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<p>This thesis attempts to address the notion of unreliable narration and its treatment tn the postmodern novel. More specifically, it seeks to identify a number of characteristics shared by novels which offer fictional treatments of historical biographies and autobiographies. These characteristics include the use of dual ontological narrative structures, self-reflexivity, the deconstruction of authority and the genre in question, and finally, the existence of psychological truth in the narrators.</p> <p>Chapter One briefly addresses the historical development of unreliable narration, examining works from Henry Fielding through to postmoderntsm. Chapter Two begins the Inquiry into specific works by examining Michael Ondaatje's autobiographical novel, Running in the Family, and the way that the narrator fabricates a relationship with the father he has barely known in order to cope with the experience of loss. Chapter Three concerns Timothy Findley's The Wars, and the deconstruction of authority in the portrayal of history through a narrator who, because of emotional involvement with his/her subject, actively fictionalizes what ts ostensibly intended to be a faithful historical account. Finally, Chapter Four examines Carol Shields' The Stone Diaries, and its narrator's active invention of emotional experience in order to impose meaning on what she perceives as a meaningless existence.</p> / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

The aim of this dissertation is to study postmodern historical novels, which are labeled &ldquo / historiographic metafictions&rdquo / (Hutcheon 1989: 92), in terms of their allowing for different voices and alternative, plural histories by subverting the historical documents and events that they refer to. The study analyzes texts from feminist and postcolonial literature, Jeanette Winterson&rsquo / s The Passion and Sexing the Cherry, and Salman Rushdie&rsquo / s Midnight&rsquo / s Children and Shame as examples in which the transgression of boundaries between fact and fiction is achieved. Basing its arguments on postmodern understanding of history, the thesis puts forward that historiography not only represents past events but it also gives meaning to them, as it is a signifying system, and turns historical events into historical facts. Historiography, while constructing historical facts, singles out certain past events while omitting others, for ideological reasons. This inevitably leads to the fact that marginalized groups are denied an official voice by hegemonic ideologies. Therefore, history is regarded as monologic, representing the dominant discourse. The thesis will analyze four novels by Winterson and Rushdie as double-voiced discourses where the dominant voice of history is refracted through subversion and gives way to other voices that have been suppressed. While analyzing the novels themselves, the thesis will look for the metafictional elements of the texts, stressing self-reflexivity, non-linear narrative, and parodic intention to pinpoint the refraction and the co-existence of plural voices. As a result, historiographic metafiction is proved to be a liberating genre, for feminist and postcolonial writers, that enables other histories to be verbalized.

L’étude porte sur la question des burakumin, les intouchables japonais, dans deux oeuvres de l’écrivain japonais Nakagami Kenji (1946-1992), lui-même issu de cette communauté. Mille ans de plaisir, recueil de six contes basés sur des récits de vie, et le roman Miracle forment une suite organisée autour des mêmes lieux, des mêmes personnages et des mêmes thèmes. Ils décrivent la condition sociale d’une collectivité mise au ban de la société japonaise malgré sa modernisation. Ils se distinguent par leur caractère d’ethnofiction. Nakagami cherche à réhabiliter les burakumin en valorisant le patrimoine religieux et folklorique dont ils sont dépositaires. Il puise dans les genres traditionnels comme le monogatari ou les contes et légendes du Japon. Il s’inspire également d’auteurs modernes japonais (Mishima, Tanizaki) et d’auteurs étrangers (Faulkner, García-Márquez). À partir de cet intertexte et pour faire barrage à l’occidentalisation, il élabore un style « hybride » digne de la littérature nationale (kokubungaku). Les oeuvres traditionnelles sont réinterprétées dans une esthétique postmoderne ayant une fonction ironique et critique contre l’idéologie impériale répressive qui continue d’alimenter la discrimination envers les burakumin. L’analyse porte sur les procédés qui sous-tendent le projet social et le projet littéraire de l’auteur. Elle se divise en trois parties. La première donne un aperçu biographique de l’auteur et décrit les composantes de son projet social qui consiste à vouloir changer l’image et le statut des burakumin. La deuxième partie décrit les éléments religieux et folkloriques des deux oeuvres et analyse en contexte leur signification ainsi que leur fonction, qui est de mettre en valeur les traditions préservées par les burakumin. La troisième partie montre en quoi le répertoire traditionnel (monogatari) et les intertextes sont mis au service du projet littéraire proprement dit. / This study addresses the issue of burakumin, Japanese untouchable or social outcast, in the works of the Japanese novelist Nakagami Kenji (1946-1992), who had himself come from this community. Together, A Thousand Years of Pleasure, a