A Reading Of John Barth's The Sot-Weed Factor As A Historiographic Metafiction

Many European and American novels have displayed an intense interest in "revisiting history" since 1960s. Different from the traditional historical novel, contemporary "historical novels" no longer aim at representing the real history, but challenge the authenticity of history. They are "both intensely self-reflexive and yet paradoxically also lay claim to historical events and personages." Such novels are labeled by Linda Hutcheon as historiographic metafiction.In this thesis, the theory of historiographic metafiction is mainly adopted to expound and prove that John Barth's The Sot-Weed Factor is a typical historiographic metafiction. The thesis consists of six parts.For the introduction part, a new trend in American literature since 1960s is first introduced. Then the present author focuses on John Barth, his The Sot-Weed Factor as well as its literature review and finally explains the purpose and significance of the thesis.In the first chapter, a theoretical survey concerning historiographic metafiction is conducted. Through an analysis of historiographic metafiction, the present author summarizes three major characteristics of historiographic metafiction: firstly, it challenges the authority of the official version of history; secondly, it parodies prominent historical figures and events; thirdly, it foregrounds the incredibility of historiography.In the second chapter, the author analyzes The Sot-Weed Factor challenges the official version of history by offering alternative versions of history regarding Captain John Smith's Virginia adventures and the Colonial Maryland. The ideological implications of historiography exposed by alternative versions of history are also discussed.In the third chapter, the author discusses The Sot-Weed Factor parodies prominent historical figures and events. The parody of historical figures like Cooke, Newton, and More as well as the politics and revolution in Colonial Maryland is mainly analyzed. Through parody, the historical truth is subverted.In the fourth chapter, the author explicates The Sot-Weed Factor foregrounds the incredibility of historiography. Cooke as in some sense a historiographer, instead of representing the reality, shows ubiquitous fictionality in his poem. Burlingame as well as other narrators relates fictitious history to Cooke. The unreliable historiographer and the unreliable narrators foreground the incredibility of historiography.Based on the above analysis, the last part comes to a conclusion that John Barth's The Sot-Weed Factor fully embodies the major characteristics of historiographic metafiction and thus become a representative of such a genre.