Postby kaoshoneybun » Fri Oct 17, 2008 1:54 pm
Well, Sorry for such a long post but the board wouldn't let me attach a word document - below is my Final Dissertation Proposal.
I guess part of the reason no-one is exactly clear what I'm doing is that I don't concretely know for certain myself yet!!!
Since handing this in however, my supervisor has said I don't have to stick so close to Post-structuralism or Post-modernism - I can jus explore all sorts of different epistemological views that the text itself seems to suggest.
I'm going to look at key scenes and see what jumps out - so far I've already found myself comparing Pullman to Spinoza, Lyotard, Baudrillard, Descartes, Plato and Jung in terms of epistemology.
Thank you for reminding me about Lyra's 'betrayal' - I'd always felt funny about this idea - I always thought of betrayal as being a conscious act whereas Lyra seemed to have endangered Roger accidently (and therefore without blame).
Pullman’s Post-Structuralist Alethiometer:
Representations of Knowledge in ‘His Dark Materials’ and Other Writings
My overall objective is to move away from the usual focus in the media on Pullman’s religious controversy and reveal an overarching concern with representations of knowledge across all of his writing, crossing genre boundaries. I will argue that the positive representations of knowledge found in Pullman’s work are of a post-structuralist nature. This topic follows on from investigations into the possibility of gaining knowledge touched upon in the Rewriting Literary History and The Gothic courses.
Specific Aims:
To apply post-structuralist and post-modernist theories to close text analyses of His Dark Materials but also lesser known texts.
To refute Pullman’s own claim that he is not a post-structuralist.
To discover points of contradiction and failure in Pullman’s epistemology.
Primary Texts: Genre:
His Dark Materials Trilogy. Fantasy, Science Fiction, Marxist Allegory, Steampunk, Jungian Allegory.
The Butterfly Tattoo. Modern tragedy.
Galatea. Marxist Magical Realism.
The Sally Lockhart Quartet. Neo-Victorian, Detective Fiction.
The Haunted Storm. Metaphysical novel.
The central character of His Dark Materials owns divination instrument called an alethiometer (Greek for truth measurer) indicating from the outset Pullman’s interest in deriving knowledge. The trilogy is a rewrite of Milton’s Paradise Lost and the poetry of William Blake, so we can trace where Pullman’s concern with the idea of knowledge and experience comes from in terms of literary background.
Specific focus will be applied to how Pullman challenges dogmatic views of knowledge with his own post-structuralist epistemology but also the criticisms which can be made of his own answer.
A key issue I wish to address is the way in which Pullman does not restrict himself to a single genre but uses the conventions of whichever genre he is writing in at the time to explore theories of knowledge.
Draft Chapter Outline:
Introduction:
Pullman’s Use of Genres to Explore Epistemology
Brief introduction to epistemology and the schools of rationalism and empiricism; as well as arguments whether knowledge is eternal or ephemeral, pre-existing abstract or personal construct. Introduce Post-structuralist and Post-modernist approaches to knowledge and key thinkers including Foucault, Barthes, Camus, Lyotard, Baudrillard and Derrida.
Then I will explain how Pullman fits into this topic by giving a brief overview of his writing. I will describe the terms in which Pullman is usually criticised, (children’s, fantasy or atheist writer), and explain why these hindering terms must be left behind in order to fully realise the post-structuralist elements of his entire oeuvre. Whichever genre he writes in, knowledge is his inclusive preoccupation so I will address the way in which genre conventions are used by Pullman to explore representations of knowledge. For example, detective fiction is always concerned with the acquisition of truth; while working in the fields of magical realism and science fiction automatically allow for a pluralism of knowledge.
Replacing the Singular Static with the Evolving Plural
Singular authoritative, dogmatic knowledge is renounced and a plural, shifting vision of knowledge replaces it.
In this chapter I would look at how wielding of knowledge, and therefore power, on the small scale within the microcosms of the family and the University scales up at the level of the Government and Church. In exploring where we get our knowledge from we shall also decide whether the authorities who vanguard knowledge deserve such power.
