Displaying deconstruction of important binary oppositions in these two narratives was the main concern of the thesis. The body of the thesis, chapter three and four, each is specified to the study of one of these two binaries. In chapter three, binary opposition of reality/fictionality is studied and the researcher shows how the boundary between these two is blurred. Language is also another tool through which the said binary is challenged. Chapter four studies the binary of past/present and includes subtitles such as narrative time, parody and binary opposition of presence/absence. Parodying particular genre or particular concepts is one of the outstanding characteristics of Brautigan’s works which is apparent in these two novels as well. The parodic nature of Trout Fishing in America is shown by pointing to the different references to American history and well known concepts. In In Watermelon Sugar, metanarrative of utopia collapses down and is replaced with the narratives, each capable of suggesting new definitions for utopia. Deconstruction of this metanarrative, rooted in history, literature and religion, is produced by deconstruction of another binary opposition that is presence/absence. The act of giving voice to the silent narrative or narratives within the text, as well as paying attention to the absent narrators releases the text from the dominancy of the present narrative and makes the hidden or silent narratives emerge.

Table of Contents

Abstract 2

Acknowledgment 3

CHAPTER ONE.. 7

INTRODUCTION.. 7

1. General Background. 7

1.1 Beat Generation. 9

1.2 Labeling Brautigan, not an Easy Task. 10

1.3 Brautigan’s Writing Career. 10

1.4. Brautigan and Postmodernism.. 12

2. The Argument 13
3. Literature Review.. 16
4. Thesis Outline. 20
5. Methodology and Approach. 23
6. Definition of Literary Terms. 25

CHAPTER TWO.. 31

METHODOLOGY AND APPROACH.. 31

1. Historical Background of Deconstruction. 33

1.1. Definition. 33

1.2 Postmodernism in Literature. 36

1.3 De-totalizing Narrative. 37

1.4 Re-presenting the Past 38

1.5 Parody. 39

2. From Structuralist Narratology to Poststructuralist Narratology. 40
3. Derrida and Deconstruction. 45

3.1 Logocentrism.. 46

3.2 Differance. 49

3.3 Iterability. 51

این مطلب را هم بخوانید :

FICTIONALITY/ REALITY.. 53

1. Beyond Mimesis. 55

1.1. A Brief History. 55

1.2. Metafiction. 57

1.3 Linguistics. 58

2. Practical Example of Metafiction. 59

2.1 Self-reflexivity. 59

2.2. History Penetrating into Present 62

2.3 Metamorphosis of Structural Narrator in Trout Fishing in America. 64

2.4 In Search of an Elusive Signified. 67

2.5 Iterability and Deferring Reality. 68

2.6 Borderline of Literature, Parting Fictionality from Reality. 72

3. In Watermelon Sugar, Reality in a Fantasy. 75

3.1 Fictionality in Fictionality. 76

3.2 Language, the Common Medium of Presenting Reality and Fantasy. 77

3.3 The Narrator on the Edge of Reality. 79

3.4 Metafiction in a Fantastic World. 81

4. Conclusion. 82

CHAPTER FOUR.. 84

PARODY.. 84

1. Parody, Deconstruction of Past/Present 85
2. Trout Fishing in America, a Parody. 87

2.1 Shattering Metanarratives and Old Prototypes. 88

2.1.1 American Dream.. 89