“Yarn-Spinning is Also Highly Recommended”: Yann Martel’s Framing Narratives

Abstract

In Yann Martel’s collection “The Facts behind the Helsinki Roccamatios” and Other Stories ([1993]2005), we can clearly discern the construction of a metaphorical frame that creates and encircles the real, thereby describing two important poststructural frames of reference: the Lacanian “magic circle” (especially as this is foregrounded by Catherine Belsey in her recent monograph, Culture and the Real (2005), and the Derridean parergon. Martel’s fictions perform a cultural function in that they frame the unsignifiable unknown (be this death, AIDS, God, or the creative moment) with a “signifying screen” (Belsey 2005: 72) that is creative, gives pleasure, and fleetingly appeases the drive of the subject. The framing performance of Martel’s stories is intriguingly complex, operating not only at the level of theme and subject but also at the level of structure, prepositional play, language, and metaphor.

Opsomming
In Yann Martel se versameling “The Facts behind the Helsinki Roccamatios” and Other Stories ([1993]2005) kan ‘n mens duidelik die konstruksie van ‘n metaforiese raamwerk waarneem wat die werklike skep en omring en sodoende twee belangrike post-strukturele verwysingsraamwerke beskryf: die Lacanse “towersirkel” (veral soos Catherine Belsey dit in haar onlangse monografie, Culture and the Real (2005), op die voorgrond stel) en die Derrideaanse raam (“parergon”). Martel se fiksie het ’n kulturele funksie aangesien dit die onaanduibare onbekende (hetsy dit die dood, VIGS, God, of die kreatiewe oomblik is) op ’n skerm van aanduidings projekteer (Belsey 2005: 72) wat kreatief is, genot verskaf en die drif van die subjek kortstondig tot bedaring bring. Die omramende aanbieding van Martel se stories is boeiend gekompliseerd, funksioneer nie slegs op die vlak van tema en subjek nie maar ook op die vlak van struktuur, voorsetselspel, taal en metafoor.