In this dissertation that discusses the American novels by William Faulkner, Nathanael West, and Richard Wright, I delineate the
concept of modernist empathy as a radical urge for intersubjective immediacy, while adjusting the concept of empathy as each situation
requires instead of squeezing various manifestations of empathy into a single, standardized definition. I observe how those writers struggle
to represent modernist empathy by differentiating it from its similar psychological phenomena, especially sympathy. Instead of establishing
empathy’s predominance over sympathy, however, I pay detailed attention to the constantly oscillating dynamic between a modernist urge for
empathic immediacy and a realistic compromise of sympathetic distancing, thus revealing empathy’s instability and ambiguity. After briefly
overviewing Amy Coplan’s conceptualization of empathy and sketching three categories of narrative empathy in the introduction, I have
explained the concept of modernist empathy in the first chapter. In doing so, I first examine the discourse that surrounded the concept of
empathy at the time, contrasting modernist empathy with its sisterly concept of sympathy. Then, since empathy and sympathy do not always form
a clear dichotomy, I have argued that modernist empathy should be captured in the process of the oscillating dynamic between modernist urge
for empathy and sympathetic compromise of distancing. In the second chapter, I have discussed how modernist empathy is manifested in William
Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury according to the three categories of narrative empathy. First, I have analyzed the novel’s experimental
narrative in terms of readerly empathy. Then, I have discussed the novel’s empathic and anti-empathic characters as manifestations of
represented empathy. Finally, I have examined Faulkner’s writerly empathy, and I have observed how he embraces the ultimate instability of
modernist empathy. In the third chapter, by considering Nathanael West as a late modernist, I have argued that his novels are critiques of
modernist empathy. In the analysis of his first novel, The Dream Life of Balso Snell, I have revealed West’s dichotomy between intellectual
distancing and emotional involvement. Then, I have attempted to depict how West dramatizes his protagonists’ failures of empathy in Miss
Lonelyhearts and The Day of the Locust. In the process, I critique Martha Nussbaum’s theory of compassion in relation to empathy. I also
consider the relationship of empathy to the advent of the anonymous mass in the 1930s and observed West’s critique of empathy at the age of
mass culture. The focus of the final chapter is about the writerly design of the strategic use of empathy in Richard Wright’s Native Son.
After reviewing the past literary criticism of the novel’s empathy, I have discussed how the novel is strategized to establish an intimate
readerly empathy with Bigger Thomas. At the end of the argument, I examine the author’s strategic design of empathy and its relation to
racial politics. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2017. / November 6, 2017. / american literature, empathy, modernism / Includes bibliographical references. / Ralph M. Berry, Professor Directing Dissertation; Lisa Ryoko Wakamiya, University Representative; Andrew
Epstein, Committee Member; John Mac Kilgore, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_605021 |
| Contributors | Tabata, Kentaro (author), Berry, R. M. (professor directing dissertation), Wakamiya, Lisa Ryoko, 1969- (university representative), Epstein, Andrew, 1969- (committee member), Kilgore, John Mac (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Arts and Sciences (degree granting college), Department of English (degree granting departmentdgg) |
| Publisher | Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text, doctoral thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (135 pages), computer, application/pdf |
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