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.