|
|
The Poetry and Journalism of James Fenton
Ward, Richard Douglas ; Quinn, Justin (advisor) ; Delbos, Stephan (referee)
This thesis analyses the work of the British poet and journalist James Fenton, with a particular focus on his work on Southeast Asia. I argue that Fenton's journalism represents an interesting experiment in personally inflected writing, akin to the New Journalism, and which shows a keen eye for the unusual. However, I suggest, following Benedict Anderson, that Fenton is at times motivated by a desire to create a marketable commodity rather than more serious journalistic concerns. I examine the relationship between Fenton's politics and his writing, arguing that Fenton's work on Vietnam narrates a growing but incomplete disillusionment with socialism, and that his writing on the Philippines shows a complete break, marked by the typical ex-believer's desire to distance himself from past commitments. In terms of Fenton's poetry on Southeast Asian topics, I track the shift from Fenton's early experiments in journalistic poetry to his later, more formally concerned work, arguing that this shift mirrors the change in his political convictions.
|
guest ::
