LE3 .A278 2010

2010

Wyile, Andrea Schwenke

Acadia University

Bachelor of Arts

Honours

English

English & Theatre Studies

My thesis “ Bamboozled: Chaos Theory and Yann Martel’s Life of Pi” is an exploration into how stories are constructed and received by readers, as seen through the theoretical framework of Chaos Theory. In Chapter One, I introduce Chaos Theory and explore its applicability to Literary Theory and texts. A brief history of Chaos Theory is provided, from which I go on to define the term Deterministic Chaos, and finally, discuss the theory’s relevance to both Literary Theory and Literary texts. In Chapter Two I argue the relationships between the philosophical foundations of Chaos Theory and narrative discourse relating to confusion and disorientation in Life of Pi. Theoretical concepts taken from Chaos Theory such as bifurcation, iteration, fractal, underlying structure, and deterministic structure provide a contemporary means with which to discuss the effect storytelling has on our lives and the role we play in the creation of our own stories.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:749