collection of six tales based on life stories, and the novel Miracle, form a continuum articulated around the same places, characters and themes. They describe the social condition of a community exiled by the Japanese society in spite of its modernization and stand out as works of the ethnofiction genre. Nakagami tries to rehabilitate the burakumin by the valorization of the religious and folk heritage of which they are the custodians. He draws from the traditional works such as monogatari, the folk tales and legends of Japan. He also draws from contemporary Japanese authors (Mishima, Tanizaki) as well as from foreign ones (Faulkner, García-Márquez). With this intertext as a starting point and to stand against westernization, he elaborates a “hybrid” style worthy of the national literature (kokubungaku). The traditional works are reinterpreted with postmodern aesthetics that introduce an ironic and critical tone against the repressive imperial ideology still feeding discrimination towards burakumin. The analysis bears on the processes underlying the social and literary projects of the author. The thesis is divided in three parts. The first one provides a biographic overview of the author`s life and describes the components of his social project which consisted in changing the image and status of burakumin. The second describes the religious and folk elements of both works and analyzes in context their meaning and their function, which is to emphasize the traditions upheld by the burakumin. The third and last part shows how the traditional repertoire (monogatari) and intertexts are used to support the literary project itself.

L’étude porte sur la question des burakumin, les intouchables japonais, dans deux oeuvres de l’écrivain japonais Nakagami Kenji (1946-1992), lui-même issu de cette communauté. Mille ans de plaisir, recueil de six contes basés sur des récits de vie, et le roman Miracle forment une suite organisée autour des mêmes lieux, des mêmes personnages et des mêmes thèmes. Ils décrivent la condition sociale d’une collectivité mise au ban de la société japonaise malgré sa modernisation. Ils se distinguent par leur caractère d’ethnofiction. Nakagami cherche à réhabiliter les burakumin en valorisant le patrimoine religieux et folklorique dont ils sont dépositaires. Il puise dans les genres traditionnels comme le monogatari ou les contes et légendes du Japon. Il s’inspire également d’auteurs modernes japonais (Mishima, Tanizaki) et d’auteurs étrangers (Faulkner, García-Márquez). À partir de cet intertexte et pour faire barrage à l’occidentalisation, il élabore un style « hybride » digne de la littérature nationale (kokubungaku). Les oeuvres traditionnelles sont réinterprétées dans une esthétique postmoderne ayant une fonction ironique et critique contre l’idéologie impériale répressive qui continue d’alimenter la discrimination envers les burakumin. L’analyse porte sur les procédés qui sous-tendent le projet social et le projet littéraire de l’auteur. Elle se divise en trois parties. La première donne un aperçu biographique de l’auteur et décrit les composantes de son projet social qui consiste à vouloir changer l’image et le statut des burakumin. La deuxième partie décrit les éléments religieux et folkloriques des deux oeuvres et analyse en contexte leur signification ainsi que leur fonction, qui est de mettre en valeur les traditions préservées par les burakumin. La troisième partie montre en quoi le répertoire traditionnel (monogatari) et les intertextes sont mis au service du projet littéraire proprement dit. / This study addresses the issue of burakumin, Japanese untouchable or social outcast, in the works of the Japanese novelist Nakagami Kenji (1946-1992), who had himself come from this community. Together, A Thousand Years of Pleasure, a collection of six tales based on life stories, and the novel Miracle, form a continuum articulated around the same places, characters and themes. They describe the social condition of a community exiled by the Japanese society in spite of its modernization and stand out as works of the ethnofiction genre. Nakagami tries to rehabilitate the burakumin by the valorization of the religious and folk heritage of which they are the custodians. He draws from the traditional works such as monogatari, the folk tales and legends of Japan. He also draws from contemporary Japanese authors (Mishima, Tanizaki) as well as from foreign ones (Faulkner, García-Márquez). With this intertext as a starting point and to stand against westernization, he elaborates a “hybrid” style worthy of the national literature (kokubungaku). The traditional works are reinterpreted with postmodern aesthetics that introduce an ironic and critical tone against the repressive imperial ideology still feeding discrimination towards burakumin. The analysis bears on the processes underlying the social and literary projects of the author. The thesis is divided in three parts. The first one provides a biographic overview of the author`s life and describes the components of his social project which consisted in changing the image and status of burakumin. The second describes the religious and folk elements of both works and analyzes in context their meaning and their function, which is to emphasize the traditions upheld by the burakumin. The third and last part shows how the traditional repertoire (monogatari) and intertexts are used to support the literary project itself.

