Postmodernism in Brandon Sanderson's Alcatraz Series

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Postmodernism in Brandon Sanderson's Alcatraz Series The Question of Truth: Postmodernism in Brandon Sanderson's Alcatraz series Jaana Kervinen University of Tampere School of Language, Translation and Literary Studies English Philology Pro Gradu Thesis May 2013 Tampereen yliopisto Englantilainen filologia Kieli-, käännös, ja kirjallisuustieteiden yksikkö KERVINEN, JAANA: The Question of truth: Postmodernism in Brandon Sanderson's Alcatraz series Pro gradu -tutkielma, 88 sivua Toukokuu 2013 Tarkastelen tässä Pro Gradu -tutkielmassa sitä, miten postmoderni totuuskäsitys heijastuu Brandon Sandersonin lastenkirjasarjan Alcatraz (2007-2010) neljässä ensimmäisessä osassa. Tutkielma nojautuu enimmäkseen eri kirjoittajien postmodernismiin liittyviin teorioihin, mutta kuuluu myös lastenkirjallisuuden tutkimuksen piiriin, sillä tutkimuskohteena on ensisijaisesti lapsille markkinoitu kirjasarja, ja tutkin sitä, mitä teokset voivat lukijoilleen opettaa. Hypoteesini oli, että Alcatraz-sarja opettaa (lapsia) aktiivisesti kyseenalaistamaan oletettuja totuuksia. Johdanto-osuudessa esittelen metodini ja Sandersonin fantasiasarjan, joka kertoo 13-vuotiaasta kasvattipojasta, jonka luokse ilmestyy eräänä päivänä hänen isoisänsä. Tämä paljastaa, että Alcatraz ei olekaan orpo, että Alcatrazilla on mystinen Lahja (Talent) rikkoa asioita, ja että maailmaa hallitsee ilkeiden kirjastonhoitajien salaliitto. Teoriaosuudessa nostan ensin esiin teorioita, jotka liittyvät postmodernismin käsitykseen totuudesta ja tiedosta yleensä. Totean näiden kysymysten olevan keskeisiä postmodernismille, ja viittaan esimerkiksi Foucault'n kiinnostukseen tiedon ja vallan keskinäisestä suhteesta, Lyotardin ajatuksiin historiasta ja Linda Hutcheonin ajatuksiin kyselevän asenteen keskeisyydestä postmodernismissa. Osoitan, että postmoderni totuuskäsitys on pluralistinen, ristiriitaisuudet hyväksyvä ja jatkuvaan kyselyyn kannustava. Käsittelen myös lyhyesti lastenkirjallisuuden tutkimuksen historiaa ja sitä, onko eettisesti kyseenalaista tutkia sitä, mitä lapset voisivat oppia kirjallisuudesta. Analyysiosiossa tarkastelen postmodernin totuuskäsityksen heijastumista sarjassa kolmella eri pääosa-alueella: piilevässä ideologiassa, kirjallisissa tyylikeinoissa ja henkilöhahmoihin liittyvissä piirteissä. Havaitsin, että totuuden epävarma luonto tuodaan sarjassa esiin lukemattomilla eri tavoilla. Alcatraz esimerkiksi oppii, että suuri osa historian opetuksesta on ilkeiden kirjastonhoitajien propagandaa ja oppii arvostamaan kykyään rikkoa lähes mitä tahansa lahjana eikä kirouksena. Tämä kaikki voi auttaa lukijoita toteamaan, että joskus totena pidetyt asiat osoittautuvat ennakkoluuloiksi, ja että kyseenalaistava asenne on siksi hyvästä. Postmodernin ristiriitaisuuden hengessä Alcatraz toteaa kuitenkin myöhemmin, että noissa valheellisissa ennakkoluuloissa saattoi olla osa totuutta. Hän esimerkiksi huomaa, että kirjastonhoitajat eivät ole väärässä kaikesta, ja että hänen kykynsä rikkoa asioita saattaa sittenkin olla sekä lahja että kirous. Sama kaava toistuu myös kirjallisten tyylikeinojen kuten sanaleikkien, sekä henkilöhahmojen ja näiden perhesiteiden suhteen. Sarja osittain sekä kyseenalaistaa vanhoihin normeihin mukautumisen että vahvistaa niitä. Tutkielmasta käy ilmi, että Alcatraz todella opettaa kyseenalaistamaan oletettuja totuuksia, sillä totuuden osoitetaan olevan monivivahteinen ilmiö. Avainsanat: postmodernismi, lastenkirjallisuus, totuus Table of contents 1. Introduction......................................................................................................................................1 1.1 The Alcatraz series..........................................................................................................5 1.2 Method............................................................................................................................9 2. Theoretical background..................................................................................................................13 2.1 Postmodernism..............................................................................................................13 2.1.1 Truth-concept: plurality, relativity and contradictions........................................15 2.1.2 Cultural significance............................................................................................21 2.2 Children's literature and literary criticism...................................................................23 2.2.1 Historical overview..............................................................................................24 2.2.2 Educational values today.....................................................................................27 3. Analysing