The thesis examines how the American novelist William Gaddis replenishes the tradition of the novel by way of a parodic subversion of its enabling assumptions. In the face of the subject's on-going marginalization, mimetic narrative appears as an "exhausted" literary form. JR (1975) directs the reader's attention to the complexity of language. In that sense, the novel problematizes the conditions for the existence of meaning in fiction. By means of narrative dissemination, Gaddis points to those anarchic energies in oral speech, which thwart efforts to instrumentalize language. Human beings in JR do not possess a recognizable personality, they are metonymic functions of cultural discourses. Deprived of their origins, they have to cope with an orphaned existence. The author also suspends his controlling functions and becomes a narrative stumbling block through disconcerting intrusions. Thus the text is constituted from the diversity of linguistic material in popular culture.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/291833 |
| Date | January 1989 |
| Creators | Thomas, Rainer |
| Contributors | O'Donnell, Patrick |
| Publisher | The University of Arizona. |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. |
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