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FICTIONAL WORLD OF PETER CAREY THESIS Submitted to GOA UNIVERSITY for the AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ENGLISH a Rd by Ms. MARIA CLAUDETTE GOMIS T- 365 / k 7/01* • 4, Under the guidance of(`'k , L . ,i A i fi-v- DR. NINA CALDBIRA (Reader, Dept of English, Goa Univer\,y) trr --_,, s•-• _ _ Department of English ) Goa University Taleigao Plateau Goa 366- Certfwate I hereby certify that the thesis Fictional World of Peter Carey, submitted by Ms. Maria Claudette Gomes for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English of Goa University, has been completed under my guidance. The thesis is a record of the research work done by the candidate during the period of her study and has not previously formed the basis for the award of any degree or diploma. Guide, Reader, Department of English, Goa University. Dated: /3/46/0 Declaration I, Ms. Maria Claudette Gomes, hereby declare that the thesis entitled Fictional World of Peter Carey has been completed by me under the guidance of Dr. Nina Caldeira, Reader, Department of English, Goa University. This work has not previously formed the basis for the award of any degree, diploma or other similar titles. Ms. Maria Claudette tionies Dated: I 0 • 0* ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As this study reaches its culmination, a lot of thanks are due to many. Firstly, my thank you to my God who has always been there at my aid in times when the end to this work did not appear in sight. My guide, Dr. Nina Caldeira, is due for singular thanks and approbation for taking up the challenging task of providing direction to my work and enabling me to finally put it down on paper. As a friend and guide she has played a great role in making this thesis a reality and bringing this task to fruition. Thanks are also due to my earlier guide, Dr. Francis A. Fernandes, under whose guidance I covered most of my Ph.D tenure and who always encouraged me to believe that I could undertake a task of this magnitude. This work was completed during the leave period that I was fortunate enough to obtain under the Faculty Improvement Programme of the UGC. I heartily thank the UGC for this benevolent gesture that proved to be the decisive factor in the successful completion of my thesis. I will always be indebted to Mr. Asterio John Fernandes from Chandor, Goa, currently residing in Australia, a computer engineer at Monash University, Australia, who magnanimously gifted me almost all of my primary texts and also the bulk of the reference material that eased and facilitated my research work. I thank him wholeheartedly for his kind gesture. My friends have always been my strength in difficult times. Without naming any, I want to convey my immense gratitude to all my friends who stood by me, helped me in many different ways by making time for me, be it in the form of proofreading my work, moral support, or otherwise. I ask God to always bless all the endeavours that you all undertake. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Fr. Antimo Gomes, ex- Principal, St. Xavier's College, Mapusa, for his unstinted support at all times. Thank you to Principal Newman Fernandes, Principal, St Xavier's College, Mapusa, under whose spell I received the UGC FTP leave that finally saw the conclusion of this arduous assignment. Thanks are also due to Dr. K.S. Bhat, Head, Department of English, Goa University, and the faculty members of the Department of English, for all the timely help and assistance they have rendered to me at various times in the course of my period of study. My family and specially, my parents deserve a special mention here. In many different ways they have been responsible for the completion of this thesis. It was my father's direction that I followed to take up this task, and my parents have always been the persistent force that compelled me not to give it up midway. A special thank you to my entire family. %tar& Claudette gomes CONTENTS Page No. Introduction: Exploring the Fictional World of Peter Carey 1 i) Rooted in Homeland: The Man and His Works 3 ii) Carving a Literary Tradition 17 iii) Of Influences and Views 33 I. Nation and Narration: Reinventing Australia 46 i) In the Web of History 62 ii) Telling Lies to Tell the Truth 77 iii) Treating the Colonial/Capitalist Cancers 81 II. Trapped in Hellish Worlds 107 i) Ensnared in a Glass: Strength and Fragility of Existence 134 ii) Battlers or Losers? The Australian Prototype 154 iii) Solitude and Unstable Relationships 176 III. Writing in the Postcolonial/Postmodern Space 193 i) Narratology 204 ii) Intertextuality 220 iii) Magic Realism 229 Conclusion 251 Works Cited 258 Works Consulted 266 1 Introduction Exploring the Fictional World of Peter Carey The aim of this study