Royal Palms: exploring 1980s neoliberal characterisation through Foucauldian power and discourse Ben Stone BA, Grad Dip Ed Principal supervisor: Dr. Rohan Wilson Secondary supervisor: Dr. Linda Graham Submitted in fulfilment of the requirement of the degree of Master of Philosophy School of Creative Writing, Creative Industries Faculty Queensland University of Technology 2019 1 | Page DECLARATION OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP The work in this thesis has not been previously submitted to meet requirements for an award at this or any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge, this thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made. Signature: ______ QUT Verified Signature _________________________ Date: 10th August 2019 2 | Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A big thanks to my supervisors Dr. Rohan Wilson and Dr. Linda Graham. Thanks also to Dr. Lucie Crawford and Jen Engle, Creative Industries Librarian Ellen Thompson, Dr. Ella Jeffery, my beautiful wife Georgie and our inspiring Sol. As this thesis examines ascendant neoliberalism in terms of discourse and power, I would also like to acknowledge its affiliated leaders gambling our world for short term gain as extinction rates soar and climate-change tipping points near. Clearly, a smarter and more humane discourse and its leaders are needed and fast. 3 | Page KEYWORDS AND ABSTRACT Keywords creative writing, creative practice-led research, literary fiction, neoliberalism, Foucauldian discourse, Royal Palms, Wall Street, American Psycho, blank fiction, 1980s, junket, decentred [decentered] subject, characterisation, Nick Chater, discursive formations, power relations, statements, interpellation, normalisation, poststructuralism, Gold Coast, Australia Abstract This practice-led novel and exegesis investigates the characterisations of a 1980s Wall Street junket on Queensland’s Gold Coast in terms of Foucauldian power and discourse. Problematising the subject’s decentred ontology implied by Kahneman (2011), Chater (2018) and Harari (2017), Michel Foucault’s theories are adapted to illustrate characterisation as a site of discursive interpellation and contest in neoliberal fiction. To inform my practice, case studies of American Psycho (Ellis, 1991) and Wall Street (Lipper, 1988; O. Stone & Weiser, 1987) are conducted. Reflecting 1980s literary discourse, Elizabeth Young’s postmodernist concept of ‘blank fiction’ is correlated to Foucault’s theories implying the decentred subject. Decentred, the subject as a scape of discursive practice reveals the struggle between personal discourse and the organisational power of corporations. This has implications not only for character arcs and narrative tension, but provides a space where humanism and organisational agency can be reconciled as the ontology of the self. This poststructural approach to fictionalising 1980s Wall Street subculture constituting and being constituted by neoliberal discourse and individuals is intended as a complementary tool to humanism-centred characterisation, aiming to reconcile the subject between contemporary scientific findings and post-Enlightenment being. 4 | Page TABLE OF CONTENTS PART 1 EXEGESIS KEYWORDS AND ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... 4 1.1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 7 1.1.1 – Background and context .................................................................................................................... 7 1.1.2 – The posthumanism of decentred subjects ........................................................................................ 8 1.1.3 – The humanist subject as discursive interpellation? ......................................................................... 10 1.1.4 – Theoretical framework and exegetical question ............................................................................. 11 1.1.5 – My practice ‘Royal Palms’ ................................................................................................................ 12 1.1.6 – Case-studies of neoliberal fiction set in the 1980s as discourse ..................................................... 14 1.1.7 – Conceptual Framework .................................................................................................................... 16 1.2 METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................................... 17 1.2.1 – Practice-led research as iterative ‘shift in thought’ ......................................................................... 17 1.3 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................................ 18 1.3.1 – Scope and reference criteria ........................................................................................................... 18 1.3.2 – Evidence for the character as decentred subject? .......................................................................... 19 1.3.3 – The neoliberal fiction of Wall Street and American Psycho ............................................................ 21 1.3.4 – Literary Foucauldian discourse analysis .......................................................................................... 23 1.4 CASE STUDIES .......................................................................................................................... 25 1.4.1 WALL STREET ........................................................................................................................... 25 1.4.1.1 – The abyss of organisational interpellation .................................................................................. 25 1.4.1.2 – Normalisation as the organisational power of discourse ............................................................. 25 1.4.1.3 – Narrative tension as personal discourse versus organisational power ........................................ 27 1.4.1.4 – Subjective conflict within the objectifications of discourse ....................................................... 30 1.4.2 AMERICAN PSYCHO .................................................................................................................. 31 1.4.2.1 – Ellis’ novel in context .................................................................................................................... 31 1.4.2.2 – Foucauldian power as post-truth simulacrum .............................................................................. 32 1.4.2.3 – Normalisation to neoliberalism’s postmodernism ....................................................................... 33 1.4.2.4 – Postmodern blankness as decentred subjectivity ........................................................................ 35 1.4.2.5 – Double-voicing as decentred corporate aphasia .......................................................................... 36 1.4.2.6 – The psychopathy of blank statements in decentred subjectification .......................................... 37 1.5 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 40 1.5.1 – Exegetical questions answered ........................................................................................................ 40 1.5.2 – In summary and future research possibilities ................................................................................. 42 5 | Page PART 2 PRACTICE 2.1 Royal Palms: a neoliberal novel ................................................................................................ 45 2.2 Novel reflection ....................................................................................................................... 76 2.2.1 – The humanism of discourse .............................................................................................................. 76 2.2.2 – Literary devices centring discourse as contesting subject-positions................................................ 77 2.2.3 – In summary ....................................................................................................................................... 78 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................................... 80 PART 3 APPENDIX 3.1 KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS .................................................................................................. 89 3.2 METHODOLOGY – further discussion ........................................................................................ 92 3.2.1 – Isolating tools as method from Foucauldian discourse theory ...................................................... 92 3.2.2 – Graham’s Foucauldian discourse method ...................................................................................... 93 3.3 LITERATURE REVIEW – further discussion ................................................................................. 96 3.3.1 – The decentring of the subject-as-schism .......................................................................................... 96 3.3.2 – Neoliberalism in context ................................................................................................................... 97 3.3.3 – Young’s blank fiction and postmodernism ......................................................................................