Narrative Strategies and Intermedial Devices in Gabriel Josipovici’s In the fertile Land

Even though his novelistic work by far exceeds his output in short fiction, Gabriel Josipovici’s contribution to this genre is nothing less than significant. This investigation focuses on the third of his collections of short stories, In the Fertile Land (1987). The motifs and narrative techniques i...

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Main Author: Mário Semião
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Presses universitaires de Rennes 2014-05-01
Series:Revue LISA
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Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/lisa/5833
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author Mário Semião
author_facet Mário Semião
author_sort Mário Semião
collection DOAJ
description Even though his novelistic work by far exceeds his output in short fiction, Gabriel Josipovici’s contribution to this genre is nothing less than significant. This investigation focuses on the third of his collections of short stories, In the Fertile Land (1987). The motifs and narrative techniques in Josipovici’s work are wide-ranging and display a great variety of thematic concerns. Yet, this collection of short stories seems to demonstrate a particular emphasis on two recurrent features in Josipovici’s oeuvre: the presence of a metafictional dimension and an intermedial aspect in his writing. In proposing this double emphasis, the notions of metafiction and intermediality are initially discussed in the context of a close reading of one of the stories in the collection, “Brothers” (1983). The study of this four-page story focuses on how the structure of the text not only incorporates a violation of narrative levels which acts as a metafictional strategy, but also on how that same disruption is linked with Karlheinz Stockhausen’s musical techniques. In “Brothers” one finds these two features of Josipovici’s writing working simultaneously as a means of foregrounding the text’s own linguistic and textual premises. Following the survey of “Brothers” as a self-reflexive text, this study aims to argue for the particular relevance of In the Fertile Land in Josipovici’s oeuvre because of its varied and systematic use of these two characteristic features in his writing, which in turn call attention to the narrative process itself, a concern that pervades both the author’s fictional and non-fictional work.
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spelling doaj-art-bc924ce6aec44833aaa296da747fd29f2025-01-06T09:02:43ZengPresses universitaires de RennesRevue LISA1762-61532014-05-0112210.4000/lisa.5833Narrative Strategies and Intermedial Devices in Gabriel Josipovici’s In the fertile LandMário SemiãoEven though his novelistic work by far exceeds his output in short fiction, Gabriel Josipovici’s contribution to this genre is nothing less than significant. This investigation focuses on the third of his collections of short stories, In the Fertile Land (1987). The motifs and narrative techniques in Josipovici’s work are wide-ranging and display a great variety of thematic concerns. Yet, this collection of short stories seems to demonstrate a particular emphasis on two recurrent features in Josipovici’s oeuvre: the presence of a metafictional dimension and an intermedial aspect in his writing. In proposing this double emphasis, the notions of metafiction and intermediality are initially discussed in the context of a close reading of one of the stories in the collection, “Brothers” (1983). The study of this four-page story focuses on how the structure of the text not only incorporates a violation of narrative levels which acts as a metafictional strategy, but also on how that same disruption is linked with Karlheinz Stockhausen’s musical techniques. In “Brothers” one finds these two features of Josipovici’s writing working simultaneously as a means of foregrounding the text’s own linguistic and textual premises. Following the survey of “Brothers” as a self-reflexive text, this study aims to argue for the particular relevance of In the Fertile Land in Josipovici’s oeuvre because of its varied and systematic use of these two characteristic features in his writing, which in turn call attention to the narrative process itself, a concern that pervades both the author’s fictional and non-fictional work.https://journals.openedition.org/lisa/5833musicGabriel Josipoviciintermedialityshort fictionnarrative experimentation
spellingShingle Mário Semião
Narrative Strategies and Intermedial Devices in Gabriel Josipovici’s In the fertile Land
Revue LISA
music
Gabriel Josipovici
intermediality
short fiction
narrative experimentation
title Narrative Strategies and Intermedial Devices in Gabriel Josipovici’s In the fertile Land
title_full Narrative Strategies and Intermedial Devices in Gabriel Josipovici’s In the fertile Land
title_fullStr Narrative Strategies and Intermedial Devices in Gabriel Josipovici’s In the fertile Land
title_full_unstemmed Narrative Strategies and Intermedial Devices in Gabriel Josipovici’s In the fertile Land
title_short Narrative Strategies and Intermedial Devices in Gabriel Josipovici’s In the fertile Land
title_sort narrative strategies and intermedial devices in gabriel josipovici s in the fertile land
topic music
Gabriel Josipovici
intermediality
short fiction
narrative experimentation
url https://journals.openedition.org/lisa/5833
work_keys_str_mv AT mariosemiao narrativestrategiesandintermedialdevicesingabrieljosipovicisinthefertileland