain characters (in their speeches, dialogues, monologues).
I will here mention only one example, other examples can be found in the endnotes to this paper.
On the eve of the decisive battle at Westrozebeke, Philip van Artevelde reminds his fellow citizens
of the glorious deeds of their forefathers in Groeninge in the way the 19th century historical
novelists remind their contemporaries of the ancestral heroism: 'Herinnert u allen de heldendaden
uwer vaderen'. That Ronsse made the 19th century nationalist discourse serve as a model for
Artevelde's discourse in Arnold van Schoorisse can be seen for instance in Artevelde's confident
exclamation that 'nieuwe Breydels en de Coninks zyn weêr opgerezen om hunne stadgenooten
tot de overwinning te geleiden' ('new Breydel's and de Coninck's have risen again to lead their
fellow citizens to victory'): the main characters from Conscience's De Leeuw van Vlaenderen only
became legendary in the 19th century A perfect example of the little influence the nationalist
discourse has exerted on the categories of time and space in the novel is provided by the ensuing
description of the battle at Westrozebeke. By reminding the citizens of Ghent and Bruges of the
fact that 'de vermolmde gebeenderen uwer vrye vaderen [nog] rusten […] in den heiligen grond
van Groeninge' ('the mouldered bones of your free fathers still rest in the holy soil of Groeninge')
Philip van Artevelde succeeds in arousing their nationalist feelings. In his speech the imaginary
space of 'Vlaenderen' is charged with historicity through the mentioning of such places as Groeninge,
through the stressing of the need to free the native soil of 'uitheemsch[…] gebroedsel' ('foreign
scum') and through the call to let the blood of the last oppressor spill under Flemish axes. The

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