This study of six novels by three post-World War II British novelists deals with the philosophical and pragmatic aspects of intimate relationship. Raymond Williams, in The English Novel from Dickens to Lawrence, establishes that novelists were among the first to recognise the destruction of the old community by industrialism. Without an alternate conception of community, industrial capitalism imposes itself directly upon the individual, and thus sets harsh limits upon the relationships he or she can create. One result is the alienation that Karl Marx described as inherent in the marketplaceosociety underpinning Victorian culture; or, in another idiom, the possessive individualism perceived by C.B. MacPherson. The increasing commercialism of society—the propensity, as Adam Smith phrased it, to truck and barter—has encouraged possessiveness, and has debased and alienated the most intimate aspects of human existence, especially sex and love. Sex is a central expression of the essence of life, and hence sexual relationships are adversely affected when they are alienated from love and community. As in the commercial transaction, intimacy in these six novels is vulnerable to the manipulation and the exploitation of one person by another, because there is no willingness to become involved in a reciprocal relationship. This commentary on the novels of John Fowles, Doris Lessing, and David Storey suggests some tentative conclusions about intimacy in the latter part of the 20th century. The working class novels generally emphasise traditional relationships; and tell us that individuals who try to discard them (as with Clegg in The Collector, and Machin in This Sporting Life), will lose £or never win) those whom they love. The emphasis upon money alienates them from their basic community, and destroys their integrity. There is no intimacy divorced from the primary social relationship. Middle class protagonists move away from community as they become dominant in a marketplace society. Their success transforms- them into alienated and possessive individualists; and their belated attempt to restore a sense of intimacy is an effort—perhaps tragic—to become whole in a fragmented world. But the relationships occur in a vacuum. Either they fail, as in The Golden Notebook, or the individuals reject intimacy, and flee forward from community into a super-individualism as with Martha Quest in The Four-Gated City. These novels tell us nothing of a social movement that will give the individual a sense of purpose or meaning: hence the individuals remain isolated, and seem to lose substance. When Leonard Radcliffe, for example (Radcliffe), murders his community out of his need for an absolute, he precipitates his own death. Again, Charles Smithson and Sarah Woodruff in The French Lieutenant1s Woman lose their vitality and sexual commitment because Sarah is more concerned to preserve her individuality. These examples serve to show that temporary and partial relationships are lethal to the spirit. The loss of intimacy is the result, in the end, of the loss of the moral sense. The displacement of the religious impulse to wholeness (the "disappearance of God") leaves one with the hollow victories of possessive individualism in a fragmented society. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

Vieno įdomiausių šiuolaikinio anglų rašytojo John’o Fowles’o kūryba yra lyg išsamus ir gilus ekskursas į vakarietiškos kultūros, filosofijos, mitologijos, meno ir istorijos raidą. Pasaulinėje literatūros kritikoje, J. Fowles’o proza yra analizuojama šiais aspektais: 1) kaip romantizmo ir neoromantizmo idėjų tesėja ir skleidėja, 2) kaip egzistencialistinės literatūros tęsėja, 3) kaip postmodernistinės rašymo tradicijos skleidėja, 4) kaip mitopoetikos ir mitinio rašymo atstovė. Darbo tikslas yra pateikti struktūrinę pačio Orfėjo mito analizę ir pritaikyti ją analizuojant Fowles’o prozą. Orfėjo mito struktūra atskleidžia akivaizdžias tris dalis, į kurias susigrupuoja visos mite esančios mitologemos. Trinarė Orfėjo mito struktūra sudaro binarines opozicijas, kuriomis remiantis galima atskleisti giluminius mito klodus, santykių pluoštus ir konfliktus.Pirmieji Orfėjo mitą pateikę rašytiniai šaltiniai - Vergilijaus „Georgikos“ ir Ovidijaus „Metamorfozės“ jau byloja apie šio mito invariantų interpretacinę gausą ir įvairovę. Vergilijus ir Ovidijus tą patį Orfėjo mitą pateikia visiškai skirtingai. Vergilijus naudoja Orfėjo mitą kaip Aristėjo mito svarbią dalį, kuri paaiškina gamtinio, kosminio ir kolektyvinio ciklo sutrikimą, t.y. – bičių praradimą. Ovidijus savo „Metamorfozėse“, priešingai nei kad Vergilijaus „Georgikose“, Orfėjas mite atlieka tarpininko vaidmenį, jis yra mediatorius, pagrindinė ašis leidžianti egzistuoti visiem esantiems mite santykiams ir konfliktams. Orfėjas kaip... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / One of the most interesting contemporary novelists John Fowles’s creation can be considered as a deep and broad excursus to the development of western culture, philosophy, mythology, art and history. In literature critics Fowles’s creation is analysed in these aspects: 1) as the existential projections of romance proceeding the traditions of the romanticism literature, 2) as the holder of existential literature traditions, 3) as the supporter of postmodern tradition in literature, 3) as the representative of myth poetic. The aim of this thesis is to give the structural analysis of the myth of Orpheus and to apply it in the analysis of Fowles’s prose. The structure of the myth of Orpheus reveals three parts and groups all the myth elements in them. The trinomial structure of the myth of Orpheus creates the binary oppositions that help to reveal all the layers of the myth, the main conflicts and relations. Virgil’s “Georgics” and Ovid’s “Metamorphosis” - the first written resources where we meet the myth of Orpheus, already proves that the myth has lots of invariants and interpretation possibilities. Virgil and Ovid represent the myth of Orpheus in very different ways. Virgil uses the myth of Orpheus as the complex part of the myth of Aristeus which helps to explain the reason how he lost his bees and why the natural order is discomfited. Ovid in his “Metamorphosis” argues Virgil and depicts the myth of Orpheus as the main centre of narration and the base for the other myths... [to full text]

