ABSTRACT
This chapter explores why covert progressions have been neglected thus far and brings to light various factors that underlie the neglect of this undercurrent. These include (a) the fetters of the narrative critical tradition, (b) the bondage of one image of a character, (c) the influence of a somewhat fixed authorial image, (d) the fetters formed by an author’s own words in historical materials, (e) purposeful camouflage, (f) subtlety of technique, (g) the bondage of one level of irony/non-irony, and (h) intertextual influence. With this exploration paving the way, the chapter proceeds to suggest how to uncover covert progression by putting forward 13 theses.
