This dissertation on “Climate Change, the Ruined Island, and British Metamodernism” proceeds from the premise that a perspectival shift occurred in the early 2000s that altered the tenor of British climate fiction published in the decade that followed. The release of a third Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), less than a month after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, prompted an acute awareness of the present as a post-apocalyptic condition bracketed by catastrophe and extinction. In response, British authors experimented with double-mapping techniques designed to concretize the supranational scope of advanced climate change. An increasing number of British authors projected the historical ruination of remote island communities onto speculative topographies extrapolated from IPCC Assessments to compel contemporary readers to conceive of a climate-changed planet aslant. Given the spate of ruined-island- as-future-Earth novels published at the turn of the millennium, this dissertation intervenes in extant criticism by identifying David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas (2004), Will Self’s The Book of Dave (2006), and Jeanette Winterson’s The Stone Gods (2007) as noteworthy examples of a metamodernist subgenre that makes a distant future of a “futureless” past to position the reader in a state of imagined obsolescence. This project consequently draws on metamodernist theory as a useful heuristic for articulating the traits that distinguish metamodernist cli-fi from precursory texts, with the aim to connect British post-apocalyptic fiction, climate-fiction, and literary metamodernism in productive ways. As the body chapters of this dissertation demonstrate, metamodernist cli-fi primarily uses the double-mapped island to structurally discredit the present as singular in cataclysmic consequence and, therefore, deserving of an unprecedented technological fix. Ultimately, in attempting to refute the moment of completion that would mark history’s end, metamodernist cli-fi challenges the givenness of an anticipated future through which to anchor the advent of an irreversible tipping point. Given the relative dearth of literary scholarship devoted to metamodernist cli-fi, this project posits that this subgenre warrants greater critical attention because it offers potent means for short-circuiting the type of cynical optimism that insists on envisioning human survival in terms of divine, authoritarian, or techno-escapist interventions. / Graduate / 2021-08-08

Ungdomar spenderar mycket tid i skolan där de ingår i olika sociala sammanhang. I dessa speciella kontexter har det länge existerat normer för vad som anses vara rätt och fel beteende, utifrån både grupp- och könstillhörighet. Hur lärare och övrig skolpersonal väljer att synliggöra och diskutera dessa normer har betydelse för hur öppna och accepterande ungdomar är gentemot dem som anses avvika från normen. Utifrån ett queerteoretiskt perspektiv och med hjälp av Jeanette Wintersons debutroman Det finns annan frukt än apelsiner (1985) syftar denna text till att lyfta fram hur lärare kan undervisa i normkritisk litteraturläsning. Genom att välja litteratur med omsorg kan lärare hjälpa eleverna att ifrågasätta sina egna normföreställningar men också öppna upp tolknings- och diskussionsutrymmen som synliggör olika normer, identiteter och sexualiteter. Dagens läromedel har ett bristande fokus på normkritik, vilket resulterar i att lärare som vill undervisa normkritiskt behöver hitta eget undervisningsmaterial. Lärarens litteraturval blir därför avgörande för att kunna skapa ett öppet och tryggt klassrum där eleverna vågar uttrycka sig och samtidigt visar respekt och acceptans gentemot andras olikheter. Wintersons roman kan i undervisningssyfte användas för att åstadkomma just detta och öppna upp diskussioner som kan förankras i den värdegrund som skolan vilar på.

