Function of Lyricism in Realist Narrative

Lyricism is an effort to step outside the referring inherent in narrative in order to allow the consciousness that produces it to have an interval of simply being -- without direct reference or narrative referral. Lyricism does not, therefore, move. The tension between the inherent immobility of lyricism and the imperatives of narrative thus raises the question of how lyricism functions in narrative. Its function can vary in different settings. Yet because of the stasis that is inherent in lyricism and the movement that is essential to narrative, the various uses of lyricism all relate directly to the tension between narrative and lyricism. A comparison of the abrupt lyrical forays in The Great Gatsby (often terminated even before they take wing), the carefully constructed conflict between narrative and lyricism in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and the transient, escapist episodes of lyricism in Ma

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igh levels of irony. Often this constitutes a reflection on the reliability of the narrator or focalizer. Nick Carraway, for example, ascribes lyricism to others but is never capable of achieving lyric flights entirely on his own. He must always use other people's desire for this purpose and his own efforts at lyrical expression are repeatedly frustrated. The irony is, of course, that the lyric flights ascribed to Gatsby are largely Nick's inventions. They reveal the intensity of his focus on Gatsby, through whose supposed lyricism Nick's desire is expressed in a way that Nick is incapable of doing without the focalization Gatsby affords him. At his first Gatsby party Nick's descriptions keep attempting to burst into lyricism but this is repeatedly foiled by the press of reality. He attempts to channel his intense, anticipatory excitement at the party. For example, in the midst of the "faces and voices and color under the constantly changing light . . . one of these gypsies in trembling opal" begins a dance (45). But the spell of Nick's ascending lyricism snaps when the sudden "burst of chatter" erroneously identifies her as "Gilda Gray's understudy from the Follies" (45). The magic of the image he was trying to build i
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Approximate Word count = 2047
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)