Modified Omniscient Narrative and Temporal Structure in <i>Seize the Day</i>

He Jiexia

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijla.20210901.15

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Modified Omniscient Narrative and Temporal Structure in Seize the Day

He Jiexia

Published in International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 9, Issue 1)

Received: 31 December 2020 Accepted: 19 January 2021 Published: 27 February 2021

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Abstract

Impressing people with the profundity of its content and scope, Saul Bellow’s fiction is often the embodiment of alienation, meaning of life, men’s quest for spiritual discernment, and the possibilities of human awakening. Though the content and form have both shown their distinguishing excellence in his novella Seize the Day, it is always Bellow’s theme that is under vast investigation, while the other charming feature of this story – its way of narration is not often discussed. This paper aims to analyze the narrative of Seize the Day from the perspective of narratology, figuring out how omniscient narrative and temporal structure are disposed to convey remarkable characteristics to Seize the Day. In general, this story is narrated by an omniscient third-person narrator, but the narrative voice is not an exclusive one all the time. Besides, the focalization of the omniscient narrator shifts whenever necessary, which devotes to exposing the instabilities of characters and events in the story. As to the temporal structure, variations existing in order, duration and frequency generate rhetorical effects in the story and make the structure of Seize the Day coordinate smoothly the interlaced temporal references, leading further instabilities and tensions to the movement of the narrative. In Seize the Day, Saul Bellow has showed a mastery of narrative voice, focalization and temporal structure, and demonstrated how incredible the narrative techniques can be in transferring a modified omniscient narrative and the temporal manipulation of acceleration and deceleration into a dynamic narrative progression, which offers readers the option to consider the possibilities of development, motivation and resolution in the entire narrative of the story.

Published in	International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 9, Issue 1)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijla.20210901.15
Page(s)	25-33
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Seize the Day, Omniscient Narrative, Temporal Structure, Saul Bellow

References

[1]	Bellow, Saul. Seize the Day [M]. Harmondsmith: Penguin Books, 1976.
[2]	Hooti, Noorbakhsh & Omrani, Vahid. “Saul Bellow’s Seize the Day: A Modernist Study”. Theory and Practice in Language Studies [J], Vol. 1, Issue 3, 2011, p252-262.
[3]	Jesmin, U. H. Ruhina. “Narcissistic Personality in Author Miller’s ‘Death of a Salesman’ and Saul Bellow’s ‘Seize the Day’”. Journal of Comparative Studies [J], Vol. 40, Issue 11, 2018, p62-79.
[4]	Kalay, Faruk. “A Complicated Personality in ‘Seize the Day’ by Saul Bellow”. Advances in Language and Literary Studies [J], Vol. 6, Feb. 2015, p1-6.
[5]	Kearns, Michael. Rhetorical Narratology [M]. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1999, p109-115.
[6]	Li, Zhengcai & Xu, Mingying. “Identity Construction: Narrative Tension in Saul Bellow’s Herzog”. English Language and Literature Studies [J], Vol. 9, Iss. 1, 2019, p38-44.
[7]	Marrouchi, Ramzi & Azmi, Mohd Nazri Latiff. “Madness and the Alienation of Intellectuals in Saul Bellow’s World of Fiction”. International Journal of English Linguistics [J], Vol. 10, Iss. 1, 2019, p314-328.
[8]	Phelan, James. Narrative as Rhetoric [M]. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1996, p219.
[9]	Pifer, Ellen. Saul Bellow: Against the Grain [M]. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990, p26-33.
[10]	Pinsker, Sanford. “Saul Bellow: ‘What, in all of this, speaks for man?’”. Georgia Review [J], Vol. 49, Iss. 1, Spring 1995, p89-95.
[11]	Ranta, Jerrald. “Time in Bellow’s Seize the Day”. Essays in Literature [J], Vol. 22, Iss. 2, Fall 1995, p300-315.
[12]	Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith. Narrative Fiction: Contemporary Poetics, 2^nd ed [M]. London: Routledge, 2002, p53-72.
[13]	Siegel, Lee. “Bellow’s Lonely Planet”. The Nation [J], Vol. 280, Iss. 18, May 9, 2005, p34-36.
[14]	Singh, Sukhbir. “‘If Love Is Love, It’s Free’: A Vedantic Reading of Saul Bellow’s Seize the Day”. Canadian Review of Comparative Literature [J], Vol. 46, Iss. 3, 2019, p423-445.
[15]	Toolan, Michael. Narrative – A Critical Linguistic Introduction, 2^nd ed [M]. London and New York: Routledge, 2001, p60.

