Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1975. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 357-363).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1975. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliography.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1980. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 206-211).

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Syndey. / Title taken from title screen (viewed October 5, 2007). Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis has explored the theme of Productive Unity in John Barth’s novel, Giles Goat – Boy. Productive Unity is the process in which the tendency to individuation and the tendency to connection counteract resulting in a unity in polarity. In part, Barth deals with Productive Unity by showing the intellectual development of his protagonist, George Giles. This study has traced George’s development as he moves towards a discovery and understanding of Productive Unity. Barth also treats Productive Unity in his characterization. This study has discussed characterization in terms of the characters’ attempts to distinguish between opposites in accordance with the tendency to individuation, to ignore distinctions in accordance with the tendency to connection, and to simultaneously distinguish between opposites and ignore distinctions in accordance with Productive Unity. Further, this study has examined the theme of Productive Unity as Barth develops it through his idea of cyclology.

Thesis--University of Wisconsin--Madison. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 263-265).

No description available.

No description available.

New, old novels, contemporary fictions that parody the forms, conventions, and devices of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century novels, form a significant and increasingly popular subclass of postmodernist fiction. Paradoxically combining realistic and metafictional conventions, these works establish an ironic dialogue with the past, employing yet simultaneously subverting traditional fictional techniques. / In this dissertation, I subject five new, old novels--John Barth's The Sot-Weed Factor and LETTERS, Erica Jong's Fanny, T. Coraghessan Boyle's Water Music, and John Fowles's The French Lieutenant's Woman--to a detailed analysis, which compares the parodic role of archaic devices in each contemporary novel to the serious use made of such devices in the past. I argue that new, old novels, by juxtaposing old and new world views, foreground the ontological concerns of fiction and suggest that literary representation is constitutive rather than imitative of reality. Their examination of the relationship between fiction and reality places them at the centre of contemporary concern.