| In Small World,as the emergence of jet travel,direct-dialing telephone and the Xerox machine,a "global campus",which is characterized by various academic conferences and globetrotting scholars,is coming into being.Kroetsch argues that conference,which gathers a lot of people,has a connection to those medieval cities where the carnival is held.Small World which can be considered as a novel of conferences is read in this light by some critics.Morace classifies Small World as a carnivalesque novel considering "its intersection of people,settings and times" which create a carnivalesque atmosphere(196).O’Malley claims that "Small World is a raucous and carnivalesque romp"(64).In the "global campus",jetting from one conference to another and being away from home,scholars seem to enter into a carnivalesque world that is blessed with the temporary suspension of hierarchical order,unwonted indulgence and various possibilities.However,though seemingly with such carnivalesque atmosphere,the"global campus",in essence,still retains hierarchies and fears for the intimidating social norms,and consecrates the past,which severely defies the carnival spirits of equality,liberty and renewal.Thus,under the lens of Mikhail Bakhtin’s carnivalization theory,this thesis examines the conflicting parts of the "global campus" with the medieval carnival respectively,that is,its hierarchical order,compromised liberty and repetitive pattern,and argues that it is far from being the Bakhtinian medieval carnival.The "global campus" seems to allow equal and familiar contacts among scholars at various academic conference,but actually still maintains the deep-rooted bias in the hierarchical society pertaining to seniority and gender;it provides a liberal atmosphere where scholars can celebrate and abandon themselves but without overcoming the fears for the intimidating society,the liberty is only a compromised one;it seems to inherit the subverting effects of the medieval carnival and embrace different possibilities,but in essence,it follows a cyclical pattern which always relegates to the past.Its familiar contacts among scholars,the unwonted indulgence and the renewing effects,which are considered to have contributed to the deceptive carnivalesque atmosphere,are actually reduced to either masks for scholars’ supports for the existing rule or the means of being atop in the hierarchy of the academia.The"global campus" with a carnivalesque mask of being equal,free and tolerant of different ideas,and a disguise of prosperity,in essence,is sterile,overflowing with desires for personal profits and struggles for higher positions.Such a "global campus"reflects Lodge’s concern about the status quo of the utilitarian academia and his hope for a truly equal,liberal and regenerative academic world free from the deceptive mask. |
