Philosophical novel

Postmodernism

Margaret Drabble

Dame Jean Iris Murdoch

Colin Henry Wilson

Sir William Gerald Golding

Philosophical novel.

Philosophical novel is a genre that was an innovation of the 20^th century, a literary phenomenon that emerged in the 20^th century after World War I. Some people were enthusiastic about it. They believed that the achievements of psychology would facilitate human progress and make the human nature more perfect. But World War I and World War II with its fascism, the greatest evil, all these seemed to disprove all the previous notions of the human nature and made intellectuals opposed to the same universal question: What am I?, What was I born for?, What should I do to fulfill myself? People were searching for identity. It was the philosophy of existentialism that answered all these questions. The philosophers of existentialism were Kierkegard, Jaspers. Berdyayev, Sartre, Camus.

Existentialism is a moral philosophy, answering the questions about human existence. It doesn’t claim to give any reasonable explanation to human nature. It’s mostly incognizable, it’s impossible to cognize human nature completely. It may be said to be pessimistic. Its final aim is death, its final destiny and no one denies it. We should live our lives with dignity. We should carry out the task that life has imposed on us. It lays special stress on individuality, uniqueness. That’s why we can’t fully understand one another. Alien nation is a philosophical term. It defines the relations of individuals isolated with each own identity. Man’s life depends on his free choice: man is free to act in the way he wills or wants to. But he should be aware of the responsibility of his choice. He affects not only his own life but the life of those who surround him. The philosophy is aesthetic – the life doesn’t rely on God. Existentialism preaches on self-reliance. This world is not a happy place to live in; life is full of sorrow, suffering, grief. It’s a continuous range of modes of existence: fear, dismay, suspense, anemy (разобщенность между людьми), angoisse (тоска), delaissement (заброшенность). Existentialism is a view of the world: universe is indifferent to us. People can control their destiny through freedom of choice. The world produces anxiety. The person does the best he can.

The influence of existentialist ideas left a profound impression on the work of such prominent representatives of the genre of philosophical novel as William Golding, Iris Murdoch and Colin Wilson.

What is characteristic of a philosophical novel? Every writer gives a shape to this genre but all of them have at least 2 levels:

1) notional – the level of an ordinary literary work, certain events of a life of persons;

2) philosophical – the level where the writer’s message deals with some problems of ideal life; it explains the roots of evil.

Existentialism stresses the uniqueness of every person, but there’s an idealization here too. Very little of any realia of today’s life is taken in this genre and human types are treated often as archetypes – certain human types present in all generations as they possess certain human features. Hence the idea of wandering plots (бродящих сюжетов, которые повторяются)

Mainly philosophical novels fall into 2 groups:

1) parables (biblicals) or fables (“Lord of the Flies” – an allegorical character)

2) discussions – are built as a continuos dialogue of people representing opposite ideas, philosophies (“The Black Prince”)

Very often writers put their characters in extreme situations which helps them to show the uniqueness and universality of situation (war, an uninhabited island, death). Life is a result of humorous choices. The plot has some experimental character to avoid some external influences. Symbolism and allegory are the chief literary devices in the philosophical novel.

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