Diachronic Transformations in Troubles Fiction: a Study in Models and Methods
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DIACHRONIC TRANSFORMATIONS IN TROUBLES FICTION: A STUDY IN MODELS AND METHODS. Pauline Rafferty, M.A.(Hons), M.Sc. Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy January 2008 1 Abstract This dissertation examines relationships between Northern Irish Troubles fiction and its secondary critical literature. Producers of genre are viewed as consumers of the genre to which they contribute and the consumption of genre is seen as a pre-requisite of production. The research method is designed to examine genre systematically through the analysis of a large data set representative of the genre spectrum. It employs analytical concepts drawn from semiotics, specifically, paradigms and syntagms. Results are interpreted using Raymond Williams’ “structures of feeling” and a modified version of Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding model. The review of the secondary literature of Troubles fiction reveals two interpretative models. The first sees Troubles fiction as a static site of cultural production in which a narrow range of negative or false stereotypes is endlessly reproduced. The second sees Troubles fiction as a site of cultural production that has experienced a form of cultural rupture as a younger generation of writer critiques and re-interprets conventional representations. Analysis reveals that neither interpretative model emerging from the secondary critical literature fully describes Troubles fiction. Conventional critical approaches to Troubles fiction based on intuitive and impressionistic ways of seeking knowledge miss minute shifts in the genre’s history. In particular, critical studies miss the return to relatively conservative thriller codes and conventions in novels published in the early 1990s during the peace talks. Critics have most regard for novels written by Irish literary authors and novels containing literary and technical modifications. The modality-orientated content modifications of 1980s thrillers do not attract literary interest. This study sees genre as historically contingent, taking the view that the relationship between the macro-level perspective of generic system and the micro- level perspective of individual novel is best explored through specific description and comparison of novels both diachronically and at the level of the synchronic moment. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS PART A: ANALYTICAL SECTION .................................................................9 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT ......................................9 1.1 Introduction...............................................................................................................................9 1.2 Aims, Objectives and Methods ...............................................................................................18 1.3 Models and Methods...............................................................................................................19 1.4 Contribution to Knowledge.....................................................................................................21 1.5 Background and Context.........................................................................................................21 1.5.1 Cultural Studies Approaches to Reading Culture.......................................................22 1.5.2 From Literary to Cultural Studies...............................................................................24 1.5.3 Human Science Approaches to Cultural Studies ........................................................29 1.6 Structure of the Dissertation ...................................................................................................30 CHAPTER TWO: A REVIEW OF THE SECONDARY LITERATURE ..........32 2.1 Introduction.............................................................................................................................32 2.2 Critical Responses of the 1970s ..............................................................................................32 2.2.1 Mapping Stereotypes.................................................................................................33 2.2.2 Evaluative Summarisations: Representing the Real ...................................................34 2.3 Critical Responses of the 1980s ..............................................................................................41 2.3.1 Structuralist Classifications........................................................................................41 2.3.2 Evaluative Summarisations: Authenticity and Psychological Realism ......................46 2.3.3 The Poverty of the Psychological Explanation...........................................................52 2.3.4 Jennifer Johnston: Artist or Artisan............................................................................56 2.4 Critical Responses of the 1990s ..............................................................................................59 2.4.1 Revising the Structuralist Tradition............................................................................61 2.4.2 Representing Psychological Realism..........................................................................68 2.4.3 The Politics of Troubles Fiction .................................................................................71 2.4.4.Children’s Fiction.......................................................................................................78 2.4.5 The New Northern Writers.........................................................................................80 2.5 Critical responses of the 2000s ...............................................................................................85 2.5.1 The Critical Establishment of Northern Fiction .........................................................86 2.5.2 Post-Marxist Approaches ...........................................................................................89 2.6 Book-length critical works......................................................................................................92 2.7 Identifying an emerging canon .............................................................................................102 CHAPTER THREE: A REVIEW OF THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES ....................................................................................................................108 3.1 Introduction...........................................................................................................................108 3.1.1 The Methodological Framework ..............................................................................108 3.2 Methodological Procedure....................................................................................................113 3.2.1 Steps in the Research Process...................................................................................113 3.2.2 The Analytical Categories ........................................................................................121 3.2.3 Social Semiotics .......................................................................................................127 3.3 Interpreting the Data .............................................................................................................133 3.3.1 Using Stuart Hall’s Encoding-Decoding Model.......................................................133 3.3.2 Using Raymond Williams’ “Structure of Feeling” as an Analytical Tool................143 3.4 Genre Formation ...................................................................................................................149 3.5 Discussion.............................................................................................................................153 3 CHAPTER FOUR: INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS USING CULTURAL THEORY MODELS .....................................................................................155 4.1 Introduction...........................................................................................................................155 4.2 Diachronic Analysis of Troubles Fiction ..............................................................................155 4.2.1 Using Hall’s Model to Interpret Troubles Thrillers Diachronically .........................156 4.2.2 Using Hall’s Model to Interpret Troubles Love Stories Diachronically...................175 4.2.3 Using Hall’s Model to Interpret Troubles Crime and Horror Novels Diachronically ...........................................................................................................................................182 4.2.4 Using Hall’s Model to Interpret Troubles Domestic Drama Novels Diachronically184 4.2.5 Using Hall’s Model to Interpret Troubles Comedies Diachronically.......................193 4.2.6 Using Hall’s Model to Interpret Troubles Bildungsromans Diachronically.............195 4.2.7 Using Hall’s Model to Interpret Troubles Children’s Books Diachronically...........201 4.2.8 Challenging Novels in the Data Set..........................................................................205 4.3 Synchronic Analysis of Troubles Fiction..............................................................................207 4.4 Interpretation of Results in Relation to Literature Review Models ......................................215 4.5 The Emerging Canon ............................................................................................................220 4.6 Discussion.............................................................................................................................227