The literature of reconstruction: authentic fiction in the new millennium

227 Pages·2017·9.464 MB·English

by  Funk, Wolfgang

The Literature of Reconstruction

The Literature of Reconstruction
Authentic Fiction in the New Millennium
Wolfgang Funk
Bloomsbury Academic
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc
Bloomsbury Academic
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc
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BLOOMSBURY and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published 2015
© Wolfgang Funk, 2015
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or
any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the
publishers.
No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining
from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or
the author.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Funk, Wolfgang.
The literature of reconstruction : authentic fiction in the new millennium / Wolfgang Funk.
pages cm
Summary: “Shows through an analysis of the form and content of significant contemporary
British and American novels that the notion of reconstruction figures as a major aesthetic
factor in recent works of narrative fiction”-- Provided by publisher.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-5013-0616-7 (hardback)
1. American fiction--21st century--History and criticism. 2. English fiction--21st century-
-History and criticism. 3. Post-postmodernism (Literature) 4. Literature--Aesthetics. 5.
Narration (Rhetoric) I. Title.
PS380.F86 2015
813’.609--dc23
2015004382
ISBN: HB: 978-1-5013-0616-7
ePub: 978-1-5013-0617-4
ePDF: 978-1-5013-0618-1
Typeset by Fakenham Prepress Solutions, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 8NN
Contents
Acknowledgements vi
Abbreviations viii
1 Postmodernism’s Wake: From Deconstruction to Reconstruction 1
2 ‘To Thine Own Self be True’: Eight Theses on Authenticity 13
3 Holding the Mirror up to Fiction: Metareference in Art 67
4 From Innocence to Ignorance: Julian Barnes’s England, England 107
5 Reconstructing the Author: Dave Eggers’s A Heartbreaking Work of
Staggering Genius 123
6 Reconstructing Literary Influence: Jasper Fforde’s Thursday-Next Series 139
7 Reconstructing Narration: Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad
and Julian Barnes’s The Sense of an Ending 169
8 Remainder 189
Bibliography 193
Index 213
Acknowledgements
The author’s name and the category ‘monograph’ may suggest that this book is the
work of a single human being. While this may be true from a purely materialistic and
copyright perspective, it is also the case that the lives and opinions of a great number
of people have shaped and influenced the final result you now hold in your hand.
Without them, book and author would not have become what they are. The first and
foremost to thank in this regard is Rainer Emig, my mentor since my earliest days at
university. He trusted and believed in me long before I even thought about starting a
project such as this. I hope that he reads the following pages as a tribute to his genuine
combination of valuable guidance and advice (if needed) and unconditional trust and
freedom (if desired).
During the long years it took for this project to develop from a series of fuzzy ideas
into the material object of a book, I had the great fortune to meet a number of human
beings whose ideas and personalities have significantly shaped this project and its
author. My fellow explorer of reconstruction, Irmtraud Huber, has been an inspiration
in more ways that she will ever know. I am indebted to Adam Kelly, Antonius Weixler
and Tim Baker for valuable and enjoyable discussions of central ideas behind this
book. I am proud to thank Katharina Bähne, Julia Boll, Claudia Georgi, Florian Groß,
Maria Marczek-Fuchs and Sven Schmalfuss, whose superior knowledge and schol-
arship and quick wit, but above all loyal friendship, have made the journey exciting
and delightful in equal measure. I thank my colleagues in Regensburg and Hannover
for providing an atmosphere in which working has always been a great pleasure. I am
particularly grateful to Lucia Krämer, whose affability, open ear and dialect have made
our office a real home from home for me.
In preparing a manuscript for publication, there are always people who get
involved without quite actually meaning to. I am immensely grateful to Ruth Mayer
and Werner Wolf for reading earlier drafts of this book and very much hope they
can recognize their ideas in the finished product. The same goes for the unnamed
reader at Bloomsbury, who – judging from the suggestions proffered – understood the
