Why did books start being divided into chapters? A new history
11 days ago
- #literary history
- #chaptering
- #narrative time
- Literary history lacks appreciation for great chaptering, as noted by George Saintsbury in 'The History of English Prose Rhythm'.
- Thomas Malory's 'Morte d’Arthur' chapter break praised for timing, but later discovered to be added by printer William Caxton.
- Caxton's chaptering creates 'artful segmentation' and 'resonant silence', enhancing narrative tension and rhythm.
- 15th-century remediators transformed Chrétien de Troyes' verse into prose, often criticized for vulgarizing the original.
- Dames' 'The Chapter' explores the evolution of chaptering, contrasting discontinuous and immersive reading experiences.
- Augustine and Bede debated the nature of the present, influencing literary forms and their relationship to time.
- 18th-century novels, like Sterne's 'Tristram Shandy', experimented with chaptering to explore narrative time and structure.
- Olaudah Equiano's autobiography shows chaptering's inadequacy in capturing the experience of slavery and freedom.
- Goethe's 'Wilhem Meister’s Apprenticeship' reflects historical shifts with elongated chapters, marking a 'new epoch'.
- Jane Austen's novels illustrate the transition from 18th to 19th-century chaptering norms, with longer chapters in mature works.
- Dames questions how novels instruct readers in thinking and feeling, with Victorian novels fostering a unique nostalgia.