Tesis Magíster
Portrait, mirror, ghost: the motif of the artist in Anthony Burgess’s Enderby novels
Fecha
2016Autor
Wall, Geoffrey
UNIVERSITY OF YORK
Institución
Resumen
This dissertation examines the motif of the artist in Anthony Burgess’ Enderby novels: Inside Mr Enderby (1963), Enderby Outside (1968), The Clockwork Testament or Enderby’s end (1974) and Enderby’s Dark Lady (1984). It analyses the character of Enderby the poet through three metaphors: the portrait, the mirror and the ghost. I argue that whilst Burgess inevitably echoes James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), he also distances from the late Romantic motif of the artist: he depicts a grotesque poet who defamiliaries and estranges its previous narrative assumptions. Lastly, I demonstrate how a postmodern reading of a pastiche is not enough to represent Enderby. Enderby is thus a parody of the sublime artist: a convergence of historical and literary tradition, and a versatile artist-author-writer whose fictionalised aftermath needs yet to be explored.