An Analysis Of The Subversion In David Mitchell’s First Three Novels

David Stephen Mitchell is a British novelist and his novels jumps out of the traditional frames set for literature and full of elements of post-modernism. His This thesis is going to analyze Mitchell’s novels by case study of his first three novels, Ghostwritten, number9dream, and Cloud Atlas and analyze one of the post-modern features- the subversion, to explore Mitchell’s support to multi-culture and pluralism.The thesis is divided into five parts. The first part makes a brief introduction about David Mitchell and his first three novels, the critical reviews of his works at home and abroad as well as the method, purpose and significance of the thesis. As a productive rising star, his works attracts attention home and abroad recently. But the systematic studies of Mitchell and his works are lacking. By analyzing Mitchell’s subversion of Religion, the author’s authority, and binary opposition, this paper aims to dig out Mitchell’s deconstruction of power of discourse and logocentrism.The second part is about the subversion of the novels in the aspect of religion. Mitchell subverts the Christian belief by creating stained God images such as "His Serendipity" in Ghostwritten and the "God Sonmi" in Cloud Atlas. Mitchell also points out that heaven has no difference from hell by subverting the fall of mankind. Besides, Eve’s choice and the rejudging of heaven and hell reveals that no matter in heaven or hell, no one can escape from various physiological drive and desires. As a spiritual substance, religion is neither exclusive nor reliable. The Christian belief is subverted.Part three analyzes Mitchell’s subversion in the aspect of narration, Mitchell subverts the traditional roles of the author and the reader. He subverts the authority of the author by revealing that author is the misleader of plot and the destroyer of meaning. The readers can also be the leading part in a text.Part four analyzes the subversion of binary opposition. Mitchell subverts it in the aspect of character, plot, and structure. In the set of characters and the arranging of plots, Mitchell presents binary oppositions in many fields such as race, power and so on and traditional binary oppositions such as God and Devil, and the master and the student are subverted. And in the aspect of structure, David adapted the Russian doll narrative method and merging the linear structure and circular structure, which makes his novel an endless writing with no actual center. Mitchell’s subversion of binary opposition brings a new understanding of rules and truth, and then criticizes the inequality in the discourse of society and the hegemonism.The fifth part points out and analyzes the deconstruction behind Mitchell’s subversion. Author’s authority is actually the mind control over readers, while religion and binary opposition is the consequence of western thinking mode and the foundation of western value, which leads to inequality and conflict. By subverting the author’s authority, Mitchell reveals the mind control on readers; and by subverting the religion and binary opposition, Mitchell actually shakes the foundation of western value, thus the western centralizing theory. By deconstructing the ideologies behind the three concepts, Mitchell indicates that the so called truth is not born to be truth, but coined and determined by power. Truth is never eternal, it ought to be different for different people in different situations.The last part is the conclusion. Through the study of Mitchell’s subversion, it can be found out that Mitchell deconstructs the ideology hidden in religion, narration and binary opposition. And by subverting all these, Mitchell criticizes the Eurocentrism and the manipulating power in society. Furthermore, Mitchell expresses his support to pluralism, which allows different voices.