Fortolkningens forrang: Henrik Stangerups forfatterskab belyst ved analyser af Manden der ville være skyldig og Vejen til Lagoa Santa
Forfatter
Farup, Henning
Semester
4. semester
Uddannelse
Udgivelsesår
2008
Antal sider
80
Abstract
Afhandlingen foreslår en analytisk metode, der ser et litterært værk som sin egen fortolkning af den fiktive verden, det skaber. Med afsæt i filosoffen Gregory Curries skelnen mellem tekst (ordenes bogstavelige form) og værk (det kunstneriske hele) samt hans fiktionsteori i The Nature of Fiction (1990), definerer metoden værkets fortolkning som den fiktive forfatters “belief set” – det sæt af udsagn, som historien fremstiller som sande. Fordi forståelsen af dette belief set afhænger af en helhedsopfattelse af værket, begynder analysen med en overordnet fortolkning og underbygger den derefter ved at fremhæve de mest centrale elementer, hvilket vender den normale rækkefølge i litterær analyse på hovedet. Metoden anvendes på to centrale romaner af den danske forfatter Henrik Stangerup. For The Man Who Wanted to Be Guilty (1973) viser analysen, hvordan romanen skildrer dehumaniserende konsekvenser af et system, der vil afskaffe skyld, ansvar og straf – et mål, der kun kan håndhæves gennem total kontrol med befolkningen, som magthaverne selv undgår. Et sådant system ender med at omforme, eller endda udslette, både individet og virkeligheden. For The Road to Lagoa Santa (1981), en fiktionaliseret biografi om zoologen og palæontologen Peter Wilhelm Lund (1801–1880), argumenterer jeg for, at værket i sin kerne er en eksistentiel fortælling om en mands bevægelse fra rationalistiske, videnskabelige systemer til forsoning med livet og accept af den konkrete virkelighed. Jeg konkluderer, at metodens væsentligste styrke er, at den fremhæver værkets essens og mening, så disse ikke nedtones eller overses i analysen af fiktion.
This thesis proposes an analytical method that treats a literary work as its own interpretation of the fictional world it creates. Drawing on philosopher Gregory Currie’s distinction between text (the words on the page) and work (the artistic whole) and his theory of fiction in The Nature of Fiction (1990), the method defines the work’s interpretation as the “belief set” of the fictional author—that is, the set of statements the story presents as true. Because understanding this belief set depends on a view of the work as a whole, the analysis begins with an overall interpretation and then supports it by highlighting the most salient elements, reversing the usual order of literary analysis. I apply this approach to two central novels by Danish author Henrik Stangerup. For The Man Who Wanted to Be Guilty (1973), the analysis shows how the novel portrays the dehumanizing effects of a system that seeks to abolish guilt, responsibility, and punishment—a goal that can only be enforced through total control of the public, from which those in power exempt themselves. Such a system ends up remaking, or even erasing, both the individual and reality. For The Road to Lagoa Santa (1981), a fictionalized biography of zoologist and paleontologist Peter Wilhelm Lund (1801–1880), I argue that, at its core, it is an existential story about a man’s transformation from reliance on rational, scientific systems to reconciliation with life and acceptance of concrete reality. I conclude that the main strength of this analytical approach is its ability to foreground a work’s essence and meaning, so these are not understated or neglected in the analysis of fiction.
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