Em uma entrevista feita por Travis Elborough para uma edição especial de quarenta anos da editora Picador, exatamente no ano em que o romance The Sea (2005), de John Banville, recebe o Booker Prize, o escritor irlandês responde da seguinte maneira a uma indagação sobre o título da obra: Acho que eu tinha o título antes de qualquer coisa, e gosto de pensar num ritmo oceânico através de cada página (p.2, tradução nossa). Realmente Banville consegue produzir o deslumbrante efeito de um movimento marítimo que percorre ciclicamente os três eixos espaço-temporais e narratológicos do romance. Entretanto, não há linearidade cronológica na orquestração desses momentos. Apresentam-se na realidade os percursos criativos de uma mente irrequieta, revelando assim os diferentes estados de consciência de Max Morden, o narrador e estudioso dos quadros de Pierre Bonnard. Nota-se, sobretudo, que essa passagem fluida de informações mnemônicas e cognitivas dentro do universo subjetivo do herói é mediada pela presença de outras artes essencialmente as visuais, tais como a pintura e a fotografia , resultando não apenas numa prosa poética que é a marca registrada de Banville, mas igualmente numa rica linguagem interartística, as quais tornar-se-ão o instrumento essencial para a construção metaficcional da narrativa do romance. Não menos relevante é o centro catalisador dessas memórias, ou seja, o recorrente e doloroso sentimento de perda de pessoas queridas, o qual impulsiona Morden na escrita de seu diário. Portanto, buscaremos investigar as características, propósitos e desdobramentos dessa estética multiforme na obra Banvilliana, considerando, mediante noções teóricas sobre ekphrasis, como a interface entre uma linguagem incrivelmente embuizada de poeticidade e o recurso de representações visuais contribuem para uma nova síntese narratológica diante de um mundo mnemônico que tende a se esfacelar, e como a metaficção de The Sea reconstitui, reproduz e, em última instância, celebra os processos intrigantes das memórias de um ser humano. / In an interview carried out by Travis Elborough for a special edition celebrating Picadors 40th anniversary, in the same year the novel The Sea (2005) by John Banville is awarded the Booker Prize, the Irish writer gives the following answer to a question concerning the title of his work: I think I had the title before I had anything else, and I like to think an oceanic rhythm through every page (p. 2). In fact, Banville is able to convey a mesmerising effect of an oceanic movement that cyclically flows through the novels three narratological and spatiotemporal axes. However, there is no chronological linearity in the orchestration of these moments. Actually the creative meanderings of a restless mind are shown, thus revealing the different states of Mordens conscience, the narrator who studies Pierre Bonnards paintings. It is seen, above all, that this fluidic passage of mnemonic and cognitive pieces of information within the heros subjective domain is mediated by the presence of other forms of art especially the visual ones, such as painting and photography , resulting not only in a poetic prose that is Banvilles hallmark, but similarly in a rich interartistic language. These formal aspects will serve as the essential tool for the metafictional construction of the novel narrative. The galvanising centre of these memories has equal importance, that is, the recurrent and painful feeling of losing endeared people, which propels Morden to write his diary. Therefore, we will investigate the characteristics, purposes and unfoldings belonging to this multiform aesthetics of the Banvillian novel, considering by means of theoretical notions of ekphrasis how the interface between an incredibly poeticised language and the resource of visual representations contributes to a new narratological synthesis in the face of a mnemonic world that tends to fall apart, and how the metafiction of The Sea reconstitutes, reproduces and ultimately celebrates the intricate processes of a human beings memories.

