Acts of Narrative Confession in Selected Fiction of Saul Bellow

This book examines selected fiction of Saul Bellow by problematizing the universal and static conditions of traditional narrative confession as well as its one-sided perception of reality. It analyses the concept of polyphonic confession, illustrating how Bellow s oeuvre shows a gradual movement from a monophonic mode of confessional discourse in his early fiction into a more inclusive, ethical, and polyphonic one in his later novels. Examining novels of Saul Bellow in the light of the literary and social theory of confession as developed by Mikhail Bakhtin and Michel Foucault respectively, this book argues that as distinguished from social and cultural contexts, the context of art opens up a new space for the emergence of a more dynamic and reciprocal mode of truth-telling in Bellow s writings.

Autorentext

Dr Leila Hojjati is a researcher in literature and literary theory. She received her PhD in English Literature from The University of Liverpool in July 2008. She has published on Saul Bellow, Joseph Conrad, Mikhail Bakhtin, and Sadegh Hedayat. Her research interests include Confessional literature, dialogism, and memory networks.