Alienation As a Fictional Construct in Four Contemporary British Novels: a Literary- Theoretical Study

Alienation as a fictional construct in four contemporary British novels: A Literary- theoretical Study Burgert Adriaan Senekal Alienation as a fictional construct in four contemporary British novels: A Literary-theoretical Study Page 2 of 214 Alienation as a fictional construct in four contemporary British novels: A Literary- theoretical Study Burgert Adriaan Senekal Submitted to meet the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Faculty of Humanities, Department of English and Classical Languages, at the University of the Free State. Supervisor: Ms. Manuela Lovisa, Department of English and Classical Languages May 2008 Burgert A Senekal Alienation as a fictional construct in four contemporary British novels: A Literary-theoretical Study Page 3 of 214 I hereby certify that this is thesis submitted to meet the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at the University of the Free State, is my own independent work, and that it has not been submitted previously at another university or faculty. I further relinquish my copyright in favour of the University of the Free State. Burgert Adriaan Senekal Burgert A Senekal Alienation as a fictional construct in four contemporary British novels: A Literary-theoretical Study Page 4 of 214 Acknowledgements I would like to thank the following people: My supervisor, Ms Manuela Lovisa, for her efforts and inputs, and for her willingness to participate in this charting of unfamiliar territory. My mother, Annie Senekal, for financial and moral assistance, which made conducting the bulk of this study possible while residing in London. Burgert A Senekal Alienation as a fictional construct in four contemporary British novels: A Literary-theoretical Study Page 5 of 214 Contents Section A: Theory ........................................................................................................... 6 Prologue ..................................................................................................................... 6 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 7 Reinterpreting Seeman's theory of alienation ......................................................... 14 Powerlessness .................................................................................................. 20 Meaninglessness .............................................................................................. 25 Normlessness ................................................................................................... 37 Social isolation ................................................................................................. 43 Self-estrangement ............................................................................................ 49 Section B: The Contemporary British Novel ................................................................ 59 Introduction to contextualisation: Systems and literature ..................................... 59 1. Internal systems ............................................................................................... 62 2. The literary system ........................................................................................... 63 Defining 'contemporary' .................................................................................. 68 Defining 'British' ............................................................................................... 73 The contemporary British novel ...................................................................... 76 3. The socio-historical system .............................................................................. 79 Historical context of contemporary British fiction .......................................... 81 Contemporary Authors ............................................................................................ 85 The relation between literature and reality ............................................................ 87 Section C: A Perspective on Alienation in the Works of Four Contemporary British Authors ......................................................................................................................... 89 Alienation in The Child in Time by Ian McEwan ....................................................... 89 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 89 The Child in Time .................................................................................................. 91 Alienation in London Fields by Martin Amis .......................................................... 117 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 117 London Fields ..................................................................................................... 121 Alienation in Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh .......................................................... 142 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 142 Trainspotting ...................................................................................................... 147 Alienation in Regeneration by Pat Barker .............................................................. 165 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 165 Regeneration ...................................................................................................... 170 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 189 Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 194 Fiction ..................................................................................................................... 194 Non-Fiction ............................................................................................................. 195 Summary .................................................................................................................... 212 Keywords .................................................................................................................... 214 Burgert A Senekal Alienation as a fictional construct in four contemporary British novels: A Literary-theoretical Study Page 6 of 214 Section A: Theory Prologue Marx's theory of alienation has been thoroughly addressed by various scholars (in particular Ollman, 1976), and so has Seeman's, and during the last few decades many other contributions have been made in the fields of sociology and psychology concerning alienation. However, since the focus of the proposed study is literary, no attempt will be made to contribute to these fields. The aim is to apply these recent theoretical contributions to the literature that stems from this alienated British society (and alienated individuals) in order to come to a better understanding of how alienation manifests in four contemporary British novels. The primary question the proposed study aims to answer is: Given the post- modern condition of integration, shifting boundaries and identity formation, what forms of alienation exist in contemporary western society and the individual who inhabits it, and how does alienation manifest in contemporary British fiction amongst some of the main authors of the latter? Primary fictional texts are drawn from contemporary British literature. Some of the most pivotal voices are studied, Ian McEwan, Martin Amis, Irvin Welsh, and Pat Barker. These four authors are considered suitable to the study because they are central to the contemporary British canon, and each depicts alienation in a unique way. Since their publications are all recent, information on these authors is more limited than that pertaining to other periods and the proposed study can therefore further contribute to understanding them. One novel by each of these authors is the central focal point, but other texts by these authors are incorporated where relevant. British fiction is chosen because the volume of publications in Britain is already vast – adding everything that the rest of the world contributes in English would expand the scope of the study too widely and undermine a qualitative investigation. This study therefore provides a detailed discussion of different perspectives on alienation within the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, highlighting relations Burgert A Senekal Alienation as a fictional construct in four contemporary British novels: A Literary-theoretical Study Page 7 of 214 between these perspectives from sociological and psychological viewpoints and focussing on the most recent theoretical contributions. The theoretical frame of reference is then applied to the authors in question in order to answer the question as stated earlier. Introduction The term "alienation" causes considerable difficulty, partly because it "is used to refer both to a personal psychological state and to a type of social relationship" (Roberts, 1987: 346). Kalekin-Fishman (1996: 97) claims, "The term alienation refers to objective conditions, to subjective feelings, and to orientations that discourage participation", and remarks that, "In modern sociology [...] alienation is a term which refers to the distancing of people from experiencing a crystallized totality both in the social world and in the

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