Doctoral Thesis: 'Giving Feeling Form: The Novels of B. S. Johnson'
My thesis gives an innovative reading of B. S. Johnson’s seven published novels, focusing on his claims for the production of a personal literary ‘truth’ and his insistent reflection on his literary practice. It draws upon the socio-cultural context of Britain’s post-war period and employs contemporary spatial and affect theory to assess what the reader can gain from reading Johnson now.
It was submitted for examination in April 2016. Supervisors: Bran Nicol and Christine Berberich
This chapter focuses upon a selection of novelists, both major and minor, and discusses how they ... more This chapter focuses upon a selection of novelists, both major and minor, and discusses how they work towards dispelling commonly held beliefs and myths about the 1960s. The decade was undisputedly one of transition and this piece consider the common themes that recur across the novels of the period, the different forms of social change that are woven into the texts. Firstly, it looks at institutional change: the end of National Service, the Raising of the School Leaving Age act, Post-war education reform, the arrival of the “plateglass universities,” and the end of National Service. Secondly, it considers attitudinal change—changing moral codes and the impact of “second wave” feminism on contemporary behaviours. Whilst the 1960s is commonly held to be the twentieth century moment of youthful liberation—a glorious 'youthquake'—this chapter shows that change was often deferred, the result of processes and shifts that had actually begun in the 1950s and, at times, divisive.
This thesis assesses the novels of B. S. Johnson and, building on earlier socio-cultural readings... more This thesis assesses the novels of B. S. Johnson and, building on earlier socio-cultural readings, for the first time identifies affect, mood and space as key drivers of Johnson’s work. It suggests fresh interactions with the texts via the artistic practice and philosophical thought of the late twentieth to early twenty-first centuries and reveals what more we can gain from reading Johnson now. Rather than fix this author in a canonized literary past it presents Johnson as a writer with inter-disciplinary appeal and influence. My reading champions the continued significance of Johnson’s work and endeavours to resist teleology; it dips in and out of the seven novels, at times circling back to key passages and episodes that can be assessed in multiple ways. The thesis thus follows Johnson’s practice and is palimpsestic, it is formed from multiple layers. Working with affective energies the chapters unfold to build upon each other but also stand to be read individually or even, in true...
. This paper seeks to investigate the anomaly of the contemporary sestina and theorize possible r... more . This paper seeks to investigate the anomaly of the contemporary sestina and theorize possible reasons for its revival in the postmodern age. Looking at examples by John Ashbery (1966), David Lehman (1990) and Lisa Jarnot (1996) I seek to draw out places of resonance between these works and illustrate the sestina’s contradictory potential for expression and meaning a thousand years after its inception, in a conceivably alien artistic environment.
An examination of the questions of narrative and representation in Woolf's 'Between the Acts'. I ... more An examination of the questions of narrative and representation in Woolf's 'Between the Acts'. I aim to show how Woolf forges links between the private and public spheres; the personal and the political. In doing so the author does not as Katherine Mansfield commented, ‘leave out the war’ but constructs a picture of the society that has hastened its re-occurrence.
The second issue of BSJ: The B.S. Johnson Journal. Contents page attached.
Available from Lulu h... more The second issue of BSJ: The B.S. Johnson Journal. Contents page attached.
First issue of BSJ: The B.S. Johnson Journal. Contents pages attached.
Available here: http://ww... more First issue of BSJ: The B.S. Johnson Journal. Contents pages attached.
This thesis assesses the novels of B. S. Johnson and, building on earlier socio-cultural readings... more This thesis assesses the novels of B. S. Johnson and, building on earlier socio-cultural readings, for the first time identifies affect, mood and space as key drivers of Johnson’s work. It suggests fresh interactions with the texts via the artistic practice and philosophical thought of the late twentieth to early twenty-first centuries and reveals what more we can gain from reading Johnson now. Rather than fix this author in a canonized literary past it presents Johnson as a writer with inter-disciplinary appeal and influence. My reading champions the continued significance of Johnson’s work and endeavours to resist teleology; it dips in and out of the seven novels, at times circling back to key passages and episodes that can be assessed in multiple ways. The thesis thus follows Johnson’s practice and is palimpsestic, it is formed from multiple layers. Working with affective energies the chapters unfold to build upon each other but also stand to be read individually or even, in true Johnsonian style, at random. The reading moves in a range of directions exploring different nodes of an organic whole that constitutes the body of Johnson’s literary output. Any thesis must build momentum and therefore this thesis culminates in an extended conclusion which for the first time places Johnson at the vanguard of a spatial turn in the humanities. My final analysis suggests that Johnson’s practice advances the novel towards a model of “creative research” or project work – a reflexive adventure peculiar to the making process. This model is concerned with possibilities and processes rather than final resolution and happily accommodates Johnson’s vision of a chaotic, unknowable world.