Esta tese de doutorado analisa dois romances do escritor Norte-Americano Robert Coover como exemplos de escrita hipertextual e de hiperficção no suporte do livro de papel. A complexidade dos romances John's Wife e The Adventures of Lucky Pierre integra os elementos culturais característicos da atual fase do capitalismo e as práticas tecnologizadas que vêm forjando uma subjetividade diferente na escrita e leitura hipertextual, a subjetividade pós-humana. Os modelos da complexidade dos romances derivam do conceito de atratores estranhos da Teoria do Caos e de rizoma da Nomadologia. As transformações no grau de corporeidade dos personagens estabelecem o plano em que se discute a turbulência e a pós-humanidade. As noções de padrões dinâmicos e atratores estranhos e os conceitos do Corpo sem Órgãos e do Rizoma são interpretados para se revisar a narratologia e chegar a categorias apropriadas ao estudo dos romances. A leitura exercitada nesta tese põe em prática a proposta de leitura corpórea de Daniel Punday. As mudanças no grau de materialidade dos personagens são associadas aos estágios de ordem, turbulência e caos na estória, agindo sobre a constituição da subjetividade ao longo do processo de leitura. A inscrição dos planos de consistência que Coover realiza para se contrapor à linearidade e acomodar as feições hipertextuais nas narrativas em papel descreve a trajetória rizomática dos personagens. O presente estudo leva a concluir que a narrativa hoje se constitui antes como um regime numa relação rizomática com outros regimes na prática cultural do que como forma e gênero predominantemente literários. Também se conclui que a subjetividade pós-humana emerge alinhada a uma identidade de classe que tem nos romances hipertextuais a sua forma literária predileta. / This doctoral dissertation analyzes two novels by the American novelist Robert Coover as examples of hypertextual writing on the book bound page, as tokens of hyperfiction. The complexity displayed in the novels, John's Wife and The Adventures of Lucky Pierre, integrates the cultural elements that characterize the contemporary condition of capitalism and technologized practices that have fostered a different subjectivity evidenced in hypertextual writing and reading, the posthuman subjectivity. The models that account for the complexity of each novel are drawn from the concept of strange attractors in Chaos Theory and from the concept of rhizome in Nomadology. The transformations the characters undergo in the degree of their corporeality sets the plane on which to discuss turbulence and posthumanity. The notions of dynamic patterns and strange attractors, along with the concept of the Body without Organs and Rhizome are interpreted, leading to the revision of narratology and to analytical categories appropriate to the study of the novels. The reading exercised throughout this dissertation enacts Daniel Punday's corporeal reading. The changes in the characters' degree of materiality are associated with the stages of order, turbulence and chaos in the story, bearing on the constitution of subjectivity within and along the reading process. Coover's inscription of planes of consistency to counter linearity and accommodate hypertextual features to the paper supported narratives describes the characters' trajectory as rhizomatic. The study led to the conclusion that narrative today stands more as a regime in a rhizomatic relation with other regimes in cultural practice than as an exclusively literary form and genre. Besides this, posthuman subjectivity emerges as class identity, holding hypertextual novels as their literary form of choice.

