Distributed Agency in the Novel

• Published in: New literary history Vol. 54; no. 1; pp. 903 - 937
• Main Author: Tenen, Dennis Yi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Baltimore Johns Hopkins University Press 01.06.2023
• Subjects: Actors; Airlines; Airports; British & Irish literature; Dickens, Charles (1812-1870); English language; English literature; Film adaptations; Genre; Grammatical categories; Grammatical subject; Hailey, Arthur; Human agency; Insurance policies; Literary characters; Literary criticism; Nouns; Novels; Sentence structure; Syntax; Verbs

In this study, I propose to side-step the philosophical complexity surrounding free will, agency, or volition in favor of their linguistic proxy, syntax. Whatever the belief about willful subjects, the English language forces our thoughts into linear propositions, where subject verbs object. As such...