‘The role in which you’ve cast me’: Reassessing the Myth of Spark

This chapter examines how the self-reflexive techniques employed in her writing work to facilitate instances of gendered social critique, while also interrogating the wider functioning of power and personal identity in the increasingly mediatised postmodern consumer culture in which they were written. The chapter focuses predominantly on three of Spark’s most formally and thematically experimental works: 1962’s seldom-discussed stage play, Doctors of Philosophy, 1968’s slight and sparsely detailed The Public Image, and the elaborately metafictional satire of celebrity and press sensationalism, Not to Disturb, published in 1971. Also discussed here is ‘A Dangerous Situation on the Stairs’ (c.1960), an unpublished short story that encountered in the author’s archive in the McFarlin Library in Tulsa. In each case, Spark’s literary innovations are read alongside her longstanding preoccupation with the tensions that exist between private selves and public performances – with bodies nearly inscribed within oppressive cultural narratives (and those deemed to be deviant for daring to exist outside of them), and with the sinister, violent negation of female subjectivity.

‘What happened to the truth is not recorded’: Anticipating the Shift from Postmodern Consumer Culture to Post-Truth in Julian Barnes’s Flaubert’s Parrot

This paper will explore the concept of “fakeness” in Julian Barnes’ Flaubert’s Parrot. Defining “fake” as something “formed by or adapted to an artificial or conventional standard,” I will show how Barnes’ novel exposes the “fakeness” of historical knowledge. Utilizing Linda Hutcheon’s theories regarding postmodern literature—as well has Hayden White’s theories regarding historiography—I will analyze how Flaubert’s Parrot fakes literary biography, historical documents, academic conventions, female voices, and even the novel itself. This paper shows how Flaubert’s Parrot exposes the weaknesses in our understanding of history, as well as our willingness to believe in problematic historical narratives. More than this, my paper will show how Barnes’ novel ultimately succumbs to the narrative conventionality that it claims to subvert—illustrating how it is impossible to escape factitious conventions if one wants to impart a sense of meaning. Flaubert’s Parrot serves as a case study within the fields of deconstruction, narrative theory, and historiography—showing how problematic historical accounts can easily mime conventional academic standards and be readily accepted by readers. My study of Flaubert’s Parrot is particularly relevant with regard to our “Post-Truth” political era, as it shows how the quest to include multiple truths in the historical narrative can be taken advantage of in order to include lies. Flaubert’s Parrot emphasizes Linda Hutcheon’s claim that our understanding of history is based upon unreliable “traces” and “relics,” and is susceptible to being radically altered by the addition or subtraction of historical “relics” (Hutcheon 119). Although Flaubert’s Parrot problematizes our system of historical knowledge, its ultimate submission to the conventional novel form shows that it may be impossible to escape from the factitious conventions that shape our modes of knowledge.

Paradox, tribalism, and the transitional consumption experience

Purpose The aim of this paper is to explore how the paradox of individualism/tribalism is brought into play and negotiated by consumers in the wake of the post-postmodern era. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on netnographic and interview data from the Greek football manager (FM) online gaming community. FM is a simulation strategy game in which players act as “real-life” managers from the screen of their computer. Findings A central paradox and a set of four supporting paradoxes are identified. These paradoxes give rise to a transitional mode of experience, which lies on the borders of reality and fantasy, and is realised both at the individual and the tribal levels. Originality/value This study makes a threefold contribution. First, it advances the understanding of the paradoxical aspects of consumption experiences in light of post-postmodern consumer culture. Second, it shows how these paradoxes are negotiated by consumers between individual and tribal levels. Third, it extends the understanding of the nature of consumption experiences through the development of the concept of the transitional consumption experience.