| |
| author |
Emily Pieczyrak
| | title |
Literature's Identity Crisis: Simulation and Selfhood in Contemporary Fiction : A Thesis in English Literature
| | abstract |
This thesis examines novels by Orhan Pamuk (The White Castle), Shyam Selvedurai
(Funny Boy), Moshin Hamid (The Reluctant Fundamentalist), and Kazuo Ishiguro (Never Let Me
Go and Klara and the Sun) to get a sense of what is unique about contemporary fiction and how
contemporary authors are changing the novel as a literary form. The novels are analyzed in
context of globalization and technological advancements and how they are affecting
contemporary literature. It grapples with the idea that the turn of the 21st century is dealing with
augmented and sped up issues that the turn of the 20th century was dealing with. It asks whether
this postmodern era is more faithful to reality than realism was, or if it is dealing with reality in a
different manner. Through the use of historical fiction and science fiction genres, these
contemporary novels are responding to issues of twenty-first century's global society and the
idea of a new global identity, despite being set in the past or future. By using critical and
philosophical frameworks by Roland Barthes, Peter Boxall, Judith Butler, Walter Benjamin, and
Jean Baudrillard, among others, the thesis will analyze the formal qualities of the novels to
demonstrate the problematization of national, gender, and sexual identity and how these
problems manifest themselves in conversations surrounding technology replacing aspects of
human reality.
| | school |
The College of Liberal Arts, Drew University
| | degree |
B.A. (2024)
|
| advisor |
Jacob Soule
|
| full text | EPieczyrak.pdf |
| |
