John Barth And The Sot-Weed Factor

Postmodernism is one of the major literary schools in the second half of the 20th century in the West. Originated in the 50s, it reached its prime in the 60s and 70s, and began to decline in the 80s. The American postmodernist fiction reflects the characteristics of the different historical periods inthe U.S. since WWII. The Sot-Weed Factor is a typical postmodernist fiction of the importantAmerican postmodernist writer, John Barth. It has been seen as a typical attack on or more specifically, a satire of the American history and the framework of hero myth, as well as the conventional forms of seventeenth and eighteenth century novels, in particular, Henry Fielding's novel Tom Jones. The present thesis attempts to offer a detailed and systematic analysis of parody as a literary technique used in The Sod-Weed Factor. The thesis is divided into four chapters as follows: an introduction to John Barth's life and his writings, John Barth and American postmodernist writing, a parody of history, a parody of traditional literary forms.In the first chapter, a brief introduction to John Barth's life and his writings is offered.In the second chapter, emphasis is put on the relation between The Sod-Weed Factor and postmodernist writings, especially parody as a typical literary technique in postmodernist fiction.In the third chapter, the use of parody of history is analyzed in two separate parts. The first part considers Barth's manipulation of history; the second part deals with a parody of history, such as the history of Maryland, especially of the glorifying kind, i.e., John Smith, Lord Baltimore, Issac Newton, and Henry More.In the fourth chapter of my thesis, elaboration is on the parody of traditional literary forms including Henry Fielding's picaresque novels, traditional epic and the hero myth. The protagonist, Ebenezer Cooke, as well as his tutor Henry Burlingame, intends to pursue a quest for self-identity, one as a laureate, and the other as a son. Eben goes to great lengths to prove his talent for writing poem. At the same time, he struggles to resist various temptations and keep his virgin. Henry Burlingame, bearing resentment for knowing nothing about his own origin, does not believe any family history, even suspects that the whole American history has been made up by somebody at his own will. In the long journey to the plantation of Eben's father, he shows himself under different guises, ultimately discovers his origin and his family is reunited after long separation. The roles played by Henry Burlingame and other minor characters such as Anna, Joan Toast are also analyzed in this chapter.