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“Universal Apocalyptic Speculations About American Life As Presented “Universal Apocalyptic Speculations about American Life as Presented in the Select Novels of Jonathan Franzen” Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of the Master of Arts in English Literature By E. Amy Jennifer Register number: 1631F0041 Under the supervision of Dr A. Vasudevan Department of English Government Arts College Udumalpet 642126 March 2018 E. Amy Jennifer Register number: 1631F0041 II M. A. English Literature Government Arts College Udumalpet 642126 Declaration I hereby declare that the dissertation entitled “Universal Apocalyptic Speculations about American Life as Presented in the Select Novels of Jonathan Franzen” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of the Master of Arts in English Literature to the Department of English, Government Arts College, Udumalpet 642126, is a record of an original and independent research work carried out by me under the supervision of Dr A. Vasudevan, Associate Professor and Head, Department of English, Government Arts College, Udumalpet 642126, and that it has not formed any basis for the award of any degree, diploma, fellowship, or other similar title for any candidate in any institution. Udumalpet March 2018 Signature of the candidate i Dr.A.Vasudevan, M.A.,M.Phil., Ph.D., Associate Professor and Head Department of English Government Arts College Udumalpet 642126 Certificate This is to certify that the dissertation entitled “Universal Apocalyptic Speculations about American Life as Presented in the Select Novels of Jonathan Franzen” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of degree of the Master of Arts in English Literature to the Department of English, Government Arts College, Udumalpet 642126, is a record of an original and independent research work carried out by Ms. E. Amy Jennifer, (Register Number: 1621F0041), II M. A. English Literature, Government Arts College, Udumalpet 642126, under my guidance and supervision and that it has not formed any basis for the award of any degree, diploma, fellowship, or other similar title for any candidate in any institution. Udumalpet March 2018 Supervisor Supervisor Countersigned: (Head of the Department) ii Acknowledgements I express a deep sense of gratitude to Dr A. Vasudevan, Associate Professor and Head, Department of English, Government Arts College, Udumalpet 642126, for his guidance and supervision. I sincerely thank members of the staff of the Department of English, Government Arts College, Udumalpet, for their encouragement all through the research. I owe my sincere thanks to my parents and friends for their constant support until the completion of the research work. I thank God Almighty for showering blessings in abundance all through my endeavors. iii Content Acknowledgements iii Chapter I: Introduction 1 Chapter II: Jonathan Franzen: Life and Works 12 Chapter III: Summary of The Corrections 22 Chapter IV: Summary of The Freedom 32 Chapter V: Summary of The Discomfort Zone: A Personal History 42 Chapter VI: Universal Apocalyptic speculations about American Life 52 Chapter VII: Conclusion 63 Works Cited 72 iv Chapter I Introduction The study focuses on the vision that makes the world to survive. A vision on heavenly secrets that can make sense of earthly realities. The term “apocalypse” is used in different connotations. In general, an apocalypse is a disclosure revelation. The term “apocalypse” is derived from ancient Greek “apokalypsis.” It is an ancient and classical term, which has imbibed ample of meaning in it. This term has its major part in the Holy Bible. “Apocalypse” means revelation, pulling back of the veil to reveal what is behind the curtain. This mindset is often defined as the ability to go beyond the immediate experience to the greater reality behind it. The last book of the New Testament, carries the Book of Revelation, in which the revelation John receives is that of ultimate victory of good and evil and the end of the present age. Revelation is more about first century Roman persecution of Christians than is about anything else. The Bible presents a certain paradox when it comes to the end times. On one hand, the Bible tells that people may not know when the end is going to be of prophetic history. The theme of God’s sovereign control in the affairs of world history clearly emerges and provides comfort to the future church, as well as the Jews whose nation is destroyed by the Babylonians. The Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans will come and go, but God will establish His Kingdom through His redeemed people forever. However, on the other there are certain signs for it. Though it centers on the end, one can consider those signs as remainders as “Christ is going to return as judge and redeem creation, the righteous. Just as