'[T]he language of self' : strategies of subjectivity in the novels of Don DeLillo
Abstract
‘[T]he language of self’: Strategies of Subjectivity in the Novels of Don DeLillo’ explores the
manner in which both self and society are constructed in the writer’s longer fiction. Divided
into two sections, the first, entitled Dasein, examines the way in which the language of self
forms a Mobius strip comprised of two opposing yet omnipresent urges: that of connection
and isolation. Coining the term enunciation, the thesis describes the manner in which each
character’s subjectivity is an historically contingent attempt at negotiating this tension
between isolation and connection, self and other. The second section of the thesis, entitled
'das Man', then proceeds to explore the impact of this language of self within a wider social
context, examining the manner in which it interacts with other linguistic and quasi-linguistic
binaries – such as language, image, capital, waste, power and terror – likewise
characterised as adopting the form of a Mobius strip. Through such a methodology, the
second section of the thesis is thus able to explore the interaction and shared genesis of
public and private conceptions of subjectivity, illustrating how it is this same tension
between connection and isolation which governs the form that social interactions and
institutions adopt in the novels of Don DeLillo.
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
Rights
Embargo Date: Electric copy restricted until 18 May 2016
Embargo Reason: Electronic thesis unavailable: permission not provided to allow public access
Collections
Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.