33 - Manual de Literatura Inglesa III - Creación Literaria Del Siglo XX-output

UNIT ONE: “The Discourse Between or the Need to“Make
ortheNeed to “Make It New”: Literature in an

an Ever-changing World”
UNIT I
The Discourse Between or
The the Need to
or the to “Make It New”:
ItNew”:
Literature in an
an Ever-changing World
Programme
1. PRESENTATION: What is new in the Modern Era?
1.1. The Crisis of Victorian Positivism
1.1. The
1.2. The Interpretation of an
1.2. The an Ever-changing World
1.3 The New
1.3The New Woman enters the stage
2.
2. TEXT ANALYSIS: Oscar Wilde's
Wilde’s Earnestness to
to Break Free
2.1. Approaching Wilde's
Wilde’s The
the Importance of Being Earnest
ofBeing
3.
3. ACTIVITIES
4.
4. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Learning
Learzzing outcomes
- To analyze the causes that gave birth to the “Modern Period” and
To and its
its
nrnnt-ynrde outcomes.
avant-garde outcomes.
- To examine The
To be Importance of of Being
&einp Earnest
firmest as representative text of
this specific time and
and spirit.
spirit.
- To understand and
To and become aware that literature and and literary creativity
form part of
of the social and
and political concerns of
of the period.
1.
1. PRESENTATION: What is New in
isNew the Modern Era?
intheModern Era7
What is New
New in the
the ‘Modern Era? The
The modern period in literature is considered to
to run
the c16
from the c16 century onwards. The
The word ‘modern’ according to
to the Oxford English Dictionary
stems from the
the Latin modo which means “just now”, and
and the most immediate definition
provided reads: “Of or pertaining the present and
pertaining to the and recent times as as opposed to to the
the remote
past” (OED). For instance, in the the c15, modo, or or better still modernus, referred to the
modernus,referred the Christian
present as as opposed to to the
the Roman past. Referring to the ‘modern era’ in relation to the the
Victorian past works as asaa means toinvolve
to involve the
the reader in thethe period rather than her/his looking
at it froma
from a distance.
distance.
In
In any
any case, it is always risky to refer under
underaa single heading to to the period covered in this
course: the fin de de siècle, the Edwardian period and
siécle, the and the Georgian period. Notice that this
textbook does
textbook does not deal solely
notdeal with Modernism
solely with Modernism (a has itself been and still is subject of debate) as
term that has
(aterm aS
the word ‘modern’ may
the may imply, butbut it also explores other forms of of writing and and avant-garde
movements present on on the artistic scene between the the 1880s and the the Second World War.
Try to enter into the frame of mind of the ordinary citizen of the
period. Analyze your own responses to the different topics explored.
Write down these impressions and draw imaginatively a general picture
11
of the many changes of the era. The questions of the Unit will help
you to pin down the most important ideas and to understand the
relationship between these and the literature of the time.
The key
The key word in the
the period is ‘change’.
‘What was
was happening that made individuals so so prone toto seeking new of looking
new forms of
at the world andand to
to approaching life?’ In In general terms, ‘there was was aa need’, after the the
industrialisation and the mechanisation of
and the mechanisation of the nation, to challenge Victorian values and
and
Victorian morals. Despite some voices had had previously spoken out was
out it was around the
the 1880s
when confidence in society's
society’s institutions and and Victorian positivism was
and authority faltered and was
questioned,
questioned, bringing about aa crisis in the Victorianism. Next section
the power and ideals of Victorianism.
explores the reasons
explores the reasons behind the crisis
behind the that turned
crisis that turned deeply
deeply held
held beliefs
beliefs and
and morals
morals upside-down.
upside-down.
To confront fields of knowledge such as political and philosophical

thought, psychology and psychoanalysis, anthropology, and scientific or
medical discoveries that may seem unfamiliar and off-putting. This Unit
deals with complex issues. To become familiar with the social and
intellectual background that surrounds the literary scene of the 1st half of
the c20. To understand the many issues raised here go to the sources
and read some of the treatises and manifestos mentioned. In many
cases, as for example in Darwin’s or Freud’s works, the narratorial
component of these writings helps to demystify the complexity of later
explanations. It is too challenging to try to collate the multiple sources
that would be needed to approach this subject. The Norton Anthology
provides a selection of texts dealing with some of the issues discussed
here. A good source of background material for the course at large is
Modernisms: An Anthology of Sources and Documents (2000) edited by
Vassiliki Kolocotroni et al.
1.1. The Crisis of Victorian Positivism

1.1. The
The 1851
The 1851 Great Exhibition at the
the Crystal Palace in
in London served to
to display the
progress ofofaa nation that
that had
had achieved aa leading role in the
the international
international sphere. Crystal
Palace became thetemple
the temple of the machine where to
of the to find breathtaking
breathtaking works of engineering,
of engineering,
the most amazing technical discoveries,
discoveries, the
the wonders of
of industrial enterprise,
enterprise, and the most
and the
innovative works of art that were meant to
of artthat to show that Romanticism had been overcome. In In
short, the
the Exhibition loudly proclaimed the greatness ofof GB
GB andand its power, and
and its people’s
people's
confidence. The following three decades are
confidence. The are considered by most historians as the zenith of the
as the the
“Victorianism”.
Yet Victorian values were in
Yet Two very dissimilar politicians dominated late
in decline. Two
Victorian politics:
- Gladstone:
Gladstone: liberal, humanitarian and and dutiful.
dutiful. It is reported that Queen Victoria found him
boring.
- Disraeli: imperialist,
imperialist, nationalistic and
and charming. Apparently,
Apparently, the Queen enjoyed his company,
hiscompany,
for he could make her
forhe laugh.
herlaugh.
22
1830-86) The
- ((1830-86) The Liberals on
on the rise.
the22ndnd Reform Act, Gladstone was

> > (1868-74) after the was Prime Minister of the
the reforming
government.
government.
> (1874-80) aa Tory majority government under Disraeli, seen as aa reforming
government working under the
the policies established by
by Gladstone.
> (1880-86) Gladstone governed again (2ndnd and
> and 33rdrd terms), but he was brought down by
he was by
the Irish issue.
theIrish
- (1886-1906) Tories, now
now the ‘Unionists’,
‘Unionists’, in power. This is also the period of the advent of
of
Marxism; Britain entered into industrial
industrial competition
competition with Germany and
and US
US most prominently.
AA need was
was felt for
for social and The policies of Liberal thinking that
and political reform. The
nd
nd
appeared during the 22 half of the the c19
c19 were promoted by the the so-called ‘old Whigs’ (the
aristocracy,
aristocracy, landlords and
and members oftheHouse
of the House ofLords),
of Lords), by and industrialists,
by free traders and
and
and byby social reformers entrenched in all walks of of life. These policies of Liberal thinking
included concern with issues such as: as:
the notion of Utilitarianism (put forward by Jeremy Bentham who
- the who advocated that ‘morals
and
and legislation’ should aim
aim at
at achieving ‘the greatest good for the greatest number’);
forthegreatest
the notions of liberty and

- the and individualism
individualism (as expressed by John Stuart Mill in On
On Liberty);
Libedy),’
anda a proposal for

- and for social reform (suggested by Edwin Chadwick) that entailed economical
policies of ‘retrenchment’, that is, minimal state expense, and and with efficiency in government
finances. Regarding economics, the policies were those of of free trade, anti-protection or
laissez-faire. They followed Adam Smith’s theories promoted in his his study Wealth of of Nations
(1776): “Consumption is is the
the sole end
end and
and purpose of of production; and
and the interest of the
producer ought to
producer to be attended to
to only so far as it may
faras may be
be necessary for promoting that of the
forpromoting
consumer.” There was
was also
alsoaa drastic movement from an economy based on land ownership to to
aa modern
modern urban
urban economy,
economy, based on trade
based on trade and on manufacturing.
and on manufacturing. (See
(See section about industrialisation).
industrialisation).
Some important political reforms are connected with the the People’s
People's Charter. ForFor
example, the Acts forthe
for the Representation of of the People were debated at the turn of the
at the the century
and
and gave, in 1918, the right to to vote toto men
men over 21 21 and
and limited female suffrage to some
women over 3030 (universal suffrage forfor both sexes was was achieved in in 1928, and age was
and the age was
lowered to
to 18 in
in 1969). Other important measures were parliamentary reform (the Ballot Act Act
stt
of 1872 made votinga
voting a private affair for the
the 11* time) and
and reforms to
to increase education andand to
improve working conditions and
and health. Legal reform proceeded slowly. At At this time the most
common form of of entertainment was
was reading aloud. Writers such as Dickens, Tennyson, Tennyson, or or
Trollope were widely read and
and discussed. The The advent of of universal compulsory education after
1870 meant
meantaa much larger audience for for literature. The emergence of
literature. The of an unsophisticated
reading public meant that literature waswas divided between ‘high art’ and and ‘low art’, the
the latter
meeting the demands ofmuch
of much ofthis
of this new
new readership.
was also the age
This was age of the ‘Irish Question’ aa complex issue even today. The The
question was
was whether or not the Irish should be
not the be allowed to rule themselves.
themselves. Discussions on on
whether Ireland was
was an
an ‘internal
‘internal colonised
colonised zone’ emphasised its economic inequality and and its
The
cultural differences with England. The cultural renaissance in Ireland around the turn the
of the
33
century was
was led
led by
by Anglo Irish writers including W.B. Yeats, Lady Augusta Gregory and and J.M.
Synge. Although they wrote in English, their writings were based on an awareness of of Irish
nationalism,
nationalism, myth and legend. TheThe men and women oftheliterary
men and of the literary revival showed their love for
for
Ireland in their poetry, prose or drama. Groups as the the Pan-Celtic Society and and the Irish National
Literary Society were set set up and involved W.B. Yeats, Douglas Hyde and Maude Gonne.
Yeats, Lady Gregory and and Edward Martyn founded the the Irish Literary Theatre (1898) in order to
use
use theatre to spread the ideals of the the literary revival. As
As the
the Irish Literary Theatre had
had no
for its productions,
venue forits productions, the Abbey Theatre was was set
set up
up in 1904. Plays such as On On Baile’s
Strand by W.B. Yeats, Spreading the News by Lady Gregory and
theNews and Ciders
Riders to
to the Sea by
the Sea by J.M. Synge
were all performed at at the Abbey.
The Irish Literary Revival produced an exceptionally strong body of

The work, which not
ofwork, not
only stimulated Irish nationalism but also gave Ireland Irelandaa place onon the international
international stage.
The writers of the
The the revival were responsible for for developing and and articulating
articulating aa new
new national
consciousness. The The philosophy ofof the Gaelic League and thecultural
the cultural activities of the
the Irish
11
Literary Revival influenced already existing political
political groups —such as the IRB —— and
as theIRB and new
new
groups, including thethe labour movement and Sinn Féin. Sinn Féin (‘ourselves alone’) was was the
the
most important political
political movement toemerge
to emerge from the the cultural renaissance.
renaissance. Founded in 1905
by Arthur Griffith,
Griffith,a a Dublin printer who
who had
had established
establishedaa nationalist paper, the United Irishman
(1899). Griffith was
was convinced that the the 1800 Act of of Union was
was at the root of most of
atthe of Ireland’s
Ireland's
problems and believed that it was was illegal, as the
illegal, as the members of the Home Rule Party did.
of the
However, unlike the the parliamentary members, he was was in favour ofof the withdrawal of of all Irish
MPs
MPs from Westminster to to form an independent assembly in Dublin. He He proposed
proposedaa system of of
dual monarchy, similar to the the system that hadhad given Hungary independence.
independence. Sinn Féin won won
several seats atat local elections but gotgot little support from Home Rule advocates. Despite Despiteaa
close connection between Sinn Féin and and the IRB, the major difference was was that Sinn Féin did
not advocate violence asa as a method ofsetting
of setting upup an
an Irish republic.
republic. Despite the IRB was ready
IRB was
to take action in 1913, it lacked the
to the means tocarry
to carry out
outaa revolution.
revolution.
Land reform in Ireland had

had been taking place since the 1870s, but with little impact.
Unemployment and low wages meant that severe poverty was
lowwages was widespread.
widespread. There waswas little
industry in southern Ireland and
and the
the majority of the
the labour force was
was unskilled. Living
conditions were worst in Dublin, people were poorly paid, frequently underfed, and
and lived in
condemned tenement flats.
By
By 1913
1913aa series of strikes had
had taken place in Dublin. Police brutality waswas common
and
and James Connolly set set up
up the Irish Citizen Army toprotect
to protect the strikers in November 1913.
The strikers were supported by many oftheIrish
The of the Irish literary and
and artistic community, including
W.B. Yeats and George Bernard Shaw, as well as as militant nationalists such as Patrick Pearse
and
and Thomas Mac Donagh. Many workers were forced to to return to their jobs by the
the end ofof
January 1914, having been starved into submission. Although the struggle ended in failure, failure,
revolution was
was in the
the air. Notwithstanding the setbacks of of the 1890s, the Irish Parliamentary
Party believed that there was
was hope of achieving Home Rule as the
ofachieving the Liberals returned to office
in 1906. The
The Irish party, reunited and
and revitalised under John Redmond since 1900, held the
balance ofof power after the
the 1910 general election. Home Rule seemed tobe to be within reach. In
11
Ireland Republic of Brotherhood.
Brotherhood.
44
1912 the
the House ofof Commons passed the Home Rule Bill and, despite opposition in in the
House of
of Lords, it was
was due
due toto become law
law in 1914. The
in1914. The Ulster Unionists began
beganaa campaign
against Home Rule during 1912-13 that led to thethe founding of
of the Ulster Volunteer Force in
September 1913, with
with the
the Orange Order fighting
fighting to
to keep the
the Union inin place and
and Ireland
as
as part of the
the UK.
UK.
The Ulster Volunteer Force acted as

The as aa model for
for the
the establishment of
ofaa similar
voluntary army in southern Ireland in
insouthern in 1914. Eoin MacNeill, one
one of the founders of
of the Gaelic
League, proposed setting up up aa civil defence force; it became thethe Irish Volunteers.
Volunteers. The
The
Volunteers intended to safeguard the rights of the
the Irish people, which they considered to to be
be
threatened by
by Unionist actions. The
The Volunteers appealed toa
to a large cross-section
cross-section of the Irish
people, including many men already involved in groups such as thethe Gaelic League.
Despite the Irish Volunteers were over 100,000 by 1914, the authorities in Dublin did
not see
see them as
asaa real threat as, unlike the
the Ulster Volunteer Force, they had had little money and
and
few arms. On
few On 26
26 July 1914
1914aa group ofof Anglo-Irish nationalists including Roger Casement and
Erskine Childers imported guns and ammunition to to Ireland in what became known as the the
Howth Gun-Running. Despite the arms consignment was was not
not large; it further spread the Irish
militant nationalism and
and increased the joining volunteers.
WarII broke out on

World War on44 August 1914,
1914,aa week after the Howth Gun-Running. Despite
aner the
Home Rule was was due to become law
due to that September, the Prime Minister decided to
lawthat to suspend the
the
Act until the
Act the end
end of
of the
the war. Believing that the
the war
war would be over withina
within a few
few months and Home
Rule would be granted the following year,a
year, a group ofVolunteers
of Volunteers joined the British Army. Known as
as
the National Volunteers while the rest, including the
theNational the more extremists of the movement, retained
the name of
the Irish Volunteers.
ofIrish Volunteers. By end of 1914 the
By the end the Irish Volunteers had
had its own
own military
council, Patrick Pearse was was its most outspoken and
and charismatic member.
The war
The war made thepossibility
the possibility of the
the granting of Home Rule unlikely. The
The British War
War
Cabinet included two two of the staunchest opponents of of Home Rule —— Edward Carson and Bonar
Law, and, in 1916, there was wasaa threat of conscription being extended to to Ireland. AsAsaa result
belief in military action as as the best way
way forward was
was growing. The The IRB
IRB saw
saw England’s
England's difficulties
as
as Ireland’s opportunity. A military council was
Ireland's opportunity.A was set up
up in May
May 1915 with five members: Patrick
Pearse, Éamonn Ceannt, Joseph Plunkett, Thomas Clarke and and Seán
Sean MacDiarmada. Despite
setbacks such as the the sinking of
ofaa German ship carrying arms forthefor the rising, the IRB’s
rising, the IRB's military
council decided that the the rebellion should take place on on Easter Sunday, 1916. Aftera After a series of
obstacles, the
obstacles, the military council decided to to go
go ahead with the rising onon Easter Monday even though
they realised that they were unlikely to succeed, or even survive, but but were prepared to to make this
‘blood sacrifice’ for for the
the sake ofof Ireland’s
Ireland's freedom. Pearse was was appointed President of the
Provisional Government and Commander-in-chief
Commander-in-chief ofof the army. He proclaimed the Irish
He trish Republic
from the steps of of the captured General Post Office (GPO) in Dublin. Despite initially taken by
the British authorities reacted quickly and
surprise, the and suppressed the the rising withina
within a few
few days. Pearse
surrendered on on Saturday 29 April. Over 3,000 people were arrested in the the wake ofthe
of the 1916
Rebellion and
and over half were interned in Britain. The The leaders of the rebellion were tried and and
condemned to to death. Over
Overaa ten-day period at the beginning of executed..
of May, fifteen of them were executed
wasaa public outcry about these executions and
There was the Irish Parliamentary Party was
and the was seen as
ineffective.
ineffective. Sinn Féin, which inherited thethe glory and
and prestige from the martyrs of of Easter week, came
to be considered the most important Irish political organisation.
tobe organisation. In December 1918, the general
election resulted inina a landslide victory for Sinn Féin. The
The parliamentary party was was left with only six
six
5
seats, constitutional nationalism had

had failed. Sinn Féin stated that its elected members would not sit
notsit
in
in Westminster and set
set about establishing
establishing in Dublin’s
Dublin's Mansion House an independent
government which the British Government refused to recognise. This led toa to a bitter Anglo-Irish
conflict which became known as the War of
as theWar Independence.
ofIndependence.
On
On 21 January 1919, members ofthesouth
of the south Tipperary Brigade of of the Irish Volunteers
killed two
two Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) constables in Soloheadbeg, Tipperary. This
Soloheadbeg, County Tipperary.
new
new ruthlessness was
was the first expression of
of physical force froma
from a group ofof the
the Volunteers who
who
wanted toto act
act independently of Sinn Féin, the political wing. In August 1919 the the Volunteers
changed their name totheIrish
to the Irish Republican Army (IRA). The
The IRA
IRA had the support ofmuch
had the of much of the
ofthe
population,
population, particularly in rural areas. By
By the end
end of 1919 it waswas obvious that the the British
authorities were determined to use to suppress the rebels.
use force to
The English government sent the first of