By combining Marxist and linguistic interpretations, we shall analyse key passages to see whether a post-structuralist philosophy is indeed revealed or whether Pullman actually reinforces traditional ideas of singular knowledge and authority. For example, are Asriel and Iorek revolutionary replacements for The Authority and Magisterium or does Lyra replace one set of dictator father figures for another? In terms of Marxist criticism, I want to explore the fact that both of these new leaders are actually from the nobility class rather than the proletariat.
Elsewhere, we find that one universal Heaven or truth cannot be created, everyone must have their own – Asriel’s Republic fails as does the Perfect World in Galatea. The very fact His Dark Materials is set in a multiverse rather than a universe supports this.
Dust is a multipurpose metaphor for knowledge and the conclusion of The Amber Spyglass proclaims the essential need for Dust to be constantly renewed, echoing Pan’s early warning to Lyra that she should literally avoid becoming too ‘comfy’ in the University, signalling the need to carry on questioning and redefining truths and the authorities that uphold them. While flexibity is to be championed in His Dark Materials, paradoxically so is ‘growing up’ which actually leads to a fixing of the dæmon and persona.
The inclusion of marginalised sources of knowledge subverts the dogma of the Magisterium. Women and children possess valid knowledge in Pullman’s books but we have to question this constative inclusion while performatively the novels are written by a mature white male.
Pullman celebrates the arbitrariness of language by frequently offering words with alternative etymologies to our own or by refusing to assign a single signifier to a signified subject: for example Dust is also known as sraf (light), dark matter, shadow particles, angels, Original Sin and Ruskov particles. This refusal to conform to Saussurean linguistics does not lead to nihilism but revels in the freedom from restriction. The mourning for lost meaning found in Modernist texts is not found in Pullman, such a position marks his texts as a Post-modernist.
Ignorance is Bliss?
In this chapter I shall argue that perhaps Pullman is not a Post-structuralist after all by comparing passages of negative portrayals of knowledge with key post-structuralist texts which tend to celebrate knowledge despite the fact that (or indeed because) it can never be fixed.
Although he says in his interviews that he celebrates curiosity and the passion for knowledge, the content of Pullman’s novels frequently disagree. The benefits of growing up Pullman champions seem to be a poor consolation for the losses of innocence; for example, Lyra loses her ability to foretell the future and dæmons lose their flexibility. Science and other disciplines for collecting knowledge are often very destructive: knowledge for the sake of it is what leads to the creation of the Subtle Knife and the Spectres. Mrs. Coulter (whose names means ‘cutter’ in French) has a cold clinical character as a result of her morbid curiosity.
To counter this argument, the trilogy is filled with positive representations of technology; the alethiometer and amber spyglass for example. We also find that the most idyllic world is peopled by animals on wheels, showing that nature and technological knowledge can co-exist in harmony.
Another issue surrounding the acquisition of knowledge which harks back to Aristotle is whether knowledge and / or happiness are what lead to a fulfilled life. Spectres can be seen as a metaphor for depression, one of the problems caused by consciousness. But would a happiness founded on ignorance worth it? In Galatea, knowledge would actually get in the way of the protagonist’s love and happiness. In The Butterfly Tattoo, Chris’s ignorance of Jenny’s childhood gives him hope her final moments were happily spent in remembrance of her father (who actually abused her).
In the end then, ignorance actually appears to be more dangerous than knowledge, although ignorance is usually the by-product of belief in an outdated, singular truth – an argument that presents Pullman as a Post-modernist again.
Conclusion:
Pullman is of the Post-Structuralist Party Without Knowing It
In the conclusion I will weigh up to what extent Pullman can be said to be Post-structuralist and / or Post-modernist in his representations of knowledge; at this early stage, it appears that the pluralist spirit of his epistemology supports the conclusion that he is.
The philosophical alethiometer Pullman offers readers is like Lyra’s own: we are told that truth is a matter of interpretation that requires skill and hard work to master and innocent intuition can only take us so far. Knowledge gained will never be universal or everlasting.
As readers, we are encouraged to ‘dust,’ both in the sense of revisiting and cleaning off old ideas, and of sprinkling something new of our own onto them.
Children of the future age,
Reading this indignant page,
Know that in a former time
Love, sweet love, was thought a crime.
William Blake, A Little Girl Lost
.
