Date of Award
8-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
College/School
College of Education and Human Services
Department/Program
English
Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair
David Galef
Committee Member
Jeffrey Gonzalez
Committee Member
Adam Rzepka
Abstract
In this thesis, I suggest that ostranenie is the artistic equivalent of chaos and it can be used by artists to grab and maintain the perception of an audience through the disruption of norms or pre-established conditions. Ostranenie, the device of art introduced by Russian Formalist Victor Shklovsky in his essay, “Art as Device,” is a device that gives absolute freedom to the creative person who isn’t afraid to use it to create original and engaging work. In the novel, 1Q84, Haruki Murakami utilizes ostranenie to tell a simple love story in a manner that prolongs the reunion of his two main characters, Aomame and Tengo, until the conclusion of his maximalist tome. By analyzing his longest work, I aim to demonstrate how the relationship between chaos and ostranenie gives Murakami the creative freedom to play within familiar narrative structures while still challenging reader expectations.
File Format
Recommended Citation
Alba-Dominguez, Cristian J., "The Q is Chaos: Freedom 4 Artists is Ostranenie" (2024). Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects. 1436.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/etd/1436