The thesis reveals the main principles of the theatrical chronotope and examines the ways in which it is embodied in the novels of two postmodern authors &ndash / The Magus by John Fowles and England, England by Julian Barnes. These are analyzed as presenting two different variants of texts that employ the theatrical chronotope to exploit its different possible semantic implications. The thesis argues that in The Magus theatricality is employed to convey the author&rsquo / s philosophical and aesthetical thoughts. The main qualities of the theatrical universe, actualized in the novel, are its epistemological potential determining the protagonist&rsquo / s quest in the &ldquo / heuristic mill&rdquo / of the metatheatre, and the multileveled structure of theatrical reality, combining different degrees of conventionality, which serves to posit the question of the relationships of aesthetical and actual reality. In England, England, theatricality is used to investigate the nature of modern society presented as a kind of totalitazing spectacle. Accordingly, the theatrical chronotope is used to construct a simulative reality, manifesting that of the modern society in replacing the actual reality and experience of living with the illusory pseudo-experience of consuming the images of reality and living, in its role-imposing and transforming abilities manipulating both personal and national identity.

Thesis (M.A.) -- University of New Brunswick, Dept. of English, 2003. / Typescript. Works cited: Leaves 119-123. Also available online through University of New Brunswick, UNB Electronic Theses & Dissertations.

Proefschrift--Natuurwetenschappen--Universitet Leiden. / Résumé en néerlandais. Notes bibliogr.

Th. Ph. D--English--Uppsala university, 1995.

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Existentialism and Darwinism provide a means of viewing the development of personal freedom in a young English gentleman, Charles Smithson. Guided by Sarah Woodruff, a social outcast, Charles approaches freedom through the existential conditions of terror, anguish, and despair; he encounters alienation, human finitude, and the loss of a relationship with God on the way. The realization of his trapped state is aided by the Darwinian analogy present in the novel: the monied leisure class to which Charles belongs is presented as the species approaching extinction because it fails to make the changes necessary to survive changed conditions. The novel's two endings combine existential and Darwinian elements to present to Charles the choice that can help him escape his trapped state and gain freedom.

This essay analyses the two main characters in John Fowles’s novel The Collector and the three characters Miranda, Ferdinand and Caliban in William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, as well as the intertextual connection between them. The essay is based off the idea of intertextuality, which refers to a connection between texts. To study this connection, a comparative method is used. The character analysis is grounded upon Shlomith Rimmon- Kenan’s model for characterization. The essay concludes that the main characteristics of the characters in The Tempest are mirrored in the corresponding characters in The Collector. Miranda is kindhearted, empathic, brave, naïve, romanticizing, innocent and superior. Ferdinand and Caliban are both present in Clegg’s character, in which the former side is naïve, romanticizing, civilized, in control of his sexual urge and honorable; while the latter side is inhuman, a villain, violent, uncivilized, not in control of his sexual urge, incapable of change and does not show any remorse. The comparison of the two works also sheds light on the slave-motif that is present in The Collector, both in the inner struggle between Clegg’s two alter egon, as well as in his relationship with Miranda. / Denna uppsats analyserar de två huvudkaraktärerna i John Fowles roman The Collector och de tre karaktärerna Miranda, Ferdinand och Caliban i William Shakespeares pjäs The Tempest samt den intertextuella kopplingen dem emellan. Uppsatsen utgår från begreppet intertextualitet som indikerar ett samband mellan texter. För att undersöka detta samband används en komparativ metod. I botten för karaktärsanalysen ligger Shlomith Rimmon- Kenans modell för karakterisering. Uppsatsen visar att huvuddragen hos karaktärerna i The Tempest speglas i karaktärernas motparter i The Collector. Miranda är godhjärtad, empatisk, modig, naiv, romantiserande, oskuldsfull och överlägsen. Ferdinand och Caliban kommer båda till uttryck i Cleggs karaktär, där den förra sidan är naiv, romantiserande, civiliserad, i kontroll över sin sexuella drift och hederlig; medan den senare sidan är omänsklig, en skurk, våldsam, ociviliserad, inte kan kontrollera sin sexuella drift, oförmögen att förändras och inte visar någon ånger. Jämförelsen mellan verken bidrar även till att belysa det slavmotiv som förekommer i The Collector och tar uttryck dels i den inre kamp som pågår mellan Cleggs två alteregon samt i hans relation med Miranda.