Trying nothing, appraisals on nihilism in American fiction of the 1970s

grantor: University of Toronto"Nihilism" denotes the conclusion that life has no meaning or purpose because no one can verify that any meaning or purpose exists. Nihilistic characters appear throughout literature; however, they are most common in European and North American fiction written since the Enlightenment. This thesis examines how five American novels written in and about the late 1960s and early 1970s--Walker Percy's Love in the Ruins (1971), Joyce Carol Oates' Wonderland (1971), Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow (1973), Robert Stone's Dog Soldiers (1974), and Don DeLillo's The Names (1982)--sample, test, and challenge both nihilism and nihilistic characters. Chapter One begins by defining nihilism and describing fictional nihilists in novels by Turgenev, Dostoevsky, and others, then divides the five novelists under study into two camps. While all five attempt to counter nihilism by developing religious or quasi-religious interpretations of human purpose, they separate over the origins of nihilism. Oates and Pynchon are "Seekers" who criticize what they see as their culture's life-denying emphasis on conformity and reason. Percy and Stone are "Prophets" who see attacks on reason and restraint as invitations to nihilism. DeLillo tests both views, adopting neither. Discussions of Nietzsche's influence on both views and comparisons of the authors' statements with contemporary analyses of nihilism help clarify these different positions. Subsequent chapters examine different novelists' appraisals of nihilism in detail. Chapter Two discusses Percy's use of Tom More's crisis of faith to dramatize the dangers of "scientism." Chapter Three deals with Oates' handling of Jesse Vogel's obsession with order and the way this obsession leads to the destruction of his family. Pynchon's call for a refutation of "a control that is out of control" and his critique of "romantic totalism" are the concerns of Chapter Four. Chapter Five shows how Stone's disturbing depictions of untrammeled hedonism refute the claims of those who believe mankind must live free of guilt and caution. The final chapter discusses how DeLillo uses descriptions of both the cult called "The Names" and characters who try to understand that cult in order to pose fiction and communion against a nihilistic refusal of all mystery.Ph.D