This essay uses some tenets of structuralism as well as the concept of “discourse” to analyze David Lodge’s novel Nice Work (1988). The opposite discourses of Academia and Industry, as expounded through the life and character of the main protagonists, are analyzed as they are exposed throughout the novel through the involuntary mingling of the main characters. The governing idea is that three separate discourses can be gleaned as a basic structure in the novel, forming a triad that suggests the idea of a possible synthesis, which is shown to be what propels the plot of the novel onward. As in Hegelian dialectics the clash between a thesis and its antithesis makes the reader expect the third term, a synthesis, which is offered in the mediating discourse of the narrator. Further, this essay focuses on three levels of exchange within the novel and its protagonists: the intellectual, emotional and practical ones. The synthesis of discourses is shown to come to a halt in the end, and the opposites seem to stand unperturbed, even though an exchange of values, ideas and actions has occurred.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:kau-8586 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Hallén Rizzo, Jan |
| Publisher | Karlstads universitet, Estetisk-filosofiska fakulteten |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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