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Abstract

Throughout this dissertation, I explore how the application of the fictive mode in the work of 20th century philosopher, theorist and sociologist Jean Baudrillard functions as critical negativity, as the key subversive and critical thrust of his work. I will accomplish this through analysing a collection of Baudrillard's texts, specifically Symbolic exchange and death (1976) and Seduction (1979) from Baudrillard's 'early' career and Fatal strategies (1983) and The transparency of evil: essays on extreme phenomena (1990) from Baudrillard's 'late' career. My specific interest and methodology in writing this essay is to explore Jean Baudrillard's work through the prism of Jean Baudrillard, exploring how certain theoretical innovations and limitations drastically affect Baudrillard's writing and spur his recourse into fiction. In my first chapter, I will prepare the content of my later chapters by examining Baudrillard's theorizations prior to his shift into 'theory-fiction', exploring how said theorizations problematize the writing of theory and deconstruct certain binaries between fiction versus theory and fiction versus the real. Continuing through my second chapter, I will exploring how the application of the fictive mode into theory in Fatal strategies resolves Baudrillard's theoretical impasse of critique. Finally in my third chapter, I will argue that the fictive mode, itself, functions as the key point of critical negativity in Baudrillard's work, exploring how fiction becomes an efficacious tool in the the theoretical arsenal of Jean Baudrillard, supporting my argument with a close reading of The transparency of evil. In essence, the aim of this dissertation is to stress a sort of consciousness of the fictional in the work of Jean Baudrillard, and to explicate how Baudrillard's theoretical prowess is in itself conditioned by his application of fictionality.

Course: English Literature - BA (Hons) - C0995

Date Deposited: 2022-11-09

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis14072.html