Pragmatiek van de roman

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Summary

This thesis contains a study of the functioning of the epistolary novel at the end of the eighteenth century. More specifically it concerns Historie van mejuffrouw Cornelia Wildschut; of, de gevolgen der opvoeding (History of Miss Cornelia Wildschut; or, the consequences of education) by E. Wolff-Bekker and A. Deken, published by Isaac van Cleef's publishing house in The Hague in the years 1793-1796 (henceforth referred to as CW).

Following my introduction I examine the status and composition of the CW text: an epistolary novel of the type to be called ‘symphonic’, after Rousset (1962), and ‘dynamic’ and ‘direct’, after Jost (1968): the action takes place either in the letters themselves or in between them.

It is argued that this is an extreme case of mimesis, which offers little ground for the epic principle of narration. Linguistic pragmatics, which offers the basis for this observation, also throws some light upon the composition of the epistolary quotations in which we find accumulated speech acts. One type, however, stands out: the quotation in dialogue form, which withdraws itself from the epistolary mimesis, and directly pertains to the story.

It is, nevertheless, hard to gather from the text which state of affairs has been reached in the story; or, at least, it is fairly irrelevant for the epistolary events in the foreground.

In a few instances the epistolary action in CW becomes an end in itself; this leads to an observation about ‘specific epistolarity’: dealing with letters as material objects.

The text is presented from the outside by an editor, who may shorten letters and clarify them by means of footnotes, but who may also delete precise mentions of places and persons from the epistolary texts. There seems to be no objection in this case to equating the editor with the actual authors.

The arrangement of the letters may also be part of the function of the editor. I would, however, prefer to treat the arrangement of the letters in an examination of a series of measures, to be found at all levels of the text, by which the unity of this text is guaranteed.

The question as to whether a text which so impedes the narration is suitable as a communicative intermediary between author and reader is initially treated by means of some other applications of the word ‘pragmatics’.

The argument also contains the suggestion that the text, in view of its poor narrative character, may also be seen as a discourse that attempts to convey views with the help of suitable rhetorical means. Within such a context the story assumes the function of the rhetorical figure of evidentia.

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Chapter III points out that characters in the novel are created with verbal means; in the epistolary novel, in particular, this may occur in three forms, namely remarks from, to and about a particular character. The specific nature of the epistolary procedure consists in presenting large segments of text from each character as a speaking and acting individual.

The construction in stages shapes the characters into outlined unities of meaning, in some cases made especially recognizable as a variation on a type expounded by the literary tradition. In the moral novel, however, the character may not be restricted to typology; it should, at all times, be able to appear as a person who is adequately motivated for his actions.

We can discern this view of characterization with Wolff and Deken themselves in a rudimentary form. In the prologues and epilogues to their epistolary novels the authors have exposed their views on the function of the novel and its relation to the literary tradition, reality and the general public. I offer a summary of these views, emphasizing the treatment of character. With the help of German theory I defend the concept of Wolff and Deken's epistolary novels as pragmatic novels, partly because of their being unmistakably characterizable as a national discourse.

In the ensuing paragraphs I go into the technical aspects of the presentation and configuration of the character images in CW. The accent is, first of all, on the introduction: with name giving a certain ‘block characterization’ of the character in question may already be established, as is the case in the novels Sara Burgerhart and Willem Leevend. This is not the case in CW.

There then follows an examination of how the linguistic introduction of the characters proceeds from the beginning of the novel to their first active epistolary performance. Prior to this examination eleven main characters have been selected on the basis of the frequency and quantity of their epistolary activities; unlike Jost (1968) I am of the opinion that quantitative definitions may indeed yield conclusions regarding the relative importance of characters in the novel. The introduction of these eleven characters is well-ordered: the predicates awarded to them from different sides only rarely yield paradoxical images. A stable, reliable characterization is laid out for the reader. The introduction of mischievous characters, however, is carried out more carefully than that of virtuous characters: the interpretation of the former group is more actively supervised.

Subsequently, the procedures used by Wolff and Deken in this novel are further illustrated by means of a detailed discussion of the eleven character images. The authors in some cases start from traditional types - the libertine, the prig - but always give them individualizing traits and place them in a contemporary context that is recognizable for the reader. In one case they

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even add traits from their own life's histories.

At least the characters show possibilities for the development of personality. They may not only be dramatically, but also psychologically and ideologically mobile. Incidentally, the authors aim at explaining the manner of all characters from their experience of life, either gained in the action of the novel or before.

It is, furthermore, important that the characters either live, or learn to live, by certain moral, cultural and religious values, or withdraw from them. In other words, they take up Bedeutungspositionen, whence the values concerned are thematized. In this respect parallels and contrasts refer to the central values the novel seeks to pose vis-à-vis its external reader.