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He Jiexia. (2021). Modified Omniscient Narrative and Temporal Structure in Seize the Day. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 9(1), 25-33. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20210901.15

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He Jiexia. Modified Omniscient Narrative and Temporal Structure in Seize the Day. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2021, 9(1), 25-33. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20210901.15

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He Jiexia. Modified Omniscient Narrative and Temporal Structure in Seize the Day. Int J Lit Arts. 2021;9(1):25-33. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20210901.15

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@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20210901.15,
  author = {He Jiexia},
  title = {Modified Omniscient Narrative and Temporal Structure in Seize the Day},
  journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
  volume = {9},
  number = {1},
  pages = {25-33},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20210901.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20210901.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20210901.15},
  abstract = {Impressing people with the profundity of its content and scope, Saul Bellow’s fiction is often the embodiment of alienation, meaning of life, men’s quest for spiritual discernment, and the possibilities of human awakening. Though the content and form have both shown their distinguishing excellence in his novella Seize the Day, it is always Bellow’s theme that is under vast investigation, while the other charming feature of this story – its way of narration is not often discussed. This paper aims to analyze the narrative of Seize the Day from the perspective of narratology, figuring out how omniscient narrative and temporal structure are disposed to convey remarkable characteristics to Seize the Day. In general, this story is narrated by an omniscient third-person narrator, but the narrative voice is not an exclusive one all the time. Besides, the focalization of the omniscient narrator shifts whenever necessary, which devotes to exposing the instabilities of characters and events in the story. As to the temporal structure, variations existing in order, duration and frequency generate rhetorical effects in the story and make the structure of Seize the Day coordinate smoothly the interlaced temporal references, leading further instabilities and tensions to the movement of the narrative. In Seize the Day, Saul Bellow has showed a mastery of narrative voice, focalization and temporal structure, and demonstrated how incredible the narrative techniques can be in transferring a modified omniscient narrative and the temporal manipulation of acceleration and deceleration into a dynamic narrative progression, which offers readers the option to consider the possibilities of development, motivation and resolution in the entire narrative of the story.},
 year = {2021}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Modified Omniscient Narrative and Temporal Structure in Seize the Day
AU  - He Jiexia
Y1  - 2021/02/27
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20210901.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijla.20210901.15
T2  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JF  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JO  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
SP  - 25
EP  - 33
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2331-057X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20210901.15
AB  - Impressing people with the profundity of its content and scope, Saul Bellow’s fiction is often the embodiment of alienation, meaning of life, men’s quest for spiritual discernment, and the possibilities of human awakening. Though the content and form have both shown their distinguishing excellence in his novella Seize the Day, it is always Bellow’s theme that is under vast investigation, while the other charming feature of this story – its way of narration is not often discussed. This paper aims to analyze the narrative of Seize the Day from the perspective of narratology, figuring out how omniscient narrative and temporal structure are disposed to convey remarkable characteristics to Seize the Day. In general, this story is narrated by an omniscient third-person narrator, but the narrative voice is not an exclusive one all the time. Besides, the focalization of the omniscient narrator shifts whenever necessary, which devotes to exposing the instabilities of characters and events in the story. As to the temporal structure, variations existing in order, duration and frequency generate rhetorical effects in the story and make the structure of Seize the Day coordinate smoothly the interlaced temporal references, leading further instabilities and tensions to the movement of the narrative. In Seize the Day, Saul Bellow has showed a mastery of narrative voice, focalization and temporal structure, and demonstrated how incredible the narrative techniques can be in transferring a modified omniscient narrative and the temporal manipulation of acceleration and deceleration into a dynamic narrative progression, which offers readers the option to consider the possibilities of development, motivation and resolution in the entire narrative of the story.
VL  - 9
IS  - 1
ER  -

