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Gutenberg Galaxy to Google Galaxy – Contemporary Literature, Technology, and the Legacies of Modernism and Postmodernism / Tomos Williams

Swansea University Author: Tomos Williams

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DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUthesis.63440

Abstract

Just as the iPhone relies on the invention of both the Nokia and the first invented telephone before it, our current cultural and literary epoch relies on the history of both postmodernism and modernism. While much of recent literary criticism exclusively charts the legacies of modernism, this thesi...

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Published: Swansea University 2023
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Doctoral
Degree name: Ph.D
Supervisor: Dr Richard Robinson, Dr Rachel Farebrother
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa63440
first_indexed 2023-05-12T08:11:15Z
last_indexed 2024-11-15T18:01:35Z
id cronfa63440
recordtype RisThesis
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spelling 2023-09-28T15:35:52.1706355 v2 63440 2023-05-12 Gutenberg Galaxy to Google Galaxy – Contemporary Literature, Technology, and the Legacies of Modernism and Postmodernism 6379c21fec074a7802930bdf14738e56 Tomos Williams Tomos Williams true false 2023-05-12 CACS Just as the iPhone relies on the invention of both the Nokia and the first invented telephone before it, our current cultural and literary epoch relies on the history of both postmodernism and modernism. While much of recent literary criticism exclusively charts the legacies of modernism, this thesis argues that postmodernism has also been absorbed into contemporary literature. Tom McCarthy, Claudia Rankine and Stephen Sexton are names synonymous with the revival of modernist styles in contemporary literature, yet their adoption of modernist modes contain intertextual networks, and the playful and ironic self-awareness of literary postmodernism. These postmodern aspects become clear through their shared thematic links and representations of technology. When faced with technological change, literature reinvigorates itself by revisiting the past. The modernists called to “make it new” by returning to the old. Literary postmodernism returned to the past through parody and literary allusions. This thesis argues that contemporary literature is oscillating between the styles and poetics of its two most recent cultural periods. Chapter one establishes the key themes of technology and the body, technē and poesis, and the effect of technology on language, historicity, depth and affect. Chapter two examines Tom McCarthy’s C and Satin Island as postmodern and post-humanist deconstructions of modernist forms, viewing literature as technological broadcast. Claudia Rankine’s Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric and Citizen: An American Lyric are analysed in chapter three, a modernist scrutinization of postmodern, mass media mediated life as a racially marginalised individual. The fourth and final chapter examines how Damien Murphy’s “A Mansion of Sapphire” and Stephen Sexton’s If All the World and Love Were Young represent retro-gaming through retro-writing, returning to past styles to examine videogames as artistic objects. E-Thesis Swansea University Literature, Technology, Modernism, Postmodernism, Communication, McCarthy, Sexton, Rankine, Ballard 12 5 2023 2023-05-12 10.23889/SUthesis.63440 A selection of third party content is redacted or is partially redacted from this thesis due to copyright restrictions. COLLEGE NANME Culture and Communications School COLLEGE CODE CACS Swansea University Dr Richard Robinson, Dr Rachel Farebrother Doctoral Ph.D Not Required 2023-09-28T15:35:52.1706355 2023-05-12T09:00:29.8997789 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing Tomos Williams 1 63440__27450__73e6fb3f254a4e15bc4c9416500885aa.pdf Tomos Williams Thesis Final Redacted.pdf 2023-05-12T09:36:46.4811048 Output 3242351 application/pdf Redacted version - open access true Distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives 4.0 Licence (CC-BY-ND). true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
title Gutenberg Galaxy to Google Galaxy – Contemporary Literature, Technology, and the Legacies of Modernism and Postmodernism
spellingShingle Gutenberg Galaxy to Google Galaxy – Contemporary Literature, Technology, and the Legacies of Modernism and Postmodernism
Tomos Williams
title_short Gutenberg Galaxy to Google Galaxy – Contemporary Literature, Technology, and the Legacies of Modernism and Postmodernism
title_full Gutenberg Galaxy to Google Galaxy – Contemporary Literature, Technology, and the Legacies of Modernism and Postmodernism
title_fullStr Gutenberg Galaxy to Google Galaxy – Contemporary Literature, Technology, and the Legacies of Modernism and Postmodernism
title_full_unstemmed Gutenberg Galaxy to Google Galaxy – Contemporary Literature, Technology, and the Legacies of Modernism and Postmodernism
title_sort Gutenberg Galaxy to Google Galaxy – Contemporary Literature, Technology, and the Legacies of Modernism and Postmodernism
author_id_str_mv 6379c21fec074a7802930bdf14738e56
author_id_fullname_str_mv 6379c21fec074a7802930bdf14738e56_***_Tomos Williams
author Tomos Williams
author2 Tomos Williams
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publishDate 2023
institution Swansea University
doi_str_mv 10.23889/SUthesis.63440
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing
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description Just as the iPhone relies on the invention of both the Nokia and the first invented telephone before it, our current cultural and literary epoch relies on the history of both postmodernism and modernism. While much of recent literary criticism exclusively charts the legacies of modernism, this thesis argues that postmodernism has also been absorbed into contemporary literature. Tom McCarthy, Claudia Rankine and Stephen Sexton are names synonymous with the revival of modernist styles in contemporary literature, yet their adoption of modernist modes contain intertextual networks, and the playful and ironic self-awareness of literary postmodernism. These postmodern aspects become clear through their shared thematic links and representations of technology. When faced with technological change, literature reinvigorates itself by revisiting the past. The modernists called to “make it new” by returning to the old. Literary postmodernism returned to the past through parody and literary allusions. This thesis argues that contemporary literature is oscillating between the styles and poetics of its two most recent cultural periods. Chapter one establishes the key themes of technology and the body, technē and poesis, and the effect of technology on language, historicity, depth and affect. Chapter two examines Tom McCarthy’s C and Satin Island as postmodern and post-humanist deconstructions of modernist forms, viewing literature as technological broadcast. Claudia Rankine’s Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric and Citizen: An American Lyric are analysed in chapter three, a modernist scrutinization of postmodern, mass media mediated life as a racially marginalised individual. The fourth and final chapter examines how Damien Murphy’s “A Mansion of Sapphire” and Stephen Sexton’s If All the World and Love Were Young represent retro-gaming through retro-writing, returning to past styles to examine videogames as artistic objects.
published_date 2023-05-12T05:15:26Z
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score 11.103791

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