The ofa a series of ex-service-men task-forces to Ireland in
March 1920. On 21 November 1920,
On 21 1920,aa date which became known as Bloody Sunday, eleven
British intelligence officers were shot in in Dublin by by Michael Collins’s
Collins's gunmen. Crown forces
reacted byby shooting into thethe crowd at a GAA
ata GAA march in Croke Park that afternoon, killing twelve
people and
and wounding sixty. Martial Law was declared in Cork, Kerry, Limerick and
Law was and Tipperary onon
10 December 1920; the following day day aa group of of Auxiliaries went on thethe rampage in Cork city,
burning down thecity
the city centre. Eventually,
Eventually, Lloyd George, the PM22 realised that he
the British PM he had
had to
seek a truce with Sinn Féin. It was
seeka was agreed that all military activity was was to cease at noon on 11 July
atnoon
1921. Aftera
After a series of negotiations aa Treaty was was signed on on 66 December 1921. British rule in
Ireland was
was at an
an end: Ireland had
had Dominion status and and the 2626 counties were tobe
to be called the
the Irish
Free State. Britain retained three Irish ports, known as theTreatythe Treaty Ports, forfor defence purposes:
Berehaven,
Berehaven, Queenstown (Cobh) and and Lough Swilly. Ulster was was partitioned,
partitioned, but the delegation
but the
was only a
believed that this was onlya temporary situation.
situation. Although they had
had not been able to bring abouta
to about a
republic, the
the delegates did
did manage tobreak
to break the ground forfuture
for future constitutional freedom.
Despite voices strongly opposing the Treaty,a

Treaty, a provisional government was was set
set up under
Michael Collins to oversee the the handing over of
of Ireland to the
the Irish, and
and a a formal transfer of power
took place on on 16
16 January 1922. British troops in southern Ireland were evacuated and and the Black
and
and Tans, Auxiliaries and the RIC
and the RIC were disbanded. The Treaty divided the Irish into two
disbanded. The two opposing
groups. This political split was
was paralleled in the
the IRA, which was
was divided into anti-Treaty Irregulars
lrregulars
or Republicans and the Army or
the pro-Treaty Army Regulars. The
orRegulars. The division led to aa Civil War. The
general election in June 1922 resulted in victory forthe
for the pro-Treaty Sinn Féin candidates,
candidates, but this
meant only that the the militant Republicans became more closely focused on on rebellious action. A A
special powers resolution,
resolution, allowing the army to to hold military courts andand to enforce the death
penalty for
for offences including the
the possession ofof arms, came into effect on on 15
15 October. It was
was not
not
until
until6 6 November 1922 that the the Irish Free State became
becameaa reality.
By
By April 1923 almost 80 80 Republicans had
had been tried, convicted and and executed, greatly
the movement. The
weakening the The Civil War
War ended on 24 May. The Civil War War had
had more of an impact
ofan
on the country than the War
on War of
of Independence. It divided political
political parties,
parties, movements and families
and wasted the
and the lives of many men. Sinn Féin never recovered from the the divisions of the
the Civil War
War
years. New
New political
political parties developed in its place such as the
the pro-Treaty Cumann na na nGaedheal
and Fianna Fáil who were anti-Treaty.
Fâil who anti-Treaty.
22
PM: Prime Minister
PM:
66
IN Oscar Wilde’s The

Oscar Wilde's The Importance
lmpodance of of Being
Being Earnest
Earnest (Norton 2000: 1761-1805)
(compulsory reading). was an Irish ‘outsider’.
reading). Wilde was ‘outsider’. While reading the play
bear
bear inin mind
mind thethe events
events related
related above and and ponder
ponder over the possible
possible
connections
connections between Wilde’s innovative
between Wilde's way of writing drama
innovative way drama and the
and the
social
social and
and political
political events taking place
place in
in his
his homeland.
homeland.
Why
Why do do we
we include
include Wilde
Wi/de in
in aa course
course about
about English
English literature?
literature?
Was
Was he he influenced
influenced byby the
the works
works ofof the
the cultural
cultural Irish
Irish renaissance
renaissance such
such
as
as Bernard
Bernard Shaw’s
Shaw's or or Yeat’s?
Yeat's?
During this time, much of the attention of the

ofthe the country was
was also focused on
on the
Empire. Britain took control of key ports and
of key and islands around world, for for example, St
Helena, Malacca, St Lucia and
and Singapore.
Singapore. These ports and and islands became thebases
the bases
for later expansion into the
forlater the rest of the
the territory (for example, in Malaysia). The British
Malaysia). The
Empire waswas still expanding well into the the c20
c20 through protectorates
protectorates (as in the
Lebanon or Palestine).
orPalestine).
UNIT22 will explore the literary consequences of

LIT the conduct of
oftheconduct of the British in relation
to the
to the Empire, paying particular attention to Joseph Conrad’s Conrad's Heart
Head of Darkness and E.
ofDarkness E. M.
Forster’s
Forster'sAA Passage
Passage to to India.
India. For
For this reason, fuelled by the official propaganda and
by the the dominant
and the
the prevailing
discourse, the prevailing attitude in Britain regarding colonialism was
was that expansion ofof British control
the globe was
around the was good foreveryone and,, around the
for everyone and the turn of the
the century, the
the colonies evolved
into the
the ‘dominions’ of the Commonwealth. As As argued in Unit 2, the
the debates around the
the Empire
and the
the impact they had
had in literature and
and other fields of knowledge are are much more intricate than
this general approach might imply
imply.. This is so to the
so to the particular and
the point that the and complex questions
raised by are
by colonialism are still present nowadays and form aa full and independent body of
and of
research into the
the matter by
by the so-called Colonial and and Post-Colonial Studies.
The need forraw

The for raw materials, gained through colonial expansion and exploitation, is
and exploitation,
one of
one the consequences oftheso-called
of the of the so-called Industrial Revolution.
Revolution.
Several reasons forthe

for the Industrial Revolution:
1) The
The technological innovations in the the production of textiles, iron and
and coal of the c18
c18 and
and c19.
2) AA previous agricultural revolution had had made Britain able to feeda
feed a larger population,
population, in turn creating
aa greater demand forfor manufactured goods.
3) The innovations in transport (canals, railways, and
3) The and shipping) helped spread economic development
to more remote regions. Soon, Britain realised the
to the advantages of of the
the rapid transportation of
foodstuffs, for
foodstuffs, for example, fish, vegetables and and dairy products,
products, and
and people. This gave rise to to the
the
notion of ‘leisure’ (the country felt smaller andand more manageable) and encouraged the the creation of
‘seaside resorts’.
resorts’. For example, a journey from London to
For example,a to York was
was reduced from one-and-a-half
to eight hours, allowing for
days to for the possibility of contemplating
contemplating the journey as leisure. As the
leisure. As the
Industrial Revolution progressed, working hours decreased, and and thethe introduction of Bank
Holidays meant that workers had had the time toto take trips away from the the cities to
to the
the seaside. The
The
seaside resorts introduced the amusement pier to entertain visitors (some of of the
the more famous
resorts were - and
and still are
are - at
at Blackpool and
and Brighton).
Brighton).
77
In this period, this

In this this economic
economic movement from from landownership to
to aa modern urban
economy was based on trade and and on
on manufacturing. This accelerated the migration from the
the
countryside to
to the
the cities. Several results of
of this
this migration:
migration:
1)
1)AA stimulus towards the development of
of ‘city’ professions such as law, accountancy and
and management.
2) The
2) The growth ofof horrifying slums and
and cramped terraced housing in the the overcrowded cities. By By 1900, 80%
80%
of the population lived in cities,
of cities, ‘organised’ into geographical zones based on social class: thethe poor in
the inner city, the
the the better-off living away from the city centre, giving wayway toa
to a growth ofof middle-class
suburbs. This was
was made possible by by the expansion ofof suburban rail transport. Some suburban rail
companies were required by by law
law to provide cheap trains for commuters to to travel into the
the city centre.
The very notion of ‘time’, because ofthe
The of the expansion of
of the railway, changed: it was
was standardised in
order to create
createaa timetable based on London’s
London's time.
Technological developments, such

Technological such as printing presses, helped to to spread
spread literacy:
literacy:
more newspapers were published and
and read, more letters written as
as delivered faster, and
and political
political
ideas were spread faster through the newspapers and political campaigns.
campaigns. Parallel changes in
culture and
and art (photography); in transport and
and communication (the steam power, the telegraph or the
intercontinental cable); and
and in health (discovery of anaesthetics). The
The Industrial Revolution also
the power from the
shifted the the aristocracy (position and
and wealth based on land) to the newly rich
business leaders. TheThe new
new aristocracy became one of wealth, not land, although titles,
ofwealth, titles, then as
now, remained socially important in British society.
society.
Artists felt alienated from the ruling culture and for what they saw
and expressed their disdain for as a
saw asa
‘philistine’
‘philistine’ public and
and moral tastes. Wilde followed the the Art
Art for Art's
Art’s Sake doctrine: beauty andand
pleasure as ends in themselves. Polished, impressionistic images that appealed to to the senses andand
also
alsoaa desire to shock and challenge Victorian values dominated the the arts. The
The figure of the
the dandy
and the effeminate man
and theeffeminate man appear. Although formany for many theAesthetes
the Aesthetes descended into an an excess of of
hedonism, emotional debauchery, degeneration and and decadence, thethe movement served to to disengage
art from any
artfrom any purposeful meaning in society. Note that the the Industrial Revolution brought into society
societyaa
sense ofof practicality that affected all the
the different expressions of
of the whole of society.. Yet
of society Yet from the
the 1880s
to the start of World War
tothestart War I, the
the Aesthetic movement liberated art from pragmatism.
Art was
Art was an
an end
end in itself, almost a pseudo-religious belief. The
itself, almosta The Aesthetic movement was
born in France with advocates such as poets Charles Baudelaire and and Théophile Gautier.
Inspired by of
by the views of Immanuel Kant in relation to the
the aesthetics and the pleasure obtained
and
from viewing aa work ofof art. For
For Kant, Critique of Aesthetic Judgement,
Judgement, aa pure aesthetic
experience is the
the contemplation of an
an object that provokes pleasure for
for its own
own sake, with no
no
other materialistic or
or utilitarian
utilitarian purposes.
purposes.AA phrase that will accompany themovement ‘art is
the movement is part is
useless’
useless° and therefore it should be
be contemplated forits
for its value in terms of
of pleasure only. The
The Art
Art
Art’s Sake motto will lead to the artistic production of the Aesthetes. The
for Art's The views of
of French
Aesthetics were introduced into Victorian England by by Walter Pater, who
who in the conclusion to
in the
Studies in
in the History of the Renaissance (1873) [Norton 1642-1644d, exposed the
[Norton 2000: 1642-1644], the need tocrown
to crown
one’s life with the
one's the most delicate and
and exquisite sensations in order to appreciate the supreme
of beauty and
value of and the
the pleasure obtained from the ‘love of art for its its own The moral
own sake’. The
and
and artistic views of
of Aestheticism were expressed by the the poet A.C. Swinburne and and in the 1890s,
inthe
as well as
as O.
O. Wilde, by
by other writers such as Arthur Symons or Lionel Johnson.
orLionel
88
Aesthetic values
Aesthetic values lived to
to the
the full
full brought about
aboutaa different movement intrinsically linked to
to the
the
aforementioned: the Decadent Movement. More than an an artistic movement, the Decadents followeda
followed a
way of
way of life based on
on the
the ideas of
of the
the Aesthetic
Aesthetic movement. Art Art is totally
totally opposed toto ‘nature’
understood both in the
the biological sense and in the
the ‘natural’ norms of
of morality and
and sexual behaviour.
The art
The art of the Decadents was was artificial and the
artificial and the decadence in their personal lives —‘decadence' was
—‘decadence’ was
considered positive
consideed positve by was expressed in the
group— was
by the group the search for
for strange ‘unnatural’
‘unnatural’ sensations which
often involved drugs and experimental sexual behaviour. Wilde's
and experimental Wilde’s novel The
The Picture of Dorian Gray
(1891) and the play Salomé (1893) are
and the are representative literary productions of Decadent literature.
literature. This
sophistication and
and artificiality of the Decadents will reappear,
of the variations, in the
reappear, with variations, the 1950s with the ‘Beat’ poets.
The independence and
The and self-sufficiency of art stressed by and Decadents, as well as
by the Aesthetes and as the
the
concept of
ofaa poem or
oraa novel as
as an
an end itself, will strongly influence the
end in itself, the writers of the
the inter-war period
such as T.S. Eliot, T.E. Hulme, W.B. Yeats and
and Virginia Woolf and theBloomsbury
the Bloomsbury Group.
At the turn of the century artists, writers and playwrights were highly
critical of Victorian achievements and beliefs. They mocked and
challenged middle-class values, such as convention, respectability and the
very notion of art. A most telling example is Oscar Wilde’s play The
Importance of Being Earnest.
1.2. The Interpretation

1.2. The Izzterpretatfon of
o£ an
azz Ever-changing World
Ever-chazzglng World
The belief that species were immutable had

had been questioned by naturalists since the
late eighteenth century, and the proposition
and the proposition that plants and
and animals transformed themselves
was finding more and more support. In 1859 The
gradually was The Origin of Species by Means of
of
Natural Selection was
was published. TheThe book was
was the
the result of the
the appointment ofof Charles
Darwin (1809-1882) as naturalist on on HMS
HMS Beagle onaon a scientific expedition to survey the South
American seas (1831-36). On On this expedition he he visited places such as Tenerife,
Tenerife, Brazil,
Buenos Aires, Chile, the
the Galapagos Islands, Tahiti and
and New
New Zealand. By By 1844 theconclusions
the conclusions
of his
of his observations made during the journey started to formulate the touchstone of of his
his
evolution theory: the
the principle of evolution by
by natural selection.
Darwin was
was not the first to
not the to expound
expoundaa belief in evolution.
evolution. The
The scientific observations ofof
Lamarck, Goethe and Erasmus Darwin (Charles Darwin’s Darwin's grandfather), among others, pointed
out the possibility that the
the morphology of of animals and
and plants that could then be was
be observed was
the result of past changes in the
the the respective environments in which they had had developed,
developed,
leading to mutations or toto spontaneous transformations. On On the other hand, as as Darwin himself
points out in
in his autobiography, he was influenced by
he was by the theories of the political economist
Thomas Malthus. In In Essay on the
the Principle of Population (1798), Malthus first observed that in
nature plants and
and animals produce
produceaa fargreater
far greater number ofoffspring
of offspring than can
can survive. He
He then
extrapolated this observation to the growth in in population that was
was taking place in England in in
this period and
and observed that the the human species could also overproduce if left unchecked.
Malthus concluded that unless family size were regulated, famine would become becomeaa global
epidemic and, eventually,
eventually, destroy the species. Malthus maintained that poverty and and famine
were natural outcomes of of population growth but, instead of looking for for the reasons inin natural
terms, he
he resorted to God
God asas the explanation for these natural outcomes. He
explanation for He believed that
99
these outcomes
these outcomes were
were God’s way of
God's way of preventing laziness. Not only Darwin but
Not only also Alfred
but also Alfred
Russel Wallace (1823-1913) arrived at the
the same conclusions about natural selection after
reading Malthus. TheThe most important difference in views waswas that the
the two
two naturalists framed
this principle in purely natural terms both in
in outcome and ultimate reason. This allowed Darwin
to takea
to take a step further. HeHe suggested that thethe production of more offspring than cancan survive
implies competition
competition among siblings,
siblings, and
and that variations in the siblings would produce certain
in the
individuals witha
with a greater chance of survival. These would be thefittest.
ofsurvival. the fittest.
Darwin called this mechanism ‘natural selection’, selection’, by
by which he meant that nature
chooses thethe best individuals of each generation and and that they, according to the laws governing
inheritance,
inheritance, transmit their favourable characteristics to their descendants. This is how the
how the
‘survival of the
the fittest’,
fittest’, an
an expression that Darwin borrowed from the the philosopher Herbert
Spencer (1820-1903), works. This means theindividualsthe individuals perpetuating the species are those
more able to adapt to to the environment, since adaptation to the environment is the the most
important factor for the the survival of thethe species. It is important to note that even though it is
commonly accepted that in The The Origin of Species Darwin postulated his theory of of an
an ancestor
to the human species, only twelve years later, in 1871, did
to did Darwin address this issue in in his
his
book The Descent of of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. The
Man and The hypothesis ofaof a gradual
transformation of species was was abhorrent toa to a Victorian mentality that proudly sustained the
belief that Adam was was created in in God’s
God's image. It was was also contrary to Christian belief as
as written
in the
the book ofGenesis.
of Genesis. That is, Darwin’s
Darwin's argument implied that humans were closer to animals
to God and that nature was
than they were toGod was not static but
but evolving. The
The fact that Darwin waited
for so long to publish his theories, and
for and that hehe did soso only because Wallace was was about to to
publish
publishaa work with very similar conclusions, was was because of the strong opposition that he
of the he
foresaw in the
the scientific community. The The results of Darwin’s
Darwin's investigations were discussed in in
the meeting of of the British Association for for the Advancement of of Science in 1860. The
The heated
debate provoked by Darwin’s
Darwin's views prevented him him from attending the meeting. There was was no
middle ground in this subject. Defenders of
inthis of Darwin’s
Darwin's theories included Thomas Henry Huxley
(1825-95),
(1825-95), nicknamed ‘Darwin’s
‘Darwin's bulldog’ for his passionate arguments in favour of of Darwin’s
point of view. Richard Owen (1804-92) and and Bishop Samuel Wilberforce (1805-73) head those
totally against Darwin’s theories. The
Darwin's theories. The following anecdote is well known and serves to to show the
the
passion ofof the debates: when in one of
inone the meetings Bishop Wilberforce asked Huxley if it was
ofthemeetings was
from his grandfather or his
hisgrandfather his grandmother that he he claimed his
his rights to descent from the
the ape the
ape the
scientist responded: “I would rather be an evolved ape
be an than a degenerated Adam”. Anecdotes
ape thana
apart, the
the important idea to bear in mind in in relation to Darwin’s
Darwin's theory is that it provided aa
scientifically proven past that, at the the same time, explained the present. It is not not surprising that
among themany
the many detours taken by Darwin’s Darwin's theories, oneone that fascinated theorists waswas the
the
possibility of predicting the future based on present evidence.
predicting the
Darwinism did did not