truth...............................................................................................................................33 3.1 Underlying ideology.....................................................................................................33 3.1.1 Knowledge, power and history............................................................................33 3.1.2 Talents..................................................................................................................41 3.1.3 Religion................................................................................................................43 3.2 Literary devices.............................................................................................................50 3.2.1 Metafiction proper...............................................................................................50 3.2.2 Wordplay.............................................................................................................55 3.2.3 Intertextuality, allusion and parody.....................................................................58 3.3 Personal issues.............................................................................................................67 3.3.1 Characters............................................................................................................67 3.3.2 Family relationships.............................................................................................71 4. Conclusions....................................................................................................................................76 Bibliography.......................................................................................................................................80 1. Introduction To open a book or article by, for instance, Derrida or one of his disciples is to feel that the mystification and intimidation of the reader is the ultimate aim of the enterprise. David Lodge (1981, ix) This thesis explores how a postmodern conception of truth is represented in Alcatraz (2007-2010), an American children's series by the noted fantasy author Brandon Sanderson. I address the question of why we would choose to offer texts such as these to children. Postmodernism can be a difficult term to grasp. Some writers of introductions to literary theory or to postmodernism itself attribute the confusion caused by the term to the fact that it can refer to several things, such as a literary mode and a largely poststructuralist form of literary criticism (Bertens 2008, 110). Others refer to the veritable jungle of terms created by postmodernism, modernism, postmodernity and modernity (Sarup 1993, 129-130; Barry 2009, 78). I would argue that some of the confusion stems from the very nature of postmodernism and the thoughts it is built upon. As Frederick Jameson (1994, xiv) notes, postmodernism and pluralism, a kind of all-inclusiveness, go together. Although he goes on to revise this to some extent, stating that the true plurality of postmodernism can be found in the individual responses to it rather than in an inherently unlimited scope that postmodernism itself would have (Jameson 1994, xv), he does say that postmodernism has been difficult to characterize globally or link to any specific style because it has been defined by the fact that it includes all possible styles (Jameson 1994, xiv). Even taking into account that postmodernism does not have to include absolutely every cultural act since the Second World War, one can still say that postmodernism encompasses a great variety of styles and tends to mix and match them. According to Harland G. Bloland (2005, 122), the views of postmodernists are so varied that “it is not possible to define postmodernism as a coherent theory” 2 and it would be better to follow Lyotard's lead and think of it “as an intellectual trend or condition” instead. Besides this inherent pluralism, postmodernism's truth-concept and general take on knowledge and information as such can make it difficult to understand. Jean-François Lyotard's The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (1984) is one of the earliest and most influential texts on postmodernism (see for instance Barry 2009, 82). In it Lyotard argues that the modern information society's distrust of metanarratives such as Marxism or Christianity, overarching theories and ideologies that claim to explain everything, can be said to be what constitutes postmodernism (1984, 7). According to Jean Webb (2003, 51), without these master narratives to believe in we have no centres of truth which would act as foundations for the type of certainties and absolute truths typical to nineteenth century writing. Postmodernism has been highly influenced by poststructuralism, some of whose leading figures (see for instance Derrida) seem to have
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