“A DEATH IS ALWAYS EXCITING”: (POST)MODERN PATHOPOETICS OF THE WASP FACTORY BY IAIN BANKS

Abstract

Summary. The article delves into an examination of the poetics of behavioral disorders in Iain Banks’s novel “The Wasp Factory” (1984), providing a masterfully crafted narrative of the life of a psychopath with distorted gender identity. The historiographical analysis reveals that this is the first instance of scrutinizing the first published novel of the Scottish writer through this particular lens. The methodology of the study is shaped by the specificity of the subject and its purpose. It draws upon contemporary Ukrainian and Western European literary studies exploring postmodern aesthetics, with a focus on marginality and deviations. Additionally, insights from studies clarifying psychopathologies, their signs, and causes further contribute to the analysis. The study determines that a distinctive aspect of “The Wasp Factory” lies in its adherence to postmodern stylistic trends while concurrently attempting to resist this influence. Moreover, the pathopoetics of the work combines grotesque situations and black humour with the truly tragic story of the protagonist’s mental disorder. The author’s intent is realized not solely in the content but also on the formal level, particularly through the specific composition organization and narrative structure of the novel. The narrative technique emerges as a crucial means of influencing the reader, as the story is narrated from the protagonist’s perspective, offering a unique and often bizarre viewpoint that disrupts the automaticity of reader perception. The reader is subtly compelled to sympathize with a brutal murderer and psychopath. Overall, “The Wasp Factory” showcases Iain Banks’s exceptional ability to cater to the tastes of both the average mass and the intellectual reader.