The naturalist dimension in The Beggar and The Murderess: a narratological approach

Abstract

This article aims at a comparative reading of The Beggar (1896) by Karkavitsas and The Murderess (1903) by Papadiamandis in order to map out the naturalist dimension in both novels. After a brief discussion about the nature of this European literary movement, the structuralist theory of narration and focalisation is slightly modified and called in as a theoretical framework to better understand Zola's concept of "desinteressement" οn the level of the narrative techniques proper. Finally, the methodology developed is used (1) to demonstrate how both The Beggar and The Murderess at first sight awake the impression of being allegedly "Objective" narratives, thus bringing into practice an essential feature of the poetics of European naturalism (desinteressement), and (2) to point out οn the basis of a more in-depth analysis that Karkavitsas and Papadiamandis in fact apply divergent narrative strategies to subtly influence the reader's opinion about the harsh events they describe in their respective novels (lurking social indictment).