An examination of voice in contemporary Canadian fiction and Ballistics : a novel

Wilson, David W. (2015) An examination of voice in contemporary Canadian fiction and Ballistics : a novel. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

When the term “voice” is used in the discussion of contemporary fiction – as it frequently is – its meaning
is taken to be understood intuitively, and more often than not no further elaboration is either required or
offered. In these essays – augmented by my novel, Ballistics, which has more than once been described as
having a “very distinct voice” – I examine what, exactly, we mean (or think we mean) by the term “voice”
when we use it in our discourse about fiction: it turns out that what we know intuitively does not so
elegantly hold up under scrutiny. I examine the standardized methods for both talking about “voice” and
improving it in one’s own fiction, as put forward by luminary novelists and teachers like John Gardner and
Jack Hodgins, and I suggest that part of the reason why discussion of “voice” is limited to what we feel,
intuitively, is because voice is not embedded in the text, but, instead, constitutes the experience – the
what it’s like – of engaging with a work of literature.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Literature and Creative Writing (former - to 2011)
Depositing User:	Jackie Webb
Date Deposited:	26 Jun 2015 15:40
Last Modified:	26 Jun 2015 15:40
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/53410
DOI:

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