MASARYK UNIVERSITY Aspects of Postmodernism in Anthony Burgess

MASARYK UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF EDUCATION Department of English Language and Literature Aspects of Postmodernism in Anthony Burgess’ Novels Diploma thesis Brno 2011 Supervisor: PhDr. Pavel Doležel, Csc. Author: Bc. Radka Mikulaková Bibliographic note Mikulaková, Radka. Aspects of Postmodernism in Anthony Burgess’ novels. Brno: Masaryk University, Faculty of Education, Department of English Language and Literature, 2011. Supervisor Pavel Doležel. Anotace Diplomová práce Aspekty postmodernismu v románech Anthony Burgesse pojednává o literárním postmodernismu v románech Anthony Burgesse. Jmenovitě v románech A Clockwork Orange, The Wanting Seed a 1985, které jsou tematicky propojeny autorovou teorií vývoje moderní společnosti. Práce je rozdělena do tří základních oddílů. První část shrnuje základní literárněvědné přístupy k samotnému pojmu postmodernismus a stanovuje tak teoretická východiska k dalším oddílům práce. V následující části jsou výše uvedené romány podrobeny literární analýze z hlediska teorie fikčních světů a závěrem je stěžejní téma románů, Burgessova teorie cyklického vývoje společnosti, porovnáno a zkoumáno z hlediska dobových filozoficko-sociologických tendencí. Annotation Diploma thesis Aspects of Postmodernism in Anthony Burgess’ Novels deals with literary postmodernism in Anthony Burgess‟ novels, i.e. in A Clockwork Orange, The Wanting Seed and 1985, which are thematically connected by author‟s theory of the development of contemporary society. Thesis is divided into three chapters. The first chapter deals with basic scientific approaches to the term postmodernism and thus defines a theoretical basis for other chapters. In the following part the three of Burgess‟ novels are analyzed from the perspective of fictional semantics and, finally, the main theme of these Burgess‟ novels, a cyclic theory of human development, is compared and contrasted with the then socio-philosophical tendencies. Klíčová slova Postmoderna, postmodernismus, britská poválečná společnost, teorie vývoje moderní společnosti, fikční světy, dystopie Keywords Postmodernity, postmodernism, British post-war society, modern post-war society‟s development theory, fictional worlds, dystopia I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the sources listed in the primary and secondary sources section. ........................... I would like to thank my supervisor, PhDr. Pavel Doležel, Csc., for his valuable advice. Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS 7 1. INTRODUCTION 8 2. POSTMODERNISM IN BURGESS’ NOVELS 12 2.1. POSTMODERNITY VS. POSTMODERNISM 12 2.2. THE SOCIETY OF CHANGES 15 2.3. VARIETIES OF POSTMODERN THEORIES 20 2.4. ON THE POSTMODERN POETICS 28 3. FICTIONAL WORLDS IN BURGESS‘ NOVELS 34 3.1. CHARACTERS 37 3.2. SOCIETY 42 3.3. PLOTS AND FICTIONAL NARRATIVE ORGANIZATION 47 3.4. MODALITY 50 3.5. TEXTURE 51 4. MAIN THEMES IN BURGESS‘ NOVELS 56 4.1. THE AFFIRMATION OF INDIVIDUALISM AND DYSTOPIAN SOCIETY IN BURGESS„ NOVELS 57 4.2. THE DYSTOPIAN SOCIETY WITHIN THE CYCLE 66 5. CONCLUSION 75 6. RESUMÉ 78 7. SUMMARY 79 8. BIBLIOGRAPHY 80 7 1. INTRODUCTION There are a lot of various theories about Anthony Burgess and there are a lot of various theories about postmodernism. Both seem to be quite controversial – and still current – topics. The former has been interesting literature, film and music fans, the latter men of science. In my diploma thesis I have decided to connect these two subjects and thus analyze Anthony Burgess from postmodernist point of view and postmodernism from Anthony Burgess‟s point of view. What were Anthony Burgess‟s literary and philosophical tendencies? What was the aim of his work? What is the cyclic theory he introduces in his books about? What was the background and inspiration for the theory? Is his work postmodernist? What is – not – postmodernist and what is postmodernism itself? How can we define postmodernist literature and is there a specific poetics of postmodernism? These are few of my questions I would like to ask and deal with. First, this final thesis is based on my bachelor thesis The Picture of an Antihero in A Clockwork Orange, which was supposed to be a literary study of Anthony Burgess‟s most famous book A Clockwork Orange focusing on the main character, teenager Alex. The book was often misunderstood and mispronounced as vindication of brutal violence, which it definitely is not. Briefly said, the readers and film adaptation viewers have mistaken a romantic defence of freedom for a defence of violent behaviour, which, anyway, probably influenced Burgess‟s other works and his overall attitude to expressing his ideas through literature, because in his later works he seems to tend to explicitness and including straightforward essays in his books. 