Extended Essays 2021

be considered unreliable by historical literary terms, as they do not give readers enough

information to interpret the text as an author with a historical approach would have intended.

Similarly, Mitchell uses temporal distortion in Cloud Atlas , and fragments the non-linear

narrative in a comparable way. In fact, he even regards time in an untraditional way, writing

that time is simply “ what stops history happening at once; time is the speed at which the past

disappears ” 30 . Mit chell’s views on linearity support the contemporary author -centred

approach; ‘the concept that authorial authority limits and delegitimises readers’ interpretations

[must be] challenged’ 31 . In fact, Mitchell uses temporal distortion to encourage various reader

interpretations. Cloud Atlas is both analeptic and proleptic 32 , but is primarily a double-ended

framed narrative. The primary narrative is The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing, in which the

focalised narration comes from Adam, through his journal entries. The first chapter ends with

Adam writing: “ Reading my entry for 15 th October, when I first met Rafael” 33 and then cutting

off. The final chapter resumes his sentence exactly: “during our shared m al de mer on the

Tasman sea, I stand amazed at how [he] has become this sullen youth. ” 34 . The secondary

narrative is Letters from Zedelghem which Mitchell uses to interrupt the primary narrative mid-

sentence. This chapter switches to a new focaliser, R.F. (Robert Frobisher), who is writing the

letters , demonstrating Mitchell’s use of framed narration . Furthermore, readers are presented

with eight additional chapters before The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing is concluded. By

telling the story in a non-linear order, Mitchell is utilising temporal distortion to play with the

traditional, historical structure of the linear Freytag Model 35 . The gaps left by each narrator in

between the chapters, before they are concluded, present areas for readers to engage and fill in

30 Cloud Atlas – Page 244 31 Approaches to Reading Practices. QCAA, 2011 32 Beginning Theory. Peter Barry, 1995 33 Cloud Atlas – Page 39 34 Cloud Atlas – Page 493 35 Freytag's Technique of the Drama . Gustav Freytag, 1900

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