September 2023
Narrative Rhythmanalysis
Narrative Rhythmanalysis
Please reference as: Maria Tamboukou. 2023. 'Narrative Rhythmanalysis', https://sites.google.com/view/numbersandnarratives/newsletter/september-2023
In September 2023 I travelled to Monopoli, Italy to attend the 7th conference of the European Narratology Network, on the theme Rhythm, Speed, Path: Spatiotemporal Experiences in Narrative, Poetry, and Drama.
The topic of the conference had attracted me while reading Sofia Kovalevskaya's novellas, poems and theatrical plays and I thought that presenting my thoughts among literary narratologists would be a great opportunity to test my ideas emerging from my research in women mathematicians' literary writings. It was in this context that the abstract of the paper was initially conceived and submitted and I was trully delighted when it was accepted, back in May and below is the title and abstract
The topic of the conference had attracted me while reading Sofia Kovalevskaya's novellas, poems and theatrical plays and I thought that presenting my thoughts among literary narratologists would be a great opportunity to test my ideas emerging from my research in women mathematicians' literary writings. It was in this context that the abstract of the paper was initially conceived and submitted and I was trully delighted when it was accepted, back in May and below is the title and abstract
From Palibino to Riviera:
Narrative rhythmanalysis of Sofia Kovalevskaya’s literary writings
In this paper I consider spatiotemporal rhythms in Sofia Kovalevskaya’s literary writings. Kovalevskaya (1850-1891) was the first woman professor in mathematics in modern Europe with significant contributions in the mathematical sciences. But alongside her scientific work she also wrote novels, poetry and theatrical plays, famously claiming that ‘it is not possible to be a great mathematician without having the soul of a poet’. Her literary writings were celebrated at her times and beyond, but research around her has mostly focused on her mathematical achievements. Kovalevskaya was an exemplary cosmopolitan subject of her times and geographies: she was born and grew up in Russia, studied in Germany, lived in Paris for extended periods of time and eventually settled down in Sweden, when she was offered an academic position in Stockholm University. The spatiotemporal rhythms of her lived experiences are thus beautifully entangled in the narrative modalities of her literary writings, and it is their flow, forces and energies that I follow in this paper through the beats of what I have configured in my work as narrative rhythmanalysis. What I argue is that narrative rhythmanalysis brings to the fore the catalytic role of space/time/matter in literary creation, opening up new analytical paths and insights. As it engages with literary worlds and figures, narrative rhythmanalysis can never be conclusive however: it is rather a process, constantly unearthing new signs and meanings around subjects and their worlds.
you can watch the paper here
The venue of the conference was as exciting as its theme: it was held in Monopoli’s Diocesan Museum, located in the town’s historic center, next to the Basilica of the Madonna della Madia. Plenary sessions took place in the great hall on the ground floor, whereas parallel sessions were held in other spaces, both in the building of the Diocesan Museum, as well as in the crypt of the archaeological museum, the best space I have presented a conference paper before. Lunches and the conference reception were held at the space of a beautiful church, La Chiesa de Santa Maria Amalfitana
In thinking about Kovalevskaya's multiple rhythms and speeds, in this paper, I have mapped an assemblage of different but entangled theoretical approaches. Components of this assemblage include the great debate on rhythm in the twentieth century, between Henri Bergson and Gaston Bachelard. Although there are important differences between the two philosophers, there are also glaring resemblances in their conceptualization of rhythm, and there is a body of literature that has explored interconnections in their philosophy of time. It is such theoretical entanglements on rhythm that I have read diffractively with Deleuze’s and Guattari’s notion of the refrain [ritornello], as well as Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe’s take on rhythm as the intermezzo between beat and figure, in his configuration of the ‘echo’ as constitutive of the subject.
Kovalevskaya did not live to see her literary work published, although her plays were performed during her life time. Looking back at her literary writings I have discerned a striking continuum of how art, science and life are mingled in her oeuvre. As a scientist and poet Kovalevskaya has created new rhythmic space/time/matter constellations. Her literary continuum is thus entangled with her existential quests as expressed in her autobiography, poems, novellas, plays and letters, but also with her mathematical work where science and imagination have been closely intertwined. Through some quick glimpses in this literary continuum, the subject emerges as an echo.
