• ISSN: 2382-6282 (Print); 2972-3108 (Online)
    • Abbreviated Title: Int. J. Lang. Lit. Linguist.
    • Frequency: Bimonthly
    • DOI: 10.18178/IJLLL
    • Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Jason Miin-Hwa Lim
    • Managing Editor:  Jennifer X. Zeng
    • Indexed by:   CNKI, Google Scholar, Crossref,
    • E-mail: ijlll_Editor@126.com
HOME > Archives > 2018 > Volume 4 Number 4 (Dec. 2018) >
IJLLL 2018 Vol.4(4): 314-318 ISSN: 2382-6282
DOI: 10.18178/IJLLL.2018.4.4.193

Postmodernist Rewriting of Classics: A Study of Phillip Roth’s Metafiction The Ghost Writer

Zhan Simin

Abstract—Phillip Roth is one of the most outstanding American postmodernist writers, his work The Ghost Writer has typical metafiction features, and it was acknowledged as the turning point of his creation from imitating modernism to postmodernism experimental writing [1]. The "Reflexivity" in the novel reflects his profound insight into the relationship between various fictional systems and the real world as well as self-construction. This paper takes Roth's novella, The Ghost writer, as an example, and points out the author's endeavor to subvert the narrative models in classic literary works Anne's Diary from postmodernism angle, as well as his efforts and thoughts to smash the old Jewish literature residue and create better fiction. It also points out that The Ghost Writer not only simply subvert the classics in order to write stories, but also reveal the difficult life of Jewish immigrants between Jewish tradition and American culture and the embarrassing dilemma of young Jewish writers in the cultural gap. Through "intertextuality", The Ghost Writer embedded in other texts to enlarge the text background and by way of parody, it combined satire and criticism into literature to impel readers to contemplate literary works, life and reality.

Index Terms—Postmodernism, metafiction, parody, reflexivity.

Zhan Simin is with Hang Zhou Normal University, China (e-mail: 15990109849@163.com).

[PDF]

Cite:Zhan Simin, "Postmodernist Rewriting of Classics: A Study of Phillip Roth’s Metafiction The Ghost Writer," International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 314-318, 2018.

PREVIOUS PAPER
Exploration on the Critical Point of Hester’s Repentance
NEXT PAPER
Exploring TESL Pre-Service Teachers’ Technology Acceptance Perspectives towards Online Multimedia Materials Development: A Case Study in Sabah, East Malaysia
Copyright©2008-2024. International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics. All rights reserved.
E-mail: ijlll_Editor@126.com