Em uma entrevista feita por Travis Elborough para uma edição especial de quarenta anos da editora Picador, exatamente no ano em que o romance The Sea (2005), de John Banville, recebe o Booker Prize, o escritor irlandês responde da seguinte maneira a uma indagação sobre o título da obra: Acho que eu tinha o título antes de qualquer coisa, e gosto de pensar num ritmo oceânico através de cada página (p.2, tradução nossa). Realmente Banville consegue produzir o deslumbrante efeito de um movimento marítimo que percorre ciclicamente os três eixos espaço-temporais e narratológicos do romance. Entretanto, não há linearidade cronológica na orquestração desses momentos. Apresentam-se na realidade os percursos criativos de uma mente irrequieta, revelando assim os diferentes estados de consciência de Max Morden, o narrador e estudioso dos quadros de Pierre Bonnard. Nota-se, sobretudo, que essa passagem fluida de informações mnemônicas e cognitivas dentro do universo subjetivo do herói é mediada pela presença de outras artes essencialmente as visuais, tais como a pintura e a fotografia , resultando não apenas numa prosa poética que é a marca registrada de Banville, mas igualmente numa rica linguagem interartística, as quais tornar-se-ão o instrumento essencial para a construção metaficcional da narrativa do romance. Não menos relevante é o centro catalisador dessas memórias, ou seja, o recorrente e doloroso sentimento de perda de pessoas queridas, o qual impulsiona Morden na escrita de seu diário. Portanto, buscaremos investigar as características, propósitos e desdobramentos dessa estética multiforme na obra Banvilliana, considerando, mediante noções teóricas sobre ekphrasis, como a interface entre uma linguagem incrivelmente embuizada de poeticidade e o recurso de representações visuais contribuem para uma nova síntese narratológica diante de um mundo mnemônico que tende a se esfacelar, e como a metaficção de The Sea reconstitui, reproduz e, em última instância, celebra os processos intrigantes das memórias de um ser humano. / In an interview carried out by Travis Elborough for a special edition celebrating Picadors 40th anniversary, in the same year the novel The Sea (2005) by John Banville is awarded the Booker Prize, the Irish writer gives the following answer to a question concerning the title of his work: I think I had the title before I had anything else, and I like to think an oceanic rhythm through every page (p. 2). In fact, Banville is able to convey a mesmerising effect of an oceanic movement that cyclically flows through the novels three narratological and spatiotemporal axes. However, there is no chronological linearity in the orchestration of these moments. Actually the creative meanderings of a restless mind are shown, thus revealing the different states of Mordens conscience, the narrator who studies Pierre Bonnards paintings. It is seen, above all, that this fluidic passage of mnemonic and cognitive pieces of information within the heros subjective domain is mediated by the presence of other forms of art especially the visual ones, such as painting and photography , resulting not only in a poetic prose that is Banvilles hallmark, but similarly in a rich interartistic language. These formal aspects will serve as the essential tool for the metafictional construction of the novel narrative. The galvanising centre of these memories has equal importance, that is, the recurrent and painful feeling of losing endeared people, which propels Morden to write his diary. Therefore, we will investigate the characteristics, purposes and unfoldings belonging to this multiform aesthetics of the Banvillian novel, considering by means of theoretical notions of ekphrasis how the interface between an incredibly poeticised language and the resource of visual representations contributes to a new narratological synthesis in the face of a mnemonic world that tends to fall apart, and how the metafiction of The Sea reconstitutes, reproduces and ultimately celebrates the intricate processes of a human beings memories.

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This thesis analyses the links between masculinity and representations of power in the fiction of John Banville and argues that his use of the category of the aesthetic,especially the sublime, strategically presents the masculine subject as the site of a loss of power, often figured as selffragmentation or self-delusion. This strategy is particularly evident in Banville’s approach to problems of representation, especially with regard to narrating the past, the construction of systems of knowledge, and efforts to achieve or articulate self-presence balanced by an ethical relation to the other. In each case, gender difference and sexual desire act as markers within Banville’s key themes as part of the enactment of failure that defines the male protagonist. Existing gender criticism has examined many of the representations of women and femininity in Banville’s fiction, but has fully considered neither the ways in which these representations contribute to the construction of the male narrative subject that is the origin or focus of the text, nor the gender politics of the various articulations of creativity and intellectual activity valorised by Banville. Drawing upon Nick Mansfield’s work on cultural masochism, the thesis argues that the disavowal of power, or its entanglement in unresolvable dialectics, constitutes a subtle technique for managing power relations, the origins of which lie in the ambivalent relation to power at the heart of subject-formation. Contrary to the view that Banville’s fiction directly de-centres or deconstructs subjectivity, it shows that by aestheticising the de-centred subject the fiction works to neutralise difference and ultimately recuperate unity within elastic, even contradictory, narratives of self. Through readings of seven of Banville’s novels, it demonstrates that the misrecognitions and ironies that drive his fiction present epistemological and representational failures within an aesthetic closure that asserts itself, paradoxically, through these very failures to establish closure. Crucially, it is in the language of desire that this paradox is expressed. The thesis concludes that the logic of the sublime enables Banville to dramatise a fragmented masculinity that has lost its basis in traditional representational and philosophical ideals, but that it simultaneously brings about a recuperation and consolidation of the very power structures his writing appears to disavow.