This chapter focuses upon a selection of novelists, both major and minor, and discusses how they ... more This chapter focuses upon a selection of novelists, both major and minor, and discusses how they work towards dispelling commonly held beliefs and myths about the 1960s. The decade was undisputedly one of transition and this piece consider the common themes that recur across the novels of the period, the different forms of social change that are woven into the texts. Firstly, it looks at institutional change: the end of National Service, the Raising of the School Leaving Age act, Post-war education reform, the arrival of the “plateglass universities,” and the end of National Service. Secondly, it considers attitudinal change—changing moral codes and the impact of “second wave” feminism on contemporary behaviours. Whilst the 1960s is commonly held to be the twentieth century moment of youthful liberation—a glorious 'youthquake'—this chapter shows that change was often deferred, the result of processes and shifts that had actually begun in the 1950s and, at times, divisive.
This chapter focuses upon a selection of novelists, both major and minor, and discusses how they ... more This chapter focuses upon a selection of novelists, both major and minor, and discusses how they work towards dispelling commonly held beliefs and myths about the 1960s. The decade was undisputedly one of transition and this piece consider the common themes that recur across the novels of the period, the different forms of social change that are woven into the texts. Firstly, it looks at institutional change: the end of National Service, the Raising of the School Leaving Age act, Post-war education reform, the arrival of the “plateglass universities,” and the end of National Service. Secondly, it considers attitudinal change—changing moral codes and the impact of “second wave” feminism on contemporary behaviours. Whilst the 1960s is commonly held to be the twentieth century moment of youthful liberation—a glorious 'youthquake'—this chapter shows that change was often deferred, the result of processes and shifts that had actually begun in the 1950s and, at times, divisive.
This thesis assesses the novels of B. S. Johnson and, building on earlier socio-cultural readings... more This thesis assesses the novels of B. S. Johnson and, building on earlier socio-cultural readings, for the first time identifies affect, mood and space as key drivers of Johnson’s work. It suggests fresh interactions with the texts via the artistic practice and philosophical thought of the late twentieth to early twenty-first centuries and reveals what more we can gain from reading Johnson now. Rather than fix this author in a canonized literary past it presents Johnson as a writer with inter-disciplinary appeal and influence. My reading champions the continued significance of Johnson’s work and endeavours to resist teleology; it dips in and out of the seven novels, at times circling back to key passages and episodes that can be assessed in multiple ways. The thesis thus follows Johnson’s practice and is palimpsestic, it is formed from multiple layers. Working with affective energies the chapters unfold to build upon each other but also stand to be read individually or even, in true...
. This paper seeks to investigate the anomaly of the contemporary sestina and theorize possible r... more . This paper seeks to investigate the anomaly of the contemporary sestina and theorize possible reasons for its revival in the postmodern age. Looking at examples by John Ashbery (1966), David Lehman (1990) and Lisa Jarnot (1996) I seek to draw out places of resonance between these works and illustrate the sestina’s contradictory potential for expression and meaning a thousand years after its inception, in a conceivably alien artistic environment.
An examination of the questions of narrative and representation in Woolf's 'Between the Acts'. I ... more An examination of the questions of narrative and representation in Woolf's 'Between the Acts'. I aim to show how Woolf forges links between the private and public spheres; the personal and the political. In doing so the author does not as Katherine Mansfield commented, ‘leave out the war’ but constructs a picture of the society that has hastened its re-occurrence.
The second issue of BSJ: The B.S. Johnson Journal. Contents page attached.
Available from Lulu h... more The second issue of BSJ: The B.S. Johnson Journal. Contents page attached.
First issue of BSJ: The B.S. Johnson Journal. Contents pages attached.
Available here: http://ww... more First issue of BSJ: The B.S. Johnson Journal. Contents pages attached.
