GENRE and CODE in the WORK of JOHN BANVILLE Kevin Boyle
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GENRE AND CODE IN THE WORK OF JOHN BANVILLE Kevin Boyle St. Patrick’s College, Drumcondra Dublin City University School of Humanities Department of English Supervisor: Dr Derek Hand A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD April 2016 I hereby certify that this material, which T now submit for assessment on the programme of study leading to the award of PhD is entirely my own work, and that I have exercised reasonable care to ensure that the work is original, and does not to the best of my knowledge breach any law of copyright, and has not been taken from the work of others save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work. Signed:_____________________________ ID No.: 59267054_______ Date: Table of contents Abstract 3 Acknowledgements 4 Introduction: Genre and the Intertcxlual aspects of Banville's writing 5 The Problem of Genre 7 Genre Theory 12 Transgenerie Approach 15 Genre and Post-modernity' 17 Chapter One: The Benjamin Black Project: Writing a Writer 25 Embracing Genre Fiction 26 Deflecting Criticism from Oneself to One Self 29 Banville on Black 35 The Crossover Between Pseudonymous Authorial Sell'and Characters 38 The Opposition of Art and Craft 43 Change of Direction 45 Corpus and Continuity 47 Personae Therapy 51 Screen and Page 59 Benjamin Black and Ireland 62 Guilt and Satisfaction 71 Real Individuals in the Black Novels 75 Allusions and Genre Awareness 78 Knowledge and Detecting 82 Chapter Two: Doctor Copernicus, Historical Fiction and Post-modernity: Genre Fiction as a Basis for the Post-modern Novel * 91 Liber Occultus: Polygenerieism and Generic Play 108 Rheticus: Towards a Narrative of Guilt 114 Archetype 116 Chapter Three: Ethics and Confession in The Rook of Evidence, The Untouchable andShroud 118 Types olTIlhics 123 The Context for the Emergence of Banville’s Ethical Fictions 125 The Nature ol'Elhics 128 Relativism 132 Representations of Ethics in Banvillc’s works 136 Crime and Punishment 142 The Other 158 Egoism and Consciousness 162 Chapter Four: Between Fictions: Prague Pictures and Genre 173 Travel Literature and Post-modernism 179 Memory and Imagination 185 Time and Timeliness 190 Parody 198 Cliche and Ironical Allusion 202 The Quasi-Novel 206 Kepler and Doctor Copernicus 208 Millenarianism 210 Involution ol'the Science Tetralogy lntcrtcxt 214 Shame: Towards a CenIra 1I Icro 217 Chapter Five: Return to Metafiction: The Infinities 222 Genre and Politics 227 Mctufiction, Allusion and Authority 237 Myth, Adaptation and Self-reflexive Metaficlion 240 Language and Meaning 251 Narration and Play in The Infinities 258 Language and Singularity 264 Conclusion 267 Bibliography 271 1 Abstract This thesis examines the role of genre in a selection of works by the author John Banvillc. It aims to provide insight into the output of a writer who alternates between claiming his various works as being cither literary or non-lilerary. Banville’s texts invariably appear paradoxical when the functions and effects of individual generic devices in his writing arc considered in light of the larger concerns of aesthetics, politics, and ethics which permeate through all of his work. The choice of texts discussed provide a variety of generic codes for consideration. Banville’s crime fiction written under the name of Benjamin Black are considered as part of a mctatlctional project akin to that of his main corpus rather than separate, non-literary entities. The Black novels initially appear to be faithful to the established genre of the hard-boiled detective novel, yet they also reveal an engagement with the intellectual and aesthetic concerns of the author’s main body of work which incorporates many genres. The conventions and codes of metalictional writings are thus examined sidc-by-sidc with those of the crime novel genre. Banville’s other works draw upon a range of generic codes such as the historical novel, confessional literature, and travel writing and these are also investigated. Thus, different genres and stages of the author’s corpus are represented. The theoretical basis for this examination draws upon a range of theorists of genre from the pioneering work of Bakhtin and Todorov to more recent developments by Derrida and Lyotard. Such a range provides the tools for this study to investigate the work of an author known for both earnestness and play. The two aims of this thesis are: to show how the complexity of his work’s philosophical basis is subverted by aesthetic concerns such as form and style, and to investigate why genre and genre theory has an unstable locale in Banville’s textual explorations. 3 Acknowledgements This work has a long narrative of its own and J would like to thank those who have been instrumental in its construction. The supervisor of this research project has been an invaluable and thought-provoking presence from start to finish. Dr Derek Hand has given guidance and support throughout the term of my studies, I am indebted to his knowledge, and I am extremely grateful for his advice. 