Thesis (B.A.)--Haverford College, Dept. of English, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Focada na análise do romance de John Banville, The Sea, esta dissertação de mestrado procura analisar os elementos que julga fundamentais na obra: a memória e o processo de recordação. A parte I concentra-se na figura do narrador, o qual foi estudado sob quatro aspectos diferentes: a posição de onde narra, a relação que mantém com a memória, o viés ensaísta e o estilo, nesta parte nossos principais referenciais teóricos foram Walter Benjamin, Anatol Rosenfeld e Theodor Adorno. Na parte II, o foco foi a revisitação do passado e, dentro desse aspecto, estudou-se o cunho mítico da memória da infância, a partir das considerações de Joseph Campbell sobre esse assunto; além disso, estudou-se a relação entre tempo, espaço e memória, tendo como base Henri Bergson e George Poulet. / Focused on the analysis of John Banvilles novel, The Sea, this dissertation tries to analyze what it considers to be the most important elements in the novel: memory and the process of remembering. Part I investigates the narrator who was studied in four different aspects: position from which he narrates, his relationship with memory, his talent for the essay and his style; to that, Walter Benjamim, Theodor Adorno and Anatol Rosenfeld were of great help. Part II had as its focus the revisited past in which the mythic connotation of the narrators childhood was studied using Joseph Campbells considerations about myth; besides that, the relationship established among time, space and memory was analyzed with the help of Henri Bergson and George Poulet.

Focada na análise do romance de John Banville, The Sea, esta dissertação de mestrado procura analisar os elementos que julga fundamentais na obra: a memória e o processo de recordação. A parte I concentra-se na figura do narrador, o qual foi estudado sob quatro aspectos diferentes: a posição de onde narra, a relação que mantém com a memória, o viés ensaísta e o estilo, nesta parte nossos principais referenciais teóricos foram Walter Benjamin, Anatol Rosenfeld e Theodor Adorno. Na parte II, o foco foi a revisitação do passado e, dentro desse aspecto, estudou-se o cunho mítico da memória da infância, a partir das considerações de Joseph Campbell sobre esse assunto; além disso, estudou-se a relação entre tempo, espaço e memória, tendo como base Henri Bergson e George Poulet. / Focused on the analysis of John Banvilles novel, The Sea, this dissertation tries to analyze what it considers to be the most important elements in the novel: memory and the process of remembering. Part I investigates the narrator who was studied in four different aspects: position from which he narrates, his relationship with memory, his talent for the essay and his style; to that, Walter Benjamim, Theodor Adorno and Anatol Rosenfeld were of great help. Part II had as its focus the revisited past in which the mythic connotation of the narrators childhood was studied using Joseph Campbells considerations about myth; besides that, the relationship established among time, space and memory was analyzed with the help of Henri Bergson and George Poulet.

Ce projet porte sur les romans de john banville et avec les théories psychanalytiques. l'argument principal de cette recherche sera que le narrateur névrosé qui est utilisé dans les œuvres de banville réalise une conscience qui est proche de ce que toshio kawai a appelé 'la conscience post-moderne' qui est associé à nombreux attributs du postmodernisme (en particulier les théories de baudrillard). ce nouveau type de conscience a pour sa composante d'un type de distance, ou plutôt, une dissociation de la notion de la réalité et elle est associée à l'arbitraire, (surtout revendication de lacan que l'objet de notre désir est arbitraire), ainsi que la virtualité (baudrillard, adorno et horkheimer). selon kawai, encore une fois, il existe une conscience moderne qui a comme conséquence un degré de répression dans la psyché de l'individu qui, prenant la parole psychanalytique, suggèrent un certain degré de névrose ou à des moments de psychose sens partiel ou total sentiment d'être perdu entre l'imagination et réalité.la recherche vise à explorer les questions initiales suivantes:1 - quelle est la relation entre la névrose et ce qu'on appelle le postmodernisme?2 - comment cette relation peut être vu dans la fiction de banville?3 – dans quelle façon banville utilise un narrateur névrotique pour obtenir un effet post-moderne?4 - si, selon kawai, la modernité est associée à la répression et donc la névrose, alors, est-il possible de penser que la postmodernité est associée à la psychose, de schizophrénie ou d'autres anomalies psychopathologiques? comment cela se voit dans la fiction de banville?5 - y a t-il un mouvement de modernisme au postmodernisme dans la fiction de banville?comment cela peut-il être considéré dans un contexte psychanalytique? / The present project sets to complement the previous readings of the “self” in John Banville’s fiction by reproblematizing the precariousness of the author’s “subject of narration.” It examines the way in which the author constantly manipulates various narrative elements and consequently creates new experiences. Jacques Lacan’s understanding of the relation between the subject and the signifier, I argue, provides an excellent set of tools to address the way in which the notion of subjectivity is dissected, enhanced, and even extended, in Banville’s philosophically imbued fiction. The central thesis is that Banville creates a narrative universe in which his protagonists’ perception moves in interesting ways as the aspects of the Lacanian triad (the Symbolic, the Imaginary and the Real) are reshuffled, resulting in a precarious sense of self and reality. Although other thinkers (especially the ones hinted at in the narrative, most notably, de Man, Kleist, and Nietzsche) are drawn upon, the theoretical backbone relies on Lacan’s theory of subjectivity as well as recent Lacanian thinkers, most notably, Slavoj Žižek, Mladen Dollar, and Stijn Vanheule. Žižek’s reading of Lacan is of special interest to this study as he theorizes virtuality as a concept using Lacan’s triadic model. In addition, using Žižek’s definition of postmodernism as “symbolic inefficacy” allows us to shed new light on the long debate over Banville’s modernism versus his postmodernism. The dissertation consists of three parts. The first part focuses on Banville’s earlier work, namely, Birchwood, Mefisto, and The Book of Evidence. Here, I examine how the narrators’ preoccupation with finding certainty and truth results in a psychotic universe in Mefisto and a hysteric one in The Book of Evidence. Focusing on the latest trilogy, Eclipse, Shroud, and Ancient Ligh the second part examines the way in which Banville uses the category of the uncanny to create a Gothic narrative in Eclipse. Moreover, the concept of object a is used to demonstrate how the subject/object distinction collapses and gives rise to the Real dimension of the subject. The third and final part argues that the narrators seek to counter the undecidability generated in their uncanny narrations via the rehabilitation of the surface, one with which they hope to restore their precarious sense of self. Both chapters in this part address Banville’s engagement with Paul de Man’s deconstructive theory of language and representation and argue that Banville stages de Man’s ideas as well as his life-story in order to advance his own conception of representation and selfhood. Friedrich Nietzsche, I claim in both chapters, provides the narrators with a way out of the predicament posited by de Man. The underlying idea explored throughout the project is that Banville’s epistemological project can be summed up as an attempt to find a mode of articulation independent from the Symbolic order as most of his narrators, in one way or another, express a fundamental incredulity towards the Symbolic Other. By stripping reality of its Symbolic underpinnings, the Banvillian protagonist allows the Real to emerge and then domesticates it as magic. He does so using the surface of the written pages of his narrative, a surface onto which he can fuse word and image.

