Transreferentiality: Mapping the Margins of Postmodern Fiction
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Transreferentiality: Mapping the Margins of Postmodern Fiction H De G Laurie 10079718 Thesis submitted for the degree Doctor Philosophiae in English Literature at the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University Supervisor: Prof AM De Lange September 2013 i Acknowledgements I hereby acknowledge with gratitude the financial assistance of the National Research Foundation, the Research Focus Area for Languages and Literature at the North-West University’s Potchefstroom Campus, The Open Window School for Visual Communication, and the North-West University‘s Research and Development Programme. Views expressed and conclusions reached in this study should be ascribed to the author and are not necessarily shared by any of these institutions. I would also like to thank the following people: My supervisor, Prof AM De Lange, for his support through complicated times and his willingness to stick out his neck. The Department of Academic Literacy in the School for Languages at the North-West University’s Vaal Triangle Campus, for granting me the time to finish this version of the thesis. My grandmother. My parents. All the friends and colleagues who, knowingly and unknowingly, provided inspiration and support and suffered during the writing of this thesis. ii Abstract Keywords: Postmodern, fiction, postmodernist fiction, science fiction, sf, possible-worlds theory, worlds, narratology, focalisation, immersion, reader experience, M. John Harrison, William Gibson, Jeff Noon This thesis starts from the observation that, while it is common for commentators to divide postmodern fiction into two general fields – one experimental and anti-mimetic, the other cautiously mimetic, there remains a fairly significant field of postmodern texts that use largely mimetic approaches but represent worlds that are categorically distinct from actuality. This third group is even more pronounced if popular culture and “commercial” fiction, in particular sf and fantasy, are taken into account. Additionally, the third category has the interesting characteristic that the texts within this group very often generate unusual loyalty among its fans. Based on a renewed investigation of the main genre critics in postmodern fiction, the first chapter suggests a tripartite division of postmodern fiction, into formalist, metamimetic, and transreferetial texts. These are provisionally circumscribed by their reference worlds: formalist fiction attempts to derail its own capacity for presenting a world; metamimetic fiction presents mediated versions of worlds closely reminiscent of actuality; and transreferential fiction sets its narrative in worlds that are experienced as such, but are clearly distinct from actuality. If transreferential fiction deals with alternate worlds, it also very often relies on the reader’s immersion in the fictional world to provide unique, often subversive, fictional experiences. This process can be identified as the exploration of the fictional world, and it is very often guided so as to be experienced as a virtual reality of sorts. If transreferential texts are experienced as interactive in this sense, it is likely that they convey experiences and insights in ways different from either of the other two strands of postmodern fiction. In order to investigate the interactive experience provided by these texts, an extended conceptual and analytical set is proposed, rooted primarily in Ricoeurian hermeutics and possible-worlds theory. These two main theoretical approaches approximately correspond to the temporal and the spatial dimensions of texts, respectively. Much of the power of these texts is iii rooted in the care they take to guide the reader through their fictional worlds and the experiences offered by the narrative, often at the hand of fiction- internal ‘guides’. These theoretical approaches are supplement by sf theoretical research and by Aleid Fokkema’s study of postmodern character. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 apply the theoretical toolset to three paradigmatic transreferential texts: sf New Wave author M John Harrison’s Viriconium sequence; Gibson’s Sprawl trilogy; and Jeff Noon’s Vurt and Pollen, texts that have much in common with cyberpunk but which make much more extensive use of formalist techniques. Each chapter has a slightly different main focus, matching the text in question, respectively: aesthetic parameters and world- creation strategies of transreferential fiction; close “guidance” of the reader and extrapolation; and virtual reality and identity games. The final chapter presents the findings from the research conducted in the initial study. The findings stem from the central insight that transreferential texts deploy a powerful suit