1 would like to thank Dr Noreen Doody and Dr Jim Shanahan for their views and assistance. The thoughts and views of the staff of the Department of English in St. Patrick’s College were very welcome, Dr Eugene McNulty, Dr Sharon Murphy and Dr Julie Ann Stevens have offered advice, encouragement, and keen observations, particularly when new ideas were being tested. 1 would also like to thank Dr Patricia Flynn and Sharon King in the Research Office for their help in finalising this project, and Gillian Clarke in the Department of Humanities for her support. 1 am lucky to have friends and colleagues past and present who have been insightful and supportive. Rebecca Darcy, Cormac Lambe, Graham Price, Benjamin Mallon, Ann Fallon, Louise Callinan, Conor Farnan, Ying Yun Wang, Conor Carolan, Gavin Jones, David Dancey, lan Watters, Alan Carmody, Hugh Davey, Gerard Gregory, Kathy Deady, Rioghnach Ahern, Noel Marian, Liam O ’Rourke and others too numerous to name, for the discussions and sharing of literary ideas over the years. Michael and Monica Cahillane have been extremely supportive and I am much indebted to them. Eoin and Deirdrc Hennigan have also been exceptional, and I thank them for their assistance. My thanks to my father Scan, and to Patrick, Fiona, Regina, Elizabeth and Alice for their belief and constant encouragement throughout my studies. I could not have envisaged this project coming to the light of day without their help and support. Lastly, my love and appreciation to my wife Amy who was a beacon throughout the long days and nights of this journey. 4 Introduction Genre and the Intertextual aspects of Banvillc’s writing The novel grows by a process o f genetic building, filling itself out, matching it.se Ij to its vision o f itself as a tree grows, becom ing a tree by becoming a tree. To break the rules o f generation is to break the book. (John Banville, ‘The Personae of Summer )' It is not initially apparent to a reader of Banvillc’s novels that genre2 is a constructive principle in his work. As a fiction writer. Banville has frequently produced difficult, often esoteric work that seeks to identify and then penetrate the dark mysteries of existence. A typical Banville novel is complex and far- reaching; he is a writer who often eschews finely-wrought plot and a wide cast of characters. Banville’s body of work docs not adhere to the Jamesian idea of the novel representing life and society; his work is avowedly post-modernist in its interiority, its Lyotardian usurping of grand-narratives and its scepticism towards established cpistemological certainties such as truth, language, and reason. Many of his published works are deeply intertextual and intcrgcneric and incorporate many modes of literary and non-litcrary genres.3 Despite Banvillc’s fictions often being intertextual exercises that draw ideas from a wide range of sources, the author has always made use of genre to 1 ‘The Personae of Summer'. Possessed of a Past: a .John Banville Reader. Raymond Bell. cd. London: Picador. 2012. p. 346 2 Genre is a contentious term and has a variety of interpretations. In this thesis ‘genre' typically refers to a category ol'a form, thus 1 consider the novel as a literary form’ and the romance novel as a 'genre’ rather than a 'subgenre’, although some critics referred to in this work (Bakhtin being one example) refer to the novel as a genre in itself. Prague Pictures (2003), a travelogue supplemented with history, anecdotes, theoretical musings and journalism is a case in point. 5 give shape to his texts. Genre functions and effects have a deep establishment in his fiction, particularly since the publication of his first full-length novel Nightspawn (1 9 7 1) - a political thriller which masks an experimental and metafictional underbelly which reveals a writer finding his register. Patricia Waugh defines metafiction as 'a parodic, playful, excessive or deceptively naive style of writing (1984, 2). Since his earliest literary forays, Banvillc incorporates genre into his fiction in various ways, and much of his writing has been characterised by the intertextual and extra-literary playfulness of metafiction. B irchw ood (\913) and The Newton Letter (1982) are, at a foundational level, both iconoclastic and parodic swipes at logically constructed narrative. Indeed, logic in Birchwood is established as a genred epistcmology, in the sense that the idea of "genre' is predominantly concerned with limits and dialogic understanding. In addition to the concept of epistcmological limits put forward in this text is an ironicising of the overlap between our understanding of the terms ""narrative” and "‘fiction” it is ironic that we ‘understand1 that there arc fictions, as the surety of understanding is itself a fiction.