Genesis is the book of beginnings, Revelation is the book of consummation. In it, the divine program of redemption is brought to fruition, and the holy name of God is vindicated before all creation. Although there are numerous prophecies in the Gospels and Epistles, Revelation is the only New Testament book that focuses primarily on prophetic 1 events. Its title means “unveiling” or “disclosure.” Thus, the book is an unveiling of the character and program of God. Penned by John during his exile on the island of Patmos, Revelation centers on visions and symbols of the resurrected Christ, who alone has authority to judge the earth, to remake it, and to rule it in righteousness. In reference with Holy Bible, the revelation may be made through a dream, as in the Book of Daniel or through a vision, as in the Book of Revelation. To point out Apocalyptic visions , in the Book of Daniel, after a long period of fasting Daniel is standing by the side of a river when a heavenly being appears to him and the revelation follows. Apocalypse is not a term confined only to New Testament. Because even in the Old Testament, one can trace its fragments. In the Hebrew Old testament, some pictures of the end age. It is an image of the Judgment, of the wicked and glorification of those who are righteous before God. Apocalyptic is a type of biblical literature that emphasizes the lifting the veil between heaven and earth and revelation of God and his plan for the world. Generally, these sorts of writings are marked by involving vivid symbolism, distinctive literary features, and prediction of future events and accounts of visionary experiences or journeys to heaven. Even the whole Old Testament is plundered for visions and symbols. The prophecies and events described are concerned only with events in John’s day and have no bearing on today or the future. The biblical apocalyptic writings are characterized by certain distinctive theological ideas. Its concern is on the relation between heaven and earth, the rule of god over both and his ultimate victory over evil. These ideas are the themes of the Holy Bible. Two great examples of apocalyptic writings found in Bible are in Daniel (605-536 BC) and Revelation (95-96AD). Other than these two in the book of Ezekiel and Zachariah, apocalyptic visions are recorded. Enoch and Ezra also had those revelations. 2 During the first century A.D., Jews got the revelation from God regarding the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem. This serves as an origin of apocalyptic records. It is the greatest example of apocalypse. In Judaism, revelations are respected. It remains alive in Christianity. Many writers give their contribution inspired by the book of Revelation but, no one can achieve the grandeur and power of the canonical Book of Revelation. Those are written by human authors as directed by the Holy Spirit. Apocalyptic is distinguished from other forms of prophecy in that God himself rarely speaks. The revelation is communicated through angels or other heavenly figures. An interesting difference between revelation and all other apocalypses is the extent to which it leaves visions unexplained. In mostcases, visions are just related, so that the reader is challenged to provide the interpretation, as in the case of majority of Jesus’ parables. Right interpretation demands Spiritual capacity and insight. On the Biblical reference apocalypse means ‘to avail or to reveal the plan of God’. In the Old Testament people are not aware of God’s kingdom. When and how it will be revealed is a sort of mystery to those people. Especially, the book of Daniel is a key of encouragement to the Jews about upcoming kingdom. Jews of first century believed and expected a lot from this apocalypse. The gospels like Matthew mark and Luke, it is clear that Jesus has fulfilled the apocalypse and its foretold prophecies. People are expecting to see the prophecies of Daniel to be fulfilled. Jesus himself is a revelation. God the father revealed himself through Jesus. In the book of Philippines, one can trace the essence, that service is the centre of God’s Kingdom with the principles: serving one another, loving one another and living for one another. The core of God’s kingdom is love one another and serving one another, Jesus himself stated. Love your enemies, love one another (Matthew 5:44). For even the son of 3 man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). Whatever caste, creed one belongs to love one another with brotherhood is the philosophy of new community. After years passed, gradually apocalyptic literature flourished in a certain time between 600B.C. - 200A.D. Number of apocalypses were written during that time. It is a genre of prophetical writing that developed in post-Exilic Jewish culture and popular among Millennialism early Christians.
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