Bridging Gaps: Mechanism of Indeterminacy as a Narrative Strategy in Dan Brown’s Inferno
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31185/wjfh.Vol22.Iss1.1477Keywords:
Indeterminacy, mechanism, Iser, cliffhangers, Dan Brown.Abstract
Indeterminacies and gaps are narrative strategies that engage readers and escalate the momentum of the plot. Hence, indeterminacy is an effective mechanism in thriller novels that aim to integrate readers in meaning making. In Inferno (2013), by Dan Brown (1964), the mechanism of indeterminacies is used as a narrative strategy to maintain suspense as the text contains many gaps and mysterious events to make readers fill in the blanks. The current study argues that indeterminacies and gaps in Brown’s Inferno are narrative strategies by applying Reader Response Theory and Wolfgang Iser’s notion of indeterminacy, which is demonstrated in his article titled “Indeterminacy and the Reader’s Response.” The study relies on textual analysis to find gaps and how they are used as a narrative strategy, including cliffhangers, the prologue, the epilogue, and the blend of past and present by referring to Dante’s Inferno. The findings demonstrate the importance of indeterminacies as a strategy for evoking readers’ interaction.
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