Masques and metaphors: The dismantling of aesthetic systems in the works of John Fowles.

摘要

Recent literary theory has seen the reemergence of an old question: whether aesthetic value can be defined in essentialist terms or whether it is always contingent on broader social and cultural circumstances. Critics on both sides of the debate refer to the formation and maintenance of aesthetic values in terms of struggle. We see this same focus on ideological struggle surrounding the aesthetic in the work of contemporary writers such as Alice Walker. Clearly, questions concerning the aesthetic, and discussion of the aesthetic within literature are going to occupy a position of continued importance within the English discipline. This thesis will demonstrate the way in which the aesthetic is at play within contemporary fiction through a detailed examination of the discussion of aesthetic standards and/or criteria in three works by contemporary British author, John Fowles: "The Ebony Tower," The Magus, and The French Lieutenant's Woman.