This thesis assesses the novels of B. S. Johnson and, building on earlier socio-cultural readings... more This thesis assesses the novels of B. S. Johnson and, building on earlier socio-cultural readings, for the first time identifies affect, mood and space as key drivers of Johnson’s work. It suggests fresh interactions with the texts via the artistic practice and philosophical thought of the late twentieth to early twenty-first centuries and reveals what more we can gain from reading Johnson now. Rather than fix this author in a canonized literary past it presents Johnson as a writer with inter-disciplinary appeal and influence. My reading champions the continued significance of Johnson’s work and endeavours to resist teleology; it dips in and out of the seven novels, at times circling back to key passages and episodes that can be assessed in multiple ways. The thesis thus follows Johnson’s practice and is palimpsestic, it is formed from multiple layers. Working with affective energies the chapters unfold to build upon each other but also stand to be read individually or even, in true Johnsonian style, at random. The reading moves in a range of directions exploring different nodes of an organic whole that constitutes the body of Johnson’s literary output. Any thesis must build momentum and therefore this thesis culminates in an extended conclusion which for the first time places Johnson at the vanguard of a spatial turn in the humanities. My final analysis suggests that Johnson’s practice advances the novel towards a model of “creative research” or project work – a reflexive adventure peculiar to the making process. This model is concerned with possibilities and processes rather than final resolution and happily accommodates Johnson’s vision of a chaotic, unknowable world.
This chapter focuses upon a selection of novelists, both major and minor, and discusses how they ... more This chapter focuses upon a selection of novelists, both major and minor, and discusses how they work towards dispelling commonly held beliefs and myths about the 1960s. The decade was undisputedly one of transition and this piece consider the common themes that recur across the novels of the period, the different forms of social change that are woven into the texts. Firstly, it looks at institutional change: the end of National Service, the Raising of the School Leaving Age act, Post-war education reform, the arrival of the “plateglass universities,” and the end of National Service. Secondly, it considers attitudinal change—changing moral codes and the impact of “second wave” feminism on contemporary behaviours. Whilst the 1960s is commonly held to be the twentieth century moment of youthful liberation—a glorious 'youthquake'—this chapter shows that change was often deferred, the result of processes and shifts that had actually begun in the 1950s and, at times, divisive.
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The theme of this issue is "The Issue with Truth"
Available from Lulu here: http://www.lulu.com/shop/ed-darlington-hooper-seddon-tew-zouaoui/bsj-the-bs-johnson-journal-2/paperback/product-22374374.html
Available here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/BSJ-Hooper-Seddon-Zouaoui-Darlington/dp/1326003704/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1443446039&sr=1-1&keywords=bsj
My reading champions the continued significance of Johnson’s work and endeavours to resist teleology; it dips in and out of the seven novels, at times circling back to key passages and episodes that can be assessed in multiple ways. The thesis thus follows Johnson’s practice and is palimpsestic, it is formed from multiple layers. Working with affective energies the chapters unfold to build upon each other but also stand to be read individually or even, in true Johnsonian style, at random. The reading moves in a range of directions exploring different nodes of an organic whole that constitutes the body of Johnson’s literary output. Any thesis must build momentum and therefore this thesis culminates in an extended conclusion which for the first time places Johnson at the vanguard of a spatial turn in the humanities.
My final analysis suggests that Johnson’s practice advances the novel towards a model of “creative research” or project work – a reflexive adventure peculiar to the making process. This model is concerned with possibilities and processes rather than final resolution and happily accommodates Johnson’s vision of a chaotic, unknowable world.
The theme of this issue is "The Issue with Truth"
Available from Lulu here: http://www.lulu.com/shop/ed-darlington-hooper-seddon-tew-zouaoui/bsj-the-bs-johnson-journal-2/paperback/product-22374374.html
Available here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/BSJ-Hooper-Seddon-Zouaoui-Darlington/dp/1326003704/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1443446039&sr=1-1&keywords=bsj
My reading champions the continued significance of Johnson’s work and endeavours to resist teleology; it dips in and out of the seven novels, at times circling back to key passages and episodes that can be assessed in multiple ways. The thesis thus follows Johnson’s practice and is palimpsestic, it is formed from multiple layers. Working with affective energies the chapters unfold to build upon each other but also stand to be read individually or even, in true Johnsonian style, at random. The reading moves in a range of directions exploring different nodes of an organic whole that constitutes the body of Johnson’s literary output. Any thesis must build momentum and therefore this thesis culminates in an extended conclusion which for the first time places Johnson at the vanguard of a spatial turn in the humanities.
My final analysis suggests that Johnson’s practice advances the novel towards a model of “creative research” or project work – a reflexive adventure peculiar to the making process. This model is concerned with possibilities and processes rather than final resolution and happily accommodates Johnson’s vision of a chaotic, unknowable world.