is to demonstrate how certain thematic and structural patterns run through the fiction of Peter Carey. While the present attempt is not to enforce a reductive reading or to fit his fiction into a framework, a detailed reading of his fiction reveals certain concerns intentions of the novelist, predominantly the construction of an Australian identity. The identity evolves out of Australia's historical processes. The matrix out of which Carey constructs Australian identity largely stems from the convict penal heritage of the first wave of English colonists. The early English convicts, for the sake of survival in inhumane surroundings were adept at fabricating lies, and in time turned out to be adroit too at the art of story-telling or spieling. The history of the nation created in Carey's fiction is trapped in the prison of the past, the penal past. However, the nation's history rendered aesthetically in Carey's fiction is largely based on models of truths and lies, i.e. truth value is suspended in a bid to debunk the narratives of colonial histories. Carey does take cognizance of the Australian Aborigines. There is definitely a consciousness of their rich cultural past which was destroyed by the English colonizers. The contribution of the immigrant peoples to the construction of national identity too is reflected in his fiction. The spectre of the penal past from which the Australian cannot escape and the realization that he no longer belongs or is acceptable to England, forces him into accepting the new landscape and conjuring a heaven out of hellish circumstances. The thesis 2 statement is the aesthetic rendition of Australian National Identity in Peter Carey's fiction is best echoed in Australia's historical processes. Having nine novels to his credit till date, Carey has presented a world that is strange and out of the ordinary It is this world that this study is going to explore and examine. The present study will restrict itself to the study of six of his novels, namely, Bliss (1981), Illywhacker (1985), Oscar and Lucinda (1988), The Tax Inspector (1991), The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith (1994), and Jack Maggs (1997). The objective of my thesis is the exploration of the fictional world of Peter Carey with a view to corroborate the above stated thesis statement. In the reading and exploration of Carey's fiction, a few striking features loom large. The dominant issue is of national identity, a theme largely acknowledged by the author. As a corollary to the theme of national identity is Australian history, imperialism and its effects that in fact are the major factors that shape the national identity of Australia. He comes forth with a strong indictment of modem urbane Australia and the imperialist forces of Western capital that have been the cause for anarchy reigning in societies, especially in Australia. In reviewing Australia's history and culture he attempts to bring out in the open the lies and myths that form such a great part of the ethos of the country. Apart from these issues, themes such as entrapment, solitude, family violence, etc. are also explored. 3 ij Rooted in Homeland: The an and His Works Having received the Booker prize twice and the Commonwealth prize too, he has also successfully secured every major Australian literary prize at least twice. Peter Carey remains one of Australia's most celebrated living writers. Presently a visiting professor for the creative writing course at New York's Hunter College, his work has drawn the attention of many critics. Paul Kane, editor of Antipodes, once remarked: It is a mark of Carey's writing that the stranger the fiction the more encompassing the vision, since what is strange, what exists on the margins of normalcy, can only be known with reference to the whole-that is, to the familiar and strange together. Carey wants to take in all of humanity, or at least all that is available to him, and place it before us such that the strange is made familiar and the familiar made new.' Rooted in his homeland, Carey is committed to the cause of his nation and its people. When Carey was awarded his second Booker for his novel on Australia's prominent outlaw, Ned Kelly, his achievement was acknowledged all over Australia and abroad clearly categorizing him among those Australian authors who 'evoke their own past' with a view to demythify the notion of Australia as a mere 'cultural wasteland' so as to come to terms with the present. All through his narratives, Carey employs the postmodern mode of 4 multiplicity and fissures to challenge 'fixations' of any kind. Realizing that acceptance of the penal past would be more authentic than its denial, Carey presents 'other' and multiple possibilities of Australia's past.
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