Brutal narratives, savage figures [Elektronische Ressource] : on the matter of violence in postmodern American literature and literary criticism / vorgelegt von Martin Wallerius
Brutal Narratives, Savage Figures:On the Matter of Violence in PostmodernAmerican Literature and Literary CriticismInaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangungdes akademischen Grades einesDoktors der Philosophie (Dr. phil.)der Philosophischen Fakultät derHeinrich-Heine-Universität DüsseldorfVorgelegt vonMartin Walleriusaus DüsseldorfDüsseldorf, April 2009— D61 —Tag der mündlichen Prüfung13.7.2009Gutachter der DissertationProf. Dr. Herwig FriedlProf. Dr. Therese SeidelPREFACEIn the introductory chapter of his monumeTnhtael Structure of Evolutionary Theory, Stephen Jay Gould ponders Darwin’s famous stateme nt fromthe concluding chapter of Ohn itsh e Origin of Speciesth at “this w holevolume is one long argument” without explicitly stating for wh at. Frommany possible answers, Gould prefers to regard Darwin’s “long arg ument”as an attempt to establish a specmeifthico dological and theoret icalapproach (Darwin 459; Gould 12).In the process of sketching the scope and boundaries of th is thesis,the question of the curious “long argument” became part of the generaldesign.