ABSTRACT
'On with the story' has been John Barth's signature phrase for some time. In an essay detailing his personal theory of narrative digression Barth discusses his fascination with the Mandelbrot set, which notably resembles the arabesque in its appearance. The Mandelbrot set can be useful in demonstrating one aspect of Barth's narrative techniques not yet fully addressed: the principle of infinite expansion. The Mandelbrot set can be useful in demonstrating one aspect of Barth's narrative techniques not yet fully addressed: the principle of infinite expansion. By combining the designs of the arabesque and the Mandelbrot set we can arrive at John Barth's theory of narrative digression: infinite story generation which keeps the narrative in a permanent state of becoming an infinite expansion to keep the story from achieving its end. Barth finds the notion of 'turbulent flow' useful to understanding the specific technique of narrative digression in the 1001.
