Abstract
In his article "Golding's The Spire as an Architectonic Novel" Stephan Schaffrath analyzes William Golding's work as an excellent example of one of Mikhail Bakhtin's early critical concepts. In contrast to most literary entertainment which thrives on the readers' suspension of disbelief, The Spire challenges readers to actively and consciously interpret its text, thus raising readers' awareness as participants in the reading act. The Spire achieves this by presenting readers with a novelistic world seen more or less through the eyes of a pseudo narrator, a third-person narration style that consistently and regularly — yet subtly — delves into the main character's mind. The Spire constitutes a commentary on the human tendency to take positivistic shortcuts in epistemological endeavors by building into its narrative fabric Bakhtin's notion of the once-occurrent, never-repeatable nature of one and every act.
Recommended Citation
Schaffrath, Stephan.
"Golding's The Spire as an Architectonic Novel."
CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture
18.1
(2016):
<https://doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.2504>
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