Character space

Character system

By interpreting the character system as a distributed field of attention we make the tension between structure and reference generative of , and integral to, narrative signification.

The tension between representing and allegorizing is one of the focus on one life vs the many

Realist novel – Depth psychology and social expansiveness

The realist novel is destabilized not by too many details but by too many people

Flat minor characters become allegorical

How can human beings enter into a narrative world and not disrupt the distribution of attention?

Minor characters are the proletariat of the novel

Balance between protagonist a minor characters mirrors asymmetric norms of democracy

What we remember about a minor character is how the text forgets them, like a great actor in a bad production

Narratives allow and solicit us to create a story – a distributed pattern of attention- that is at odds with or divergent from the former latter. Of attention in the discourse

19th century realist novel – pull between democratic equality and consequences of social stratification