Locating Henry In The “Un-”: Proto-Postmodern Negation Of Character, Allusion, Narrative And Structure In John Berryman’S The Dream Songs,
2010
University of Northern Iowa
Locating Henry In The “Un-”: Proto-Postmodern Negation Of Character, Allusion, Narrative And Structure In John Berryman’S The Dream Songs, Joseph Russell Hendryx
Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
John Berryman's The Dream Songs encompasses an extensive and complex negation of characterization and structure, offering a method of interpretation that focuses on the negations and the absences expressed in and presented by the song cycle. Through his nonlinear account of his life and through the historical and literary allusions he uses to express himself, Henry obscures any effort for readers to discover a stable, absolute identity. Like Henry himself, his unnamed companion unsuccessfully fulfills a variety of roles that critics have attempted to prescribe for him; he fails to perform any notable thematic or structural purpose for the poem, …
