Abstract:
The problem of attempting to represent reality in full inevitably includes
the problem of representing writerly, or literary, reality. The variegated
aspects of constructing a life – memory, relationships, perspective, the
forming of coherent stories – are all equally literary problems which
face authors trying to draft and structure fiction.
This thesis interprets Philip Roth and C. K Stead as writers concerned
with the problem of representing the real in as many shades and layers
as possible and who therefore invariably utilise postmodern and
metafictional methods of storytelling. And yet their goal and focus as
novelists is the detailing and evoking of the real – the specifics of life in
the world, which problematically include art and storytelling.
