Seminar on postmodernism in english literature

(J. Fowles – “The French Lieutenant’s Woman”; “The Collector”)

1. Speak on the peculiar features of the literature of postmodernism, its differences from the realistic and modernist literature.

2. Enumerate the main themes in postmodernist works.

3. Give an overview of J. Fowles’ life and creative activities.

4. Consider the select bibliography of J. Fowles and state the major themes of his works:

1) “The Collector”, 1963;

2) “The Aristos”, 1964;

3) “The Magus”, 1966;

4) “The French Lieutenant’s Woman”, 1969;

5) “The Ebony Tower”, 1974;

6) “Daniel Martin”, 1977;

7) “The Tree”, 1979;

8) “Mantissa”, 1983;

9) “A Maggot”, 1985;

10) “Tessera”, 1993;

11) “Wormholes”, 1998.

5. Speak on the plot and structure of the novel “The French Lieutenant’s Woman”.

6. What themes is the novel dedicated to, what problems does it raise?

7. Say why the writer chooses to open each chapter with a certain epigraph.

8. Why does J. Fowles keep interrupting the story to tell the reader things about Lyme Regis, Darwin, Freudian psychology, the social customs of Victorian London, and existentialism?

9. Explain why the writer supplies alternative endings and refuses to choose between two (or even three) competing denouements. Classify the endings according to their purpose / nature.

10. Define the genre of the novel. Which of the following might suit: historical, social, detective, family, self-reflective, Victorian, etc. Substantiate your answer.

11. Think if the novel is metafictional. Comment on the relevant postmodern techniques.

12. Say if the author challenges the codes of realism and representation. How does he break away from the established conventions of realism?

13. Discuss the nature of the relationship between

1) Ernestina Freeman and Charles Smithson;

2) Sarah Woodruff and Charles Smithson.

14. Compare the characters and personal values of Ernestina and Sarah. Might they serve as an illustration of the well-known Victorian dichotomy “angel-whore”? Does this binary opposition get eventually subverted?

15. Can one project the “Freudian triangle” (the “Id” – the “Ego” – the “Super Ego”) onto the love triangle presented in the novel?

16. Is the novel multi-levelled? Can one read it as a typical piece of mass literature? Substantiate your standpoint.

17. Discuss the closing paragraph of the novel. What philosophy can you trace in it?

18. Comment on the following quotations:

1) “The French Lieutenant’s Woman” is a “work that both reconstructs and deconstructs the Victorian novel, and by implication all that goes with its continuing presence: its ideas of character and society, historical progress and evolution, chronological narrative and God-like storytelling?” (M. Bradbury. The Modern British Novel);

2) “Fowles ˂…˃ is something of a bully in his attitude to the reader; he writes always from a position of confident intellectual superiority (M. Dodsworth. The Penguin History of Literature. The Twentieth Century);

3) “The novelist is still a God, since he creates (and not even the most aleatory AVANT-GARRDE modern novel has managed to extirpate its author completely), what has changed is that we are no longer the gods of the Victorian image, omniscient and decreeing; but in the new theological image, with freedom our first principle, not authority” (John Fowles).

19. Speak on the content, theme, and structure of the novel “The Collector”.

20. Analyse the characters of Frederick Clegg and Miranda.

21. Consider the problem that Fowles investigates in his novel.

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