not remain aa purely scientific discourse. Very soon it spread, and and
permeated other spheres of of knowledge such as the the social sciences or anthropology.
anthropology.
Reproduction andand the survival of the
the fittest,
fittest, not
not rational thought or spiritual belief, became
recognised as as the forces behind human endeavour. In of things sciences such as
In this order of
eugenics found the perfect ground to to spread. LedLed by
by Darwin’s
Darwin's cousin Francis Galton (1822-
1911), eugenics propounded the the need for for selective breeding in in the delineation of racial
qualities.
qualities.A A nation should ensure that its able of
of members hadhad dominance in fertility if it wanted
infertility
to survive. Failure to do
to do so
so would mean thedisappearance
the disappearance of the nation. It is also important to
of the
10
take into account that if Darwinism implies an on the traditional

an assault on traditional beliefs concerning
God, the
the universe and
and humanity’s
humanity's relationship with both, Darwinism could also be be applied in
in
giving scientific value to
to those Victorian ideals that it was
was apparently diminishing. The
The word
‘degeneration’ used by Huxley waswas going to be
be aa key
key term in relation to the
the social changes
taking place at
at the time. Terms such as ‘evolution’ and
and ‘degeneration’ started to be
be manifold in
in
meaning and were used by theorists and and critics to
to serve their own
own respective purposes.
‘Evolution’ served the establishment to justify empire and and colonialism.
colonialism. Since apes were
considered to to be
be under-evolved
under-evolved relations of humans, non-European societies were thus seen
as underdeveloped civilisations. It was was therefore the
the duty ofof the civilised,
civilised, progressive white
male European to to educate, civilise and
and improve the conditions of what he regarded as the
societies, such as those in
primitive societies, Africa or India. In 1895, Max
inAfrica Max Nordau’s
Nordau's Degeneration
Degeneration waswas
translated into English. In this work, Nordau, using Darwin’s theories, established that the
Darwin's theories, the end
end
of civilisation
civilisation could be
be foretold by by observing licentious contemporary forms of of art, such as
Naturalism, andand the Decadents,
Decadents, such as Oscar Wilde. The The rise of thethe New
New Woman and andthethe
suffrage movement were also seen as precipitants of this apocalyptic future. In England there
were already works reflecting the decline of the European white civilization.
reflecting the civilization. For
For example,
Edwin RayRay Lankester (1847-1929) speculated on on the decline of the white race that would
become socially parasitical in Degeneration:
Degeneration:AA Chapter on Darwinism (1880). H.G. Wells's Wells’s The
The
Time
Time Machine (1895) is one one text to take the mood oftheseof these ongoing discussions about end-
points and
and envision the end
end both of of humanity and of the
and of the world.
In
In turn, “degeneracy” referring to thethe phenomenon that the the social status quo was under
quo was
the freer values of
threat from the of the younger generation sceptical about the traditional values of of
morality,
morality, customs and proprieties,
proprieties, particularly in relation to sex, meant aa liberating and and
scientifically based escape from those very values. At At the same time it unsettled the the assumed
stability of Victorian society, bringing to thethe fore fears over chastity,
chastity, homosexuality, same-sex
love, perversity, masturbation,
masturbation, morbidity and and syphilis that had
had upup to then ‘officially’
‘officially’ been non-
existent. Yet these very fears provoked aa levelling of sin
existent. Yet sin and
and disease that meant that any any
deviation from conventional morality was was as
as much
muchaa sign of madness as it was was of of depravity.
Many of the current issues of
ofthecurrent of human development, degeneration and and depravity were present
in
in the popular literature produced in the late 1880s and 1890s. Among these Bram Stoker’s
in the Stoker's
Dracula (1897), Oscar Wilde's
Wilde’s The
The Picture of Dorian Gray and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Stevenson's Dr
Jekyll and
and Mr
Mr Hyde could all be be read partly asas cautions against the rise of promiscuity and and its
associated evils such as prostitution,
prostitution, syphilis and
and adultery. These works also pointed
accusingly to many ofthepillars
of the pillars of
of Victorian society, so
so deeply ingrained in what has come to to
be
be termed as ‘Victorian hypocrisy’ especially with regard to sexual matters. Notions of of
evolution, progress and and reform led toa to a fascination with regression, atavism and and decline.
‘Degeneration’ stood out as as the byword formodern
for modern Western civilisation.
civilisation. It was
was taken as the
break from traditional forms of expression and
ofexpression was present in
and was the new
inthe new tendencies in the arts.
inthe
As aa consequence of
As of the
the debates moving from the intellectual sphere toto ordinary
society, many individuals found that they had
had lost their belief in external authorities and
and
experienced increasing insecurity not not only in relation to thethe universe but also within
themselves. The
themselves. The term ‘agnostic’ waswas coined in the
the 1870s, meaning thethe impossibility for the
the
empirical mind toeither
to either believe or not to believe. The
The impact of
of the godless
god less society is found in
in
any
any individual who
who becomes unsure of of the taken-for-granted certainties of the
the Victorian age.
This crisis of the
the individual led D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930) to to affirm in Fantasia of of the
11
11
Unconscious (1923) that there is “only oneone clue to the universe. And
And that is the
the individual soul
the individual being”. That is, the
within the the world was
was asas varied as
as the individuals observing it.
This view, of course, will contrast with the principle of Realism, which presupposed aa
perception of
of the world shared by all members ofsociety.
of society.
The theological search for
The for God
God had
had been replaced by
byaa epistemological quest forself-
for self-
knowledge. In
In philosophy this quest found expression in the
the work of
of Friedrich Nietzsche
(1844-1900) who, in in Thus Spoke Zarathustra:A
Zarathustra: A Book forEveryone
for Everyone and No No One
One (1883-85),
categorically stated that “God is dead.” With this pronouncement Nietzsche was was the first
philosopher to consider extensively human responsibility and and freedom in inaa universe without
God. InIn his
his first publication,
publication, TheThe Birth of Tragedy (1872), he he divided experience between
Apollonian (rational) and
and Dionysian (aesthetic pleasure) forces. The The era
era in
in which he was
was living,
he was dominated by
he argued, was byaa rational Apollonian mentality to the detriment of the creative
aesthetic of the dream and chaos of the Dionysian spirit.
of the spirit. It resulted ininaa total loss of
connection with thethe tragic myth and sensual intuitive truth found in in Greek tragedy. The
The most
interesting aspect in in this respect lies in Nietzsche’s
Nietzsche's insights into myth and and myth-making.
myth-making. It is
also worth noting that in an an added preface to his his 1886 edition of The
The Birth of Tragedy, entitled
‘Essay in Self-Criticism’, the the philosopher devolves upon art art and notnot on morality the the
responsibility of interpreting
interpreting thethe significance of existence. The The importance of of myth applied to
literature and the importance given to the aesthetic in
and the in Nietzsche’s
Nietzsche's thought implied that, for
many writers, the
the duty of of the artist in the
the disordered and
and fragmented modern world was was toto
“create what culture could no no longer produce: symbol and meaning in the the dimension of of art,
brought into being through the agency oflanguage”
of language” (Friedman 1981: 98). In other words, myth
stood out as the ordering power lost by the culture and
by the and society of the modern materialist world.
Writers such as Eliot, Joyce, Woolf and Yeats would incorporate into their literature myth and
classical models destined to give meaning to to the
the alienated modern individual for whom
Christian religion had
had ceased to to be the
the answer. In the process new
Inthe new myths were created as as in,
for example, Marcel Proust’s
for Proust's (1871-1922)
(1871-1922)AÀ la recherche du du temps perdu (1913-27).
(1913-27). Another
book that greatly influenced authors of of the period, particularly modernist authors, was was James
Frazer’s
Frazer's (1854-1941) The The Golden Bough,
Bough,aa hugely extensive anthropological work published
in
in twelve volumes between 1890 and 1915. In In this work Frazer charts the connections
between pagan rites and and Christian religion. T.S. Eliot in his his work The Waste Land is one one ofof
those authors influenced by by Frazer.
Arthur Schopenhauer’s
Schopenhauer's philosophy of
of ‘the will’,
will’, in line with Plato and
and Immanuel Kant,
propounded that the
the world was
was the physical manifestation
manifestation of an an underlying cosmic reality. In
this sense Schopenhauer had
hadaa pessimistic view ofof the
the universe in the will, by
in that the by its own
own
nature, can
can never be totally satisfied:
satisfied: it leads meaninglessly toto all forms of of suffering.
suffering.
Nietzsche’s
Nietzsche's theory would depart from Schopenhauer’s
Schopenhauer's predicament but invert the the pessimistic
view of the latter into an
of the an optimistic celebration of the
the positive forces of the will. Nietzsche felt
that modern society was was sick because it failed to acknowledge to to its positive forces but instead
was led by
was by frivolity and
and morbidity.
morbidity. This point of view would greatly attract writers such as
who would agree with the philosopher that the
Yeats, who the will was
was a a physiological
physiological complex of of
drives and
and impulses. In The Will to Power (1901), Nietzsche identified universal will with the
In The
relation of
ofaa power between forces, that in turn constitutes the the driving energy of of human life.
Nietzsche lyes emphasis on the the field of
of forces, and
and not on
on power per se. Life should be
per se. be led,
according to Nietzsche, as as anan endeavour fully to to satisfy the
the will forfor power. Nietzsche’s
Nietzsche's
12
perspective could, strictly

strictly speaking
speaking justify
justify dictatorial
dictatorial regimes, asceticism,
asceticism, self-punishment, or or
sadism. In
In fact, Nietzsche’s
Nietzsche's theory hashas been used by Fascism to to justify philosophically its
extreme ideological apparatus.
apparatus. Particularly interesting was his theory
interesting was theory of the superman
of the
(Übermensch).
(Übermensch). By By Übermensch Nietzsche was was referring toa
to a new, creative being who who would
transcend religion, morality and and ordinary society andand would satisfy his own
own will. The
The motto ofof
the Übermensch would be “be “be what you are” and and humanity’s
humanity's greatest goal should point
towards becoming an Übermensch. An An interesting
interesting aspect ofof Nietzsche’s
Nietzsche's philosophy in in this
respect is that it offers
offersaa philosophical
philosophical insight into the
the dynamics of the master/slave dichotomy
ofthe
that has
has been very influential in contemporary thinkers such as Foucault, Derrida, and Lyotard.
Derrida, and
Perhaps more interesting,

interesting, from our literary point of view, is Nietzsche’s
Nietzsche's insistence on on
the necessity to approach all values froma
the from a new, different perspective that would allow for for the
contradictions and
and paradoxes of ofaa new
new aesthetic based on Dionysian forces. The The present, he
he
insists,
insists, is already
al ready part of the
the past and
and therefore everything is necessarily new. Nietzsche is
also the theorist of nihilism, aa term coined by Ivan Turgenev in in Fathers andand Sons (1862).
Nietzsche explains that the the term ‘nihilism’ is ambiguous. It could refer to active nihilism or
‘increased power of of the
the spirit’ (marked by violent destruction) or to passive nihilism (in which
case the
the power ofthespirit
of the spirit would be recessive and and in
in decline implying futility,
futility, resignation
resignation and
and
cynicism). AsAs will bebe seen in the following Units, both meanings can be observed in
in the the
in the
different approaches of of Modernism towards literature.
literature. “We
‘We moderns” said Nietzsche in Beyond
inBeyond
Good andand Evil (1886), “we
“we half-barbarians. WeWe are
are in the
the midst of
of our bliss when we we aremore
are more
in danger.” Here, he
indanger.” was referring to the
he was the duty of
of the modern individual to create
createaa future of new
new
values, an
an endeavour implying an an act of destructive genesis and
andaa total break with the past.
Nietzsche’s
Nietzsche's concept of of ‘eternal recurrence’ is very intriguing
intriguing in relation to literature;
literature;
while encompassing the the idea that experience is eternally repeated, it also considers
considersaa positive
aspect to to this eternal recurrence in that the the individual should live each moment as as if it would
be repeated eternally.
eternally. Through ‘eternal recurrence’, linear time is thus questioned and and
undermined. Linear progression is itself less important than the fact of constant repetition of ofaa
particular action. TheThe concept of of ‘eternal recurrence’ brings two two very interesting
interesting dimensions of of
time, namely cyclical time and Woolf’s Mrs
and eternal time. Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway (1925) and
and James
Joyce’s
Joyce's Ulysses (1922) which, at a
ata basic level and
and perhaps more graphically starts and
and
finishes with the same letter, letter, both contain aa circular structure that breaks the linear
progression of the narrative.
narrative. In ‘eternal recurrence’ the concept of of cyclical time is present in
the idea of
the of repetition or
or recurrence, andand that of eternal time in in the very fact that that repetition
will happen forever.
for ever. The
The alluring aspect of of this theory is that its direction is inwards, towards
the individual,
individual, rather than outwards, towards the the outside world. TheThe individual should live as as
she/he would like to to live eternally. The need is for
eternally. The for the
the individual to experience life to to the
the full
and
and toto accept responsibility for present actions. This aspect of of ‘eternal recurrence’ clarifies,
clarifies, in
part, Nietzsche’s
Nietzsche's Übermensch in that, in essence, what is at
inthat, at stake here is becoming what one
is and
and experiencing life as as if one
one wanted each moment to to come back again. This is why why
repetition is significant in modern literature.
literature.
Furthermore, repetition obeys

obeysaa need torender
to render linear, chronological time as
as insufficient
in explaining human reality and the universe. Think for
and the for instance of the very different
perceptions that an
an hour might contain. We
We have all experienced instances when an
an hour
passes as if it had
had been aa second, whereas in different circumstances anan hour may may be
perceived as
asaa decade. This experience of
of time leads to the key
key concept of
of ‘relativity’
‘relativity’ which
13
13
immediately brings to mind the the persona of of Albert Einstein (1879-1955) and and his
his nowadays
popular and famous theory
and famous theory that,
that, in the
the case ofobjects
of objects travelling
travelling atataa speed near to to that
that of light,
matter transforms into energy. The The importance of of Einstein’s
Einstein's theories (1905 and and 1916) is that
by
by pointing out the possibility ofa
out the of a change in matter the principle of permanence implicit in
Newtonian physics crumbles. AA Newtonian universe found expression in the the realist novel,
where a reliable narrator can
wherea can render the observations ofa of a world that responds to to consistent
and
and empirical laws and and which progresses according toa to a chronological pattern of linear time;
by
by contast, thethe transforming andand mutable world of of ‘relativity’
‘relativity’ can
can bebe rendered only througha
through a
narrative that changes its perspective.
perspective. We We find in modern narratives flashbacks,
flashbacks, time arcs,
jumps, repetitions and, most important in in their novelty, leaps and and swerves. These are are all
narrative devices allowing for for the representation of the subjective perception of of time andand the
instability of
of space boundaries as these transpire from the the theory of of relativity. The
The infinite
instance ofof time in which matter is transformed
transformed into energy, or in in terms of
of aesthetics, the the
moment in which the individual reaches the sublime point of recognition
inwhich recognition of anan emotion, the
Woolfian ‘Moment of Being’ or the Joycean ‘Epiphany’ become themost
ofBeing’ the most precious ‘goal’
‘goal’aa work
of art can achieve. In
ofartcan In order to transmit these moments the‘image’,
the ‘image’, defined by by Pound defines
as
as an
an ‘intellectual
‘intellectual and
and emotional complex’, seems themost the most readily available tool. In this sense
the plot and
the and thethe structure not
not only ofof narrative but
but also of poetry are manipulated in order to to
provide the image of of aa particular emotion. Literature becomes introspective, fallible, fallible,
andintensely subjective througha
through a writing that requires
requiresaa very dangerous exercise on on the part
the writer. Pushing language to
of the to the
the limit, the
the writer places him/herself dangerously close to
neurotic discourse,
discourse, risking in thethe process his/her own own sanity.
The ambiguity and flexibility implied by this theory allowed the

expression of the ambiguity and flexibility intuitively felt in language.
Modern writing thus constantly plays with the suspicion that language can
never be fixed and that meaning, to see it from Jacques Derrida’s
viewpoint, is always deferred. Therefore, through the repetition of a word
the multiple and, in theory, infinite meaning is always somewhere else.
This implies that language, and not the story, is the most important
feature in literature.
In talking about language aa reference to Ferdinand Saussure (1857-1913) and and the
Course in General Linguistics (1916),
(1916),aa work edited andand completed from lecture notes by his his
students after his death, is unavoidable. He was the first linguist to question the goal of
He was of the
study of
of linguistics.
linguistics. He
He moved from the the study ofof the genealogy of of the
the changes in word and
inword
grammar over time to to the exploration of language as a
asa social phenomenon. He
He distinguishes
‘langue’, that
that is, language as asaa particular structured system, from from ‘parole’, which
which refers toa
to a
specific utterance or speech act. Furthermore, he he formulates the principle that there are no no
positive signs in language. This principle will be the development of
be crucial for the of structuralism
and
and post-structuralism. TheThe literature produced before Saussure used language as asaa tool that
would enable the writer to portray reality as as it could be be physically observed. To To use
use aa
metaphor, language was wasaa window on totheworld.
to the world. According to to Saussure, however, this can can
never be the
the case because language is made up of signs owing their signification
up ofsigns signification not the
not to the
14
world but to
world to the
the difference
difference to
to each other
other in
ina a network of
of signs
signs that
that is the
the signifying
signifying system.
system. For
example in the traffic system
inthetraffic system the
the sign
sign red means ‘stop’ as opposed togreen,
as opposed to green, meaning ‘go.’ Yet
Yet
in
ina a different system, for
for example in banking, red means ‘debit’ whereas green means ‘credit’.
‘credit’.
As can
As can be
be observed from this example, the the meaning ofofaa sign is not
not fixed, but
but depends on its
within a particular system. In
oppositions withina In other words, language is not not divinely designed or or
naturally given; it is socially constructed and and therefore subject to changes in meaning. The The
emphasis in Saussuran studies is not so much on thedevelopment
not so the development of of language over time but
on how
on how language functions when used by people and and how
how people are made tofunction
to function by
by
language. His interests therefore focused on on finding the
the rules and
and structure of language
governing speech and writing.
There were others interested in the

