Swain, Stella (1992) The uses of madness in nineteenth- and twentieth-century fiction : the relation between narrative strategy and disturbed states of consciousness. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The thesis operates upon the premise that there has been, in the
course of the last two centuries, a radical transformation in narrative
presentations of exceptional states of consciousness. It sets out to
identify the main characteristics of the fictional transformation, and to
situate them in the context of wider cultural shifts. I decided to rest
my approach upon the relatively conservative sense that, roughly speaking,
the structural and linguistic analysis of a narrative topos - that is to
say the protagonist's madness - can elicit a clearer understanding of the
changing, underlying dynamics and thematics of fictional works as they
emerge over a given historical period.
The thesis is set out in two parts; Part I explores nineteenth
century uses of madness, and Part II compares and contrasts more recent
treatments. The study of the different presentations of madness in
fiction is organized diachronically for heuristic purposes, although the
typological emphasis of the thesis must eventually take precedence over
the imposition of a rigid historical framework.
In the nineteenth century it is predominantly an intellectually
marginalized kind of fiction (often termed 'gothic') which deals with
exceptional psychic experience. It does so in a way which engages with
the treacherous 'otherness' of mad experience, which is often aligned with
the supernatural. In these texts the position of the narrator in relation
to such phenomenon is of paramount importance. More recent treatments of
'madness' display a tendency to undermine its 'otherness' and to move
towards narrative identification with such states.
The method of investigation functions upon several levels. In order
to provide a constructive counter-perspective upon fictional treatments of
madness and to forge the link with contemporary methodologies, the study
commences with the narratological analysis of a work written by a
(clinically diagnosed) psychotic author which has achieved the status of a
classic within psychiatric, psychoanalytical and even recent cultural
theory. The narrative structure of D. P. Schreber's Memoirs finds its
equivalent in a kind of fiction identified in this thesis as 'paranoid'.
Twentieth century clinical discourse increasingly has recourse to the
very broad term 'schizophrenia' as a synonym for the outmoded term
'madness'. The current emphasis upon linguistic concerns in the definition
and location of psychosis allows the critical grouping of certain kinds of
texts under the heading of 'schizoid', due to the discovery of analogous
characteristics at work within their (anti)narrative strategy. Again, these
terms are heuristically intended and cannot be scientifically precise. The
thesis concludes with a discussion of the current centrality of a
terminology of psychopathology to the ways in which fictionists, critics
and theorists describe, prescribe and understand the 'postmodern' self and
world.
This project offers an overview of attitudes to madness as they are
transformed in fiction in the course of a historical period. The way in
which madness functions in these texts is, first of all, not only as the
instrument of literary exploration but also as a means of transgressing
boundaries between sanity and insanity. The period is crucial, further, in
its radical transitional nature with regard to concepts of fundamental
import for the novel form: most particularly, ideas of the 'self' and ideas
of 'reality', as objectively stable or as sub. iective and illusory. For the
fictional articulation of these, the topos of 'madness' serves as the
ultimate measure.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General)
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Mental illness in literature, Fiction -- 19th century -- History and criticism, Fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism
Official Date:	September 1992
Dates:	Date Event September 1992 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Rignall, John, 1942-
Extent:	iv, 367 leaves
Language:	eng

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