Fictive elements within the autobiographical project : necessary conflation of genres in Nightwood by Djuna Barnes
- UNCW Author/Contributor (non-UNCW co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Debra L. Niven (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW )
- Web Site: http://library.uncw.edu/
- Advisor
- Janet Ellerby
Abstract: This study examines a woman?s attempt to come to terms with her own life and
the relationship that most defined and influenced that life. In Nightwood, Djuna
Barnes rejects conventional linear narrative structure in favor of Modernist
experimentation with literary forms to tell the true story of her ruined love affair.
In the book, she uses fictive devices which allow her not only to create an
artistically compelling narrative, but also to reveal a more experientially accurate
account of her relationship with Thelma Wood. Based on a close reading of
Nightwood, both the published version and the original unexpurgated version, as
well as interpretation of autobiographical and psychological criticism, this study
explores Barnes?s conflation of the genres of autobiography and fiction. The first
section explains the background of Barnes?s life and the effect of her traumatic
childhood and her doomed love affair on the text. The next section establishes
Nightwood as an authentically autobiographical project despite the author?s
experimentation with narrative form and textual construction via the inclusion of
fictional elements. The final section examines not only how Barnes uses specific
fictive devices in the text, but also her authorial motives for their inclusion. This
examination proves the thesis that Barnes?s use of fiction within autobiography
serves to textually capture the emotional and psychological truth of the loss of
her beloved and communicate her lived experience of that loss to the reader
more effectively than more traditional forms of autobiographical writing.
Fictive elements within the autobiographical project : necessary conflation of genres in Nightwood by Djuna Barnes
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Created on 1/1/2009
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- A Thesis Submitted to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Masters of Arts
- Language: English
- Date: 2009
- Keywords
- Barnes Djuna Nightwood--Criticism and interpretation
- Subjects
- Barnes, Djuna. Nightwood -- Criticism and interpretation