Exploring Emergent Social Change in the Reading and Writing of Narrative Fiction
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Structures of Feeling: Exploring emergent social change in the reading and writing of narrative fiction Rob Payne Bachelor of Arts, English Literature, Queen’s University, Canada This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy College of Arts Business Law and Social Sciences Murdoch University July 2019 Declaration I declare that this thesis is my own account of my research and contains as its main content work which has not previously been submitted for a degree at any tertiary education institution. Rob Payne ii Abstract How does the novel capture the contradictions and convolution of feeling that characterise individuals’ subjective experience when new social and political formations emerge? Cultural theorist and novelist Raymond Williams’ concept of ‘structures of feeling’ throws into relief the processes by which characters in fiction might articulate and come to understand their emotionally ambivalent responses to economic and cultural change. This thesis aims to mobilise Williams’ concept as writing and reading practices through a thesis that comprises a creative work and a dissertation. In the first component, the creative work, I present sections from my novel, ‘All in This Together’. The narrative is set in London, England in 2012 and aims to blend pathos and humour as it explores the lived intricacies of contemporary life in an urban setting. In particular, it focuses on how individuals engage with and navigate social tensions related to the impacts of neoliberal politics and residual ideas of class. Moving between both the professional and personal worlds, the narrative sees the central protagonist question how best to live, and how to balance his individualist aspirations against his sense of community. The accompanying dissertation uses Williams’ structures of feeling as a framework to explore how specific techniques of and approaches to the writing of fiction, such as those deployed in my own manuscript, help to capture social tensions, often in their nascent, emergent forms. Through close readings of Margaret Drabble’s The Ice Age (1977), Nick Hornby’s About a Boy (1998) and Tim Lott’s White City Blue (1999), I explore the struggles of individual characters in relation to their specific historical and social situations during the late twentieth century. In this way, complexity is restored to the historical contexts in which these novels are set, enabling readers to gain a deeper insight into and understanding of the lived moment. Together with the creative work, this dissertation encourages readers to iii consider the vital role of feeling, sensation and emotion in the formation and conceptualisation of society and culture. iv Table of Contents Declaration ............................................................................................................................. ii Abstract ................................................................................................................................. iii Table of Contents ................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................. vii Dedication ........................................................................................................................... viii PART 1: CREATIVE COMPONENT ................................................................................... 1 ‘All in This Together’: sections from a manuscript .............................................................. 2 PART 2: DISSERTATION ................................................................................................. 163 Chapter 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 164 Thatcherism in realist novels of the 1990s ......................................................................... 165 Structures of feeling ........................................................................................................... 167 Framing the argument ........................................................................................................ 168 Approach ............................................................................................................................ 171 From the 1970s to the 1990s: A brief overview ................................................................. 174 How the dissertation and creative component work together ............................................ 177 Structure of the dissertation ................................................................................................ 179 Chapter 2. Structures of feeling .......................................................................................... 183 Structures of feeling ........................................................................................................... 183 Identifying structures of feeling ......................................................................................... 187 Use of structures of feeling in critical textual analysis ...................................................... 189 Structures of feeling, the contemporary novel and neoliberalism ...................................... 192 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 196 Chapter 3. The Ice Age ........................................................................................................ 198 Plot summary ...................................................................................................................... 201 Critical responses ............................................................................................................... 203 v How character dislocation reveals structures of feeling ..................................................... 204 Clashing discourses ............................................................................................................ 209 Property metaphors ............................................................................................................ 213 Anthony as metaphor of the nation .................................................................................... 216 The natural world as metaphor ........................................................................................... 219 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 221 Chapter 4. About a Boy ........................................................................................................ 223 Plot summary ...................................................................................................................... 227 Critical responses ............................................................................................................... 228 Evocations of insecurity: Marcus ....................................................................................... 231 Evocations of insecurity: Will ............................................................................................ 235 Evocations of emptiness and being incomplete ................................................................. 236 The ironic treatment of Will Freeman ................................................................................ 238 Will’s flat as metaphor of the man ..................................................................................... 241 Staging a clash of worldviews ............................................................................................ 242 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 247 Chapter 5. White City Blue .................................................................................................. 248 Plot summary ...................................................................................................................... 250 Context: changes to working-class life .............................................................................. 252 Critical responses ............................................................................................................... 255 Pushing and pulling: aspirations and constraints ............................................................... 256 Residual culture .................................................................................................................. 259 Structures of feeling in lived environments ....................................................................... 260 How chronology evokes structures of feeling .................................................................... 263 Class and ways of speaking ................................................................................................ 266 Skepticism about appearances ............................................................................................ 269 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 271 Chapter 6. Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 274 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................