Esta tese de doutorado analisa dois romances do escritor Norte-Americano Robert Coover como exemplos de escrita hipertextual e de hiperficção no suporte do livro de papel. A complexidade dos romances John's Wife e The Adventures of Lucky Pierre integra os elementos culturais característicos da atual fase do capitalismo e as práticas tecnologizadas que vêm forjando uma subjetividade diferente na escrita e leitura hipertextual, a subjetividade pós-humana. Os modelos da complexidade dos romances derivam do conceito de atratores estranhos da Teoria do Caos e de rizoma da Nomadologia. As transformações no grau de corporeidade dos personagens estabelecem o plano em que se discute a turbulência e a pós-humanidade. As noções de padrões dinâmicos e atratores estranhos e os conceitos do Corpo sem Órgãos e do Rizoma são interpretados para se revisar a narratologia e chegar a categorias apropriadas ao estudo dos romances. A leitura exercitada nesta tese põe em prática a proposta de leitura corpórea de Daniel Punday. As mudanças no grau de materialidade dos personagens são associadas aos estágios de ordem, turbulência e caos na estória, agindo sobre a constituição da subjetividade ao longo do processo de leitura. A inscrição dos planos de consistência que Coover realiza para se contrapor à linearidade e acomodar as feições hipertextuais nas narrativas em papel descreve a trajetória rizomática dos personagens. O presente estudo leva a concluir que a narrativa hoje se constitui antes como um regime numa relação rizomática com outros regimes na prática cultural do que como forma e gênero predominantemente literários. Também se conclui que a subjetividade pós-humana emerge alinhada a uma identidade de classe que tem nos romances hipertextuais a sua forma literária predileta. / This doctoral dissertation analyzes two novels by the American novelist Robert Coover as examples of hypertextual writing on the book bound page, as tokens of hyperfiction. The complexity displayed in the novels, John's Wife and The Adventures of Lucky Pierre, integrates the cultural elements that characterize the contemporary condition of capitalism and technologized practices that have fostered a different subjectivity evidenced in hypertextual writing and reading, the posthuman subjectivity. The models that account for the complexity of each novel are drawn from the concept of strange attractors in Chaos Theory and from the concept of rhizome in Nomadology. The transformations the characters undergo in the degree of their corporeality sets the plane on which to discuss turbulence and posthumanity. The notions of dynamic patterns and strange attractors, along with the concept of the Body without Organs and Rhizome are interpreted, leading to the revision of narratology and to analytical categories appropriate to the study of the novels. The reading exercised throughout this dissertation enacts Daniel Punday's corporeal reading. The changes in the characters' degree of materiality are associated with the stages of order, turbulence and chaos in the story, bearing on the constitution of subjectivity within and along the reading process. Coover's inscription of planes of consistency to counter linearity and accommodate hypertextual features to the paper supported narratives describes the characters' trajectory as rhizomatic. The study led to the conclusion that narrative today stands more as a regime in a rhizomatic relation with other regimes in cultural practice than as an exclusively literary form and genre. Besides this, posthuman subjectivity emerges as class identity, holding hypertextual novels as their literary form of choice.

