Postmodern Pastiche: The Case of Mrs Osmond by John Banville / Pastiche Pós-moderno: O Caso de Mrs. Osmond, de John Banville

Abstract

Abstract: According to both Genette and Hutcheon, parody is transformational in its relationship to other texts, whereas pastiche is imitative. Other theorists such as Hoesterey and Dyer have redefined pastiche (and imitative textual practices) from the perspective of postmodern aesthetics and explored the way in which it resignifies previous artworks, as it is associated to an awareness of historicity. The aim of this article is to analyse Mrs Osmond (2017) by John Banville as an example of a postmodern pastiche that not only operates by correspondence or tribute in relation to The Portrait of a Lady (1881) by Henry James, but also as a novel where recontextualisation does create meaningful differences between the literary works involved. It is in this distance that Banville’s text unsettles traditional notions of pastiche and produces a more polyvalent effect as well as an expansion of the multiplicity already associated to his authorial figure. Resumo: Segundo Genette e Hutcheon, a parodia e transformacional em sua relacao com outros textos, enquanto o pastiche e imitativo. Outros teoricos como Hoesterey e Dyer redefiniram o pastiche (e praticas textuais imitativas) a partir da perspectiva da estetica pos-moderna e exploraram a maneira pela obras de arte anteriores sao ressignificadas, pois o pastiche esta associado a uma consciencia da historicidade. O objetivo deste artigo e analisar Mrs. Osmond (2017), de John Banville, como exemplo de um pastiche pos-moderno que nao so opera por correspondencia ou tributo em relacao a The Portrait of a Lady (1881), de Henry James, mas tambem como um romance no qual a recontextualizacao cria diferencas significativas entre as obras literarias envolvidas. E a essa distância que o texto de Banville desestabiliza as nocoes tradicionais de pastiche e produz um efeito mais polivalente, alem de uma expansao da multiplicidade ja associada a sua figura autoral.