Topic > Textual Violence in 'Sulla and Toni Morrison's Sula'

Textual dynamics is the dynamic interaction between the text and the responder and how this necessarily becomes a relationship between the writer and the reader rather than just the text. It forces us to ask ourselves whether the barrier between fiction and reality has been overcome or not. And if the work is real, can it still be considered a work of art? And if it is fake can it be considered real? The lyrics "Orlando" by Sally Potter and "Sula" by Toni Morrison are both, in a sense, biographies of fictional people, challenging traditional values ​​and gender constructs. While Italo Calvino's novel "If on a winter's night a traveler" and Marc Forster's film "Stranger than fiction" examine and reimagine the relationships between author, reader and text. "Sula" experiments with traditional forms that blur reality and fiction through the representation of a fictional character's life using a fragmented biography. The fragmentation of the narrative is represented, similarly to 'Orlando', through the frequent jumps between time frames, “1919” “1920”, interrupting the linear progression. This forces the reader to engage with and interpret the text rather than the composer. The narrative alternates between different perspectives seamlessly, “She dragged herself” “Plum on the edge….mom, she was sure it was something” possessing a kind of stylistic ingenuity that makes 'Sula' a textually dynamic novel. Morrison uses the stream of consciousness "a twenty-two year old boy is scared...he didn't even know who or what he was..." to express a character's flow of thoughts and feelings, aiming to give readers the impression of be inside his mind. of the character which in turn establishes an intimate relationship between the text and the reader. Conversations between texts can be woven throughout the novel, particularly the character "Eve" who constantly adopts lost children and borders alluding to the "mother of all things" and the Eve of the Bible. These allusions to other texts rely on the reader having read them to form an understanding and therefore an intimate relationship between author and reader. Two In the first line of the book, “You are about to start reading…”, the use of the second person to address the reader directly and the use of self-reflexivity to push the reader to engage with the upcoming “true novel and own" creates an initial intimate bond between composer and reader. However, the use of the second person is quickly discarded and "you" is revealed to be a fictional character. Reflecting Baudrillard's 'Simulacrums and Simulation', the multiple layers of reality also serve to deceive the reader into believing that there is an imminent "novel proper", until our perception of what is real and imaginary becomes indiscernible. This deceptive invention is shown in the first incipit: the central character is no longer "you", but is instead "someone looking through a foggy glass". Thus, "If on a Winter's Night a Traveler" examines literature metatextually, often confusing fact and fiction, transforming the modern novel and in doing so surprises and delights.