of mimetic strategies to maximise immersion, but simultaneously introduce a variety of interactive strategies. Transreferential fiction balances immersion against interactivity, often by selectively maximising the mimesis of some elements while allowing others to be presented through formalist strategies, which requires a reading mode that is simultaneously immersive and open to challenging propositions. A significant implication of this for critical studies – both literary and sf – is that the Barthesian formalist reading model is insufficient to deal with transreferential texts. Rather, texts like these demand a layered reading approach which facilitates immersion on a first reading and supplements it critically on a second. The final chapter further considers how widely and in what forms the themes and strategies found in the preceding chapters recur in other texts from the proposed transreferential supergenre, including sf, magic realist and limit- postmodernist texts. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements i Abstract ii TABLE OF CONTENTS IV Notes on the Text vii 1. Notes on the bibliographical style vii 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Out in the fields: M. John Harrison and other wanderers 5 1.2 Postmodernisms 7 1.2.1 Parody and self-awareness (Jameson and Hutcheon) 10 1.2.2 A double canon: Jencks, Hutcheon, Bertens and D’Haen 11 1.2.3 Ontology: McHale 13 1.2.4 Experimentalism versus Realism 15 1.2.4.1 Realisms 16 1.2.4.2 Revisiting Realism 18 1.2.5 Postmodernisms 19 1.3 Formalist Reading: The Legacy of Roland Barthes 20 1.4 Initial Definition 23 1.5 Textual Overview (Fiction Review) 27 1.5.1 Formalist 27 1.5.2 Metamimetic 30 1.5.3 Transreferential 32 1.6 Reading Transreferentially 37 1.6.1 Reading as Process 40 1.6.1 The Conception of “The Reader” in an Internal Reading 42 1.6.2 Narrative Capability, Superzones, and Narrative Forms 43 1.6.3 Reference, Reconstruction and Interactivity 44 1.6.4 Worlds and Possible-Worlds Theory 47 1.8 Worlds as virtual realities 49 1.9 Problem definition and methodology 52 CHAPTER 2: TRANSREFERENTIALITY/THEORY 56 2.1 Introduction 56 2.2 Access, Journey and Contract 57 2.2.1 Prefiguration 58 2.2.2 Narration 59 2.2.3 First Impressions of the Target World 62 2.2.4 The Fictional Contract 64 2.3 Reconstructing Worlds 66 v 2.4 Exploration 72 2.4.1 Time and History 72 2.4.2 (Re)configuration 74 2.4.3 Immersion and Presence 75 2.5 Denizens: Modes-of-being and Character 78 2.5.1 Postmodern Character 80 2.5.2 Character Templates 84 2.6 Summary and Implications 85 CHAPTER 3: M JOHN HARRISON AND POSTMODERN FANTASY 88 3.1 Introduction 88 3.2 Viriconium 89 3.3 The Pastel City 91 3.3.1 Access, Narration, World 91 3.3.2 World 95 3.3.3 Denizens 96 3.3.4 Style 98 3.3.5 Ontology 99 3.4 A Storm of Wings 100 3.4.1 Access and Narration 101 3.4.2 Exploration 103 3.4.2 World 105 3.4.3 Denizens and Modes of Being 111 3.4.4 Exploration: Space and Time 122 3.5 In Viriconium 124 3.5.1 Access 124 3.5.2 Access: Narration 125 3.5.3 Denizens 127 3.5.4 Ontology 129 3.5.5 Conclusions: In Viriconium 130 3.6 Viriconium Nights 132 3.6.1 Access: Local and Serial 134 3.6.2 Access, World and Intertextuality 138 3.6.3 Denizens 140 3.6.4 Exploration 144 3.7 Fictional Ontology and Refiguration 147 3.8 Conclusions 149 CHAPTER 4: CYBERPUNK AND EXTRAPOLATION: GIBSON’S SPRAWL TRILOGY 153 4.1 Introduction 153 4.1.1 Cyberpunk 153 4.1.2 The Sprawl Trilogy: Plot summary 156 4.2 Access 157 4.2.1 Actual world to fictional world 157 4.2.2 Access - Internal 160 vi 4.3 Denizens 163 4.3.1 Dynamic Focalisers: Case, Kumiko, Angela, Mona 163 4.3.2 Artificial Modes of Being 167 4.4 Exploration 176 4.4.1 Structure and Context 176 4.4.2 Hyperspecificity, Consumer Politics and Corporate Codies 177 4.4.3 Resistance 184 4.5 Ontology: the World of the Sprawl Trilogy 187 4.5.1 The Fragmentation of the Primary World 187 4.5.2 Technological development and realism 191 4.5.3 Knowledge and the Anthropogenic Order in the Construction of the World 193 4.6 Conclusions: the Play of the Actual and the Projected 195 5 JEFF NOON: VIRTUAL REALITY AND ALTERING REALITY 201 5.1 Introduction 201 5.1.1 Plot Summary 202 5.2 Vurt 204 5.2.1 Access: Deliberate Difficulty 204 5.2.2 Characters, Narration, and Guidance 208 5.2.3 Ontology 212 5.2.4 Subversion/Perversion 221 5.2.5 Formalism, Metafiction and Interactivity 224 About a Coda 227 5.2.6 Conclusion: Vurt 229 5.3 Pollen 230 5.3.1 Access 230 5.3.2 Spread and Penetration of Technology 239 5.5.3 Maps and Spatiality 242 5.3.4 Maps and Experience 244 5.3.5 Modes of Being 246 5.4 Serial Re/configuration 255 5.5 Some Conclusions and observations 256 6 CONCLUSION 259 6.1 Primary Findings 261 6.2 Secondary Findings 270 6.3 Implications of Transreferentiality for Approaches to Reading 273 6.4 Refiguration 275 7 REFERENCE LIST 278 vii Notes on the Text 1.