Open AccessInfinite Jest’s Voice(s) Notes for an (Audible) Map
Author(s) -
Adriano Ardovino,
Pia Masiero
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
english literature
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2420-823X
pISSN - 2385-1635
DOI - 10.30687/el/2420-823x/2021/08/003
Subject(s) - focalization , tonality , key (lock) , communication , mode (computer interface) , bridge (graph theory) , s voice , human voice , linguistics , psychology , aesthetics , computer science , philosophy , literature , art , narrative , musical , speech recognition , human–computer interaction , medicine , computer security , operating system
We often refer to a book as having a voice that sounds uniquely distinctive, a voice that stays with us after a book is over. Voice is a key narratological term; together with its twin partner – focalization – it constitutes the skeleton of a given storyworld. The first – experiential – conception of voice is difficult to grasp and articulate and has something to do with a specific tonality we perceive in a direct, almost visceral way. The second – scholarly – produces a host of definitional moves, which tend to crystallize it in a dominant mode of articulating a story. “ Infinite Jest ’s Voice(s)” aims to bridge the two conceptions of voice just sketched, trying to give the sense of the book’s having a distinctive, unforgettable, voice as far as the reader’s experience is concerned.