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Understanding the Unconsoled as a novel of identity

University of British Columbia

This thesis will consider three motifs of the novel as they relate to the creation of self-identity and validity. First, the series of alter egos that Ryder confronts form a nonlinear narrative of his life. Second, the surreal landscape and architecture of the city alternates between austere and baroque labyrinths, providing a barometer for the condition of his mind, much in the manner of Poe or Kafka. Essentially, space and time fluctuate according to Ryder's psychological state. And third, the townspeople erode the line between public and private, take up Ryder's struggle for identity at the communal level, and, with their infatuation with art and art criticism, provide a parody of the self-perpetuating cycles of high culture. Because these themes and sub-themes revolve around Ryder's intense two-day crisis of identity, this work might be called a novel of identity, or an Identitatsroman in order to evoke a string of common literary classifications—Bildungsroman, Erziehungsroman, and Kunstlerroman—with which this work bears close ties. Ryder, compromised by a performer's lifestyle, relinquishes control over his identity, allowing the public to determine its composition, and thereby he permits the public to determine his worth. In an effort to add some degree of stability to his identity, he obsesses over giving the greatest piano performance ever, so that his identity as a virtuoso would be forever cemented in the minds of the public and himself.

Thesis/Dissertation

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2009-06-16

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/9331

English

University of British Columbia

UBCV

DSpace