METHODOLOGY AND APPROACH.. 31

1. Historical Background of Deconstruction. 33

1.1. Definition. 33

1.2 Postmodernism in Literature. 36

1.3 De-totalizing Narrative. 37

1.4 Re-presenting the Past 38

1.5 Parody. 39

2. From Structuralist Narratology to Poststructuralist Narratology. 40
3. Derrida and Deconstruction. 45

3.1 Logocentrism.. 46

3.2 Differance. 49

3.3 Iterability. 51

CHAPTER THREE.. 53

FICTIONALITY/ REALITY.. 53

1. Beyond Mimesis. 55

1.1. A Brief History. 55

1.2. Metafiction. 57

1.3 Linguistics. 58

2. Practical Example of Metafiction. 59

2.1 Self-reflexivity. 59

2.2. History Penetrating into Present 62

2.3 Metamorphosis of Structural Narrator in Trout Fishing in America. 64

2.4 In Search of an Elusive Signified. 67

2.5 Iterability and Deferring Reality. 68

2.6 Borderline of Literature, Parting Fictionality from Reality. 72

3. In Watermelon Sugar, Reality in a Fantasy. 75

3.1 Fictionality in Fictionality. 76

3.2 Language, the Common Medium of Presenting Reality and Fantasy. 77

3.3 The Narrator on the Edge of Reality. 79

3.4 Metafiction in a Fantastic World. 81

4. Conclusion. 82

CHAPTER FOUR.. 84

PARODY.. 84

1. Parody, Deconstruction of Past/Present 85
2. Trout Fishing in America, a Parody. 87
3. یک مطلب دیگر :
4. مدل­های تصمیم­گیری چند شاخصه

2.1 Shattering Metanarratives and Old Prototypes. 88

2.1.1 American Dream.. 89

2.1.2 Trout, a Parody of Myth. 92

3. In Watermelon Sugar as a Parody of Utopia. 93

3.1. One Kind of Reading, the Novel as a Utopia. 93

3.1.1 Binary Opposition of iDEATH and Forgotten Works. 94

3.2. In Watermelon Sugar, Deconstruction of Utopia. 94

3.2.1 Utopia as a Metanarrative. 95

3.2.2 Utopia and Binary Opposition. 97

3.2.3. Deconstruction of a Utopia. 98

3.2.3.1 Narrator for iDEATH.. 99

3.2.3.2. Forgotten Works, another Utopia. 100

3.2.4. Metaphysics of Presence. 104

4. Conclusion. 108

CHAPTER FIVE.. 109

CONCLUSION.. 109

1. Chapters Review.. 109
2. Findings and Results. 116
3. Suggestion for Further Research. 119

Works Cited. 124

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.  General Background

American literature is indebted a great deal to the Beat Generation. In fact the shift towards the postmodern fiction and poetry wasn’t possible if it were not for the Beat Generation writers. Richard Brautigan is always considered as a writer emerging from this generation. Although he never committed himself to any label or literary movement, his writings is always considered as good examples of the American novel at the period. This thesis is going to analyze two of the early and most important novels of Brautigan.

Richard Brautigan is the author of ten novels, nine volumes of poetry and a collection of short stories. According to Companion to the American Novel he is best remembered for Trout Fishing in America which is considered as “a novel that revolutionized postmodern fiction and may becompared today to works of his contemporary, Ken Kesey, and viewed as the precursor to such younger writers as Tom Robbins” (176).