project better than I did myself. Haaris Naqvi has been a superbly supportive commis-
sioning editor, and Mary Al-Sayed has shown extraordinary patience in answering
any question I threw at her. Any remaining mistakes or misjudgements in the texts
are my own.
Although a project like this takes up a rather substantial portion of one’s waking
(and occasional sleeping) hours, there is luckily also a big chunk of life where authen-
ticity is lived rather than written about and where any notion of metareference tends
to meet with a rather bemused shrug of the shoulders. Without the unconditional
love, trust and support of my dear parents, Werner and Marieli Funk, I would be a
Acknowledgements vii
lesser human being, and their life has been a living proof that authenticity is much
more than merely an academic issue. My sister Moni has been my trusted confidante
for as long as I can think, and her warmth, honesty and caring protection have put me
back on track on more occasions than I care to remember. My two sons, Ferdinand
and Florian, are too young – bless them – to remember their dad being mired in
meta reference, but their arrival has introduced a sparkle, devotion and purposefulness
into my life which has so far stubbornly refused to go away.
And finally, the one on whom everything depends. Susie has been my be-all and
end-all for so many wonderful years. Her love and affection, companionship and
criticism, tolerance and kind-heartedness are certainly more than I deserve, and I
know that a book is nowhere nearly adequate to requite this. Nevertheless, this is
for you.
Abbreviations
EA Jasper Fforde, The Eyre Affair
EE Julian Barnes, England, England
FS Jasper Fforde, First Among Sequels
HW Dave Eggers, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
LGB Jasper Fforde, Lost in a Good Book
MKM Dave Eggers, Mistakes we Knew we were Making
OTM Jasper Fforde, One of our Thursdays is Missing
SE Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending
SR Jasper Fforde, Something Rotten
VGS Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad
WLP Jasper Fforde, The Well of Lost Plots
WDL Jasper Fforde, The Woman who Died a Lot
1
Postmodernism’s Wake: From Deconstruction
to Reconstruction
In part X of his Marginalia, Edgar Allan Poe muses on the impossibility of writing
truthfully about one’s inner self:
If any ambitious man have a fancy to revolutionize, at one effort, the universal
world of human thought, human opinion, and human sentiment, the opportunity
is his own – the road to immortal renown lies straight, open, and unencumbered
before him. All that he has to do is to write and publish a very little book. Its title
should be simple – a few plain words – ‘My Heart Laid Bare.’ But – this little book
must be true to its title … But to write it – there is the rub. No man dare write it.
No man ever will dare write it. No man could write it, even if he dared. The paper
would shrivel and blaze at every touch of his fiery pen. (Poe 1981: 150; emphases
in the original)
This book can be seen as an attempt to challenge Poe’s dictum. It investigates how
contemporary works of literature renegotiate the relationship between experience and
its representation in an attempt to truthfully re-enact experience through represen-
tation. I will argue that the notion of authenticity provides the formal and theoretical
parameters for this renegotiation. The present relevance of authenticity is thereby
not restricted to the field of academic criticism, where it is ‘making a comeback, in
the guises of memory, ethics, religion, the new sincerity, and the renewed interest
in “real things”’ (Haselstein, Gross and Snyder-Körber 2010: 19). Authenticity also
pervades many aspects of everyday life, as Charles Lindholm’s wide-ranging inventory
demonstrates:
The quest for authenticity touches and transforms a vast range of human
experience today – we speak of authentic art, authentic music, authentic food,
authentic dance, authentic people, authentic roots, authentic meanings, authentic
nations, authentic products. A desire for authenticity can lead people to extremes
of self-sacrifice and risk; the loss of authenticity can be the source of grief and
despair. Authenticity gathers people together in collectives that are felt to be real,
essential, and vital, providing participants with meaning, unity, and a surpassing
sense of belonging. Authenticity can be sought internally, through transformative
ecstatic experiences, or externally, in the consumption of goods that symbolize the
really real. If a Rembrandt can be called authentic, so can Coca-Cola. Authenticity