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ABSTRACT

Theemergence

of

nihilism

and

chaos

in

the

nineteenth

and

twentieth

centuriesoffersusacasestudyinhowmemeswork.Memesarebundlesof

culturalinformationthatdisplayviralproperties,sowingtheseedsofrealityin

theindividualmindsthatmakeupaculture,subculture,orcounterculture.In

thecaseofnihilismandchaos,theongoingepistemologicalandontological

revolutioninitiatedbythelikesofSchopenhauerandNietzsche,thecollapseof

myth

as

a

totalizing

source

of

meaning,

and

the

transition

from

a

Newtonian,

deterministicworldviewtoaquantumrelativistic,chaoticworldview

transformedtheWesternculturallandscape,pavingthewayfortheviral

spreadofnihilismandchaostodifferentintellectualandculturalstrata.

Thematrixmodelusedinthisdissertationprovidesafruitfulwayof

approachingculturaldynamicsandmorphogenesisingeneral,andtheevolution

ofnihilismandchaosinparticular.Accordingtothemodel,cultureevolves

whenmemes(viralbundlesofculturalinformation)flowfromthesocioculturalmatrix(theevolvingaggregateofparadigmsandepistemesthatdefineaculture)

toindividualagents(authorsandsubjects,inthiscase).Authorsandsubjects

functionaccordingtothechaoticmodeloftheselfdescribedinchapterone,

whichdefinestheselfasaradicallyintersubjectiveentitythatevolvesthrough

feedback,renormalization, andlockingintoabatteryofattractorsymbolsin

cognitivephase

space.

These

agents

assimilate

the

memetic

material,

modify

and

recombineitwithothermemes,andincorporatethememeticinnovationsinthe

workofart/culturalartifact.Theworkofart/culturalartifactflowsbackintothesocioculturalmatrixandchangesit,addingthenovelmemeticmaterialtothe

bodyofculturalcodesthatmakeupthematrix.

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JamesJoycesUlysses,SamuelBeckettsThreeNovels,andThomasPynchonsGravitysRainbowserveasfocalpointsinthisstudybecauseeachworkrepresentsacriticaljunctureinthememeticevolutionofnihilismandchaos

duringthe

modernist

and

postmodernist

periods.

Joyces

novel

embodies

the

lapidarymodernistaspirationtocreatethegreatworkofartwhichservesas

anantidotetotheturbulenceandanomieoftheearlytwentiethcentury.

Beckettsworkoccupiesthatliminalspacewherelatemodernismandearly

postmodernismmeet;hispreoccupationsinThreeNovelsfocusontheinsurmountableproblemsposedbylanguageinrepresentingthesubjectandthe

futility

of

our

epistemological

quest

to

understand

the

self

amidst

the

spray

of

phenomenathatsurroundsus.PynchonssprawlingGravitysRainbowcapturesthathistoricalmomentintime(theendofWorldWarII)whenthemodernist

impulsetowardtotalizingsystemsoforderandmeaningiseclipsedbythe

postmodernembraceofchaosandsemioticfreeplay.

Whenwediscuss1904Dublin,thehauntingabodeofTheUnnamable,

andPynchonsZone,weexaminethreedistinctmatricesinwhichmodernand

postmodernsubjectsstruggletofindmeaninginatopsyturvyworldwherethe

totalizingrationalityoftheEnlightenmentandtheredemptivepowerofclassical

andJudeoChristianmythhavefailed.Lackingafirmepistemological

ontologicalmoralfoundationtoserveasanintellectualimmunesystem,

modernistandpostmodernistsubjectsprovevulnerabletotheencroachmentof

nihilismandchaosasculturalcontagiathatmoldandshapetheevolutionofa

distinctivestream

of

consciousness.

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