Being There Or Elsewhere

Issue and thesis statement: Jerzy Kosinski (1933-91) is one of the most famous Polish-American writers in postmodern literary field. His life and works are full of legendary appeal and invite serious research. This dissertation committed to interpret the indeterminacy of existence in postmodern context through Jerzy Kosinski's notable novella Being There. Nowadays, we are living amidst the "Posts". It is a postindustrial era, a post-nuclear period, post-feminism, post analytical philosophy, and above all postmodernism. In postmodern context, existence is idiographic and becomes the representation of anti-essentialism. One effect of such movements is the uncertainty of things, including the uncertainty of human existence, which is manifested and responded in many forms and necessitates investigations in literary sphere, since all things have been metaphorized, labeled and symbolized in postmodern society. Being There as a superior political satiric fiction transferred by its author into a popular movie with honored movie awards both home and abroad, presents a vivid example for the elusive existence in postmodern context. It is believed by the author that since the concepts labeled with post become increasingly influential both in creative works and intellectual community, and since both Kosinski' life and works are full of indeterminacies, a research into Kosinski's representative work, Being There, will contribute remarkably not only to our understanding of the literary value of the work in question, but also our understanding of and effective response to the changing situation of our existence affected by movements labeled with post.Rationale and methodology: Jerzy Kosinski's most distinguished work—Being There is one of the most popular and significant works from a writer of international stature. Being There is a brilliantly satiric look at the unreality of American media culture and politics that is, if anything, more trenchant now than ever. The theme of existence in the modern world is a vast and complex area of human thought and behavior. It has been one of the essential focuses, or to say underlying forces of quite amount of modern literary works. It has also been intricately involved with other aspects of humanity: self and society, morality and religion, life affirmation. In consideration of its relevance to humanity, literature as well as literary criticism, it will be fruitful and helpful to set it as the theme of my planned dissertation.Organization and major contents:Chapter 1: Introducing the issue, significance, rationale and methodological consideration of this research.Chapter 2: Discussing the legendary colorful experience of Kosinski and his success as a novelist in American mainstream society under the particular literary background of Polish and Jewish identity.Chapter 3: Decoding the biblical and classical implication of the title and text, with more detail analysis from the perspectives of mass media theory and politics and sociology.Chapter 4: Interpreting the subversiveness and openness of the text from the philosophical existentialism of Sartre and Heidegger.Chapter 5: Concentrating on the exploration of the determinacy and indeterminacy of the text from seven subsections.Chapter 6: The last part is conclusion and prospect, which summarizes the most important points the preceding sections of the thesis have made and stresses the implication of the study itself.