國立政治大學研究所碩士論文提要 研究所別： 英國語文研究所 論文名稱： 閱讀溫特森«銘刻在身»的爽 指導教授： 劉建基教授 研究生： 張惠慈 論文提要內容： （共一冊，約 31500 字，分五章） 本研究關於溫特森的《銘刻在身》旨在探究在閱讀此文本過程中，不同程度及不同形式的爽(jouissance)。此研究將著重於三方面：其一，追求愛情的爽；其二，在幻想中永恆的爽；其三，閱讀文本《銘刻於身》的爽。本論文將分五個章節。 我在第一章的前半部簡介溫特森及她的小說，在後半部，描繪拉岡心理學中三個限界（幻真界[the real]，想像界[the imaginary]，及象徵界[the symbolic]），及此三界與爽的交互作用。這三個限界及爽，將是本研究的理論基石。 第二章的討論旨在解釋，為何敘述者著迷於不斷陷入愛情，及為何露伊絲在小說結尾莫名其妙的消失了。乍看之下，敘述者對露伊絲的愛相當矛盾：敘述者對露伊絲宣稱其無窮的愛，卻又刻意地悄悄的遠離了她。然而事實上，敘述者的矛盾行為堪稱合理：因為愛與失去是共生的。在浪漫愛情故事裡，一段介於愛的主體(the loving subject)及被愛客體(the loved object)之間的距離是必要的。表面上，愛的主體（敘述者）的追求過程裡看來痛苦，而實際上他正無意識的，享受著對被愛客體無限的追求時的爽。在這迷戀他者的過程中，主體實際上是自我迷戀(narcissism)，而在這自我迷戀的過程中，主體將其自我理想(an ego-ideal)投射在被愛客體上，並美化被愛客體成為一理想的自我(an ideal ego)。 在第三章，我將對敘述者迷戀愛情的現象做更深入的探討：到底敘述者打算由露伊絲的完美形象中挖掘什麼，以及為何敘述者得與一個理想戀人，住在一個理想愛情的幻象之中？我發掘出其中最主要的原因來自於，主體懼怕被去勢及懼怕象徵界中的無能（例如婚姻、老去、死亡）。主體具有一個原生的欲望：期待完滿及永恆（此欲望是期待回歸幻象界以及獲得爽），然而在現實世界（象徵界）的短缺及壓迫之下，回歸的可能被榨乾。幻象(fantasy)於是成為主體（敘述者）的護欄，它一方面讓主體相信自己是全能，另一方面它掩蔽事實，讓主體忘卻自身的不完整和無能為力。 在第四章，我跳出單單在文本內容中的討論，進而探討文本與讀者之間的關係；本討論的立論基礎為羅蘭巴特的書寫式文本(writerly text)。在文本╱讀者及露伊絲╱敘述者之間，有一類似的有趣現象：文本之於讀者正如同露伊絲之於敘述者。在這兩個情況當中同時都有一被動的客體(the desired or probed object)勾引探索中的主體(the probing subject)，然後再由主體的追求中脫逃而去。閱讀《銘刻於身》，表面上痛苦萬分，而實際上卻令人陶醉：因為閱讀的爽正源自於，作者刻意設計的不確定因素(uncertain elements)。這些不確定因素，一方面玩弄讀者，一方面也在文本上形成一未填滿的空間，其特徵就是不斷的衍生(endless generation)－－讀者可以參與創造各式各類的可能性，而意義的系統將不斷延伸。一個單一的文本，在此不斷延伸的系統下，便成了多重文本，而閱讀此類書寫式文本之樂趣，就在於讀者不得不參與創造意義的過程。 最後我在第五章的結論部份，總結了愛與閱讀的爽具有相同的條件與模式：在追求的主體（讀者與愛的主體）與被追求的客體（文本及被愛客體）之間，空間與距離是不可避免的要素，因為隱藏在人體內的爽本身就是一個矛盾體。 Chapter One Introduction Chapter Two The Jouissance of Pursuing Love Chapter Three The Jouissance of Being Immortal in Fantasy Chapter Four The Bliss of Reading Written on the Body: A Writerly Text with Jouissance Chapter Five Coda / Abstract In this study of Jeanette Winterson’s Written on the Body I would like to explore jouissance in different forms and levels in the process of reading this novel. The emphasis will be laid upon three aspects: first, the jouissance of pursuing love; secondly, the jouissance of being immortal in fantasy; and thirdly, the jouissance of reading this novel. The thesis is divided into five parts. In the first chapter, the beginning section is devoted to a general introduction of Jeanette Winterson and her novels; in the ensuing section, I will picture the interrelationships between the three registers—the real, the imaginary, and the symbolic—and jouissance in Lacanian psychoanalysis, which will be adopted as the interpretative model to account for the theme of jouissance in the whole thesis. In the second chapter, I will stress on the narrator’s exalted love toward Louise and the construction of his/her ego. On the surface, it is odd that the narrator’s sublime love for Louise contradicts his/her decision—to leave Louise; however this paradox is reasonable, because love and loss is in fact symbiosis. A distance between the loving subject and the loved object is necessary in the case of romantic love; though painful, the loving subject enjoys itself in the act of endless pursuit for the loved object, which is actually an ideal ego of the subject’s self. The paradox of love in company with suffering explains the narrator’s addiction in love and the disappearance of Louise. In the third chapter, my interest is getting deeper: what does the narrator want to grub out of the ideal image of Louise, and why does the narrator have to live in the fantasy of ideal love and to be with an ideal lover? The principal cause that I will explore is the fear of being castrated and of the impotency of the symbolic. The subject has an essential desire to be integral and immortal (which is the concept of the real and is allied to jouissance), but there are forces from the reality (or the symbolic) to drain this desire. Therefore, fantasy becomes a protective talisman for the narrator (as well as for every subject) to forget its fragmentation and inability. In the fourth chapter, the interrelation between the text and the reader is the dominant consideration, and Roland Barthes’ theory of writerly text that engenders bliss (jouissance) will be the critical base. There is an interesting formula between the text/the reader and Louise/the narrator. The text for the reader is similar to Louise for the narrator: in both situations, the desired one seduces and slides from the probing other. Reading Written on the Body on the surface is painful and irritating; in a sense, the act of reading is ecstatic. The origin of the bliss of reading is the uncertain elements intentionally created by the author. The unfilled space in the text that entertains readers is characterized by its feature of endless generation—various possibilities are created, and the network of meanings extends. Therefore, to conclude the whole scheme of love and reading in the fifth chapter, I will point out that a space or a distance between the pursuing subject (the reader or the loving subject) and the pursued object (the text of the loved object) is inevitable because jouissance inherent in the human body is in its essence paradoxical.