the problem posed bybyaa new
new view of
of language. For
instance, Ludwig Wittgenstein
Wittgenstein (1889-1951) formulated the idea that human reasoning was
was not
so much an engagement with reality and
and truth as
as aa language game. Wittgenstein's
Wittgenstein’s ambitious
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1922) set out toto provide
provideaa solution to all the
the philosophical
problems. He to establish aa clear demarcation between logic, on
He tried to the one
on the one hand, and
and
empirical knowledge on the the other, and
and to discern between logical and and empirical truths. In doing
so he
he confronted the problem of of formulatinga
formulating a global conceptualisation about the the relationship
between language and and thought, and and language and and reality.
reality. It is important to note that
Wittgenstein, as
Wittgenstein, as werwe other philosophers of of language such as Bertrand Russell (1872-1970),
(1872-1970),
was not as
was as interested ininaa linguistic approach to to language as in ina a philosophical one. In In this
sense, hishis insights into thethe nature of of language were prompted by byaa dissatisfaction felt and and
shared by Russell and and the members oftheVienna
of the Vienna Circle with the imperfection
imperfection of language.
The fact that language disguises and
The and misrepresents thought and and reality implies thata
that a search
within language for foraa logic that goes beyond the the superficial
superficial logic of its external structure is of of
paramount importance.
importance. This hidden structure is, according to the Tractatus, Tractatus, logical. That is, it
is constituted byby elements that havehaveaa direct connection with reality. According to to Wittgenstein,
Wittgenstein,
language has limitations marked by the the logical rules governing the combinations of of signs.
There is thereforea
therefore a distinction
distinction between what can be said with coherence and and what cannot;
Wittgenstein thus attempts to to establish what areare genuine philosophical problems and and what are
are
not. We
We cancan arrive at doubt only ififa a question cancan bebe formulated, andand aa question can can be
be posed
only if there is anan answer that can can be
be provided only if something can be said. Hence human
knowledge and experience are constrained by by language: “The limits of the the universe are the
limits of my
my language”. The The importance of of Wittgenstein is that he he considered language not as a
not asa
mere system of of representation of the world and and ofof our knowledge of of it, but
but as
as social and
and
communicative reality. His was highly influential
His work was influential on the logical positivism and
on the and philosophy
of science of
of of the Vienna Circle which at at their meeting discussed the Tractatus. Both Bertrand
Russell and and G.E. Moore (1873-1958) often argued with Wittgenstein, Wittgenstein, whose work
fundamentally inspired the the works of of both. G.E. Moore’s
Moore's insights into the the aesthetic, asas will be
be
discussed in in Unit 8, constituted the the basis for for the formulation
formulation of the aesthetics of the
Bloomsbury group. Martin Heidegger (1889-1976),(1889-1976), whose main concern was was ontology or the
study ofof being, placed an an emphasis on language as the the vehicle through which the the question of of
being could be be explored. He was
He was particularly interested in
interested in poetry. In Being and
and Time (1927) he
he
affirmed that individuals do do not
not speak through language, but that language speaks through
The impact of
them. The of Heidegger, however, goes beyond the the scope of this course. His thinking
ofthis
has
has contributed
contributed to such different fields as as existentialism (Sartre,
(Sartre, Ortega
Ortegayy Gassett) and and post-
15
structuralism (Derrida) among many others. In literature his

his strongest impact can
can be traced in
in
the second half of the
from the the twentieth century to the present day.
As can be seen in the preceeding paragraphs, language stops being

a transparent, reliable tool and becomes an issue in itself. Language is
mutable, ambiguous and unfixed in meaning; the suspicion that language
cannot be trusted in the search for truth and knowledge led many
writers to incorporate language itself into their writings, to explore
language and to analyse its implication in the subjectivity of the
individual.
AA subjectivity
subjectivity made up
up of language participates in the
oflanguage the very
very nature of
of language and,
and,
therefore, such
therefore, suchaa subjectivity
subjectivity ceases to
to be perceived as
as aa unitary normative self
self and, rather,
becomes
becomesaa fluid,
fluid, discontinuous
discontinuous and fragmented self.
and fragmented self. The
The psychological studies of Sigmund
Freud (1856-1939), leading to the foundation of of the newnew science of of psychoanalysis,
corroborated
corroborated this view of the self as
of the as evolving and and fragmented. Freud’s
Freud's work is not
not isolated,
isolated, it
should be understood as part of the the general enquiry into the the workings ofof the mind found in the
inthe
studies of among others Carl Jung (1875-1961), (1875-1961), Henri Bergson (1859-1941),
(1859-1941), and and Williams
James (1842-1910). James, brother of the novelist Henry James, coined the term ‘stream of
consciousness’, as as will bebe discussed in in the following Unit. In Time and Freewill (1889), the
French philosopher Henri Bergson discusses the mind’s mind's particular understanding
understanding of of time. HeHe
opposes linear time against what he calls ‘duration’, ‘duration’, which refers to the the way
way thethe mind
perceives the length of an an experience according to the respective subjective factors of
appreciation
appreciation of that experience in each individual.
ineach individual. Bergson considers that chronological time is
the time of
the of history andand it is also the time that marks our our bodies in so so far
far as
as wewe are
are living
organisms. However, the the time ofof the mind is completely detached from chronological time.
‘Duration’ refers to those times in the the life of
of an
an individual that areare significant for the
the individual.
individual.
These times are not necessarily chronologically ordered and and they are, by own definition,
by their own definition,
different for each individual.
individual. Such aa distinction
distinction will influence the the representation of time in
literature. The implication
literature. The implication of thethe time of
of the mind is that past and and future co-exist in the
the present;
as
as Eliot argues in The The Waste
Waste Land (1922) mental time is composed of ‘desire’ and
of‘desire’ and ‘memory’.
Bergson’s
Bergson's ideas were deeply influential on
on Wyndham Lewis’s Time
Lewis's Time and Western Man
Man (1927),
which, also influenced by by Nietzsche, postulated
postulated the idea that continuity in time was was impossible,
seeing as it did
did time as as fragmented and and people inhabiting time only in in memory and and projection.
projection.
These newnew perspectives on on time explain some of the different techniques in
ofthedifferent art - and
in art and in the
the
novel inin particular,
particular, such as an open-ended finale or an an abrupt beginning at any any ordinary
moment in the life of
inthelife ofa a character, asas is seen, forfor instance, inin Joyce’s
Joyce's Ulysses.
Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, which, significantly, was going to be

called “The Hours,” is a good example of what has just been explained
in relation to time. It contains pages of an experience being considered
by a character while only a second has elapsed in the chronological
time marked by the chimes of Big Ben. The importance of the time of
16
the mind and its influence on the representation of reality is provided

visually in this same novel by an image of an aeroplane writing in the
sky and observed by the different characters in the novel. This event
will last different lengths of subjective time for different characters, in so
much as the experience of looking at the aeroplane has different
connotations for each one.
Because ‘reality’ is shaped according toa to a mind’s

mind's perception of time, Bergson believed
of time,
that facts and
and matter should be be scrutinised by
by intuition in order to achieve
achieveaa complete vision of
reality,
reality, since these facts and and matter are only the outer expression of of reality.
reality. If Bergson was
was
concerned with the the way
way in the mind understands time, Freud was
in which the was concerned with the
mind’s
mind's awareness of of its own
own working. Freud started cooperating with Joseph Breuer (1842-
1905) on on cases ofof hysteria.
hysteria. Based on Jean Charcot’s
Charcot's studies and
and on on practical cases that
Freud witnessed during the time he he spent inin Paris, they treated hysteria,
hysteria, allowing patients to
disclose their memories under hypnosis. Later on, hypnosis was was somewhat discredited as as aa
practical tool, and the idea of
and the of ‘free association’ forfor recovering memories was was introduced into
their work. Psychoanalysis, aa term coined in in 1896, was
was born. In In 1897 Freud broke his his
association with Breuer; he he developed further his views on on psychoanalysis and and the importance
of infantile sexuality for the
of the development ofthe
of the psyche. In In 1910 he founded with Carl Jung the the
International Psychoanalytical Association.
Association. In The Interpretation of Dreams (1900) Freud
In The
argued that dreams are the expression of
are the of repressed desires and the realm of
and that the of repressed
desires is the
the unconscious.
unconscious. Together with the the conscious it forms the the totality of
of the
the psychic
reality.
reality. Freud will be
be explored in some depth in the the following section, yet it is important to point
out here the significance of the
out the discovery of
of the unconscious, which is the the part of the
the psyche
unknown to to the
the subject that, however, and and according to Freud, is no no less operative in thethe
psyche’s
psyche's reality than is consciousness. The The unconscious is full of of memories and ideas from
early childhood. These are are ‘repressed’ and
and made unconscious for for various reasons, among
them because they have been forbidden. The The existence of of the unconscious is evidenced in in
dreams, slips of the
the tongue, sudden and uncanny realisations of an an event, etc.
Moreover, because of these unconscious drives the subject can

ofthese can no
no longer be
be perceived
as
as being
beingaa unitary normative self. The
The subject, after Freud, is made up of multiple selves that
up ofmultiple
could emerge depending on which part of the the unconscious becomes conscious. In In other
words, one
one can
can never be totally sure ofof what one is because theunconscious
the unconscious implies that one
one
could be
be somebody else. This idea is echoed in the new
inthe new literary interest to show thedrives,
the drives,
obsessions and
and compulsions motivating the actions of ordinary people. After Freud, it is no no
longer satisfactory to present the outside personalities of the the characters andand the surface
expressions of
of their thoughts, as was the case with realist fiction.
as was fiction. Instead, the
the writer needs toto
address what Henry James called ‘psychological realism’; that is, to to explore the hidden drives
and
and desires of the characters.
characters.
The main idea to take into account is that the unconscious implies
a part of the mind that, by its own nature, can never be totally known
by the subject. Therefore, the idea that the individual is totally in control
of his/her actions has to be abandoned since there is a part of the
17
mind that, because it is not conscious, cannot be controlled by the

subject.
1.3. The New

1.3. The Woman enters
New Womazz the stage
ezzters the stage
This period also witnessed developments inin concepts of

of femininity centred around
of the ‘New Woman’. Although feminist thought had
discussions of had its origins in the
the
Enlightenment, from the
the 1890s onwards it entered the public imagination. Cartoons in
in Punch
magazine, forexample,
for example, featured powerful and and athletic women cycling or playing cricket and and
bullying effeminate men
men at dinner parties, in contrast to the prevailing image of the
of the Victorian
middle-class woman as asaa fragile figure in need of
of male protection andand uninvolved with public
life. Mainly starting in the
the second half of thethe nineteenth century andand prompted by thethe public
rise of the
the women's
women’s movement,
movement,aa vortex of of discourses focused on women’s sexuality,
on women's sexuality, on the
on the
so-called Woman Question and and on
on those forms of of sexual behaviour that deviated from the the
norm. Broadly speaking, this new new interest on the part of scientific,
on the scientific, legal, moral and
and political
discourses has at its source the women's
has at women’s movement, the the rise of the
the New
New Woman and andthethe
the decadent and
figures of the and the
the dandy, which challenged the monolithic ideological certainties
regarding sexual difference of mid-Victorian Britain.
The turn of the
The the century was
was aa time when, as Karl Miller points out, “Men became
women. Women became men. Gender and country were put in doubt: the single life was
putindoubt: was found
to harbour two
to two sexes and two nations” (Miller 1985: 209). The
The anxiety to restore patriarchal
patriarchal
order in
ina a god
godless
less society provoked the
the appearance of
of the
the scientific ‘expert’ on
on sex, gender
and sexuality and
and his intervention
intervention in social, political and
and legal reform. Confronted with the
the
increasing blurring of sexual roles, scientists started to investigate thethe differences between
men
men and women in inorder toto assert, through an
an empirical observation that supposedly validated
the objectivity of their scientific conclusions, the very differences on
the on which their studies were
based. Thus, through social science and and anthropological discourses emerging from
Darwinism, such as, for example, in
as, for of Henry Maine, John McLennan, Herbert
in the works of
Spencer, Lewis Henry Morgan, John Lubbock, and and J.J. Bachofen, patriarchy andand its
organisation of social structures and
organisation and gender roles were justified historically and
and evolutionarily
by
by means ofre-examining
of re-examining the idea of the timeless role of women in insociety.
AA much more optimistic point of view comes froma

from a New
New Woman. Jane Ellen Harrison
(1850-1928) was
was aa famous British Classicist and
and social anthropologist who
who wrote influential
influential
the shift from matriarchy to
works on the to patriarchy in
in Asia Minor and
and Greece. She
She contributed to
the matriarchal discourse initiated
the initiated by
by Bachofen in the 1860s. Harrison is inquisitive as
inthe the
as to the
power structures between thethe sexes as they are exposed in myths and
inmyths and she places particular
emphasis in the
the “social shift from matrilineal to patrilinear [sic] conditions” (Harrison 1924: 68).
In 1903 she published her Prolegomena tothe to the Study of
of Greek Religions.
Religions. Here, she
she argues forfor
the existence ofa
the of a matriarchal origin in Greek religions and and claims that the
the ancient cult to the
the
female figure has
has been forgotten and and replaced by
by an the patriarchal figure. She
an obsession with the She
suggests that patriarchy sought to to destroy matrilineal families in order to introduce patriarchal
laws of
of marriage and
and narrowing concepts of of femininity. She
She proposes that since patriarchal
mythology was
was the
the tool used toto impose patriarchal
patriarchal structures, research into matriarchal myths
would help subvert patriarchy.
patriarchy. Harrison reinforces thethe thesis of the
the existence ofa
of a matriarchal
18
UNIT ONE: “The Discourse Between ortheNeed
or the Need to “Make It New”: Literature in an
culture by
by adding further evidences to
to it; she
she also offers alternative modes of femininity and
offemininity and
masculinity:
masculinity:
The relation of these early matriarchal, husbandless goddesses .... to the male figures that
The
accompany them is one one altogether noble and
and womanly, though perhaps not what themodern
the modern mind
be feminine. It seems to
holds to be to halt somewhere half-way between Mother and Lover, witha with a
touch of the
the patron saint. Aloof
Aloof from achievement themselves, they chose choseaa local hero forfor their
own
own to inspire and
and protect. They ask ask of him, not that he
ofhim, he should love or adore, but
but that he
he should
do
do great deeds ... And
And asas their glory is in the hero's
in the hero’s high deeds, so their grace is his
his guerdon. With
the coming of
thecoming patriarchal conditions this high companionship ends. (Harrison 1922: 273)
ofpatriarchal
In this passage Harrison offers alternative concepts of of gendered subjectivity.
subjectivity. She was
She was
certain that the
the power ofthefigure
of the figure of the
the Great Mother was was just biding her her time and
and that She
She
would return triumphant.
triumphant. In Ancient ArtArt and
and Ritual,
Ritual, where she describes religious rites and and
Greek drama, Harrison suggests that art develops from ritual: ritual: ritual is “swiftly and
and completely
transmuted into art” (Harrison 1913: 14) and and that “they do do not seek to to copy
copyaa fact but
but to
reproduce, to re-enact an an emotion” (Harrison 1913: 47). Harrison’s
Harrison's work owed much tothat to that of
Freud. In the
the Preface to to Epilegomena to to the
the Study of of Greek Religion,
Religion, (1921) she she presents
Freud as
asaa background authority and and acknowledges
acknowledgesaa debt to to his
his work. In turn, Freud grew
interested
interested in Harrison’s
Harrison's studies on on the myth of of the
the Great Mother and and in thethe theories she
she
developed on on totemistic ceremonies and
and groups. He
He explored them in ‘Totem and
and Taboo’
(1913). By
By the 1920s and 1930s Bachofen’s
Bachofen's and
and Harrison’s
Harrison's arguments were very popular and and
of many artists including Virginia Woolf, D.H. Lawrence, André Breton and
of and the Surrealists in
Paris explored in their writings the
the figure of the
the Great Mother.
The question of gender roles and
The the Woman Question reached different fields of
and the
knowledge. In biology and
and medical science works such as The The Evolution of Sex
Sex (1889) by
Patrick Geddes and J. Arthur Thomson concluded, along the lines of Spencer and Darwin, that
the female human wasa
the was a case of development. Gendering his
of arrested development. of the cell’s
his study of cell's
metabolic process, Geddes argued that the the position of women in society was
was not the result of
acquired social behaviour, but, on the contrary,
on the contrary, that “it merely reflected the
the economy ofcell
of cell
metabolism and
and its parallel psychic differentiation between the the sexes” (Conway 1973: 146).
Basing his view
hisview on his scientific
hisscientific studies Geddes affirmed that: was decided among the
“What was the
prehistory Protozoa cannot be annulled by Act Act of Parliament” (Geddes 1901:
1901: 286), invalidating
invalidating
in this manner women's
women’s struggle for emancipation.
Freud in 1925 published

publishedaa paper entitled ‘Some Psychological
Psychological Consequences of of the
the
Anatomical Distinction
Distinction between the
the Sexes’ in which, for for the first time, he
he distinguished
between thethe respective psychological developments in boys and girls. Up to that point he
Up to he had
had
studied girls’ development as analogous to to boys’. Female sexuality is for
for Freud linked to male
sexuality and
and the concept of of ‘penis envy.’ In this sense, the dénouement of the ‘castration
of the ‘castration
complex’ forwomen
for women leads to the acknowledgement of of “the fact of her
her castration, and
and with it,
the superiority of the
too, the the male and her own inferiority” (Freud 1991:
her own 1991: 376). Rebellion against
this situation causes an abnormal development in woman whose ‘penis envy’ leads her toa to a
‘masculine complex’ connected in Freud to to female homosexuality. Because “anatomy is
destiny” Freud also thought the feminist struggle to be be pointless:
19
19
We must not
We not allow ourselves to bebe deflected from such conclusions by by the denials of the
feminists, who
who are anxious to force us
us to regard the two
two sexes as completely equal in position and
and
worth. (Freud 1991: 342)
Freud’s
Freud's biased perspective is expressed in the above statement, which
inthe which seems toimply
to imply
that women are less valuable than and
areless and thus inferior toto men. Women, according to Freud’s Freud's
point of view, were pursuing an an impossible quest, for
for lies in the
the biology of the sexes that the the
superego of of men
men predisposes them toundertake
to undertake the most challenging tasks. Women, on the
on the
other hand, because of of their less strongly formed superego,
superego, are capricious and and unreliable
“social beings” (Freud 1991:1991: 377).
377).AA few
few years later he
he published ‘Female Sexuality’ (1931)
which expanded on the the ideas expressed in the earlier paper. Maybe because of
in the of his
his later
realisation of aa possibly different psychological development, Freud’s Freud's point of view on the the
subject of female sexuality remains hesitant and and dubious, and
and hehe never diddid come to
toaa clear
conclusion on on the subject. Moreover, as Freud himself remarks, remarks, “pure masculinity and and
femininity remain theoretical constructions of uncertain content” (Freud 1991: 1991: 342). Therefore,
the respective outcomes of of neither the
the Oedipus complex nor the castration complex are
nor the are ever
totally resolved. The
The primal bisexual disposition remains in the the unconscious of of both girls and
and
boys. Bisexuality,
Bisexuality, stronger inin girls than in
in boys due
due to
to the
the girls’ lack of an
an inmediately visible
organ of of recognition, remains in adulthood and, Freud argues, should be be balanced in the
in the
individual towards thethe characteristics of the
the ideal woman. Therefore, if biology dooms women
to an inferior position, the
toan the primitive bisexual disposition opens
opensaa door tothe
to the convergence of the
ofthe
sexes.
By
By perpetuating stereotypes of of masculinity and
and femininity in his of the Oedipus
his theory of
complex, Freud created aa debate. His ‘feminist’ colleagues, Karen Horney and Helene
Deutsch, among others, while not denying the value of of psychoanalytical theory, challenged
Freud’s
Freud's characterisation of femininity.
femininity. In particular,
particular, Horney, inin 1924, opened what came tobe to be
known as theFreud-Jones
the Freud-Jones debate. SheShe argued that masculine narcissism “was responsible for for
the assumption that the
the female feels her
her genital to bebe inferior” (Roith 1992: 161). In
In response
to her, Freud wrote ‘Femininity’ (1933), where he comes tothedefinition
to to the definition of femininity as
as aa
single unique position for ‘normal’ sexuality in in women and and he
he establishes homosexuality in in
women as asaa ‘masculine complex’. The The importance of of Freud’s
Freud's sexual discourse during the
interwar period lies in the
the fact that he
he left most questions about female sexuality unanswered;
unanswered;
for example, ‘pure femininity’ remains
forexample, remainsaa ‘theoretical construction’.
the field of knowledge that assumed special relevance in relation to sex

