Flaubert, Joyce and Beckett

AN ENLIGHTENING STUDY OF THREE LEGENDARY WRITERS Have literary institutions such as introductions, prefaces and footnotes killed the book? The "book as book" has been removed from the oral tradition by such features as prefaces, footnotes, and indexes. Books have become voiceless in some sense - the [...]
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AN ENLIGHTENING STUDY OF THREE LEGENDARY WRITERS Have literary institutions such as introductions, prefaces and footnotes killed the book? The "book as book" has been removed from the oral tradition by such features as prefaces, footnotes, and indexes. Books have become voiceless in some sense - they are to be read silently, not recited aloud. How this mechanical change has affected the possibilities of fiction is Kenner's subject. Each of the three featured authors approached this situation in a unique, yet connected way: Flaubert as the "Comedian of the Enlightenment", categorising man's intellectual follies. Joyce as the "Comedian of the Inventory", with his meticulously constructed lists. Beckett as the "Comedian of the Impasse", eliminating facts and writing novels about a man alone, writing.