The thesis elaborates upon a question which literary techniques Jeanette Winterson applies in her novels The Passion and Written on the Body to portray queer body. The thesis conceptualizes queer body as crystallizing in discontinuous relationships between the categories of sex, gender identity and compulsory heterosexuality within Butlerian heterosexual matrix. The possibility of discontinuous relationships between them - gender disorder - is realised in the act of beholding queer body. Conceptualization of queer body embedded within the Butlerian heterosexual matrix has not been elaborated upon in the full scope of Jeanette Winterson's work. Literary criticism deals with the body in Written on the Body, not, however, in the context of Butlerian model of heterosexual matrix. Articulation of queer body is realized by deconstructive techniques of Jeanette Winterson's writing. These are comprised in the motifs of mirroring in The Passion and palimpsest in Written on the Body. Ontological anxiety in The Passion brings queer body. Magic realism in the novel gives queer body magical skills which make gender disorder possible. Queer body is abject in the novel. In Written on the Body genderless narrator describes queer body as his/her body. It is an adorable and morbid body. The queer body in this novel...

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Nous définissons l’hybridation littéraire comme la combinaison d’éléments a priori disparates aboutissant à la création d’un ensemble à la fois un et multiple, qui garde les traces de ses parties constitutives tout en étant autre, différent, nouveau. L’hybride englobe les sphères de représentation de ses éléments-parents tout en les dépassant. Par conséquent, l’hybridation tend vers l’extension de toutes les frontières, littéraires et culturelles, dans le but de nous offrir une vision du monde et du sujet toujours plus complète. Dans Oranges are not the Only Fruit, Sexing the Cherry, Written on the Body et The PowerBook de Jeanette Winterson, l’hybridation se manifeste à tous les niveaux du texte. L’hybridité physique et sexuelle des narrateurs est ainsi une des manifestations de leurs identités et vies plurielles et paradoxales. Ces hybrides incarnés (monstres, travestis ou androgynes) se construisant au fil de leurs histoires, qui s’inspirent toujours de récits antérieurs, narrateurs et narrations se démultiplient conjointement, s’entremêlent et se redéfinissent sans cesse. Le texte fluctue au gré de l’hybridation générique et de l’intertextualité. De l’entrecroisement de genres réalistes – tels que l’autobiographie, le récit historique ou le discours scientifique – et fictionnels – tels que le conte ou la romance – naît un hybride générique à résonances parodiques représentant la nature du sujet, de sa vie, de la réalité et de la vérité. Enfin, en hybridant des textes préexistants à des motifs personnels, l’auteur élabore une narration originale qui réécrit les schémas sexistes relayés par ses ancêtres et retranscrit sa vision de l’individu, du monde et de l’art. / We understand literary hybridization as the combination of seemingly different elements resulting in the creation of an entity that is simultaneously single and multiple. Indeed, while it is utterly other and new, the hybrid still shows the marks of its constituents. The hybrid incorporates its ‘parents’’ initial fields of representation while reaching beyond them. Consequently, hybridization is a process that pushes all boundaries, be they literary or cultural, to offer an ever more complete vision of the subject and his/her life. In Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges are not the Only Fruit, Sexing the Cherry, Written on the Body and The PowerBook, hybridization permeates every level of the text. Thus, the narrators’ physical and sexual hybridity is a manifestation of their plural and paradoxical identities. These hybrid creatures (monsters, transvestites or androgynous beings) build their identities through the stories they tell and that are always inspired by existing narratives. Therefore, the narrators and their narratives proliferate conjointly, intermix and redefine each other constantly. The shape of the text fluctuates with generic hybridization and intertextuality. Realistic narratives – such as autobiographical, historical or scientific discourses – and fictional ones – such as fairy tales or romances – interact to produce generic hybrids with parodic undertones that represent the nature of the subject, his/her life, reality and truth. Finally, by hybridizing existing texts and personal literary devices, the author elaborates original narratives that rewrite her ancestors’ sexist discourses and reflect how she perceives the individual, the world and art.

