Not a saviour of the world: dismissal of messianism
in Graham Swift’s Waterland
Not a saviour of the world: dismissal of messianism
in Graham Swift’s Waterland
Author(s): Sławomir KonkolSubject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Psychoanalysis, Philology, British Literature
Published by: Akademia Techniczno-Humanistyczna w Bielsku-Białej
Keywords: Graham Swift;Waterland;Jacques Lacan;the phallus;messianism;
Summary/Abstract: The article considers the highly critical handling of the British brand of messianism in Graham Swift’s novel Waterland (1983) in the light of Jacques Lacan’s concept of the phallus. The issue is approached through the figure of the narrator’s half-brother, spawned to be the saviour of the world and the narrator’s attitude towards promises of a grand future, an epitome of Graham Swift’s overall distrust of totalising narratives. The desire for a complete and final explanation is shown to be as inescapable as it is impossible to fulfil.
Journal: Świat i słowo
- Issue Year: 2/2020
- Issue No: 35
- Page Range: 71-88
- Page Count: 18
- Language: English