Perhaps the sex
gender and sexuality waswas the
the new
new science of of sexology. Sexual scandals and and an
an epidemic ofof
syphilis caused the
the questioning ofof the validity of Victorian morals and
and values, while provoking
in
in people anxiety and
and fear. This resulted in emphasis on the the importance of of the family as
as aa
safeguard against sexual decadence, and and in
inaa craving for
for legislative restrictions.
restrictions. Thus, the
discourse onon sexuality was
was transferred from thethe public arena toto the
the household. Oscar Wilde's
Wilde’s
trial and
and conviction in
in 1895, forfor example, focused public attention on the emerging
on the
homosexuality while provoking its medicalisation. With the purpose of of establishing the
the
borderline between acceptable andand abhorrent behaviour, science and and civil order allied.
The literature of sexology of

The of the period displays this anxiety. Although for
for many years
the nineteenth-century theorists had any sexual tendencies,
had denied women anysexual tendencies, paradoxically, the
the
was able to
only approach that scientific discourse was was precisely solely related to
undertake was
her
her sex, to such an extent that as
as Susan Kingsley to regard
Kent has argued society came toregard
20
women as
women as “the Sex” (Kent 1990: 32). Words
Words such as ‘feminism’ and
and ‘homosexuality’ were
were
used now for the first time.
now forthefirst
The term ‘New Woman’ was born in

The in 1894 after many attempts to
to name thesecond
the second
generation of
generation of feminist
feminist women:
women:
Two novelists, the
Two the feminist Sara Grand and the the anti-feminist Ouida, acted as
as
godmothers, while Punch played the role of officiating
godmothers, officiating clergyman and
and performed the
ceremony within its pages. (Jordan 1983: 19)
‘New Woman’ refers to those middle-upper class women who “had profited from the the
educational and
and vocational opportunities won by the
won by the pioneer feminists of the sixties [1860s]”
The most prominent
(Jordan 1983: 19). The was their increased presence in
change, then, was the
in the
public arena. Whereas thethe lives of most nineteenth-century women, especially middle-class
women, tended to to revolve around home life, modern women ventured into jobs, politics and and
culture outside the domestic realm. ByBy the 1920s educated women wanted access not to
not only to
the so-called male professions but also demanded “access to to the broader world of of male
opportunity” (Newton 1984: 564) and and night life. Activities seen as proper toto the masculine
world such as drinking or smoking became symbols of of women's
women’s emancipation.
emancipation. These women
“rejected traditional feminine clothing” (Newton 1984: 564) indicating with this gesture aa
resoluteness to break free from traditional
traditional codes ofgender
of gender behaviour.
The New
The was far ffrom
New Woman wasfar rom being
beingaa category stable and
and free of contradictions and
and
was often, even among thesuffragette
was the suffragette circles,
circles, viewed with suspicion and
and fear because her her
presence threatened and
and challenged patriarchy.
patriarchy.AA powerful and
and attractive figure, frighteningly
in the
the ascendant, the New
New Woman attempted aa re-conceptualisation of womanhood and and
produced aa discourse onon female sexuality contradicting the
the prevailing idea of femininity.
femininity.
Patriarchy’s
Patriarchy's adverse reaction can
can be
be observed even in in liberal treatises such as Edward
Carpenter’s The Intermediate Sex
Carpenter's The Sex (1914) which opens witha
with a reference to to the New
New Woman
and the suggestion that the
andthe the masculinisation of women was
was theresult
the result of the
the attitude of these
independent women:
In late years (and since the arrival of the
Inlate the New
New Woman amongst us) us) many things in in the
relation of men
men and
and women toeachto each other have altered, or
or at any
any rate become clearer ...
the
If the modern woman is a
isa little more masculine in some
insome ways than her predecessor, the
modern manman (it is to
to be
be hoped), while by by no
no means effeminate, isisa a little more sensitive
in temperament and artistic in feeling than the original John Bull. (Carpenter 1914: 114)
Furthermore, Carpenter’s
Carpenter's passage links the the New
New Woman with homosexuality. This
connection,
connection, present in Freud, was was also used in in some reactionary literature questioning the
morality as
as well as the physical and
as the and psychic health of these women. The correlation between
masculinisation, homosexuality and and the New
New Woman aimed to to counterbalance the increasing
popularity the
the New was gaining, especially among middle and
New Woman wasgaining, and upper class women. By
making the
the New
New Woman an androgynous figure, dominant discourse was
anandrogynous was attempting to portray
her
her as
asaa pitiful,
pitiful, unsatisfied and
and asexual woman. In fact, this misogynist discourse provided the
Infact,
basis for
for feminist andand lesbian discourses that, at the
the beginning of of the twentieth century, used
her
her image as a
asa code to
to make relative and, therefore, challenge and
and defy patriarchal gender
roles. Significantly, thethe characteristics of the
the New
New Woman are areused in the fiction of the
inthe the turn of
21
the century
the century and
and interwar period, such
such as Virginia
Virginia Woolf's
Woolf’s Night and
and Day
Day (1919), as
as codified
signs forproviding
for providing extra information about strong female characters.
characters.
In
In Woman and and Her
Her Place in a a Free Society (1894) Carpenter denounced the the
objectification of women by by patriarchy.
patriarchy. He He equated private property with the submission of of
to men: “Man’s
women tomen: “Man's craze for
for property andand individual ownership ... ... culminated perhaps notnot
unnaturally in woman — — his
hismost precious and and beloved object” (Carpenter 1894: 10). Following
Havelock Ellis’s
Ellis's ‘angel-idiot’
‘angel-idiot’ theory which argued that woman had had been trapped in the the
intersection between an angel and and anan idiot, Carpenter argued that thethe construction of femininity
was something completely alien to women. The objectification of woman caused, according to
was
Carpenter,
Carpenter,aa lack of understanding between the the sexes. His consideration
consideration of female sexuality as as
aa male construct and and the need forunderstanding
for understanding between the the sexes was was shared by many
feminists of the
the period. Olive Schreiner’s
Schreiner's point of view, forfor instance, was
was that man
man and
and woman
were bound together and and that it was
wasa a mistake to to conceptualise the advance of the one without
ofthe
the other (Schreiner 1993: 308-317). Olive Schreiner (1855-1920) was was born in South Africa. She She
travelled to Britain with the objective of becoming aa doctor, and and began attending lectures at
medical school in London. Olive also began going to to socialist meetings. During this time she she
became friends with leading radicals such as Edward Carpenter, Eleanor Marx and Bruce
Glasier. Her
Her novel Story of of an
an African Farm was published in 1883: the book was was praised by by
who approved of
feminists who the strong heroine who
ofthe who controls her
her own
own destiny. Soon after the the novel
was published Schreiner developed an
was an intimate relationship with thethe sexologist Havelock Ellis.
They shared the the same views on on sexuality,
sexuality, free love, marriage, the emancipation of of women,
sexual equality, and
and birth control. Although they often lived
livedaa long way
way apart, they wrote letters to to
each other for
for the next thirty-six years. SheShe also wrote two
two collections of short stories, Dreams
(1891) and
and Dream Life and and Real Life (1893) but the two two novels she was working on
she was at the time,
on at
From Man to Man and Undine, were not
Man toMan published until after her
notpublished her death.
In
In 1889 Schreiner returned to South Africa, where she married Samuel Cronwright in
1894. Her
Her only child died sixteen hours after birth. Schreiner continued to write and and her
her next
book, Trooper Peter Halkett of Mashonaland (1897) was wasaa strong attack on
on imperialism and
and
British racism in
in South Africa. However, as asaa pacifist,
pacifist, Schreiner was
was unwilling to give her full
support toto the armed rising that led to the the Boer WarWar in
in 1899. Woman and and Labour waswas
published inin 1911: was
1911: it was immediately acclaimed as an
an important statement on
on feminis, and
and
had
had aa major influence on onaa large number of of young women.A
women. A strong supporter of of universal
suffrage, Schreiner argued that the the vote was
was “a weapon, by which the the weak may be be able to
to
defend themselves against the strong, the the poor against the weak”. On On the outbreak of
of the First
War Schreiner moved back to
World War to Britain. Over the
the next four years she was active in the
she was the
peace movement and worked closely with organisations such as the the Union of
of Democratic
Control and
and the Non-Conscription Fellowship. In In September 1920 Olive Schreiner returned to
South Africa, where she died in December that same year.
Another writer of the
the period, Victoria Cross, provided in ‘‘Theodora:A
Theodora: A Fragment’ (1895) anan
image of the two protagonists,
ofthetwo protagonists,aa man
man and
and aa woman, together entering
enteringaa room: “We
“We were then face
to
to face with
withaa door
door which she
she opened, and
and we
we both passed over
over the
the threshold
thresho/d together” (Cross 1993: 14).
The fact that it is the
The the woman who opens the the door suggests the importance of of the New
New Woman
and gives full meaning to
andgives to Carpenter’s
Carpenter's words: “since the
the arrival of thethe New
New Woman among us”,
‘She’ is opening the door to toaa new
new world in which both will be be “as
“as two
two men-friends or two
two women-
friends might be, open and equal comrades in the
the great battle of life” (Carpenter 1894: 27).
22
22
The New
The New Woman defied patriarchy by by looking for
for new
new narratives that would escape
the tragic endings of
from the of the Victorian novel written by
by women. Their narratives “represent
female desire as
as aa creative force in artistic imagination as as in biological reproduction”
as well as
(Showalter 1993: xi). AsAs Carpenter put
put it, sex
sex in woman “may more properly be be termed aa
constructive instinct” (Carpenter 1894: 32). In order to to make use use of
of this creative force
advantageously woman should free herself from the impositions of patriarchal stereotypes: stereotypes:
“The ‘lady’, the
the household drudge, and
and the prostitute” (Carpenter 1894: 12). For For this reason,
the female protagonist in
in Shreiner’s
Shreiner's short story ‘Life’s
‘Life's Gifts’ “laugh[s] in her
her sleep” (Schreiner
1993: 317), having renounced the
the gift of
of love in favour of
of the gift of
of freedom.
If the
the outbreak of
of the First World War
War supposed
supposedaa massive incorporation
incorporation of women into
the labour force, its aftermath brought about an impasse in
the the women’s struggle.
inthewomen's struggle. Propaganda
launched by the government was was aimed at bringing women back totheir
atbringing to their homes, their families
and
and their husbands. Yet, in in apparent paradox, the scientific discourse on on sexuality reached the
general public in the 1920s. Sexology and
in the and psychology started to be be available to thethe general
public through the publication
publication of manuals such as Marie Stopes’s
Stopes's Married Love (1918) or
Helena Wright's
Wright’s The
The Sex
Sex Factor in in Marriage (1930). Marie Stopes (1880-1958) always
intended that sexual ecstasy should be be restricted
restricted to marital union, but despite her intentions
she
she invited controversy because of of her
her explicit approach toto the
the anatomy of of sexual relations
and
and herher frank advocacy of of the
the practice of birth control.
control. Her
Her studies as as aa botanist and
and
palaeontologist took her to to London and Munich, then on to Manchester where she became the
on to the
first female member of the science faculty at the
ofthescience the university. But
But it was
was her
her married life that
inspired her
her devotion to sexual education. Stopes’s
Stopes's first marriage was
was unconsummated so it
was then annulled in 1916, and
was and she
she found herself researching the subject. This fascination
fascination led
to her
her first book Married Love, published in in the year she married Humphrey Verdon Roe. Roe.AA
second book called Wise Parenthood closely followed Married Love and she became an
overnight success, swamped with requests for for birth control advice. With her career
established, sheshe wrote more books and edited the journal Birth Control News.
The impact of of the publication of Married Love and The The Sex
Sex Factor in Marriage was
was
twofold. On
tWOfOld. one hand, by
On the one by stressing the importance of
of sex forthe
for the couple, by
by proving information
on family planning and
on and by
by being
beingaa source of
of information concerning contraceptive methods,
these works were breaking the taboo around sex,
sex,aa taboo inherited from the
the Victorians.
Victorians. On
On the
other hand, popularising the works of
of Richard Krafft-Ebing,
Krafft-Ebing, Havelock Ellis and
and Freud among
others, these works established the differences between ‘normal’ and and ‘abnormal’ sexual
behaviour.
Feminism in the period between the wars engaged in learning the

meaning of citizenship and in handling the scientific discoveries and
technical advances that so greatly affected women’s lives.
Oscar Wilde’s play

Oscar Wilde's play deals
deals with some of of these issues
issues raised
raised inin
relation was called
relation to what was called “the
“the woman question”.
question”. In
In fact, his
his conviction
conviction
and
and imprisonment was very much
imprisonment was much based
based on several studies on sex and
on sex and
sexuality
sexuality considered ofof importance
importance in
in his
his lifetime.
lifetime. While reading
reading the text,
23
23
could
could your identify
identify these new
new ideas
ideas either
either implicitly
implicitly or
or explicitly
explicitly present
present
in The
in The Importance
Impodance of of Being
Being Ernest
Ernest ?
+.
2. Wilde’s Earnestness to
2. TEXT ANALYSIS: Oscar Wilde's to Break Free
2.1. APPROACHING
2.2. REVISITING The
the Great Gatsby
3. ACTIVITIES
3.ACTIVITIES
2.
fl. TEXT ANALYSIS: Oscar Wilde's
Wilde’s Earnestness to Break Free
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) grew up in Dublin, where his parents, Sir

hisparents, Sir William and
and Lady
Jane Francesca Wilde, were celebrities.
celebrities. William Wilde was wasaa prominent eye eye and
and ear surgeon
who wrote on
who on his
his speciality numerous volumes that became textbooks for for succeeding
decades. He He also wrote travel guides, histories and and poems. He was aa talented
He was
conversationalist, and
and led
ledaa busy and active social life in the midst of
in the of Dublin’s
Dublin's élite. Lady Wilde
was aa noteworthy agitator for Irish independence (the ‘Green Movement’), aa revolutionary
was
poet, critic and
and early advocate of women’s liberation.
of women's liberation. She
She waswasaa self-proclaimed genius and andaa
witty talker. Lady Wilde preferred waking in the afternoon, affected an
inthe an aversion to the sun, had
had
aa passion forfor classical verse, and
and entertained the literati by by exaggerating truth and
and myth to to
produce remarkable and and endless stories. Yeats said: “When one listens to [Lady Wilde] and and
remembers that Sir William Wilde was was in his
his day
day a a famous raconteur, one one finds it in
in no way
no way
wonderful that Oscar Wilde should be be the most finished talker of our our time” (Coakley 1995: 75).
After Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated in

