John Fowles as a postmodernist: An analysis of Fowles's fiction within metafictional theories

The aim of this dissertation is to evaluate John Fowles's works in the light of current metafictional theories. By doing so, it attempts at closing a gap in the criticism of Fowles's fiction. It points out the postmodernist qualities of his novels and stories, as well as his original contribution to the aesthetics of postmodernism.; This study intends to establish Fowles as a major postmodernist writer by drawing attention to the self-conscious, self-reflexive and fabulative aspects of his fiction.; The chapters follow Fowles's novels in their chronological order, and discuss a growing textual self-awareness and fictionality in his novels. The major focus is on the narrative manipulations, author-text and reader-text relationships. In addition, this study shows that the texts reflect their own creative process which is extensively evaluated as the mimesis of process. Thus, the most familiar metafictional quality is the texts' profound preoccupation with the ways of mirroring their structure.; Furthermore, Fowles's authorial games with narrative variations, his explicit interrogation of any view he has previously built by using self-parody, and his leaving the options open, are the key points that are discussed as his problematic approach to fiction writing. Therefore, this dissertation also deals with the novels as problematic texts within the postmodernist aesthetics.; It concludes by showing Fowles as a master story teller experimenting with the possibilities of fiction writing.