Diller, J.S (2025) 'Becoming liquid': exploring the narrative pattern of an 'Implosion' in a fragmented novel. PhD thesis, Bath Spa University. doi: 10.17870/bathspa.00017147
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Abstract
This study investigates the patterning of fragmented narratives, more specifically, what I will develop as the pattern of an implosion. This thesis consists of two parts, the autobiographical novel in fragments, titled 'Becoming Liquid', and the critical component, 'Writing a fragmented novel: exploring the narrative structure of an 'implosion'. 'Becoming Liquid' is an experimental narrative that traces the journey from Germany to (post-Brexit) England and back, from being a daughter and granddaughter to being a mother. In glimpses of life, daydreams, history and art, it explores what it means to be home and to be rooted while everything changes. The critical component 'Writing a fragmented novel: exploring the narrative structure of an 'implosion'' contextualises and investigates what I will call the 'implosive narrative pattern' of a novel in fragments, and its specific value for writing my novel. In the first chapter of my thesis, I will outline what I mean by fragmentary writing and its historical and contemporary meaning. Using the example of Ali Smith's 'Artful', I will explore the potential of gaps in fragmentary writing and will delineate their benefits for writing about art. Further, I will investigate the openness to include other media, such as photography, in fragmentary narratives. While writing in fragments has long been a technique used by writers for various purposes, and has been discussed in the context of Romanticism, Modernism and Post-Modernism, the patterning of the fragmented novel has been deeply investigated by Jane Alison in her recent book 'Meander, Spiral, Explode'. In chapter two and three I will explore patterns that were important for my own novel during the writing process and how I came to the final shape of 'Becoming Liquid'. Based on what Jane Alison calls the 'radial' pattern in narrative, I will establish the concepts of exploding and imploding novels. I will provide case studies of Maggie Nelson's 'Bluets' and Sheila Heti's 'Motherhood' in terms of their narrative pattern and compare them to my own novel. I will suggest my reasons for writing an imploding novel, rather than an exploding one. Finally, I will conclude with why I find the narrative pattern of an implosion especially fitting to write my experience of becoming a mother. With the delineation of the implosion as a narrative pattern and the practice-based research of its use for writing about motherhood, this study contributes to new knowledge in the field of creative writing in two ways: a new categorisation of a specific narrative pattern in fragmentary writing, and the suggestion of a method for shaping a literary text in fragments.
| Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) |
|---|---|
| Note: | The document attached to this record is the contextualising research section of the thesis only. It does not include the creative component, which is the manuscript for the novel, 'Becoming Liquid'. |
| Keywords: | PhD by Practice, fragmented narrative, autofiction, motherhood, implosion, narrative patterns, narratology |
| Divisions: | School of Writing, Publishing and the Humanities |
| Date Deposited: | 30 Jun 2025 13:35 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Jul 2025 10:18 |
| URI / Page ID: | https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/17147 |
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