8 Second, the topic of the bachelor thesis is going to be widened to a literary analysis of three of Anthony Burgess‟s novels, of which one is again A Clockwork Orange. The rest are The Wanting Seed and 1985. These books are thematically connected by a socio-theological cyclic theory of human development based on two oppositional theological attitudes to human nature and the original sin. According to Pelagius – a British monk living at the turn of the fourth and fifth century A.D. – there is nothing like the original sin committed by Adam in the Garden of Eden, no human predisposition to evil and disobedience. Man is born free and neutral; therefore also his character is neither good, nor bad. This idea was denied by St Augustine, the bishop of Hippo, who condemned Pelagius and reaffirmed the orthodox doctrine of the original sin (Burgess 1979: 55-56). According to these two representatives, the first cyclic stadium of free will and effort given to man is called the Pelagian phase – or the Pelphase –, which is followed by the Interphase, in which the stadiums turn, and finally, there is the Augustinian phase – or the Gusphase – of the sinfulness of man, in which man – according to the traditional Christian doctrine – is more likely to sin. Nevertheless, the cycle goes back to the first Pelagian phase and again and again. Considering the background, the years of publishing the books – 1960s and 1980s – and the crisis of modern sociology (Smart 1997: 70-72), the cyclic idea seems to be very postmodern. Nevertheless, according to literary scholars, the definitions of postmodernism and what is postmodern have stayed unclear. I would like to study the Burgess‟s theory of the cycle and its background in order to better understand, describe and interpret it according to the then socio- philosophical base. 9 Because of this fact the first part of my diploma thesis is going to summarize fundamental scientific approaches, theories and principles of postmodernism, the relation between postmodernism and postmodernity, social background, socio- philosophical theories and poetics of postmodernism as a theoretical basis for the other parts. Before interpreting the cyclic theory itself in the final part, the three of Burgess‟s books already noticed are going to be analyzed according to the postmodern theory of fictional and possible worlds in order to specify the literary world of the Burgess‟s novels. For interpreting the fictional world of Burgess‟ novels I am going to follow mainly fictional semantics described in Lubomír Doležel‟s book titled Heterocosmica, which offers the fictional theory as well as practical literary analyses. Moreover, this book is to be an often cited source for describing the general concept of fictional worlds in literature and fictional semantics, therefore one can consider it a sufficient authority in these branches. Nevertheless, I am going to analyze Burgess‟ work with a respect to other theorist dealing with the possible and fictional worlds, such as Ruth Ronen, Bohumil Fořt and Thomas Pavel, in order to challenge Doležel‟s conception in Heterocosmica. The final part is going to deal with the theory of the cycle itself from the perspective of the then sociology and philosophy. The idea of revisioning and rewriting a theme of a book already published is strongly postmodern, therefore I would like to either find other postmodern features in the Burgess‟s books or at least identify Burgess‟s attitude to postmodernist scholars‟ concepts – in case we can find anything such as a typical postmodernism. In 1978 Burgess has rewritten and reacted to George Orwell‟s famous dystopia Nineteen Eighty-Four, of which future predictions seemed to be improper 10 to Burgess, who, therefore, wrote his own version of European society‟s future development including a number of essays considering Orwell‟s aims, visions and their possible sources from the late 1970‟s point of view. Nevertheless, the Burgess‟s 1984’s revision could be connected to his previous cyclic theory of human development introduced in The Wanting Seed and A Clockwork Orange in the 1960s, when postmodern sociologists presented new – by no coincidence often also cyclic – theories about (post)modern society, and thus it make a complex picture of Burgess‟s social scheme. The basis of the novels 1984, The Wanting Seed and A Clockwork Orange is the cyclic theory that functions as a narrative construct describing the regretful condition of postmodern society. What Burgess seems to stress is the position of individuality within the society, the contrast and imbalance in their relation. Whereas Burgess commented on George Orwell‟s novel in the age of postmodernism, I – as some people say we are in the era of even post- postmodernism – would like to comment on Burgess‟s comments. 11

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