"Corpsing" (by Toby Litt) as a thriller?

Résumé du document

According to International Thriller Writers, a thriller is characterized by "the sudden rush of emotions, the excitement, and the sense of suspense, apprehension, and exhilaration that drive the narrative, sometimes subtly with peaks and lulls, and sometimes at a constant, breakneck pace." In short, a thriller thrills, mostly through skillful plotting. Toby Litt's second novel Corpsing (2000), is, from Muriel Spark's point of view, "a first-rate thriller". However, while reading the book one discovers an overloaded novel that seems to want to struggle to be a thriller. Thus it is interesting to discuss Corpsing as a thriller. The characteristic of the thriller genre fits well to the book. This will be analyzed in the first part of this document. Subsequently, we will also examine some aspects of Litt's book that move away from this genre.

Extraits

[...] Ultimately, the problem with Corpsing may be traceable to an uncertainty of purpose. Gary Krist says in his text Corpsing: A Thriller, With Literary Special Effects”: “Litt tries on attitudes the way some people try on shoes, walking a few steps in each, no matter how uncomfortable, before turning to the next. And since he seems unsure about whether he wants to embrace, deconstruct or subtly parody the thriller genre, the book lacks conviction at crucial moments. The result is a curiously frustrating novel”. [...]

[...] Full it is as if he had sudden ideas coming up to his mind. Thus the reader has to reconstitute Condor's thoughts and theory. The repetition of the word four times in one paragraph underlines the idea of tension: baby was dead, dead without me knowing it existed, dead In the same way the repetition of the word at the end of the forty-sixth chapter underlines the dramatic dimension of the thriller. Finally, the narrator manifolds the questions for example at the beginning of the thirty chapter. [...]

[...] Corpsing (by Toby Litt) as a thriller? According to International Thriller Writers, a thriller is characterized by "the sudden rush of emotions, the excitement, sense of suspense, apprehension, and exhilaration that drive the narrative, sometimes subtly with peaks and lulls, sometimes at a constant, breakneck pace." In short, a thriller thrills, mostly through skillful plotting. Toby Litt's second novel Corpsing (2000), is from Muriel Spark's point of view first-rate thriller”. However, while reading the book one discovers an overloaded novel that seems to want to struggle to be a thriller. [...]

[...] Moreover, he is followed by strange people began to suspect I was being followed”. The truth is revealed only at the very end of the book to keep the suspense and the reader's involvement. The italic calligraphy help the reader to follow the important steps of the investigation: the first one is when Conrad wakes up from coma and realizes what has happened; his sentence “there is someone out there who it is now my obligation to kill” settles the plot of the novel: one can say that it is the most important sentence of the book because it announces the issue of this thriller. [...]

[...] Actually, Conrad's emotional journey takes on some interesting dimensions in the book's middle pages. Feeling betrayed by his past, he begins to find within himself new reservoirs of anger and assertiveness. He becomes unpredictable, even in his own eyes, increasingly capable of almost any action, so that he must consciously curb his rising sense of resentment toward Lily: didn't want to rewrite my history of her too much if I did, it might take away too many of my current reasons for living. [...]