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Author Information

He Jiexia

School of Applied Foreign Languages, Zhejiang Yuexiu University, Shaoxing, China

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Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

He Jiexia. (2021). Modified Omniscient Narrative and Temporal Structure in Seize the Day. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 9(1), 25-33. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20210901.15

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ACS Style

He Jiexia. Modified Omniscient Narrative and Temporal Structure in Seize the Day. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2021, 9(1), 25-33. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20210901.15

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AMA Style

He Jiexia. Modified Omniscient Narrative and Temporal Structure in Seize the Day. Int J Lit Arts. 2021;9(1):25-33. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20210901.15

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20210901.15,
  author = {He Jiexia},
  title = {Modified Omniscient Narrative and Temporal Structure in Seize the Day},
  journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
  volume = {9},
  number = {1},
  pages = {25-33},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20210901.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20210901.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20210901.15},
  abstract = {Impressing people with the profundity of its content and scope, Saul Bellow’s fiction is often the embodiment of alienation, meaning of life, men’s quest for spiritual discernment, and the possibilities of human awakening. Though the content and form have both shown their distinguishing excellence in his novella Seize the Day, it is always Bellow’s theme that is under vast investigation, while the other charming feature of this story – its way of narration is not often discussed. This paper aims to analyze the narrative of Seize the Day from the perspective of narratology, figuring out how omniscient narrative and temporal structure are disposed to convey remarkable characteristics to Seize the Day. In general, this story is narrated by an omniscient third-person narrator, but the narrative voice is not an exclusive one all the time. Besides, the focalization of the omniscient narrator shifts whenever necessary, which devotes to exposing the instabilities of characters and events in the story. As to the temporal structure, variations existing in order, duration and frequency generate rhetorical effects in the story and make the structure of Seize the Day coordinate smoothly the interlaced temporal references, leading further instabilities and tensions to the movement of the narrative. In Seize the Day, Saul Bellow has showed a mastery of narrative voice, focalization and temporal structure, and demonstrated how incredible the narrative techniques can be in transferring a modified omniscient narrative and the temporal manipulation of acceleration and deceleration into a dynamic narrative progression, which offers readers the option to consider the possibilities of development, motivation and resolution in the entire narrative of the story.},
 year = {2021}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Modified Omniscient Narrative and Temporal Structure in Seize the Day
AU  - He Jiexia
Y1  - 2021/02/27
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20210901.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijla.20210901.15
T2  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JF  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JO  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
SP  - 25
EP  - 33
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2331-057X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20210901.15
AB  - Impressing people with the profundity of its content and scope, Saul Bellow’s fiction is often the embodiment of alienation, meaning of life, men’s quest for spiritual discernment, and the possibilities of human awakening. Though the content and form have both shown their distinguishing excellence in his novella Seize the Day, it is always Bellow’s theme that is under vast investigation, while the other charming feature of this story – its way of narration is not often discussed. This paper aims to analyze the narrative of Seize the Day from the perspective of narratology, figuring out how omniscient narrative and temporal structure are disposed to convey remarkable characteristics to Seize the Day. In general, this story is narrated by an omniscient third-person narrator, but the narrative voice is not an exclusive one all the time. Besides, the focalization of the omniscient narrator shifts whenever necessary, which devotes to exposing the instabilities of characters and events in the story. As to the temporal structure, variations existing in order, duration and frequency generate rhetorical effects in the story and make the structure of Seize the Day coordinate smoothly the interlaced temporal references, leading further instabilities and tensions to the movement of the narrative. In Seize the Day, Saul Bellow has showed a mastery of narrative voice, focalization and temporal structure, and demonstrated how incredible the narrative techniques can be in transferring a modified omniscient narrative and the temporal manipulation of acceleration and deceleration into a dynamic narrative progression, which offers readers the option to consider the possibilities of development, motivation and resolution in the entire narrative of the story.
VL  - 9
IS  - 1
ER  -

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