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DIPLOMARBEIT / DIPLOMA THESIS Titel der Diplomarbeit / Title of the Diploma Thesis “John Irving’s The World According to Garp and In One Person as Portrayals of the Sexual Grotesque in Combination with Sexuality, Gender Fluidity and Sexual Identity“ verfasst von / submitted by Alicia Sofia Viertmann angestrebter akademischer Grad / in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Magistra der Philosophie (Mag. phil.) Wien, 2017 / Vienna, 2017 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt / A 190 344 313 degree programme code as it appears on the student record sheet: Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt / Lehramt UF Englisch UF Geschichte, Sozialkunde degree programme as it appears on und Politische Bildung the student record sheet: Betreut von / Supervisor: Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Alexandra Ganser-Blumenau Acknowledgments Firstly, I want to thank my supervisor Univ.- Prof. Mag. Dr. Alexandra Ganser-Blumenau, who guided me through the writing process and answered my numerous questions patiently. Furthermore, I want to express my gratitude to my parents Annette und Ulrich, who always supported and encouraged me not only throughout this thesis, but throughout my entire life. I also would like to thank my brother Christopher for his advice and patience during the writing process. Lastly, special acknowledgement goes to Dominic, who always reassured me and never ceases to believe in me. John Irving’s The World According to Garp and In One Person as Portrayals of the Sexual Grotesque in Combination with Sexuality, Gender Fluidity and Sexual Identity Table of Contents 1 Introduction ......................................................................................... 1 2 The Grotesque .................................................................................... 2 2.1 The Grotesque in Literature ............................................................................ 6 2.1.1 The Beginnings of the Modern Grotesque: Kayser’s and Bakhtin’s 20th- Century Perspectives and the Grotesque as an American Genre ..................................... 7 2.1.2 The Grotesque in Contemporary Literature ........................................................ 10 2.2 The Grotesque Body .................................................................................... 13 2.3 The Sexual Grotesque .................................................................................. 17 3 Gender Identity .................................................................................. 19 4 The American Sexual Revolution ...................................................... 21 4.1 Before the Sexual Revolution ....................................................................... 21 4.2 The 60s: Love, Peace and Sexual Freedom – Sexuality as Empowerment for Women and the LGBTQ Community ....................................................... 23 5 The World According to Garp – Empowered Women and Reversed Gender Roles .................................................................................... 28 5.1 Images of the Sexual Grotesque .................................................................. 28 5.2 The Role of Women and Feminism .............................................................. 36 5.3 Gender Issues and Sexual Identity ............................................................... 43 6 In One Person – A (Bi-)sexual Awakening and Being Gay in the 80s .................................................................................................... 49 6.1 Images of the Sexual Grotesque .................................................................. 50 6.2 The Role of Women and Feminism .............................................................. 54 6.3 Gender Issues and Sexual Identity ............................................................... 55 7 Comparison ....................................................................................... 62 8 Conclusion ........................................................................................ 64 9 Bibliography....................................................................................... 66 10 Appendix ........................................................................................... 69 1 Introduction The following thesis will deal with the sexual grotesque, concerning aspects such as bodily features, sexual desires, coitus and sexual repression as well as liberation in selected novels by John Irving. I will demonstrate how the representation of sexuality, gender, gender fluidity and sexual identity is displayed and connected to the grotesque throughout the novels The World According to Garp and In One Person. Regarding the history of the word grotesque, it first appeared in the fifteenth century and originated from the Italian word grottesco, literally of a cave, and the French crotesque (Online Etymology Dictionary). According to art historian Frances S. Connelly the grotto is strongly connected with fertility and pregnancy, but also with the inevitable nature of death, decay and the final resting place. It is a place in which the imagination can run wild and everything seems possible in some sort of dark hole that almost seems other-worldly and unreal (1). Another aspect I will explore within this thesis is the impact the American sexual revolution presumably had on Irving’s works of fiction. Furthermore, I will explore how cultural change and literary works can form a (co)construction and create an interplay between one other (Tompkins xi-xix). Garp was published in 1978, shortly after the heyday of the sexual revolution and the so-called second big wave of feminism. The sexual revolution was characterized by the approval of premarital sex, explicit depictions of pornographic content, homosexual relations and an increase in women’s rights (Smith 416-18). Therefore, the general tone and the themes displayed in Garp, concerning sexuality, gender and feminism presumably differ from the recently published In One Person, released in 2012. Furthermore, the specific ways in which the topics of sexuality, gender, sexual identity and feminism are examined and the way they are dealt with show an undeniable relation to the achievements and the activism of the sexual revolution. The exploration of sexuality in its various forms is one of the central issues in Irving’s novels, which include numerous characters belonging to the LGBTQ community who are often struggling to find their gender identity. In this thesis, the alienation and otherness of these characters will be discussed and how their otherness is often regarded as grotesque. Sexuality in obscure or unusual forms is represented throughout every novel by the American author John Irving, who was born in 1942 in Exeter, New Hampshire (Miller 2). In addition, other popular themes in Irving’s books include absent parents, writing protagonists, the city of Vienna, orphans and historical references. Another reoccurring element in Irving’s novels relates to the abundance of autobiographical detail such as the setting of New England, the 1 wrestling or the absent WWII veteran who is present in Garp as well as in In One Person.1 Irving’s characters often deviate from the norm defined by society at a certain time and place, whether through their behavior, physical appearance or the circumstances in which they live. Often there is a direct connection to gender, sex and/or gender identity. In developing his characters, Irving subjects them to extreme situations – “sexual situations or violent ones or whatever” (qtd. in Reilly 6). This quotation by Peter S. Prescott shows that Irving exposes his characters to situations that deviate from the norm, often with a sexual focus, which creates a sexually grotesque scene. Furthermore, the characters frequently display physical and psychological impairments that show the blurry concept of normality. This leads unquestionably to the various definitions of the term grotesque and the question of whether Irving’s writing can indeed be termed grotesque literature. 2 The Grotesque Strange, peculiar, odd, bizarre and macabre are only a few of the attributes that appear in one’s mind when thinking about the term grotesque. However, the OED defines the grotesque to be “characterized by distortion or unnatural combinations; fantastically extravagant; bizarre.” Furthermore, it defines the grotesque to be “comically or repulsively ugly or distorted” and “incongruous or inappropriate to a shocking degree” (OED). Literary professor Geoffrey Harpham describes the word grotesque as “a condition of being just out of focus, just beyond the reach of language” (3). According to him, the word “requires and defeats definition.” Therefore its meaning cannot be fully grasped and is ambivalent and ambiguous by nature (3-4). Although Harpham mentions the difficulties as regards definitions and synonyms for the term grotesque, it remains a concept with arguably various meanings and definitions; however it is still possible to categorize as something deviating the norm and provoking a reaction (4-6). Having its origins, as previously mentioned, in fifteenth century Italy, the notion of grotesque initially derived from the field of art. The term was originally used for ornaments found in Roman caves that depicted creatures, half-human, half-animal. Furthermore, non-imaginable situations were depicted, defying the laws of gravity, such as elevation and flying. (Kayser 20, Graulund and Edwards 5). Harpham describes the grotesque as the opposite of the round, the opposite of the ideal form

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