"What is this I don't even An Investigation of Postmodern Fiction

Date of Award

2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Wallace, Miriam

Keywords

Postmodernism, Literature, Semiotics

Area of Concentration

English

Abstract

This thesis explores the relationship between three American postmodernist texts: Thomas Pynchon�s The Crying of Lot 49, Don DeLillo�s White Noise, and Mark Danielewski�s House of Leaves. Using the theories of Ferdinand de Saussure and Brian McHale, I argue that each of these novels offers a different manifestation of the struggle to find �the real�, which can be understood as objective truth, meaning, or an existence external to physical reality. Furthermore, these novels progressively reflect an increasing concern with media and its ability to create, define, and manipulate diegetic relationships. I argue that these three works are milestones in a trend that demonstrates how ingrained in the American cultural consciousness their type of ontological complexity has become.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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