Murky Impressions of Postmodernism: Eugene Gant and Shakespearean Intertext in Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward, Angel and Of Time and the River

In this study, I analyze the significance of Shakespearean intertextuality in the major works of Thomas Wolfe featuring protagonist Eugene Gant: Look Homeward, Angel and Of Time and the River. Specifically, I explore Gant's habits and preferences as a reader by examining the narrative arising from the protagonist's perspectives of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, and King Lear. I examine the significance of parallel reading habits of Wolfe the author and Gant the character. I also scrutinize the plurality of Gant's methods of cognition as a reader who interprets texts, communicates his connections with texts, and wars with texts. Further, I assess the cumulative effect of Wolfe's having blurred the boundaries between fiction and reality, between the novel and drama. I assert, then, that Wolfe, by incorporating a Shakespearean intertext, reveals aspects indicative of postmodernism.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of North Texas

Year dc:date

2007

Author dc:creator

• Miller, Brenda

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kesterson, David
• Foertsch, Jacqueline
• Muyumba, Walton

• Thomas Wolfe
• postmodernism
• Eugene Gant
• intertextuality
• Wolfe, Thomas, 1900-1938. Look homeward, angel.
• Wolfe, Thomas, 1900-1938. Of time and the river.
• Wolfe, Thomas, 1900-1938 -- Criticism and interpretation.
• Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Influence.
• Gant, Eugene (Fictitious character)
• Postmodernism (Literature)

Statement dc:rights

• Public
• Copyright
• Miller, Brenda
• Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

oclc: 227340645
https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc5143/
ark: ark:/67531/metadc5143

OAI identifier oai:identifier

info:ark/67531/metadc5143