in classics,
classics, Oscar Wilde attended
Magdalen College, Oxford, where he studied with Ruskin and
and Pater. AsAsaa disciple of Walter
Pater, he
he founded thethe Aesthetic movement, which advocated ‘art for for art's
art’s sake’, as
as has
has
already been mentioned. Yeats, in in his
his reminiscence of
of Wilde, recalls him
him speaking of
of Pater’s
Pater's
Studies in the
the History of the
the Renaissance. Yeats overheard Wilde talking with another man,
and in
inaa slow, carefully modulated voice, Wilde was
was saying:
It is my
my golden book;I
book; I never travel anywhere without it; but
but it is the
the very flower of decadence,
the last trumpet should have sounded themoment
the moment it was
was written. (Norton 2000: 2129)
During his
his imprisonment, Wilde referred to TheThe History of the
the Renaissance (in De De
Profundis, 1905) as “that book which had such a strange influence over my
had sucha my life”. He was by
He was by
then already characterised
characterised by
by his
his aesthetic idiosyncrasies such as wearing his his hair long,
Iong,
dressing colourfully, and carrying flowers while lecturing, qualities that Gilbert and
colourfully, and and Sullivan
parodied in the operetta Patience (1881).
inthe
In 1882, Wilde, short of funds, embarked ona on a lecture tour of the US. US. At each stop, he he
preached the gospel of Aestheticism, the ‘Cult of the
of Aestheticism, Artificial’, which rejected the
the Artificial’, the social conception
of the natural.
natural. Fully playing the role of the
the Aesthete, dressed asa as a dandy, he
he entered America with
one of his famous aphorisms. When, queried by Customs officials he
one he said: “I have nothing to declare
.… except mymy genius.” Back in England and and after his marriage to to Constance
Constanœ Lloyd in 1884, Wilde
became theeditor
the editor of the
the magazine Woman's
Woman’s World. In 1888 he published The The Happy Prince and and
24
Other Tales,a
Tales, a collection ofof original
original fairy
fairy tales.
tales. After
After five
five years
years he
he left the
the magazine and startedstarted
publishing provocative essays largely dealing with the self-explanatory Art for for Art's
Art’s Sake. His book
Intentions,
Intentions, 1891) contained essays titled ‘The Decay of Lying’; ‘The Critic as Artist’; ‘Pen, Pencil and
ofLying’; and
Poison’; and Masks’. They were written in the
and ‘The Truth of tasks’. the form of
of dialogues between
betweenaa newnew Plato
and
and his young disciples,
disciples, an
an intellectual
intellectual exercise that the
the author soon began to to live out. The
The next
years saw
saw the height of his fame as he published and and produced witty and and scandalous plays such
as Lady Windermere's
Windermere’s Fan
Fan (1892), AA Woman of ofNoNo Importance (1893) andand AnAn Ideal Husband (1895).
Wilde took the London stage by storm with his witty, epigrammatic style, insolent ease of utterance
ofutterance
and
and suave urbanity.
urbanity. Wilde described Lady Windermere's
Windermere’s Fan Fan as “one of those modern drawing-room
ofthose
plays with pink lampshades.” Its combination of of polished social drama and coruscating witty dialogue
was repeated in 1895 in the
was the two
two hits he
he had
had simultaneously on on the London stage, An An Ideal Husband
and
and The Importance of Being Earnest.
Earnest.
In 1891, shortly after publication

publication of his only novel, The The Picture of Dorian Gray Gray,, he
he had
had
fallen in love witha
with a young aristocrat named Lord Alfred Douglas (Wilde at at this time had two sons
had two
from his The charming but
marriage). The
hismarriage). temperamental Douglas (whom he
but temperamental was at the
he called ‘Bosie’) was the
time an
an undergraduate at at Oxford. Douglas’s father, the
Douglas's father, the Marquess of of Queensberry, publicly
accused Wilde of of homosexuality by leaving leavingaa card at Wilde's Wilde’s club addressed: “To Oscar Wilde
as a Somdomite” (it was
posing asa wasa a spelling error, he he meant ‘sodomite.’).
‘sodomite.’). Wilde, understanding that
the Marquess of
the Queensberry meant ‘sodomite,’ sued forlibel.
ofQueensberry for libel. Wilde lost and
and left himself open
to criminal prosecution. His successful career ended in
to in criminal prosecution for for sodomy, in in
was called the
what was the trial of the century. The
of the The Picture of Dorian Gray was was used as evidence
against him, and
and after
afteraa series of trials he he received
receivedaa sentence of of two years. He was sent to
He was to
Wandsworth Prison in in November 1895 and was was subsequently transferred to Reading Gaol.
The prison conditions were truly severe. One
The One of Britain’s
Britain's periodic prison reform initiatives was was
launched just after his two-year sentence ended. Of his his time as as aa prisoner he he wrote in The
in The
Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898):
II never saw
sawaa man
man who
who looked
With such
suchaa wistful eyeeye
the little tent of blue
Under thelittle
Which prisoners call the the sky.
All that we
All we know who lie in gaol
the wall is strong;
Is that the
And that each day is like
And likea a year,
AA year whose days are are long. (Web: oscar
oscar_wilde,
wilde, the ballad of reading gaol)
On
On leaving prison, bankrupt andand ruined in health, he to Paris, where he settled,
he went to settled,
bitter and
and broken. He
He lived for three more years, mostly under thethe assumed name of ‘Sebastian
of‘Sebastian
Melmoth’, (the name ofhis
of his favourite martyr from Melmoth theWanderer,a
the Wanderer, a novel written by by his
great-uncle, Charles Maturin, in 1820), depending on others for
great-uncle, for support. His family hadhad
abandoned him and his wife changed her
hiswife her name and
and that of their sons toto Holland. On
On 30
30
November 1900, at at the age of forty-six,
age of forty-six, Wilde died of
of cerebral meningitis at the Hotel D’Alsace.
D'Alsace.
He was buried at Bagneaux. He
He was He is now
now buried in the
the Père
Pére Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
Wilde’s The
2.1. APPROACHING Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest
o/Beinp
The Importance of
The of Being Earnest (1895) is Oscar Wilde's
Wilde’s most lasting play, aa
masterpiece of
of modern comedy. More thana
than a century later, it still strikes
strikesaa wonderful balance
between being
beingaa respected and
and studied piece of
of literature and
and aa favourite with audiences.
audiences.
25
Although Wilde
Although Wilde liked critical success, he
he preferred financial
financial success since he was always short
he was
of money because of
of of his extravagant behaviour. It appears
hisextravagant appears from
from his
his letters that
that he wrote The
he wrote The
Importance of
of Being Earnest for
for money, as the
the following
following extract froma
from a letter to
to his
his producer,
George Alexander,
Alexander, testifies:
testifies:
I I think an
an amusing thing with lots of
of fun
fun and
and wit
wit might be made. If you think so too ... dodo let me
Ifyou me know
and send me
andsend me££150.
150. If the play is finished, you
If when theplay you think it too
too slight, you
you have the
the £150 back. In the
meantime, I am
meantime,I am so pressed for money thatI
that I don't
don’t know what todo.Of
to do. Of courseI
course I am
am extravagant.
extravagant. You You have
been a good wise friend to me,
always beena me, so think what you can
can do. (Wilde, Letters 359)
He
He wrote the play in three weeks, and and sent it toto George Alexander,
Alexander, who
who did not like it
and
and opted not to produce it. But
not to the terrible failure of Henry James's
But the James’s play Guy
Guy Domville shortly
after Wilde sent him
him TheThe Importance of of Being Earnest convinced Alexander that they needed
another play to fill the
the gap. Wilde's
Wilde’s play was
was put onon at the St James's
James’s and it was
wasa a spectacular
success. Indeed, as as Andrew Sanders acknowledges:
acknowledges: “the play has has been accorded an
unchallenged
unchallenged canonical status which is witnessed by its probably being the most quoted play
in
in the English language after Hamlet.” (Sanders 1994: 477-8).
The play consists ofa

The of a tension between truth andand falsehood,
falsehood, which are
are given equal
value and
and appear, in the
the end, to be
be mere rhetorical strategies. The play also contains plays on
strategies. The on
language and
and meaning. Many critics have noted the extraordinarily verbal nature of this play.
Wilde subordinated every other dramatic element to to dialogue forfor its own
own sake and create
createaa
verbal universe in which the
the characters are determined by the kind of things they say, with the
plot nothing but
butaa succession of
of opportunities to say
say them. It is remarkable forWilde's
for Wilde’s use of
use of
aphorisms (a(a sentence containing
containingaa wise or
or witty comment): “In married life three is company and
“Inmarried and
two none”; “All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No
No man
man does. That’s
That's his”.
Filled with wit and

and wisdom, TheThe Importance
lmpodance of of Being Earnest tells the the tale of Jack
Worthing (a (a respectable provincial Justice of thethe Peace) and Algernon Moncrieff. Both young
men
men have taken to bending the truth in order to add add aa dash ofof excitement to their lives. Jack
has invented an an imaginary brother, Ernest, whom he he uses as an excuse to to escape from his his
dull home in the the country and
and to justify his to his
his frequent trips to his bachelor rooms up in London.
Algernon usesusesaa similar technique, only in in reverse. His imaginary friend, Bunbury, provides
providesaa
convenient and and frequent excuse for for taking excursions in in the country. Since the
reader/audience finds no no description of the
the Dramatis personae at the beginning of
atthe of the play, the
the
reader/audience has to accept the disguises. However, Jack's
has to Jack’s andand Algernon's
Algernon’s deceptions
eventually cross paths, resulting in inaa series of crises that threaten to spoil their romantic
pursuits:
pursuits: Jack of of his love Gwendolen Fairfax and
hislove and Algernon of of his
his sweetheart Cecily Cardew.
The
The play, as are
as are most farces, is constructed on a
on a series of secrets; the
secrets; the action arises from
disclosure or the fear of disclosure. Unlike most farces, however, deception and and deceit in The
The
Importance of of Being Earnest are given relatively light moral value. The The lies Jack and Algernon
tell at the beginning,
at the the reader/audience thinks are
beginning, which the are faintly immoral, actually turn out to
be the real truth of the
be the the situation.
You can
You can know whether you have read aa play attentively when you you
are
are able
able toto define each main
main character. Can you provide
Can you provide three defining
defining
characteristics the protagonists
characteristics for the protagonists of
of the play?
play? Can
Can youyou say
say which
scenes
scenes in the play
in the play led you to your opinion
led you opinion of
of these characters?
characters?
26
The play was

The was subtitled
subtitledA A Trivial
Trivial Comedy
Comedy for
forSerious People and
and in this context it is
remarkable that the the word ‘serious’ appears seventeen times, whereas theword the word ‘trivial’
‘trivial’ appears
only three times (including twice as as ‘triviality’): “one must be serious about something,
something, if oneone
wants to to have any amusement in life …
inlife You [Jack] have such an absolutely trivial nature”.
... You
This makes the the audience wonder whether this means that the the play is more ‘serious’ than
‘trivial’.
‘trivial’. Famous aphorisms are, for example, “The General was was essentially
essentiallyaa man
man of peace,
except in his his domestic life,” (Act III) and
and “Divorces are made in Heaven” (Act III). Wilde is
relying upon his audience’s familiarity with Restoration comedy (1660-1700) and
hisaudience's and later comedy
of manners (social habits and
ofmanners and customs), especially those of of the upper classes (Congreve and
Sheridan, or Austen in the
in the novel). The
The picaresque Jack was ‘found’ which is a a
says he was
reference to to Henry Fielding’s
Fielding's 1749 novel History of Tom Tom Jones,a
Jones, a Foundling andand is confirmed
later onon in the
the play by
by Lady Bracknell who who wonders whether Jack will be be ‘another Tom’. This is
why, referring both to An An Ideal Husband and to to The Importance of
of Being Earnest, Sanders
explains:
The real achievement of these plays lies neither in their temporary notoriety, nor
The nor really in their polished
and
and anti-sentimental surfaces, butbut in their undercurrents of boredom, disillusion, alienation and,
occasionally, real feeling. In both, despite their delightful evocations of flippancy and
and snobbery and
despite their abrupt shifts in attitudes and
and judgments,
judgments, Wilde triumphed in in capturing
capturingaa fluid, intensely
funny, mood of‘irresponsibility’
of ‘irresponsibility’ which challenges all pretension except that of the
the artifice of the plays
of the
themselves. (Sanders 1994:
themselves. 1994: 477-8)
The stage at
The at the time presented what was
was called ‘Society Drama,’ that is, plays of
modern life set
set in the
the rarefied world of
of the upper classes. These plays could be
be witty and
and
frivolous light comedies; or they could be
be ponderous dramatic treatises on on difficult social
issues, most often the
the sexual ‘double standard’ and
and the ‘problem’ of the ‘fallen woman.’ We
We
hear
hearaa parodic echo ofsuch
of such plays when Jack Worthing (played by by Alexander), inin the final act
act
of The
of The Importance
lmpodance of Being Earnest, says of
ofBeing of Miss Prism (who he mistakenly believes to be be his
long-lost and
and unmarried mother), “who has thethe right to casta
cast a stone against oneone who
who hashas
suffered? Cannot repentance wipe outout an act
act of Why should there be
of folly? Why be one
one law for
for men
men
and
and another for
for women?” (Act III). Of
Of course, Wilde pokes fun fun at the institution
at the institution of marriage,
which he saw
saw as
asaa practice surrounded by hypocrisy and
and absurdity.
Although the play ends happily, The
The Importance
Impodance of Being Earnest nevertheless leaves
ofBeing
the audience under the
the impression that marriage and
and social values are often tied together in
destructive ways. Ultimately, the aristocracy does not
Ultimately, the not see marriage as an
an organ of
of love, but
but
rather as
as aa tool for achieving or sustaining social stature. While Lady Bracknell is interviewing
Jack in Act III, she
inAct she asks him what his income is:
hisincome
Jack: Between seven and and eight thousand a year.

Lady Bracknell:
Bracknell: (makes a note in her book) In land, or in investments?
chiefly.
Jack: In investments, chiefly.
Lady Bracknell: is satisfactory. What between the
Bracknell: That issatisfactory. the duties expected of
of one
one during
one’s and the
one's lifetime and the duties exacted from one after one’s
one's death, land has
has ceased to
to be
either aa profit or
or aa pleasure. It gives one
one position and
and prevents one up.
one from keeping it up.
That’s all
That's that can
allthat can bebe said about land. (Act III)
Lady Bracknell is as
as opposed toto theownership
the ownership of
of large stretches of private property as
as
is the
the most ardent socialist,
socialist, but
but this does not mean that she
notmean she is against the class system. Quite
the contrary: she
she is devoted to to preserving the privileges enjoyed by the upper classes, and and
rejects Jack because of of his
his possible lower-class origins without feeling any any pangs of of
conscience. This is the
the major theme oftheplay.
of the play.
27
27
Gender
Gender roles are then exposed as
roles are as seriously
seriously threatened atat the same
same
time as
as consumerist to redefine
consumerist values seem to redefine and
and resettle the patriarchal
resettle the patriarchal
system
system
Wilde’s aim
Wilde's aim in writing
writing The
The Importance
lmpodance of Being Earnest was
ofBeing was anti-morality,
anti-morality,aa revision of
Victorian priorities:
priorities: “that we
we should treat all the
the trivial things of life seriously and
and all the
the serious
things of life with sincere andand studied triviality.” His
His inversion of priorities is delightful as
as an
an
antidote to Victorian sincerity andand earnestness,
earnestness, but ultimately is limited by by its very sense ofof
opposition: not an
opposition: an alternative morality,
morality, but
but rather anti-morality. This power toto subvert is the
the
feature that Robert Barnard has praised in his
his Short
Shod History of English Literature:
Literature:
On the surface the play is drawing-room comedy raised to the point of fantasy: Wilde takes certain
On
literary conventions (babies mixed up at birth, girls with impossibly romantic dreams about the man man they
will marry, people with double identities andand so on) and
so on) and he
he pushes them into the realm of But
of absurdity. But
always, even at its most preposterous,
preposterous, there is an
an undertow of reality,a
reality, a tang of wildly unorthodox social
comment and above all
andabove alla a desire to shoot down Victorian morality. (Barnard 1984:
1984: 186-7)
the comic techniques Wilde employs we

Among thecomic we should highlight his use
use of incongruity
(that is, there exists
existsaa great distance between what theaudience
the audience expects to
to happen and what
actually happens) and characters’ use
and timing (timing achieved both through the characters' use of pauses and
also through Wilde's
Wilde’s finding of the
the right moment toinserta
to insert a comic motif).
Wilde also uses flippant wit (although sometimes, his wit is not
hiswitis not really flippant yet
yet has
has aa
purpose) such as, for example, Algernon's
as,forexample, Algernon’s line “All women become like their mothers”. One One of
Wilde’s wit
the ways Wilde's wit manifests itself is in puns (plays on
on words), like the
the one
one in the
the title,
title, for
for
running throughout the entire play is thethe double meaning behind the word earnest, which
functions homonymously both asasaa male name andandasas an describing seriousness.
an adjective describing seriousness.
CECILY: You
You must notlaugh
not laugh at me, darling, but
at me, but it had
had always been a girlish dream of
of
to love some one
mine to one whose name was was Ernest ... is something in
... There is in that name
that seems to to inspire absolute confidence. II pity anyany poor married woman whose
is not called Ernest (Act III)
husband isnotcalled III)
The play has

The has often been described as as aa brilliant satire (satire uses
comedy
comedy not not as
as an
an end
end in
in itself
itself but
but as
as a a weapon to to deride)
deride) and
and praised
praised
for its
for its useuse of
of parody
parody based
based on on aphorisms,
aphorisms, often
often to do do with marriage
marriage
(Algernon’s
(Algernon's line that ‘Divorces are are made in Heaven’). These aphorisms, aphorisms,
also
also called
called epigrams, mockmock our
our own own preconceived
preconceived ideasideas about
about marriage,
marriage,
which is is generally viewed asas aa sacrosanct institution
institution
The clearest example of

