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CONSPIRACY THEORY, METANARRATIVE SUBVERSION, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL GROWTH IN THOMAS PYNCHON’S CRYING OF LOT 49 AND DOUGLAS COUPLAND’S GENERATION X AND GENERATION A

Meyer, Thomas Patrick

Abstract Details

2016, MA, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English.
This thesis will demonstrate how Thomas Pynchon and Douglas Coupland use conspiracy theory in their novels not to characterize individuals as merely paranoid or suspicious, but as a helpful, logical response to dominant narratives in the respective cultures in which the characters live. These authors’ use of conspiracy theory in their novels is representative of a cultural trend of the mapping of suspicion among various members of their increasingly anxious societies. Pynchon’s treatment of conspiracy theory demonstrates the organization of a culture of suspicion, comprised of various, underground subcultures in 1960’s California. The shared belief in the conspiracy theory of what the novel represents as the Trystero brings together numerous, otherwise unrelated characters in their attempts to negotiate the controlling narratives that influence them. By prompting this exploration of conspiracy theory, Pynchon also reveals that the act of engaging one’s personal suspicions of larger nefarious plots in the form of educated, well hypothesized conspiracy theories can serve as a liberating force for characters both psychologically and socially. Coupland’s use of conspiracy theory differs from Pynchon’s primarily in terms of its proliferation on the level of plot. Coupland’s novels are concerned mostly with the act of storytelling, but the most important stories told involve conspiracy theories, and in each novel, characters use conspiracy theory both to rationalize the confusing, postmodern worlds they inhabit and to transcend their former social and psychological adherences to the untenable idealization of history in the form of the demolished American Dream and other societal narratives.
Tammy Clewell, Ph.D (Advisor)
Kevin Floyd, Ph.D (Committee Member)
Babacar M'Baye, Ph.D (Committee Member)
Trogdon Robert, Ph.D (Committee Chair)
84 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Meyer, T. P. (2016). CONSPIRACY THEORY, METANARRATIVE SUBVERSION, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL GROWTH IN THOMAS PYNCHON’S CRYING OF LOT 49 AND DOUGLAS COUPLAND’S GENERATION X AND GENERATION A [Master's thesis, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1461585795

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Meyer, Thomas. CONSPIRACY THEORY, METANARRATIVE SUBVERSION, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL GROWTH IN THOMAS PYNCHON’S CRYING OF LOT 49 AND DOUGLAS COUPLAND’S GENERATION X AND GENERATION A. 2016. Kent State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1461585795.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Meyer, Thomas. "CONSPIRACY THEORY, METANARRATIVE SUBVERSION, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL GROWTH IN THOMAS PYNCHON’S CRYING OF LOT 49 AND DOUGLAS COUPLAND’S GENERATION X AND GENERATION A." Master's thesis, Kent State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1461585795

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)