Overview

Janiform Texts and Covert Plots is a sequel to The Deceptive Text: An Introduction to Covert Plots, which maintained that although almost all fictional narratives have a main plot, some have, in addition, a covert plot. At a first reading, the reader sees parts of the covert plot but does not recognise how they cohere. Only in retrospect, or at a second, third or subsequent reading, is the covert plot seen in its entirety. Sometimes many years may elapse before the covert plot is detected and described. Some covert plots are transtextual: they span two or more texts (e.g. Heart of Darkness and Chance). Some are supernatural: within a secular narrative is a contrastingly supernatural covert plot. Examples are The Nigger of the 'Narcissus', The Shadow-Line and Victory. This book goes controversially further by postulating covert plots in critical works by Roland Barthes, Mikhail Bakhtin and Edward Said.

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9781785277580

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Reviews

'A splendid series of essays which fizz with astonishing scholarship and interesting ideas. After reading them, you'll see any literary work you come across in a new light.' - Mike Hill, co-author with Jon Wise of The Works of Graham Greene: A Reader's Bibliography and Guide and The Works of Graham Greene Volume 2: A Guide to the Graham Greene Archives 'I know of no better reader of literary texts than Professor Watts. He knows more about those texts than most other critics, and consistently and brilliantly sees things in them which the rest of us have missed. And one memorable measure of his insights is the enviable clarity of their expression.' - Jonathan Dollimore has held chairs at the universities of Sussex and York and has taught and lectured throughout the world

Author Information

Cedric Watts is Emeritus Professor of English at Sussex University. He has written poems, tales, and numerous critical and scholarly books on Shakespeare, Keats, Hardy, Cunninghame Graham, Conrad, Graham Greene and others.

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