Refracted Realism and the Ethical Dominant in Contemporary American Fiction Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Nicolas Joseph Potkalitsky, M.A. Graduate Program in English The Ohio State University 2019 Dissertation Committee: James Phelan, Advisor Brian McHale Frederick Aldama Copyright by Nicolas Joseph Potkalitsky 2019 Abstract Refracted Realism and the Ethical Dominant in Contemporary American Fiction offers three linked pursuits, at once literary-historical and theoretical: (1) a study of the rhetorical dynamics of literary realism, (2) a study of the literary period after postmodernism and the identification of the aesthetic dominant at work in contemporary literature, and (3) a systemic analysis of a distinct mode of realist representation in contemporary American fiction, which I describe as “refracted realism.” At the intersection between literary realism’s longevity and flexibility, I explore three questions: What interests and engagements drive the interactions between authors and audiences in literary realism? What are the “dominant” features and interactions at work in the literary period after postmodernism? How has literary realism changed under the influence of the new aesthetic dominant? My project combines Roman Jakobson’s and Brian McHale’s concept of the “dominant” with Peter J. Rabinowitz’s and James Phelan’s rhetorical narrative theory to develop a rhetorically-inflected approach to literary history. In this analytical framework, I identify characteristic and uncharacteristic rhetorical properties, purposes, interests, resources, processes, and engagements in particular works of literature, literary movements, and aesthetic dominants or literary periods and track change and/or continuity accordingly. When theorizing literary realism, I emphasize how representative authors foreground their audiences’ interests and engagements with narrative’s mimetic and thematic components. When conceptualizing the new aesthetic dominant, I point to an ethical one, oriented towards and engaged in various questions and inquiries about value and power. Then when characterizing ii “refracted realism,” I define its minimal conditions in terms of the foregrounding of the mimetic and thematic components and the ethical aesthetic dominant, even as “refraction”— representative authors’ redeployment of modernist and postmodernist narrative techniques and strategies towards realist ends—proceeds through the handling and oftentimes foregrounding of the synthetic component. “Refracted realism,” as such, represents an important and highly valuable method for engaging with and foregrounding ethical questions and concerns in the contemporary literary period to the extent that these narrative’s “refracted” designs and purposes allow for the consideration of multiple ethical viewpoints and perspectives without foreclosing on the possibility of knowledge and political action. In my case studies, I trace out the historical development of “refracted realism” and showcase the rhetorical, technical, and ethical diversity of this literary aesthetic or movement. Roth’s The Human Stain (2000) serves as a more transitional example of the aesthetic where “refraction” through narratorial “stubbornness” activates an enduring state of tension between the project’s realist and modernist investments. Teju Cole’s Open City (2011) and Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad (2010) represent more fully formed versions of refracted realism. Refraction in Open City proceeds more instrumentally, where Cole uses the novel’s complicated narratorial dynamics to cultivate different and at times competing conceptions of the novel’s driving aesthetic interests. In Goon Squad, refraction focuses on ethical questions and concerns throughout the narrative progression, where Egan uses disjunctive temporality, multiple narration, and future-oriented representation to guide and limit her audience’s interpretive and ethical processes and judgments. iii Dedication To my loving wife, Sophie, and my two beautiful children, Beatrice and John iv Acknowledgements Over the past decade, many people, places, and institutions have been instrumental to the development and the completion of this dissertation. First, I would like to thank The Ohio State University and the English Department for offering me the fellowship that started this journey back in 2014. During my fellowship year, I had the invaluable opportunity to take courses with James Phelan, Amy Shuman, Jared Gardner, Elizabeth Hewitt, and Sandra Macpherson, each of whom contributed in significant ways to my conceptions of literary history and narrative design en route to the surer positions argued for in this dissertation. I would also like to thank Project Narrative and all of its faculty members for cultivating and maintaining this vital hub of research and intellectual engagement at OSU. The several travel grants I received from Project Narrative played no small part in the development of this project. One such grant made possible my trip to the 2016 International Society for the Study of Narrative Conference in Amsterdam where I first conceived the overall design of this project as well as anticipated some of its conclusions. In addition, I would like to thank my dissertation committee comprised of James Phelan, Brian McHale, and Frederick Aldama. As my dissertation advisor, James Phelan has had a singular influence on this project from start to finish. As a close reader and a careful editor of every section of this dissertation, he has brought greater clarity to my thinking as well as provided timely input on matters of layout and argument design. v I too would like to thank the many area libraries in which I completed work on this dissertation: Whetstone Library, Worthington Libraries, the State Library of Ohio, and the Bexley Library. In addition, I would like to thank the Yeah, Me Too coffee shop on Indianola Ave. for fueling much of my research and writing over the past several years. Finally, I would like to thank my family and loved ones. I thank my mother and my father for the many educational opportunities I enjoyed when growing up. I thank my loving wife Sophie Hubbell for her constant support and for opening up a space in our already busy lives for the completion of this project. Sophie also helped greatly with the formatting of the final manuscript. I too would like to thank Sophie’s parents for their love, encouragement, and support. Lastly, I would like to thank my beautiful children Beatrice and John. I wish you both a life filled with love, learning, and adventure! vi Vita 2001............................................................................B.A. Latin Language and Literature, Greek Language and Literature, Oberlin College 2005............................................................................M.Ed. John Carroll University 2010............................................................................M.A. English, Cleveland State University 2015 to 2019 ..............................................................Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of English, The Ohio State University 2016 to 2018 .............................................................Assistant to the Editor of Narrative Fields of Study Major Field: English vii Table of Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... ii Dedication ................................................................................................................................. iv Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... v Vita ............................................................................................................................................ vii Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 2: Philip Roth’s The Human Stain: Refracted Realism, Narratorial Stubbornness, Ethical Purposes .............................................. 24 Chapter 3: Cole’s Refracted Realism in Open City: Rhetorical Seduction, Delayed Disclosure, Ethical Consequences .......................................... 57 Chapter 4: Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad: Disjunctive Storytelling, Ethical Complexity, and Refracted Realism ..................................... 91 Chapter 5: Conclusion............................................................................................................... 123 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 134 viii Chapter 1: Introduction In 2010, Jonathan Franzen published his fourth novel Freedom to great critical acclaim. Michiko Kakutani proclaimed in her review: “Jonathan Franzen’s galvanic new novel, Freedom, showcases his impressive literary toolkit—every essential storytelling skill, plus plenty of bells and whistles—and his ability to throw open a big Updikean picture window on American middle-class life.” Sam Tannehaus in a similar vein declared: “Jonathan Franzen’s new novel, Freedom…is a masterpiece of American fiction.” In no small part this positive reception hinged on the widespread perception that Franzen’s novel was ushering in a new form of literary realism