The of parody occurs
occurs when
when Gwendolen states that that the
the home is “the
proper sphere forthe
for the man,” which
which is of
of course
courseaa reversal of one
one of
of the
the most striking
striking maxims of
of
the time. There is also irony in Jack saying that telling the
thetime. the truth is
isa a “terrible thing” and
and in Lady
Bracknell telling
telling Jack
Jack to
to “acquire some
some relations as
as soon as
as possible,” not knowing that that one
one of
of
them will be
be herself. Role-playing and
and reversal of roles, as
as well as
as intrigue,
intrigue, have traditionally
been an aid to comedy.
aidtocomedy.
28
28
One
One final technique Wilde employs in in this comedy is thethe absurd, as as when Algernon
states “one cannot
cannot forget
forget that
that one
one is married”. Overall, The The Importance of of Being Earnest has
has
many goals. It pokes fun fun at
at the
the aristocracy, thethe literary world, marriage, English manners and
customs, women, men, love, religion, religion, and
and all sorts of other staples of of modern society.
Furthermore,
Furthermore, it does so in inaa lighthearted
lighthearted fashion. But the comic in its most brilliant aspect uses
But the
laughter as an end
as an end in
in itself and the comic in Wilde's
and the Wilde’s play uses laughter often merely as an end
an end
in
in itself. The
The audience often finds that the the play’s
play's reason forfor being is not
not located outside the
play but inside since it is often self-referential - which is what makes Wildea Wilde a precursor of
of
Beckett
Beckett (Endgame, Waiting
Waiting for Godot and
forGodot Watt) and
and Watt) and Stoppard
Stoppard (The Rea1
Real Inspector Hound).
Hound).
Wilde’s careful
Wilde's careful use
use of
of dialogue
dialogue contributes to atmosphere
contributes to atmosphere and
and moves
moves
action forward. In
action forward. this play
In this play most
most of the archetypical
of the archetypical in
in characters and in
characters and in
situations
situations isis build
build up through language
up through language rather than stage
rather than stage directions,
directions, could
could
you think
you think of
of instances where stage
instances where stage directions
directions overtake the cascade
overtake the cascade of
of
words that
words that constitute the dialogues
constitute the dialogues in the play?
in the play?
Gender roles are

are then exposed as seriously threatened atat the same time as consumerist
values seem toredefine
to redefine and
and resettle the
the patriarchal system.
3. ACTIVITIES
3.ACTIVITIES
3.1. Test yourself

yourself
1.
1. Briefly explain the immediate consequences of Darwin’s theories.
ofDarwin's theories.
2. Briefly explain Nietzsche’s
Nietzsche's concept of of eternal recurrence and and its
its relation to
literary changes.
3. is the main consequence of
3. What isthemain of the new approach to
the new to language started by by
Saussure?
4.
4. Briefly explain the importance of of Freud’s
Freud's theory ofof the unconscious and and the
the
literary changes this discovery brought about.
5.
5. What is meant by theterm
ismeant the term ‘New Woman’?
6.
6. Find examples from the for each of
the play for the techniques of
ofthe of comedy (that appear
at
at the
the end of of the
the section on
on Wilde) that are said to bebe used inin The
The Importance
of Being Earnest.
ofBeing
7. Define satire.
satire. What/who can be the
can be objects (called ‘butts’) of satire? What do
theobjects do
you
you think Wilde satirises?
8. How
How areare women categorized in the play? In other words, what moral or or
physical features serve to perceive them as as characters embodying different
values?
9. Given that characterisation in this play is is not performed by a narrator, how how
does Wilde create his characters? How How are they fleshed out? Analyse two or
three characters and and show how Wilde provides insights into their
personalities.
29
29
3.2. Overview questions:
1.
1. Is The Importance of
Is The Being Earnest a play about ‘earnestness’ or ‘dishonesty’?
ofBeing
2. Why
Why is Oscar Wilde's
Wilde’s play a key
key text to explain the changes taking place in
England at
at the
the turn of
of the last century?
3.3. Explore:
1.
1. The
the Importance of of Being Earne:St explores the dynamics confronting an
being Earnest an
agonizing social system based on the
the aristocratic landownership and
and the new
new
and
and emergent middle class and
and itscapitalistic
its capitalistic views. Discuss.
Discuss.
2. Read the following extract from Oliver Schreiner’s

thefollowing Schreiner's short story ‘Three Dreams in
in
a Desert’ and
and answer the questions below:
thequestions
And II awoke: and

And and all about me
allabout was the
me was the yellow afternoon light, the the sinking
sun up the
sun lit up the fingers of the
the milk bushes; and my horse stood by
and my by me
me quietly
feeding. And I
feeding. And I turned on my
on my side and I
and I watched the
the ants run
run by thousands in
in
the
the red
red sand. II thought II would go on my my way
way now
now —the afternoon was was
cooler. Then a drowsiness crept over me me again and
andII laid back my my head and
fell asleep.
AndII dreamed a dream.
And
II dreamed
dreamedII saw a land. And And onon the hills walked brave women and and brave
men, hand in hand. And
inhand. And they looked into each other's
other’s eyes and not
and they were not
afraid.
AndII saw
And the women also hold each other’s
saw the other's hands.
AndII said to him
And him beside me,
me, ‘What
What place isis this?’
And he
And he said, ‘This is heaven’.
AndII said, ‘Where
And is it?’
Where isit?’
And he
And he answered, ‘On earth’.
earth’.
AndII said, ‘When
And When shall these things be?’
And he
And he answered, ‘IN THE FUTURE.’
‘INTHE
And I awoke and all
AndI allabout me was the
me was the sunset light; and
and onon the low hills the
the low the
sun lay and
sun lay and aa delicious coolness had had crept over everything;
everything; and the ants were
and the
going slowly home. And And II walked towards my my horse, who who stood quietly
feeding. Then the sun passed down behind the
thesun the hills; but
butI I knew that the next
day
day he would rise again.
(Shreiner in Smith 1992:
1992: 280-1)
a) Why is
a) Why is the narrative talking about a dream?
b) What are
b) the implications brought about by the
aretheimplications the image of
of men
men
and in hand walking together?
and women hand inhand
c) Why
Why is heaven placed in the future?
d) Would you say that this short story is

saythat is politically biased?
e) The
The extract is
is the third dream of the number referred to in the
ofthenumber
title.
title. From the
the evidence ofof this dream and what hashas been
studied in the Unit, could you
you explain the symbolism ofof the
the
title?
30
30
I)f) Would you say that any

saythat any woman character in Wilde's
Wilde’s play could
have had
had this dream?
g)
g) Is this text dated?
Isthis
3.4. Key terms:

3.4. Key terms:
Absurd
Ambiguity
Avant garde
Janet qnrde
City
Comedy
Darwinism
Drama
Incongruity
Machine
Modern
New
New Woman
Parody
Play
Pun
Pun
Real reality
Time
Unconscious
4. BIBLIOGRAPHY
4. BIBLIOGRAPHY
bibliography:
-General bibliography:
ABRAMS, M.H., ed.
ed. 1993.
1993. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 6th
of ñnylish 6th Edition, Vol. II. New
Vol. II. New
York: W.W. Norton.
BARNARD, Robert.
Robert. 1984.
1984. Short History ofof English Literature. Cambridge:
ñnplish Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
CHILDS, Peter. 2001.
200 1. Modernism. London: Routledge.
Routledge.
ELLMAN, Richard. 1988.
1988. Oscar lVilde. New
O:scar Wilde. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
LEDGER, Sally and
and Roger LUCKHURST (eds.):
{eds.): The
The Fin
Min de
de Siècle:
lsiécle: AA Reader
Reader in
inCultural History
Hi:story
c. 1880-1 900. Oxford: O.U.P., 2000.
c.1880-1900.
RABY, Peter. 1995.
1995. The /mportnnce
Importance of
of Being firmest: AA Reader’s Companion. New
&einp Earnest: New York:
Twayne Publishers.
Publishers.
RICHARDSON, LeeLee Anne M.:
M.: The
The New
New Woman
lVomnn andrind Colonial Adventure Fiction in Victorian
Uictorinn
Britain: rind Empire. Gainesville:
&rftnin: Gender, Genre and Gainesville: University Press of
of Florida, 2006.
SHOWALTER, Elaine: Sexual
Sexun/ Anarchy: Gender
Gender and
rind Culture at the Fin
Min de Siécle. London:
de Siècle.
Bloomsbury, 1991.
199 1.
Web sites
Web sites
- Kipling, ‘The White Man’s
Man's Burden’ and
and British (and US)
US) Imperialism:
http://www.boondocksnet.com/kipling/index.html
- Oscar Wilde, the ballad of
of reading gaol:
http://www.classicbookshelf.com/library/oscar_wilde/the_ballad_of_reading_gaol/0/
- The
The Importance ofBeing
of Being Earnest:
http://www.pgileirdata.org/html/pgil_library/classics/Wilde,Oscar/Earnest03.htm
http://www.pgiIeirdata.org/html/pgiI_Iibrary/classics/WiIde,0scar/Earnest03.htm
-Fin de
de Siècle: The 1890s:
Siecle: The 1890s:
http://1890s.com
Wilde:
-Oscar Wilde:
ELLMANN, Richard: Oscar lVilde. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1988.
Oscar Wilde. 1988.
31
GAGNIER, Regenia:
Regenia: Idylls of the
the Marketplace: Oscar
Oscar Wilde
Wilde and
rind the Victorian Public. Stanford:
Uictorinn Public. Stanford:
Stanford University Press, 1986.
1986.
RABY, Peter:
Peter: Oscar lVilde. Cambridge: C.U.P., 1988.
Oscar Wilde. 1988.
RABY, Peter (ed.):
(ed.): The
The Cambridge Companion to lVi/de. Cambridge:
Oscar Wilde.
toOscar Cambridge: C.U.P., 1997.
1997.
SANDULESCU, C. George (ed.):
C.George (ed.): Rediscovering Oscar Wilde. Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe, 1994.
Oscar Wilde. 1994.
SLOAN, John: Oscar lVilde. Oxford: O.U.P., 2003.
O:scar Wilde.
WILDE, Oscar. 1959.
1959. The
The Importance of of Being Ernest. Great Neck, New
&einp Earnest. New York: Barron’s
Barron's
Educational Series.
—— 1989.
1989. Complete Works
Work:s of
of Oscar Wilde. New
Oscar Wilde. New York: Harper.
—— 1995. The Picture of Dorian Gray. New
1995. The New York: Barnes and
and Noble,
WORTH, Katherine: Oscar lVilde. New
O:scar Wilde. New York: Grove Press, 1984.
1984.
Web sites:
Web sites:
-Oscar Wilde (general aspects):
aspects):
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/wilde/wildeov.html
-The Official
Offciat Homepage of Oscar Wi1de
ofOscar Wilde (compiled by his grartdsort,
(compi1ed by grandson, Merlin Holland):
Holland):
http://www.cmgworlwide.com/historic/wilde/
-Oscar Wilde: Bibliography and
and Works:
http://online-literature.com/wilde/
-The
- The Importance of Being Earnest:
ofBeing Earnest:
http://www.pgileirdata.org/html/pgil_library/classics/Wilde,Oscar/Earnest03.htm
http://www.pgiIeirdata.org/html/pgiI_Iibrary/classics/WiIde,0scar/Earnest03.htm
32
32
UNIT 2
UNIT2 “The
”The White Man’s
Man's Burden”: Different Approaches to Imperialism in Literature
toImperialism
UNIT II
“The White Man’s
Man's Burden”:
Different Approaches to Imperialism in Literature
Programme
1.
1. PRESENTATION: ‘Dr Livingstone, I presume?’
‘DrLivingstone,I
2.
2. TEXT ANALYSIS:
2.1. An
An Act
Act of Self
Self Discovering:
Discovering: Joseph Conrad’s
Conrad's Heart of Darkness (1902)
ofDarkne:S:S
and
and the Congo Experience
2.2. E.M. Forster’s Web of Misunderstandings: A
Forster's Web A Passage
Pa:S:Sage to India
3. ACTIVITIES
4.
4. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Learning outcomes
- To analyze the relationship between empire and literature.
and literature.
- To discern the way
To way in which narratives written in England have shaped, supported
or undermined theconcept
the concept of
of British imperialism.
- To read with a critical and
To and open mind, allowing for for the experience ofof ‘the other’ to
take place in oneself.
oneself.
- To examine Joseph Conrad’s
To Conrad's Heart ofof Darkness and
and E.M. Forster’s
Forster's AA Passage
Package to
to
India as representative texts of this specific time and
/ndin and spirit.
spirit.
1.
1. PRESENTATION: ‘Dr Livingstone, I presume’?
‘DrLivingstone,I
This Unit sets out to explore the relationship between empire and
and literature,
literature, elaborating on
on the
question of Empire in relation to narratives written in England which have shaped, supported or
undermined the
the concept of
of British imperialism.
imperialism.
Two different accounts of
Two of British imperial experience will be
be explored.
explored. Written in different times
and
and focusing onon different locations,
locations, Africa and
and India,
India, both narratives show concerns surrounding notions
of home, nation, race, identity, and
and belonging. In doing so,so, other objectives brought up
up by topics related
to fiction, such as language and and form, will come tothefore,
to the fore, as
as will nationality, subjectivity, history,
nationality, subjectivity,
sexuality, and social class.
sexuality, gender, and
Dealing with Empire and and colonial issues it is important to acknowledge the the engrossing
contribution by the Colonial and
by the and Post-Colonial
Post-Colonial Studies, particularly,
particularly, but
but not
not exclusively,
exclusively, by
by thinkers such
as Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak and and Stuart Hall, who
who have intensively criticised
criticised European and American
imperialism. Others, such as Frantz Fanon or Kuan-Hsing Chen, instead of looking at outside powers of
orKuan-Hsing of
colonialism,
colonialism, have focused on on individuals and
and onon language to to detect the particular and and complex
questions raised by
by colonialism and
and post-colonialism as
as well as
as culture.
culture.
The contribution of these authors and many others is acknowledged and generally supports the main line of the argument presented here, but it is
impossible to deal in depth with the difficult and complex sets of ideas of each, then use the bibliography if interested in specific subjects.
After centuries of neglect, Europeans began toexpand

to expand their influence into Africa. During the c19
c19
wasaa full-grown land seizure in Africa by
there was the European powers. Africa became
by the becameaa primary source
of trade after 1880. This is called ‘the scramble forAfrica.’
of for Africa.’ For
For many reasons, according to Muriel
Evelyn Chamberlain, for Africa was
Chamberlain, the scramble forAfrica was fuelled not so
so much byby conditions in Africa, but
but by the
by the
nd
nd
economic, social and
and political conditions in Europe during the2
the 2 half of the
the c19.
11
UNIT 2
UNIT2 “The
toImperialism
The scramble had

The had become fierce by by 1884, asas France, Britain, Germany and
and Portugal had
had all
staked claims on the previous
on African territory within the previous55 years. From 1515 Nov 1884 toto 20 Jan 1885, the
Berlin Conference, under the
the chairmanship of of Bismark, was
was convened tosetup
to set up the
the rules of the
the rush to
colonise. On 26 February 1885, these decisions had
On 26 had been made:
•· Any sovereign
Any sovereign power which
which wanted
wanted to
to claim
claim any
any territory
territory should
should inform the
the other powers ‘in order to
fo ... make
any claim of their own.’
good any
•· Any such
Any such annexation
annexation should be validated by
be validated effective occupation.
by effective occupation.
•· Treaties with
Treaties with African
African rulers were
were tobe
to be considereda
considered a valid
valid title
title toto sovereignty.
sovereignty.
•· The powers were
The were free
free to
to navigate the
the Congo
Congo and
and Niger Rivers.
was no precedent in world history to justify one
There was one continent’s
continent's boldly talking about the
distribution and
distribution and occupation of
of the territory of another continent. The European explorers of Africa:
The
Seldom
Seldom hadhad men
men ofof their
their own race with
own race with them,
them, and they often
and they found their
often found their African
African hosts
hosts strange
strange and
and
unpredictable, and
unpredictable, feared their
and feared their hostility.
hostility. In this situation
In this they created
situalion lhey their own
created lheir image of
own image of themselves.
themselves.
They must
They must be wise —— sometimes
be wise sometimes they
they even resorted to
even resorted to fireworlcs,
fireworks, musical boxes or
musical boxes or electric batteries to
electric batteries to
overawe
overawe surprised
surprised tribes
tribes and
and establish their reputations
establish their reputations as near magicians.
as near magicians. They
They must
must bebe strong,
strong, always
always
keeping their
lceeping word and
their word never showing
and never showing physical weakness. They
physical wealcness. They must maintain that
must maintain that British
British tradition
tradition of
of
the ‘stiff
the upper lip’
‘stiff upper lip’ and never show
and never show emotion
emotion (Chamberlain
(Chamberlain 1974:
1974: 28-9).
28-9).
It is worthwhile to mention the poem ‘The ‘The White Man’s

Man's Burden’ (Kipling,
(Kipling, 1895). Published in
McClure’s
McClure's Magazine in February 1899, the poem appeared at ataa critical moment in the the debate about
imperialism. Although Kipling’s
Kipling's text mixed exhortation to empire with sober warnings of of the costs
involved,
involved, imperialists appropriated the phrase ‘white man’s burden’ as
‘white man's asaa euphemism forimperialism,
for imperialism,
one that seemed tojustify
one to justify the
the policy as
as aa noble enterprise.
enterprise. Anti-imperialists quickly responded with
parodies of
of the poem. The
The poem was not quickly forgotten.
notquickly forgotten. The
The following are
are the
the first two
two stanzas:
Take up
Tame up the White Man’s
theWhite burden
Man's burden
Send forth the
Send forth the best
best ye
ye breed
breed
Go, bind your
Go, bind your sons
sons to
to exile
exile
To serve
To your captives’
serve your need;
captives’ need;
To wait,
To wait, in
in heavy harness,
heavy harness,
On
On fluttered
fluttered folk
folk and wild
and wild
Your
Your new-caught
new-caught sullen peoples,
sullen peoples,
Half
Half devil
devil and
and half
half child.
child.
Take up
Tame up the White Man’s
theWhite burden
Man's burden
In
In patience
patience to
to abide,
abide,
To veil
To veil the
the threat
threat of
of terror
terror
And check
And the show
check the show of pride;
ofpride;
By
By open
open speech
speech and
and simple,
simple,
AA hundred
hundred times
times made
made plain,
plain,
To seek
To seem another’s profit
another's profit
And worlc
And work another’s
another's gain.
gain.
(Web site: Kipling, ‘The White Man’s
Man's Burden’ and
and British— and
and U.S. —
— Imperialism)
The popularized image of

