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The Genre of Trolls - Doria

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ization and unfinalizability co-exist, distributed on two different supernatural<br />

characters (text 2: R II 336). One narrative endorses unfinalizability<br />

throughout (text 3: SLS 37, 8), while two others reaffirm unfinalizability<br />

after the human characters have attempted to finalize the troll (text 5: SLS<br />

137 I, 1; text 1: R II 70). Finally, one story is difficult to analyze in terms <strong>of</strong><br />

finalization and unfinalizability (text 6: R II 67).<br />

Thus, there is a variety <strong>of</strong> ways <strong>of</strong> approaching the problem <strong>of</strong> unfinalizability.<br />

Correlating these results with the presence or absence <strong>of</strong> dialogue,<br />

it becomes evident that dialogue is indeed a rare thing, as Bakhtin himself<br />

acknowledged. Dialogue is present in some form, at some point, in only<br />

two narratives. Dialogue is combined with unfinalizability in one <strong>of</strong> these<br />

(text 1: R II 70), and this is the only instance <strong>of</strong> dialogue as Bakhtin envisioned<br />

it. <strong>The</strong> boy initially shows respect for the troll girl’s unfinalizability,<br />

but later in the story he prefers to finalize her. <strong>The</strong> second example <strong>of</strong> dialogue<br />

is coupled with finalization, which serves as a reminder that unfinalizability<br />

might not be the sole option (text 2: R II 336). <strong>The</strong> remainder depict<br />

monological relations linked with either finalization (text 4: Nyland<br />

1887, 180) or unfinalizability (text 2: R II 336; text 3: SLS 37, 8; text 1: R II<br />

70) at the close <strong>of</strong> the narratives; two texts finishing with finalization commence<br />

with a mixture <strong>of</strong> monologue and unfinalizability (text 4: Nyland<br />

1887, 180; text 5: SLS 137 I, 1). <strong>The</strong> last story (text 6: R II 67) also embraces<br />

monologue, but it is hard to tell whether it intermingles with finalization<br />

or unfinalizability. In order to facilitate an overview <strong>of</strong> the ratio between<br />

finalization and unfinalizability, and monologue and dialogue in my<br />

sample <strong>of</strong> material, I will provide a representation <strong>of</strong> the structure <strong>of</strong> the<br />

texts in this regard:<br />

276<br />

text 1: R II 70<br />

monologue/unfinalizability – monologue/finalization – monologue/unfinalizability<br />

(parents)<br />

dialogue/unfinalizability – monologue/finalization – monologue/unfinalizability<br />

(boy)<br />

text 2: R II 336<br />

dialogue/finalization (humans’ relation to troll woman)<br />

monologue/unfinalizability (humans’ relation to male troll)<br />

<strong>The</strong> Problems <strong>of</strong> Unfinalizability and Dialogue

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