An Interpretation Of A Visit From The Goon Squad From The Perspective Of Bergson's Theory Of Duration

Jennifer Egan is a contemporary American female writer, whose work A Visit from the Goon Squad won the 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. This novel consists of thirteen chapters, telling stories about the different life experiences of a group of young people who are rockers covering 50 years or so from 1970 to the imagined future of 2020. Although some critics have analyzed this novel from various perspectives such as narratology and psychoanalysis, there are few researches on themes based on philosophy theory. Combining with the theory of duration in Bergson?s philosophy of life, this thesis aims to explore the characters? different time consciousness from their life experiences to get a better understanding of proper values on time that the author conveys through the novel, thereby, attain some life enlightenment.This thesis is divided into six chapters:The first chapter is the introduction. It briefly introduces Jennifer Egan?s life experiences and her main literary works, sums up the domestic and international results of related research on the novel A Visit from the Goon Squad up to now, and then states the topic basis, the aim and research significance of this thesis.The second chapter firstly points out the theoretical basis for this thesis, and makes a brief survey of Henri Bergson?s theory of duration. Duration, a kind of fluid, is an endurable process in human consciousness. It consists of three elements: past, present and future. Secondly, it expounds the relationship of past, present and future in duration theory.The third chapter analyzes the time consciousness of living in the past, taking Robert for instance. Robert is fed up with present himself as a lonely homosexual. He acts contrary to the irreversibility of duration, whose attempt to resist time in illusion caused by drugs leads to the tragedy of death.The fourth chapter focuses on the time consciousness of being trapped in present. It takes the case of Sasha and Scotty. They are in life predicaments. Both of them experience a shift in their time consciousness by understanding the interrelation between past and present. At last, Sasha?s kleptomania is healed, and Scotty returns to his music stage.The fifth chapter discusses a kind of balanced time consciousness, taking Bennie as an example, which reveals his complete comprehension of duration. He has a deep understanding of duration. With proper treatment of the relationship of past, present and future, Bennie accepts all changes by time passing. He lives in the moment and keeps hopeful about the future, so that he can confront ups and downs in a peace of mind, and enjoy his life journey.The last chapter summarizes this thesis. Related with Bergson?s theory of duration, this thesis focuses on human life experiences, and analyzes the different time consciousness of main characters leading to their different life direction and future in the novel, which embodies Egan?s proposed time value, that is, any attempt to oppose time is doomed to fail. We should live in the present, sustain hope for our future and strive to achieve future goals in life, while holding memories of past helpful to promote present condition. Only in this way can we live a meaningful life.