Quest and Conquest in the Fiction of David Lodge Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde der Philosophischen Fakultät II der Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg Vorgelegt von Ramona-Mihaela Sava aus Petrosani/Rumänien Würzburg 2006 Erstgutachter: Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Rüdiger Ahrens, OBE Zweitgutachter: Prof. Dr. Stephan Kohl Tag des Kolloquiums: 05.07.2006 Acknowledgements Above all I would like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Rüdiger Ahrens, OBE, whose guidance, support and encouragement greatly contributed to the completion of my dissertation. I am also indebted to the other members of my PhD thesis board, Prof. Dr. Stephan Kohl and Prof. Dr. Winfried Kreutzer. Further thanks are due to my fiancé, whose patience and loyalty accompanied me along these years. Last but not least, I want to thank my family for their unconditioned love and confidence. 1 Table of contents 1. Introduction .........................................................................................................4 1.1. David Lodge– an overview ...............................................................................4 1.1.1. Biographical approaches ....................................................................5 1.1.2. Between fiction and criticism.............................................................5 1.1.3. Realism and tradition .........................................................................7 1.1.4. Experimental elements.......................................................................8 1.1.5. Literary genres .................................................................................11 1.1.5.1. Catholic novels..................................................................11 1.1.5.2. Tales of the academy.........................................................14 1.1.5.3. Romance............................................................................15 1.2. Methodology: Foucauldian discourse analysis ...............................................18 1.2.1. The concept of discourse..................................................................19 1.2.2. Power and knowledge ......................................................................21 1.2.3. Truth.................................................................................................25 2. Religious discourse............................................................................................29 2.1. Quest and romance..........................................................................................29 2.1.1. The tradition of the literary genre ....................................................30 2.1.2. Characteristics of the romance.........................................................32 2.1.3. The Holy Grail .................................................................................34 2.2. Quest and conquest in Small World ................................................................37 2.2.1. An Academic Romance .....................................................................37 2.2.2. The struggle for promotion ..............................................................39 2.2.3. Sexual desire ....................................................................................41 2.2.4. The Perceval-question......................................................................42 2.2.5. Arthur Kingfisher and the Halcyon Days ........................................44 2.3. The Catholic Church as a powerful institution ...............................................47 2.3.1. The Catholic doctrine.......................................................................48 2.3.2. The fear of Hell and the confessional ..............................................49 2.3.3. The body: a site of control ...............................................................53 2.4. Subversion of Catholicism..............................................................................58 2.4.1 Erotic discourse.................................................................................58 2.4.1.1. Human sexuality and its representation ............................59 2.4.1.2. Transgression of the law ...................................................61 2.4.2. Cinema– a way of escapism.............................................................65 2.4.3. Pilgrimage, a form of tourism ..........................................................67 2.4.3.1. The journey as ritual..........................................................68 2.4.3.2. The way to Santiago de Compostela.................................71 3. Gender discourse ...............................................................................................75 2 3.1. Feminism. A theoretical introduction .............................................................75 3.1.1. Object of study, goal, definition.......................................................75 3.1.2. A historical overview on feminist criticism.....................................76 3.1.3. The dichotomy gender vs. sex..........................................................79 3.1.4. Feminist methodology......................................................................82 3.1.5. Foucault and feminists .....................................................................83 3.2. Patriarchal discourse: strategies of control .....................................................94 3.2.1. Hierarchy and relations of power.....................................................94 3.2.2. Pornography: depiction of whores .................................................101 3.2.3. Patriarchal violence: rape, incest and abuse...................................107 3.2.4. Female otherness: mutilation and pathology..................................113 3.3. Stereotypical representations of gender ........................................................115 3.3.1. Home-bound women......................................................................119 3.3.2. Reversed gender roles ....................................................................125 3.3.3. Family and/ or career .....................................................................133 3.4. Narratology and gender studies.....................................................................136 4. Ethnic discourse ..............................................................................................143 4.1. Key concepts: definitions..............................................................................143 4.1.1. Ethnicity.........................................................................................143 4.1.2. Nation.............................................................................................145 4.12.1.1. National identity– a discursive construct ......................146 4.12.1.2. Creating otherness.........................................................149 4.12.1.3. The colonised ................................................................151 4.2. Constructing Britishness ...............................................................................156 4.2.1. Army discourse ..............................................................................156 4.2.2. Ireland, a British colony.................................................................160 4.2.3. Internal others.................................................................................167 4.3. USA– a new Empire......................................................................................171 4.3.1. Britain: America’s other.................................................................173 4.3.1.1. The British Empire is falling down.................................173 4.3.1.2. Rummidge vs. Euphoria..................................................182 4.3.1.2.1. The promised land............................................182 4.3.1.2.2. University systems ...........................................188 4.3.1.2.3. An American centre .........................................192 4.3.2. Hawaii, the conquered paradise .....................................................196 4.3.3. Americans in Germany ..................................................................199 4.4. Other ethnic groups.......................................................................................207 4.4.1. Italians............................................................................................207 4.4.2. Australia .........................................................................................208 4.4.3. Orientals .........................................................................................209 4.4.3.1. Jerusalem.........................................................................210 4.4.3.2. Turkey .............................................................................211 4.4.3.3. Japan................................................................................213 4.4.3.4. Korea...............................................................................216 3 4.4. Hybridity: transgressing ethnic borders ........................................................218 5. Literary discourse............................................................................................226 5.1. Author and authority .....................................................................................226 5.1.1. Poststructuralist anti-authorialism..................................................226 5.1.1.1. Roland Barthes’s ”The Death of the Author” .................226