Cette thèse examine la pertinence d’une filiation beckettienne chez John Banville, et propose d’envisager les apparentes divergences d’écriture comme les manifestations d’une même affection mélancolique : en effet, l’économie beckettienne et la profusion banvillienne pourraient constituer deux produits d’une écriture placée sous le signe du double et du décalage. John Banville poursuit à sa manière le projet beckettien de l’esthétique de l’échec : il illustre, à l’instar de son devancier, l’impossibilité de concilier deux images contradictoires de la réalité, celle, idéale, d’une pensée conduite selon les règles de la science, et cette autre, proliférante, instable, de la matière même. Le principe selon lequel le double dégradé de l’idéal met en échec toute tentative d’ordonner les données du réel sous-tend et caractérise les œuvres de ces deux écrivains, que rassemble une même fascination pour la science et ses systèmes de pensée. Le fossé séparant idéal et contingence, ordonnancement de la pensée et chaos matériel, y abrite la source d’une écriture mélancolique. L’analyse du discours pseudo-scientifique, qui dans le même mouvement témoigne d’une volonté affichée d’apprivoiser le réel et révèle l’instabilité fondamentale de l’être et du langage, permet de mettre au jour une filiation mélancolique. C’est cette filiation que l’on peut suivre en observant les persistances visuelles et auditives, et plus largement la perpétuation du ressassement de la pensée spéculative : les images, voix et pensées de l’impuissance font perpétuellement retour au sein des œuvres, mais également d’une œuvre à l’autre, et de Beckett à Banville. / This thesis tries to uncover a literary filiation between Samuel Beckett and John Banville, with particular emphasis on Beckett’s Trilogy and John Banville’s scientific tetralogy. It proposes to consider their apparently diverging modes of writing as two manifestations of the same melancholy affection: the economy of means in Beckett and its profusion in Banville could be regarded as two modes of literary production characterized by discrepancy and error. John Banville follows the Beckettian project of an esthetics of failure – like his predecessor, he illustrates the impossibility of successfully combining two contradictory images of reality, one an ideal image driven by thought mechanisms modelled on scientific procedures, and the other, a buzzing, instable image of matter itself. The principle whereby the degraded double of the ideal necessarily defeats every attempt at ordering the data of reality underpins and defines the works of the two writers, displaying a fascination for science and systems of thought. In their fiction, the gap between ideal and contingency, between thought processes and material chaos, is the source of a melancholy inspiration. The analysis of pseudo-scientific discourse, which both testifies to a determination to gain control over chaotic reality and reveals the fundamental instability of being and language, allows us to uncover a link between the two writers, based on melancholy. This legacy can then be evidenced through the observation of the same visual and auditory perceptions, and more largely the perpetuation of boundless speculation: images, voices, and thoughts of impotence recur throughout the works, but also from one work to the next, and from Beckett to Banville.

Translation of the author's thesis written in Portuguese (doctoral)--University of São Paulo, Brazil, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [163]-177) and index.