Characters in Literary Fictions

Jadwiga Węgrodzka is Associate Professor at the Institute of British and American Studies, University of Gdańsk, and the Faculty of Modern Languages, Koszalin Technical University, Poland. She publishes on popular genres, children’s literature, fantastic fiction and fairy tales.

• Contents: Urszula Terentowicz-Fotyga/Jadwiga Węgrodzka: From Character to Identity…and back? – Andrzej Zgorzelski: Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s «Sister Helen»: A functional approach to the literary character – Karolina Trapp: Joseph Conrad’s «The Partner»: Character and language – Sławomir Studniarz: Peter Straub’s Shadowland: Character in the liminal space – Joanna Pasternak: Anita Desai’s fiction: Marginalisation as a technique of character creation – Magdalena Kuźniar: A. S. Byatt’s The Children’s Book: The functions of flanks and ficelles – Andrzej Sławomir Kowalczyk: Charles Williams’s Shadows of Ecstasy: Cognitive aspects of character interpretation – Artur Blaim: «A Jew, and circumcised»: Constructing collective and individual characters in early modern utopian fictions – Grzegorz Trębicki: Recent Secondary World Fantasy: Farewell to the hero? – Żaneta Nalewajk: The realistic novel and the creation of literary characters: William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury – Halszka Leleń: Character sketch and its fantastic transformations: H. G. Wells's «The Crystal Egg» – Marta Komsta: Reconstructing the Gothic villain: Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House – Elżbieta Perkowska-Gawlik: Character in the academic mystery novel: Joanne Dobson’s The Raven and the Nightingale – Ludmiła Gruszewska-Blaim: Possible men and women of science: Constru(ct)ing characters in academic fictions – Kamil Karaś: Terry Pratchett’s Lord Vetinari as a transtextual character – Katarzyna Pisarska: Breaking out and speaking: Old myths and narrative tensions in Ursula LeGuin’s Lavinia – Patrycja Podgajna: Transtextual characters in literary adaptations: E.M. Forster’s Howards End and Zadie Smith’s On Beauty – Barbara Klonowska: Irony as the principle of constructing a character: Beryl Bainbridge’s Young Adolf – Jadwiga Węgrodzka: Characters in mythical and historical contexts: William Golding’s «The Scorpion God» – Dominika Szwajewska: Counterfactual model of the self: J.M. Coetzee’s Summertime.

Characters in Literary Fictions is likely to perform the role of a lucid and inspiring guide to the complexities of character in fiction. The volume offers fresh insights into the work of diverse authors. Additionally, it constitutes a comprehensive overview of contemporary and historical forms of narrative fiction. The impressive scope of approaches offered – from structuralism to cognitivism – will make this volume indispensable to anyone interested in literary studies and character analysis.(Wojciech Nowicki, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin)