Narrative Cohesion through Text and Material

The novella of Seleuco, attributed to Leonardo Bruni, survives in sixty fifteenth- and sixteenth- century manuscripts. Focusing on the textual and material composition of those manuscripts, I explore the potential for a broad analysis of relationships between texts, materials, and cultural narratives about reading and writing using two forms of narrative theory. I first introduce the various manuscript configurations and examine using sociological narrative theory how these prompt or influence particular approaches to textuality, through representations of situations of text creation, use, and transmission. Turning away from the contents of the text, I examine how visual and codicological elements can disrupt the construction of narratives of textuality. This study builds on groundwork laid by existing studies on the novella and the manuscripts containing it, to propose a new way of reflecting on the text and the objects that contain it, integrating manuscript studies and book historical approaches with narrative theory

Art · Cohesion (chemistry · Intertextuality · Linguistics · Literature · Narrative · Narrative criticism · Narrative inquiry · Narrative network · Narrativity · Narratology · Novella · Reading (process · Textuality · History · Libraries, Manuscripts, and Books · Philosophy · Visual Culture and Art Theory