Nous définissons l’hybridation littéraire comme la combinaison d’éléments a priori disparates aboutissant à la création d’un ensemble à la fois un et multiple, qui garde les traces de ses parties constitutives tout en étant autre, différent, nouveau. L’hybride englobe les sphères de représentation de ses éléments-parents tout en les dépassant. Par conséquent, l’hybridation tend vers l’extension de toutes les frontières, littéraires et culturelles, dans le but de nous offrir une vision du monde et du sujet toujours plus complète. Dans Oranges are not the Only Fruit, Sexing the Cherry, Written on the Body et The PowerBook de Jeanette Winterson, l’hybridation se manifeste à tous les niveaux du texte. L’hybridité physique et sexuelle des narrateurs est ainsi une des manifestations de leurs identités et vies plurielles et paradoxales. Ces hybrides incarnés (monstres, travestis ou androgynes) se construisant au fil de leurs histoires, qui s’inspirent toujours de récits antérieurs, narrateurs et narrations se démultiplient conjointement, s’entremêlent et se redéfinissent sans cesse. Le texte fluctue au gré de l’hybridation générique et de l’intertextualité. De l’entrecroisement de genres réalistes – tels que l’autobiographie, le récit historique ou le discours scientifique – et fictionnels – tels que le conte ou la romance – naît un hybride générique à résonances parodiques représentant la nature du sujet, de sa vie, de la réalité et de la vérité. Enfin, en hybridant des textes préexistants à des motifs personnels, l’auteur élabore une narration originale qui réécrit les schémas sexistes relayés par ses ancêtres et retranscrit sa vision de l’individu, du monde et de l’art. / We understand literary hybridization as the combination of seemingly different elements resulting in the creation of an entity that is simultaneously single and multiple. Indeed, while it is utterly other and new, the hybrid still shows the marks of its constituents. The hybrid incorporates its ‘parents’’ initial fields of representation while reaching beyond them. Consequently, hybridization is a process that pushes all boundaries, be they literary or cultural, to offer an ever more complete vision of the subject and his/her life. In Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges are not the Only Fruit, Sexing the Cherry, Written on the Body and The PowerBook, hybridization permeates every level of the text. Thus, the narrators’ physical and sexual hybridity is a manifestation of their plural and paradoxical identities. These hybrid creatures (monsters, transvestites or androgynous beings) build their identities through the stories they tell and that are always inspired by existing narratives. Therefore, the narrators and their narratives proliferate conjointly, intermix and redefine each other constantly. The shape of the text fluctuates with generic hybridization and intertextuality. Realistic narratives – such as autobiographical, historical or scientific discourses – and fictional ones – such as fairy tales or romances – interact to produce generic hybrids with parodic undertones that represent the nature of the subject, his/her life, reality and truth. Finally, by hybridizing existing texts and personal literary devices, the author elaborates original narratives that rewrite her ancestors’ sexist discourses and reflect how she perceives the individual, the world and art.

Nous définissons l'hybridation littéraire comme la combinaison d'éléments a priori disparates aboutissant à la création d'un ensemble à la fois un et multiple, qui garde les traces de ses parties constitutives tout en étant autre, différent, nouveau. L'hybride englobe les sphères de représentation de ses éléments-parents tout en les dépassant. Par conséquent, l'hybridation tend vers l'extension de toutes les frontières, littéraires et culturelles, dans le but de nous offrir une vision du monde et du sujet toujours plus complète. Dans Oranges are not the Only Fruit, Sexing the Cherry, Written on the Body et The PowerBook de Jeanette Winterson, l'hybridation se manifeste à tous les niveaux du texte. L'hybridité physique et sexuelle des narrateurs est ainsi une des manifestations de leurs identités et vies plurielles et paradoxales. Ces hybrides incarnés (monstres, travestis ou androgynes) se construisant au fil de leurs histoires, qui s'inspirent toujours de récits antérieurs, narrateurs et narrations se démultiplient conjointement, s'entremêlent et se redéfinissent sans cesse. Le texte fluctue au gré de l'hybridation générique et de l'intertextualité. De l'entrecroisement de genres réalistes - tels que l'autobiographie, le récit historique ou le discours scientifique - et fictionnels - tels que le conte ou la romance - naît un hybride générique à résonances parodiques représentant la nature du sujet, de sa vie, de la réalité et de la vérité. Enfin, en hybridant des textes préexistants à des motifs personnels, l'auteur élabore une narration originale qui réécrit les schémas sexistes relayés par ses ancêtres et retranscrit sa vision de l'individu, du monde et de l'art.