Between Artifice and Actuality: The Aesthetic and Ethical Metafiction of Vladimir Nabokov and David Mitchell
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Ohio University Honors Tutorial College / OhioLINK
2014
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| Online Access: | http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1400014295 |
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-ouhonors14000142952021-08-03T06:25:03Z Between Artifice and Actuality: The Aesthetic and Ethical Metafiction of Vladimir Nabokov and David Mitchell McDonald, Trent A. Literature British and Irish Literature American Literature Literature Vladimir Nabokov David Mitchell Pale Fire Cloud Atlas Postmodernism Metafiction Aesthetics and Literature Ethics and Literature Richard Rorty John Gardner William H Gass Metamodernism Contemporary Literature Literary Criticism This thesis is concerned with metafiction or self-conscious fiction. After discussing the status of metafiction from its postmodernist heyday (both its proponents and its critics) to current criticism, an analysis about the role of aesthetics and ethics in literature follows. The novels Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov and Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (and associated texts) are then analyzed in their own chapters. Nabokov is considered as an author averse to moral didactic fiction and enamored with aesthetically focused fiction. For Nabokov, metafiction is used as an escape from the world and into "aesthetic bliss." Mitchell, on the other hand, uses metafiction to instruct us to make our own ethical decisions without the presence of an author's guiding hand. Neither author is able to use metafiction to escape from reality as all fiction remains connected to the material world. In the conclusion, metafiction is presented as a fictional form with strengths and flaws like any other. 2014-05-14 English text Ohio University Honors Tutorial College / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1400014295 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1400014295 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws. |
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NDLTD |
| language |
English |
| sources |
NDLTD |
| topic |
Literature British and Irish Literature American Literature Literature Vladimir Nabokov David Mitchell Pale Fire Cloud Atlas Postmodernism Metafiction Aesthetics and Literature Ethics and Literature Richard Rorty John Gardner William H Gass Metamodernism Contemporary Literature Literary Criticism |
| spellingShingle |
Literature British and Irish Literature American Literature Literature Vladimir Nabokov David Mitchell Pale Fire Cloud Atlas Postmodernism Metafiction Aesthetics and Literature Ethics and Literature Richard Rorty John Gardner William H Gass Metamodernism Contemporary Literature Literary Criticism McDonald, Trent A. Between Artifice and Actuality: The Aesthetic and Ethical Metafiction of Vladimir Nabokov and David Mitchell |
| author |
McDonald, Trent A. |
| author_facet |
McDonald, Trent A. |
| author_sort |
McDonald, Trent A. |
| title |
Between Artifice and Actuality: The Aesthetic and Ethical Metafiction of Vladimir Nabokov and David Mitchell |
| title_short |
Between Artifice and Actuality: The Aesthetic and Ethical Metafiction of Vladimir Nabokov and David Mitchell |
| title_full |
Between Artifice and Actuality: The Aesthetic and Ethical Metafiction of Vladimir Nabokov and David Mitchell |
| title_fullStr |
Between Artifice and Actuality: The Aesthetic and Ethical Metafiction of Vladimir Nabokov and David Mitchell |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Between Artifice and Actuality: The Aesthetic and Ethical Metafiction of Vladimir Nabokov and David Mitchell |
| title_sort |
between artifice and actuality: the aesthetic and ethical metafiction of vladimir nabokov and david mitchell |
| publisher |
Ohio University Honors Tutorial College / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
2014 |
| url |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1400014295 |
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AT mcdonaldtrenta betweenartificeandactualitytheaestheticandethicalmetafictionofvladimirnabokovanddavidmitchell |
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