ObJessions

: a short fiction collection focusing on objects and objectifications, with a critical commentary on the depiction of objects and objectifications in contemporary short fiction, in relation to aspects of Martin Heidegger’s and Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy

Abstract

This creative writing study explores the depiction of objects and objectifications in contemporary short fiction and how such a focus on objects, as well as on a subject-object in-betweenness, can have an impact on form, language and creative writing methodology. The study includes the short fiction collection Objessions, together with a critical commentary on the depiction of objects and objectifications in contemporary short fiction (mostly using examples from the collection itself and referring to short fictions by Aimee Bender, Lydia Davis, Jose Saramago and others). The theoretical background used in this study starts from selected aspects of the phenomenology of Martin Heidegger (tool analysis, jug allegory) and Maurice Merleau-Ponty (cane allegory, the analysis of gesture/silence/physiognomy, flesh and reversibility). These concepts have inspired a variety of creative writing approaches which can become a useful point of reference for creative writers interested in objects and objectified human characters. The short fictions presented in this study challenge the restrictive context of objects as simply tools to be used for a specific activity, by turning them into more independent characters; characters which are often detached from human users, which darkly absorb human bodies and which even express their own form of language/speech. This study, therefore, proposes a more object-centred approach to creative writing - not exclusively modelling objects to humanity, but to qualities deriving from their own thingness as well - an approach which does not exclude humanity but becomes the means to talk about human reality through a ‘pragmamorphism’ of both objects and human characters.

Date of Award	24 Jul 2020
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Winchester
Supervisor	Inga Bryden (Supervisor) & Neil McCaw (Supervisor)