Esta tese de doutorado analisa dois romances do escritor Norte-Americano Robert Coover como exemplos de escrita hipertextual e de hiperficção no suporte do livro de papel. A complexidade dos romances John's Wife e The Adventures of Lucky Pierre integra os elementos culturais característicos da atual fase do capitalismo e as práticas tecnologizadas que vêm forjando uma subjetividade diferente na escrita e leitura hipertextual, a subjetividade pós-humana. Os modelos da complexidade dos romances derivam do conceito de atratores estranhos da Teoria do Caos e de rizoma da Nomadologia. As transformações no grau de corporeidade dos personagens estabelecem o plano em que se discute a turbulência e a pós-humanidade. As noções de padrões dinâmicos e atratores estranhos e os conceitos do Corpo sem Órgãos e do Rizoma são interpretados para se revisar a narratologia e chegar a categorias apropriadas ao estudo dos romances. A leitura exercitada nesta tese põe em prática a proposta de leitura corpórea de Daniel Punday. As mudanças no grau de materialidade dos personagens são associadas aos estágios de ordem, turbulência e caos na estória, agindo sobre a constituição da subjetividade ao longo do processo de leitura. A inscrição dos planos de consistência que Coover realiza para se contrapor à linearidade e acomodar as feições hipertextuais nas narrativas em papel descreve a trajetória rizomática dos personagens. O presente estudo leva a concluir que a narrativa hoje se constitui antes como um regime numa relação rizomática com outros regimes na prática cultural do que como forma e gênero predominantemente literários. Também se conclui que a subjetividade pós-humana emerge alinhada a uma identidade de classe que tem nos romances hipertextuais a sua forma literária predileta. / This doctoral dissertation analyzes two novels by the American novelist Robert Coover as examples of hypertextual writing on the book bound page, as tokens of hyperfiction. The complexity displayed in the novels, John's Wife and The Adventures of Lucky Pierre, integrates the cultural elements that characterize the contemporary condition of capitalism and technologized practices that have fostered a different subjectivity evidenced in hypertextual writing and reading, the posthuman subjectivity. The models that account for the complexity of each novel are drawn from the concept of strange attractors in Chaos Theory and from the concept of rhizome in Nomadology. The transformations the characters undergo in the degree of their corporeality sets the plane on which to discuss turbulence and posthumanity. The notions of dynamic patterns and strange attractors, along with the concept of the Body without Organs and Rhizome are interpreted, leading to the revision of narratology and to analytical categories appropriate to the study of the novels. The reading exercised throughout this dissertation enacts Daniel Punday's corporeal reading. The changes in the characters' degree of materiality are associated with the stages of order, turbulence and chaos in the story, bearing on the constitution of subjectivity within and along the reading process. Coover's inscription of planes of consistency to counter linearity and accommodate hypertextual features to the paper supported narratives describes the characters' trajectory as rhizomatic. The study led to the conclusion that narrative today stands more as a regime in a rhizomatic relation with other regimes in cultural practice than as an exclusively literary form and genre. Besides this, posthuman subjectivity emerges as class identity, holding hypertextual novels as their literary form of choice.

Tato diplomová práce zmapuje románovou tvorbu současného italského spisovatele Alessandra Baricca. Úvodem bude představen autor v kontextu současné italské prózy. V další části práce nastíníme charakteristiku postmoderního románu, zejména pokud jde o tříštění či dekompozici prostoru, času, příběhu a s tím související žánrovou heterogennost textu. V centrální části práce rozebereme jednotlivá díla, přičemž se budeme soustředit jak na příběh, jeho hlavní motivy a témata, tak na jeho kompozici a strukturu. Ve čtvrté kapitole využijeme dílčích analýz jako východiska ke komparativnímu přístupu k textům a pokusíme se najít společné i odlišné konstrukční principy jejich výstavby a návratná témata či motivické konstanty Bariccových próz. Závěrem zhodnotíme přínos tvorby Alessandra Baricca pro současnou italskou prózu.

This thesis is an investigation into the nature of the 'postmodern' narrative strategies and fictional methods in the work of two British Catholic writers. The work of David Lodge and Muriel Spark is here taken as an example ofthe 'Catholic novel'. In order to determine ifthe overlap ofpostmodern. and Christian-influenced narrative strategies constitutes more than a convergence or coincidence of formal concerns, narrative form in these novels is analyzed in the light of neo-Tho mist and Tho mist aesthetics, a traditional Catholic Christian theory of the arts. The 'postmodern' in these 'Christian' texts becomes largely a coincidence of terminology. Narrative forms which can be classified as 'postmodern' can also be categorized using the terminology of Thomas Aquinas. The apparent similarities betray radically divergent metaphysical presuppositions, however. The nature of the Catholic 'difference' lies in the way postmodern forms are used to challenge the metaphysical bases of those forms. / English Studies / M.A. (English)