Chapter One
Time-space and space-time: Consequences of the Chronotope in
Introduction
There must be possible a fiction which, leaving sociology and case histories to the scientists,
can arrive at the truth about the human condition, here and now, with all the bright magic of
the fairy tale.
- Ralph Ellison
[…] the study of verbal art can and must overcome the divorce between an abstract "formal"
approach and an equally abstract "ideological" approach. Form and content in discourse are
one, once we understand that verbal discourse is a social phenomenon - social throughout its
entire range and in each and every of its factors, from the sound image to the furthest reaches
of abstract meaning.
- Mikhail Bakhtin
_____________
In the process of preparation for this MA thesis I was on the verge of abandoning the project.
I was afraid Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man would become far too intimate for me, the
subject too tense, the motifs too disturbing, the language too intrinsic. I feared that the novel
would keep concealed and invisible the wealth I suspect between the lines. I did not, and I still
don’t like Ellison’s Invisible Man. It felt uncomfortable and disturbing the first time I read it
and with every additional reading the ambivalence I felt increased. I sympathize and fully
share Ross Possnock’s sentiment on Ralph Ellison’s novel: “Ellison makes reading a
‘gymnast’s struggle’” (6). Despite all efforts, reading Invisible Man remained an
uncomfortable and exhausting struggle until the very end. Eventually Invisible Man provided
many experiences all adding up to some very disturbing revelations about my own
“racialized” positionality. I began to scrutinize, my thought process pertaining to race, trying
to expose any possible racist notions. The challenge was and still is painful and at times
causes my mind to go blank in speechlessness. Words evaded me more than once.
It was an essay by Chris Cuomo that kept the project alive. Cuomo opens her paper
with a powerful plea for help against her own whiteness.
“Could somebody please help me with my whiteness – that elusive form […]
Whiteness is so fucking unfair, so boring, so overdetermined (Cuomo in Yancy 16)
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Chapter One
2.1 Time-space and space-time: Consequences of the Chronotope in Invisible Man
3. Chapter Two
3.1 The (Black) Grotesque Body
4. Chapter Three
4.1 Memory and Identity Formation
5. Conclusion
Objectives and Themes
This thesis explores the intersection of Mikhail Bakhtin’s literary and cultural theories with Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man. The primary objective is to analyze how the concepts of the chronotope, the carnivalesque, and the dialogic self can be applied to the narrator’s experiences, ultimately revealing the hidden power dynamics of race, identity, and the struggle against hegemonic oppression.
- The application of Bakhtinian concepts (chronotope, carnivalesque, dialogism) to Invisible Man.
- The construction of black and white identity through social and historic forces.
- The role of space, memory, and the "grotesque body" in subverting white supremacist power structures.
- The evolution of the narrator’s self-perception from invisibility to an active, defiant "fool-identity."
Auszug aus dem Buch
Time-space and space-time – Consequences of the Chronotope in Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison’s novel begins and ends in fictional present. From the Prologue the reader learns that the narrator has found shelter in a coal cellar, which he has designed according to his needs. “The point now is that I found a home – or a hole in the ground, as you will. Now don’t jump to the conclusion that because I call my home a “hole” it is damp and cold like a grave; there are cold holes and warm holes. Mine is a warm hole” (IM 6). From this spatio-temporal matrix of the hole the narrator’s voice resounds.
In the narrator’s story time bends, contracts and becomes visible on artistic scale. “Der Raum gewinnt Intensität, er wird in die Bewegung der Zeit, des Sujets, der Geschichte hineingezogen“ (Bachtin [Choronotopos] 7). The concept of the “chronotopos” is one of indefinite semantic value. In his work Forms of Time and Chronotope in the Novel Bakhtin describes the chronotopos as “the intrinsic connectedness of temporal and spatial relationships that are artistically expressed in literature” (1996, 127). Signs which were thought to contain common meaning fissure and merge only to constitute an entirely new and unexpected nexus.
The chronotope is where the knots of narrative are tied and untied […]. Time becomes, in effect, palpable and visible; the chronotope makes narrative events concrete, makes them take on flesh, causes blood to flow in their veins […]. Thus the chronotope, functioning as the primary means for materializing time in space, emerges as a center for concretizing representation, as a force giving body to the entire novel. All the novel’s abstract elements - philosophical and social generalizations, ideas, analyses of cause and effect - gravitate towards the chronotope and through it take on flesh and blood, permitting the imaging power of art to do its work. (Chronotopos 250)
Summary of Chapters
Introduction: The introduction outlines the author's personal struggle with the novel's themes and establishes the theoretical framework, drawing on Aleida Assmann and Mikhail Bakhtin to justify an intersectional, Bakhtinian reading of the text.
Chapter One: This chapter analyzes the spatio-temporal matrix of the novel, using the concept of the chronotope to demonstrate how the narrator’s environment shapes his perception and facilitates resistance against white hegemony.
Chapter Two: This chapter investigates the "grotesque body" as a site of resistance, exploring how race is constructed through white perception and how characters like Jim Trueblood and the veteran challenge these stereotypes through carnivalesque behavior.
Chapter Three: This chapter examines the relationship between memory construction and identity formation, tracing how the narrator reconciles his fragmented past and cultural heritage to establish a coherent, dialogic self.
Keywords
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison, Mikhail Bakhtin, Chronotope, Carnivalesque, Identity Formation, Dialogic Self, Grotesque Body, Whiteness, Blackness, Race, Power Dynamics, Cultural Memory, Absurd, Narrative Identity.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the fundamental focus of this thesis?
The thesis focuses on a Bakhtinian reading of Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man, exploring how the protagonist navigates racialized power structures through conceptual frameworks like the chronotope, carnival, and memory.
What are the central themes addressed in the work?
The central themes include the intersection of black and white culture, the construction of racial identity, the subversion of hegemony, the role of the "grotesque body," and the narrator's struggle to find his "self."
What is the primary research goal?
The goal is to render visible the Bakhtinian concepts within the novel to understand how they function as tools for the narrator to disrupt white privileged identities and forge a resistant, individual identity.
What scientific methodology is utilized?
The author employs a literary analysis based on cultural studies, primarily using Mikhail Bakhtin’s theories of dialogism, carnival, and the chronotope, alongside Aleida Assmann’s work on cultural memory.
What topics are discussed in the main body?
The main body covers the analysis of the narrative space (topos/chronos), the role of the black body in white perception, the significance of fool figures like Jim Trueblood and the veteran, and the formation of narrative identity through memory.
Which keywords best describe this research?
Key terms include Invisible Man, Bakhtin, Chronotope, Carnivalesque, Identity, Memory, Dialogism, Grotesque Body, and the Manichean divide.
How does the narrator’s "hole" function in the text?
The hole functions as a heterotopic "in-between-space" where the narrator can temporarily suspend the constraints of white supremacist time and space, allowing him to reflect and develop a strategy for resistance.
How does the author interpret the concept of the "fool" in Invisible Man?
The author interprets the fool as a carnivalesque figure who uses "mischief," mask-wearing, and the disruption of hierarchies to expose the absurdity of racist systems and reclaim agency.
- Arbeit zitieren
- Anselm Maria Sellen (Autor:in), 2009, Fooling Invisibility - A Bakhtinian reading of Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man", München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/158858
