The Afterlives of Fictional Characters: Recharacterization
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THE AFTERLIVES OF FICTIONAL CHARACTERS: RECHARACTERIZATION, COPYRIGHT, AND POSTMODERN LITERARY PRACTICE by LYNN ELIZABETH PAGE WHITTAKER (Under the Direction of Richard Menke) ABSTRACT In the 1960s and 1970s, a form of novel arose that flourished in the late twentieth century and remains popular today. This literary form results from a reading-to-writing, interpretive- creative process in which writers borrow a character from an earlier text and make her or him the protagonist of their novels, giving those characters an “afterlife” in which they exist anew. Whether these novels change the source text’s character/s only some or a great deal, the fictional personae are thus “recharacterized.” My dissertation claims that this form constitutes a definable genre that I call the “recharacterization novel,” and my aim is to present a theory of its cultural production, circulation, and consumption, focusing on the changing conceptions of authorship, reading, publishing, and fictional characters in the postmodern period. After defining the genre’s poetics, I tell the story of its development as the result of an ongoing confrontation between liberating/motivating forces and limiting forces, in which a postmodernizing momentum forward that seeks to free characters from their source texts is countered by legal and economic restrictions. Chapters address key postmodern theories that articulate an environment in which readers are liberated and motivated to write this type of novel; the interaction between reader and character that generates the recharacterization impulse, a relationship I theorize as the staging of an ethical encounter defined by Emmanuel Levinas; and selected ontological and analytic philosophy approaches to fictional characters that support the idea that recharacterization novels keep characters “alive.” After exploring how publishing requirements act as both motivating and restricting forces when these novels become material commodities in an economic system, I turn to the major limitations posed by copyright. I first provide a historical overview of intellectual property law and define the tests for protection of fictional characters and fair use exception applied to derivative works. I then explore what happens when these motivating and restricting forces go into battle against one another, presenting three case studies of copyright infringement suits brought against recharacterization novels. The dissertation concludes with my thoughts on the future of the form. INDEX WORDS: novel, character, fictional characters, cultural production, cultural consumption, authorship, reading, publishing, postmodern theory, ethical encounter, ontological status of fictional characters, intellectual property, copyright, copyright infringement, fair use, derivative works, sequels THE AFTERLIVES OF FICTIONAL CHARACTERS: RECHARACTERIZATION, COPYRIGHT, AND POSTMODERN LITERARY PRACTICE by LYNN ELIZABETH PAGE WHITTAKER A.B., Georgia State University, 1975 M.A., The University of Georgia, 1980 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2015 © 2015 Lynn Elizabeth Page Whittaker All Rights Reserved THE AFTERLIVES OF FICTIONAL CHARACTERS: RECHARACTERIZATION, COPYRIGHT, AND POSTMODERN LITERARY PRACTICE by LYNN ELIZABETH PAGE WHITTAKER Major Professor: Richard Menke Committee: Christopher Pizzino Hugh Ruppersburg Electronic Version Approved: Julie Coffield Interim Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2015 To Eric, with gratitude iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS While earning a Ph.D. is challenging at any age, returning to graduate school in my fifties and persisting through coursework, comprehensive exams, and this dissertation would have been impossible without the influence of many people over many years who helped me believe in my own abilities and taught me to love learning. My first thanks go to my major professor, Richard Menke, who has expressed enthusiasm for this project from the first time I told him of my idea. His wise counsel, intellectual and editorial insights, and consistently good cheer have been crucial to each stage of my graduate school journey, from courses I took with him, through comprehensive exams, and culminating in this dissertation. His commitment to literary theory and the novel are a constant source of inspiration, and his confidence in me and my ability has truly sustained me. I am grateful to my other committee members, Christopher Pizzino and Hugh Ruppersburg, for sharing their knowledge in helping me prepare for exams, develop my prospectus, and write this dissertation. A special thank you goes to Dr. Pizzino for conducting a mock oral exam with me in advance of the actual one; that experience was instrumental in giving me confidence to face what was for me the scariest part of the process. Going back to earlier stages of my life, I thank my parents, Herbert and Josephine Page, for their unfailing love and belief in me. I wish they were still alive to share this accomplishment, but I know they would be proud. I also want to thank many exceptional teachers and mentors who have educated and inspired me: my aunt Marion Page (my first English teacher) and librarian Violet Moore in the early years; Linda Maddox, June Powell, v Marian Bowen, and Carol Ann Forehand during high school; Rosemary Franklin, Ben Vorpahl, Bill Free, Betty Jean Craige, Ron Bogue, Charles Patterson, and Don Barnett while at UGA for my undergraduate and master’s degrees; Steve Miller, Ash Carter, Michael Nacht, Albert Carnesale, Joe Nye, and Stephen Van Evera at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government; Hayward Alker and William Kaufmann at MIT; and Elizabeth Kraft, Valerie Babb, Beth Preston, and Yuri Balashov at UGA during my doctoral work. In addition, I thank those who wrote letters of recommendation supporting my application to graduate school this time around: N. Karl Haden, Betty Jean Craige, Ron Botto, and Sandra Andrieu. I appreciate as well the stimulating discussions with and supportive companionship over the last several years of fellow grad student friends Miriam Brown-Spiers, Dan Rosenberg, Annalee Edmondson, Polly Reid, and Michael Ford. I have (somehow) managed to continue my job as managing editor of a scholarly journal in the health professions while being back in school, and I thank my colleagues Judy Myers, Marita Inglehart, and Nadeem Karimbux and former colleague Olav Alvares and his wife, Dottie, for their encouragement during this time. Finally, I am ever-grateful to dearest, long-time friends Eric Lindquist, Beth Hardaway, Sherrie Ford, and Jacci Duncan for their constant love and support over many, many years and to my loving animal companions Maggie the Cat, Kimi, and Dusty for devotion beyond words. I especially thank Eric for not only dozens of conversations and unfailing encouragement but for sharing his scholarly expertise and integrity all along the way: from providing feedback on the paper I submitted with my application through suggestions regarding coursework, exams, and the dissertation, including pointing me to several of the novels that I discuss in these pages, asking me hard questions I’d not thought of or tried to avoid, and helping me understand that I really did need to include Sherlock Holmes. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ ix LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION: DEFINING THE RECHARACTERIZATION NOVEL ........1 Situating This Study in Previous Scholarship ..........................................................3 My Object of Study and the Story of Its Emergence .............................................11 2 THE POETICS OF RECHARACTERIZATION NOVELS .................................17 Two Modes, Four Criteria ......................................................................................18 A “Repertory of Motif and Devices” .....................................................................25 3 POSTMODERN THOUGHT: SETTING TEXTS AND READERS FREE ........37 Postmodernism’s “Problematizing Force” .............................................................38 Overturning Discourses of Dominance ..................................................................44 Deconstructing Source Texts .................................................................................48 Erasure of Boundaries ............................................................................................52 4 CHARACTER LIBERATION AS ETHICAL ENCOUNTER .............................57 The Levinasian Encounter .....................................................................................58 Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea .........................................................................61 Robinson Crusoe and Friday .................................................................................70 Beowulf and Grendel ..............................................................................................84 vii 5 THE ONTOLOGICAL STATUS OF FICTIONAL CHARACTERS AND THE RECHARACTERIZATION PROCESS ................................................................95 Fictional Characters and the