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ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Mapping topographies in the anglo and German narratives of Joseph Conrad, Anna Seghers, James Joyce, and Uwe Johnson

Boney, Kristy Rickards
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1164813302

Abstract Details

2006, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Germanic Languages and Literatures.
While the “space” of modernism is traditionally associated with the metropolis, this approach leaves unaddressed a significant body of work that stresses non-urban settings. Rather than simply assuming these spaces to be the opposite of the modern city, my project rejects the empty term space and instead examines topographies, literally meaning the writing of place. Less an examination of passive settings, the study of topography in modernism explores the action of creating spaces—either real or fictional which intersect with a variety of cultural, social, historical, and often political reverberations. The combination of charged elements coalesce and form a strong visual, corporeal, and sensory-filled topography that becomes integral to understanding not only the text and its importance beyond literary studies. My study pairs four modernists—two writing in German and two in English: Joseph Conrad and Anna Seghers and James Joyce and Uwe Johnson. All writers, having experienced displacement through exile, used topographies in their narratives to illustrate not only their understanding of history and humanity, but they also wrote narratives which concerned a larger global culture. Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1900) and his Lord Jim (1904) compare to Seghers’ Transit (1944) and Revolt of the Fisherman from St. Barbara (1928) in that each explores crises of modernity. Instead of using the city, Conrad and Seghers utilize the sea, the harbor, and marginalized communities to illustrate thresholds of historical crises. The topographies echo a world affected by imperialism and particularly for Seghers, fascism. In my analysis of Joyce’s Ulysses (1921) and Johnson’s Anniversaries (1970-83), I steer away from a traditional examination of the classic modernist city narrative. I show how the texts provide a broader and more encompassing look of the modern world through the memory of imperialism and fascism as it is reflected from outside the city limits, most notably on the coasts of the Mediterranean and Baltic seas, and on the banks of the Hudson and Liffey. Merging a socio-historical approach with a close literary analysis, my project seeks to explore an uncharted subset of modernism, and map out poetic, durable, and visual contours for literary and cultural studies, sculpting new textures for understanding history, memory, and humanity.
Helen Fehervary (Advisor)
323 p.
Joseph Conrad; James Joyce; Anna Seghers; Uwe Johnson; Writers in Exile; Displacement; Topography; Space in Literature; Landscapes in Literature; Place in Literature; Modernism; Water in Modernism; The city in Modernism; Vietnam War

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Boney, K. R. (2006). Mapping topographies in the anglo and German narratives of Joseph Conrad, Anna Seghers, James Joyce, and Uwe Johnson [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1164813302

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Boney, Kristy. Mapping topographies in the anglo and German narratives of Joseph Conrad, Anna Seghers, James Joyce, and Uwe Johnson. 2006. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1164813302.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Boney, Kristy. "Mapping topographies in the anglo and German narratives of Joseph Conrad, Anna Seghers, James Joyce, and Uwe Johnson." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2006. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1164813302

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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© 2006, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.