Gaze, Memory, and Gender in Narrative from Ancient to Modern

This book examines the concept of the gaze in the context of narrative fiction. It argues that the gaze in fiction is a tractable factor, identifying the function of characters by way of the gender. The gaze variance and its connection to memory is not new to literary scholarship, but what has been overlooked to date is the fact that the divide exists along the line of gender. The dyad gaze-memory, provided by literary scholarship thus far is erroneous; what emerges instead is a triadic paradigm gaze-memory-gender. The gender divide is reflected in neuroscience, which shows memory processing in man and woman as respectively losing (forgetting) or retaining (remembering) vividness of detail. The discussion focuses on two narratives, one ancient (the Orphic cycle) the other modern (the novel Le Grand Meaulnes) to show that despite the presence of new narrative devices and conventions, the rules of the paradigm are preserved.

Acknowledgments - Preface - Anatomy of the Archetype: Gaze-Memory-Gender - The Archetypal Plot: Gaze as an Instrument of the Genders - Keeping an Eye on the Gaze of the Masculine Gender - Memory Patterns in Fiction and Neuroscience - Orpheus's Gaze Forward: The Metaphor of Forgetfulness, the Promise of Adventure - Ancient Narrative: (Homo)Sexuality and the Masculine Gaze Upon Itself - Feminine Archetype in the Ancient Plot: Beauty and Beast - From Ancient to Modern Hero: Recognizable Archetype Patterns - Modern Narrative, Ancient Design: The Case of Le Grand Meaulnes - Modern Narrative and the New Law - Modern Narrative: Clash Between Ancient and Modern Imaginations - Feminine Archetype in Modern Text: Response to an Ancient Order - Index.