The Other Moral Fiction: On the Ethic of “Confusion and Doubt”

Abstract

Literary realism as championed by John Gardner makes fidelity to the real a moral and aesthetic imperative. This essay contests the morality and plausibility of “realism.” A theoretical review discusses the narrative construction of identity and world-view. A discussion of Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping and Donald Barthelme’s Snow White suggests that they undermine literary realism in ways that also tend to resist extra-literary dogmas. A section focused largely on Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony argues that magical realism goes further, not only resisting the dominant world-view but modeling a way to alter or replace it. As this is an MFA essay, the final section considers whether strategies discussed are suitable for the author’s own fiction.