A tale of being everything: Literary subject in Ruth Ozeki's A Tale for the Time Being

Abstract

The article examines the structure of the literary subject in Ruth Ozeki's 2013 novel A Tale for the Time Being from the perspective of the governing mechanisms of the postmodern epoch. I argue that the fluidity of the subject roles in the novel not only complies with Zen Buddhist principles Ozeki admittedly employed in their conception, but also reflects the structure of contemporary individuals within the postmodern social and economic realities. My analysis of the narrative agents relies primarily upon the theoretical framework charted by Jean Baudrillard, specifically his concepts of hyperreality and fractal subject. The adherence of the subjects in the novel to the principles of the postmodern paradigm allows us to consider A Tale for the Time Being as an example of a way in which the American mainstream has begun to accommodate (to) the social and historical circumstances of the new historical epoch.