I finally draw up schemes of thematic parallels and contrasts in which I further specify according to which configurations the characters embody, pursue or reject the central values of CW. I reach the conclusion that a consultative dialogue is going on concerning these values, by way of which the characters try to persuade one another into adopting socially productive attitudes or the opposite.

In the final paragraphs I point out the importance of the family in this respect and I examine the application of outward portrayal, especially to test to what extent the characterization follows physiognomical procedures. The result in this respect is fairly negative.

Characters always exercise their central function in the epistolary novel by means of epistolary actions. Their interactions first of all take place at the level of letter and correspondence. It is here that the transfer of meaning of the novel to the external reader must somehow take place.

It is for this reason that in chapter IV speech acts in epistolary form are first of all examined. Setting apart literary forms of epistolary usage, the text-form ‘letter’ is the meeting place par excellence for linguistic pragmatics and everyday praxis. If epistolary speech acts are guided by rules, so is everyday praxis; it is, furthermore, amenable to further moral regulations.

Statements regarding the use of the letter in CW confirm the pronounced moral-forming role which the epistolary exchange takes up in the esteem of the main positive characters. The contact kept up with fellow men by means of letters here indicates the overall level of social conduct: the degenerate treat their contacts carelessly, the foolish also behave foolishly in their letters, the wavering cannot handle the matter of form very well, and the socially productive feel challenged to give the best of their personality in their letters. We are here concerned with familiar letters, with the exception of business and love letters.

The familiar letter is, incidentally, not used for the unrestrained flow of

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emotions. It is especially in this form of language that the subject is forced into concentration and culture; at least in the epistolary exchange there is, in this way, room for a certain idealization of social intercourse. When this yields rules for the epistolary form needed, we may speak of epistolary poetics.

The demands of the epistolary exchange concern the readers no less than the writers. Often second readers are involved; if and how they take their turn in reading may be of vital importance. To give someone letters to read is an act of confidence. When the circle of co-readers of a particular correspondence gradually expands, the reader of the novel may also find it easier to enter such a circle. Moreover, in view of some examples in CW of proposed letter editions, the letter finds itself on the edge of the intimate and public domains: there are certain conditions under which the confidentiality of the mail may be breached.

The function of letters in defining a common cultural ideal is finally discussed in a general sense in a brief survey of epistolary culture in our society until and including the eighteenth century.

In the final chapter I attempt to construct the private and public rooms, as they are discussed in CW, from the text, and to compare them with and connect them to the actual situation in Amsterdam and the Republic around 1790. Subsequently I wish to clarify the notions that link imagination to reality: features of Wolff and Deken's nationalistic feelings, the national and temporal character in relation to the pragmatic nature of their novel, and the diagnosis of decadence as it was then experienced in the Republic.

For this purpose I start from an inventarization and discussion of the representation of space in CW. This clearly indicates the graphic nature of the contemporary world depicted, but also the point of view from which the authors wish to present this world to their reading public. From the treatment of France within the novel it appears that they take their own experience as a starting point, and that they situate the novel in Europe shortly before the major political revolutions.

Of this world Amsterdam is the centre. The actual reality there has been deliberately blurred, however, in a number of cases: in one case it is even possible to indicate how such changes were operated, because of insufficient adjustement of the text. The result is that the novelistic space became subject to ideological schematization. It is especially the contrast between the bustle of the city and the cheerfulness of country life that is emphasized - albeit with actualized argumentation. Country life, however - with no added personal literary culture - may also have its ridiculous aspects. The eastern provinces are depicted as backward. In addition nobility is ridiculed. It becomes clear that the mercantile middle class of Holland is the backbone of the nation.

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Since several characters from that class go about undisturbed forming families and firms after the débâcle of the Wildschut family, it may be concluded that Wolff and Deken considered the crisis in the Dutch society of their days serious but not insoluble. It was their belief in Providence which led them to believe that the repair of all matters would also extend to Dutch prosperity.

The moral admonition of their extensive novel was no less serious for this. The Voorrede (prologue) and the Geschrift, gevonden onder de papieren van den heere Paulus Wildschut (document found among the papers of Mister Paulus Wildschut), added to the end of the novel, bear witness to this; education has consequences for national prosperity, but also in life hereafter. Placed in the national discourse and the political theories of their days, the reforming, Hollando-centric tenor of CW does not appear to be unzeitgemäss or exceptionally strict.

Moral crusades against wealth and pride and the decline of ordered society were undertaken from many sides. Modern demographic research has at last clearly exposed that the situation in the Republic indeed provided good reason for concern.

CW thus finds its place in the eighteenth century criticism of civilization. The instruments with which the pragmatic novel transfers its statements to the reader, however, place it in a strictly unique position: nowhere else the call upon a personal defence of moral values as a remedy against a national crisis can be made more convincing and effective than in the novel.

It should, finally, be remarked that the actual reception data compare somewhat poorly to the effective potential of this pragmatic novel.