Pastoral, identity, and memory in the works of John Banville
By: Alexander G. Z. Myers
Series: Schweizer anglistische Arbeiten = Swiss studies in English -- Band 144; Schweizer anglistische Arbeiten -- Bd. 144.
Publisher: Narr Francke Attempto
Published: 2018
Place of publication: Tübingen
Language: eng
Number of pages: 222
ISBN-13: 9783772086472
Copyright date: 2018
Subjects: Criticism and interpretation
Description: John Banvilles works waver indecisively between modernism and postmodernism. This study offers a hitherto unexplored vista on his works and argues that Banville is a post-/modern pastoralist. The pastoral lens opens new vistas to Banville's central concerns: the collusion of ethics and aesthetics, self-identification in narrative, and the topography of the troubled mind. Banvilles characters harbour an Arcadia of the unconscious conditioned by a subtext of nostalgia. Caught in a crisis, his characters explore, subvert and transform the pastoral mode into an ambiguous quest for a stable self.
Notes: Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Zürich, 2017.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 193-213).