The the ‘white man's
ofthe man’s burden’ that the the Empire created became theepitome
the epitome
of the
of the Victorian adventurer. Sometimes it involved trivialities,trivialities, like Harry Johnston’s
Johnston's insistence onon
for dinner in the
dressing for the jungle, but the
the concept of ofaa ‘gentleman’,
‘gentleman’, whose word was was his bond and who
hisbond who
was chivalrous to those weaker than himself,
was himself, especially towards women, was very meaningfulmeaningful to many
Victorians. A new
Victorians.A new sense of of racial superiority had
had emerged, of of which the
the Europeans’ perception that they
had
had the right to do do what they liked with Africa was was only one one manifestation. This may may well be the
be the
explanation of of H. M.
M. Stanley’s
Stanley's allegedly strange greeting to David Livingstone when, having been sent
in search ofof the latter, he
he finally found him living inina a village onon the
the shores ofof Lake Tanganyika in 1871:
“Dr
“Dr Livingstone,
Livingstone,II presume.”Whether
presume.” Whether true or oraa fabrication, thethe celerity with which these words became
becameaa
popular quotation provides evidence as to to the general perception held at the time on on the matter.
Stanley’s account of death and destruction in Africa and particularly in the Congo region, which he also explored, and his legacy of detail
descriptions of atrocities infringed upon the natives have been considered an inspiration to Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (Sherry, 1980: 119).
22
UNIT22 “The
15 th and 16 th centuries was

th th
The concept of
The of British Empire started in the
the late 15 and early 16 was constantly
nd
nd
expanded reaching its peak from the2the 2 half of the
the c19
c19 until 1947 when theindependence
the independence of of India was
was
declared. India, known forits
for its riches as
as ‘the Jewel in the
the Crown’, was
was thoroughly exploited: the British
exploited: the
East India Company controlled trade interests from 1600 until the the Sepoy Mutiny in in 1857 when its rule
was transferred to the
was the crown. The
The British-Indian Empire was
was established under direct rule by the Queen
by the
in 1858. Througha
Through a ‘Royal Title Act’, in 1876, Queen Victoria was
was declared Empress of India.
ofIndia.
After the rebellion of 1857 the

the British became more circumspect.
circumspect. Much thought was was devoted to to
the causes of
the the rebellion, and
ofthe and from it three main lessons were drawn. AtaAt a more practical level, it was
was
felt that there needed tobe
to be more communication and and camaraderie between the the British and
and Indians—not
just between British army officers andand their Indian staff but
but in civilian life as
as well. It was
was now
now felt that
traditions and
and customs in India were too too strong and
and too rigid to
to be
be changed easily; consequently, no no
more British social interventions were made, especially in matters dealing with religion, even when the the
the
British felt very strongly about the issue (as in the instance of the remarriage of
of Hindu child widows).
It is precisely these change on attitudes towards the colony that E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India explores.
All in all, the

the prevailing attitude in Britain regarding colonialism was
was that expansion of
of British
control around the globe waswas good foreveryone
for everyone and, around the turn of thethe century, the colonies
evolved into the
the ‘dominions’ of the Commonwealth.
2. TEXT ANALYSIS
2.TEXT
In the
the following sections we
we shall read and
and study two
two texts that interact with the main tenets
briefly exposed up to to here. Perhaps one of of the
the main challenges in this Unit is the
the need to
to overcome
ourselves so we we can
can fully understand the issues related to empire and and colonialism in relation to
literature.
literature. Accepting that each ofof us, whether as individuals or in groups, is always an
us,whether an ‘other’ to
to ‘others’
might be the first step in the
the right direction.
direction. In doing so, the experience gained when reading these
so, from the
we shall, it is hoped, engage in the
texts, we the difficult and
and discomfiting act of living differently by
by living
difference.
difference.
2.1. An
2.1. An Act
Act of
of Self
Self Discovering:
Discovering:
Joseph Conrad’s
Joseph Conrad's Heart
Heart of
of Darkness
Darkness and the Congo
and the Congo Experience
Experience
Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) was was born near Berdichef, in the

the Polish Ukraine, asas Josef Teodor
Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski on3 on 3 December. He was an only child. His
He was wasaa man
His father was man of letters and
and
aa poet as well asas one the best translators of Shakespeare into Polish. His
one of the His mother was
wasaa fascinating
and
and learned woman with rather fragile health. Both parents held strong sympathies with the the Polish
insurrectionists and
and there were often revolutionary meetings at at the family household. Suspected of
of
political activism and
and plotting against the Russian government, the Konrads were deported to to Vologda,
about 300
300 miles north-east of Moscow. The The hardship ofof the journey andand the extreme conditions in
Vologda proved too much for for Conrad’s
Conrad's mother, who
who died three years later in 1865, after the
the family was
was
allowed to move south to Kiev.
The political involvement and secretive life led by his family made Joseph Conrad a lonely and reserved boy. He had no friends
of his own age and became increasingly self-absorbed. Most importantly, from a very early age he was engrossed in books and by
literature as a way of escaping the rather claustrophobic society that surrounded him.
Joseph Conrad wasa
was a voracious reader. Through the the books he read (including those by authors
such as Sir Walter Scott, Charles Dickens,
SirWalter Dickens, William M.M. Thackeray and James Fennimore Cooper) he
could imagine countries and
and distant lands where it was
was possible to speak freely and
and to act according to
one’s views. Yet
one's Yet it was
was not
not in
ina a country but at
at sea
sea that he, whena
when a grown-up,
grown-up, experienced the liberty he
he
had for during his
had yearned forduring his childhood.
childhood.
33
UNIT22 “The
After his mother’s

mother's death Conrad lived with his father, who who was
was allowed to leave Vologda and
finally settle in Krakow where he died four years later. Conrad then went to to live with his maternal uncle,
Tadeusz Bobrowsky, who who would remain
remainaa loving and and supporting family member forConrad.for Conrad. Conrad
found the education given to him him by his
his uncle not interesting enough and, after afteraa trip through the north
of Italy and
and Switzerland, he he decided not to return to Poland. During this trip he
not to he saw the sea
saw the for the
sea for the first
time and, against all odds, decided that he he wanted toto be
beaa sailor.
sailor.
Conrad went to to sea when he he was seventeen and and continued to sail for for almost twenty years.
During two
two years at at Marseille he
he signed on on with different ships and
and had for the first time, contact with the
had forthe
British Empire when he he sailed to Martinique first and and then India. In 1878, when he he was twenty, joined
of an English ship, the
the crew ofan the Mavis, where he heard his first words of
hisfirst of English. He He arrived in England
on 18 June, andand started his career as asaa sailor in the
the British Merchant Service. He was promoted several
He was
times in the
the next few
few years. In 1885, when on board the Tikhurst, he he received official notice of his British
citizenship. Two years later, as
citizenship. Two as first officer on the Highland Forest, he
on the was injured when aa mast
he was
collapsed. As As a
a result of the
the injuries suffered he was
he was hospitalised in Singapore. He
He recounted this
experience in Lord Jim. The The title of
of this novel was
was inspired byby aa man
man Conrad met four years later while
he was aboard the Vidar. Jim
he was Jim Lingard, nicknamed ‘Lord Jim’ by by his fellow sailors, was the
sailors, was the man who
man who
would become themodel
the model forthe
for the novel’s
novel's main character.
The sea was an important source of inspiration for Joseph Conrad’s writings. Many of his novels and short stories have the sea or a
boat as a background to the action. Indeed, the sea is often an image for and symbol of his characters’ inner turbulences.
In 1886 at
at about the time Conrad becamebecameaa British citizen he
he wrote hishis first short story, ‘The
Black Mate’, which he entered in ina a literary competition but with no
no success. This first failure diddid not
not
deter Conrad from writing; during the next three years he he began his first novel Almayer's
hisfirst Almayer’s Folly. In 1894
he gave up his career asa
hiscareer as a sailor and
and sent his
his novel to T. Fisher Unwin forpublication.
for publication.
In 1890 Conrad was

was transferred to the
the Belgian Société anonyme pourpour Ie
le commerce du Haut-
Congo to to take command of of one
one of the company’s Congo River steamers. This experience would
of thecompany's
of the basis for Heart
eventually become one ofthebasis for Head of Darkness. Conrad’s
ofDarkness. was severely weakened in
Conrad's health was
Africa and
and hehe returned to England to
to recover his
his strength. Afterwards,
Afterwards, he
he signed on
on with the
the Adowa
sailing the
the London-Rouen-London route.
In 1894, as
as already seen, he he left the
the sea. He
He married Jessie George,
George,aa woman seventeen years
younger than he. The
The Conrads had two sons and apart from the financial difficulties that always followed
them their marriage waswasaa fairly happy one, even though Jessie had had to cope with Conrad’s
Conrad's difficult
temperament. Conrad took his
temperament. his literary career asas seriously as
as he
he had
had taken being
beingaa sailor and, even
was far
though it was far less profitable, he
profitable, he continued to write intensely and carefully.
and carefully.
Heart
Head of Darkness was
ofDarkness was first serialised
serialised between 1898 and 1899 in ‘Blackwood’s
‘Blackwood's Magazine.’ Lord
Jim ran
ran serially in the
the same Magazine between 1899 and 1900. In In 1902 the
the volume Youth and and Other
Other
Stories was
was published.
published. It included Heart
Hea/I ofof Darkness
Dan/mess and The EndEnd of
of Tether, and
and it was
was well received.
During these years he he met
met many literary icons whowho became friends.
friends. They included H.G. Wells, Henry
James andand theAmerican
the American journalist Stephen Crane. Among his was the
hisfriends was the writer,
writer, Ford Madox Ford,
with whom he collaborated from 1898 until 1905. Part of this collaboration, The
hecollaborated The Nature of of Crime, was
was
published posthumously in 1924. After the the first publication of his work he devoted himself totally to to
literature,
literature, producing
producingaa wide range of of both fictional and
and non-fictional works. ToTo mention butbutaa few, in
1906 his autobiography The
hisautobiography The Mirror
Mirror of the Sea was published,
Sea was published, followed by
by The
The Secret Agent during the
following year. Other works included Nostromo, Typhoon, Under Under Western Eyes and Victory. In 1913 his his
great critical and
and popular success Chance, was was published. The number of
published. The works Conrad wrote was
ofworks was due
due
to his
to financial needs more than to
hisfinancial to anything else.
Conrad was actually a rather slow writer pressurised by the need of money to maintain his family. Although by 1900 he was quite
famous, literature failed to provide him with an adequate income. He was lucky enough to meet George Bernard Shaw and John
Galsworthy, who both helped him by lending him money and by recommending him to publishers and critics.
44
UNIT22 “The
Conrad had settled in England in 1883 because he was was an Anglophile who
who thought that Britain
respected individual
individual liberty.
liberty. English was
was to become his
histhird language, and, in an
an apparent paradox, the
language he chose for for his The later years of
his writing. The of his
his life were shadowed by ill health and and
rheumatism. He was offered, but
He was but declined, honorary degrees from five universities.
universities. Not
Not long before his
death in 1924, he declined a knighthood offered by
he also declineda by King George V.
V. Conrad died of ofaa heart attack
and was buried in Canterbury.
and was Canterbury.
Heart
Head of Darkness is perhaps Conrad’s
ofDarkness exploration of evil and
Conrad's finest exploration and otherness.
otherness. Several stories
in the
the novel are linked to the
the main theme of imperialism and
ofimperialism and imperial attitudes.
attitudes. It is now
now well known that
many ofConrad's
of Conrad’s writings were, to an an extent, autobiographical. Heart
Head of Darkness is no
ofDarkness exception.
no exception.
Conrad used his journal and
hisjournal and the
the notes he
he took when he was working in thethe Congo as the starting point
as thestarting
of his novel. To
To that he the impressions of
he added the of explores such as H. M. Stanley’s, as has
Stanley's, as has been said
above.
Conrad’s
onrod's intention in writing the novel was
was to make his readers aware of the situation he
he found in the Congo.
ongo. What was
nos this reality?
How
How is it portrayed in the
the narrative?
By
By 1890, when Conrad went tothe to the Congo, it was
was anan independent country, État
Etat Indépendent
lndépendent du
Congo. Yet, the the reality was
was very different.
different. A A small number of of Europeans owned most of of the
the land.
Leopold II, King of of the Belgians, was one
Belgians, was one of the biggest landowners.
landowners. Leopold’s
Leopold's only interest in the
the
Congo was in exploiting its riches and and making, as he he did,
did,aa fortune out of it. The
The situation Conrad saw
saw
when hehe arrived in Africa shocked him greatly and and made him question the right of Europeans to
himquestion to exploit
their colonies. The
The colonisation of thethe Congo was, as Conrad later pointed out, “the vilest scramble of of
loot that ever
ever disfigured the history of human conscience” and and this view is transmitted throughout Heart
Head
of Darkness. Nonetheless,
ofDarkness. Nonetheless, bear in mind that Conrad is neither neitheraa politician nor
nor reformer witha
with a political
agenda to to promote nor
nor is he
he a a historian recording facts in anan objective manner. Conrad is, above all, an an
artist trying to understand hishis personal experience by rendering it into intoaa polyphonic narrative: for this
reason, there are no no answers in Conrad’s
Conrad's Heart
Head of Darkness.
ofDarkness.
In the
the novel the
the reader will finda
find a constant
‹Instant questioning of the apparent and the obvious
ofivious that
thot has
has the intention of revealing the reality
behind the
the façade.
facade. Therefore, readers should be constantly
‹instantly aware of the
the ambivalent quality of the language used in the
the narrative and
and the
multiple meanings of words.
Colonialism, civilisation and

and progress are, then, thethe elements introduced into the
the narrative;
narrative;
tensional forces constantly being challenged and and questioned.
questioned. Regardless of
of the setting of the
the story and
and
the fact that in the
the the Congo exploitation was
was particularly cruel and
and savage, many of the concerns explored
oftheconcerns
in the
the novel applied to Britain and the British colonies.
and the colonies.
As already pointed out, the

As the question of the Empire and and the
the colonial issues related to it was, by
the 1890s,
the 1890s,aa subject of public debate in Britain. From thelate the late c15
c15 onwards Britain’s
Britain's foreign policy hadhad
been one ofof territorial
territorial expansion. The The supporters of of imperialism,
imperialism, as as discussed already, did not see see thethe
acquisition of overseas territories as as domination or exploitation.
exploitation. Quite the opposite (and the degree of of
cynicism here depends on the the personal profits obtained): it was was considered aa means of of liberating
peoples from tyrannical rule and and of bringing the blessing of the Christian religion and, above all, the the
advantages of ofaa superior civilisation to the
civilisation to the colonised.
colonised. In the novel this debate is made explicit when
Marlow recounts his his conversation with his aunt on on visiting her to say
her to say goodbye before sailing to the the
Congo:
It
It appeared,
appeared, however,
however,II waswas also
also one
one of the Worlcers,
of the Workers, with
with aa capital
capital —— you
you know.
know. Something like an
Something like an
emissary
emissary of light, something
of light, like aa lower
something lilce lower sort
sort of
of apostle. There has
apostle. There has been
been a lot of such
a lotof rot let loose in
such rotletloose in
print and
print talk just
and talk just about that time,
about that time, and the excellent
and the woman, living
excellent woman, right in
living right in the
the rush
rush of
of all that
allthat
humbug, got
humbug, got carried
carried off
off her feet. She
her feel. talked about
She talked about ‘weaning
‘weaning those ignorant millions
those ignorant millions from their
from their
horrid ways,’
horrid ways,’ till,
till, upon
upon my
my word,
word, she made me
she made me quite uncomfortable.
quite uncomfortable.
(Norton 2000: 1965)
55
UNIT22 “The
For
For all High Victorianism strongly believed in the the moral duty due
due to
to the colonies the truth is that,
by the end
by the end of the the c19, aa certain disillusionment prevailed as as aa result of the
the discrepancy between
humanitarian ideals and the reality of colonial exploitation:
and the exploitation: “I ventured to
to hint that the
the Company was run run
for profit” (Norton 2000: 1965),
for 196s), says Marlow. Nonetheless,
Nonetheless, the character symbolising this discrepancy in the the
novel is Kurtz and and the result, a a self-tortured
self-tortured corrupted idealist,
idealist, is not
not very appealing although Kurtz
appears to to be the
the person one
one longs toto meet in the
the story.
At the
At the beginning ofof the novel Marlow, however, seems tofollow
to follow the argument forthe
for the need ofof
superior civilised
civilised peoples toto colonise those who
who are less developed and and so he starts talking about the
‘darkness’ of past, uncivilised
uncivilised European ages and thesalvation
the salvation of the
the efficiency of those who
who were more
advanced: “And this also ... hashas been one ofthedark
of the dark places ofof the earth” (Norton 2000: 1959). At
At this early
point in the
the narrative,
narrative, Marlow seems todefine
to define civilisation
civilisation and
and progress asas the taming of of darkness.
darkness. The
The
trading company he and Kurtz work forsymbolises
for symbolises progress. Yet, already in the the opening pages of the
of the
story he advances a little of
he advancesa of what he actually encountered during his his close contact with real colonisation:
colonisation:
The conquest of the earth, which mostly means thetaming

The the taking it away from those who
who have a different
complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not
not aa pretty thing when you
you loom
look into it too
too
the idea only.
much. What redeems it is the
(Norton
(Morton 2000: 1961)
The opposition civilised

The civilised/ / savage is brought into question by introducing the the savage element
the civilised world at
within the at the moment Marlow is remembering the the fact that in the
the past London was wasaa
savage territory colonised by by the Romans: “I was was thinking of very old old times, when the Romans first
theRomans
came here, nineteen hundred years ago ago —the other other day
day ...
... Light came out of this river since” (Norton
outofthis
The overlapping
2000: 1960). The overlapping of of narratorial time that occurs when Rome and the Romans arebrought
andthe are brought into
the text, so
the so long ago ago yet soso near, ‘the other day’, ‘yesterday’,
‘yesterday’, implies that, in fact, those who who believe
themselves to to be civilised and
and progressed people could also be be seen as savages by other people: “But
darkness was yesterday. Imagine the feelings of
was here yesterday. ofaa commander...
commander... Sandbanks, marshes, forests,
Sandbanks, marshes, forests,
savages —— precious little to to eat
eat fit for
for a a civilised man, nothing but Thames water water toto drink” (Norton 2000:
1960). Indeed Marlow’s
1960). Marlow's description of the the Roman conquest of of the British Isle fits exactly with what he has
and we
found and we are going to find in the the Congo. This paradox of of really being savages when thinking that
we are
we are civilised is carried further in one the
one of the most overtly autobiographical instances of the novel:
II had then, as
had then, you remember,
as you remember, just
just returned
returned to
to London
London after
after a lot of
a lot of Indian
Indian Ocean,
Ocean, Pacific,
Pacific, China
China
Seas
Seas —— a regular dose
a regular dose of the East
of the East — six years or
sixyears or so,
so, and
and II was
was loafing
loafing about,
about, hindering you fellows
hindering you fellows
in your
in your world
work and
and invading your homes,
invading your homes, just
just as
as though
thoughII had
had got
got aa heavenly
heavenly mission
mission to
to civilise you.
civilise you.
(Norton 2000: 1961)
Furthermore,
Furthermore, developed and and civilised cities such as Brussels are seen in the text as
inthe as aa “whited
sepulchre” (Norton 1963) inhabited by
(Norton 2000: 1963) by hypocrites, hollow, greedy people. TheThe wilderness of of the
Congo, on the the other hand, is atat times sublimated asas the only surroundings where thenoble
the noble and
and the true
will rise to the
the surface and
and break free from the world of of appearances.
Joseph Conrad’s
Conrad's difference from and, one one could say, advantage over his his English
contemporaries in relation to the the originality of his
his literary production is because British culture was was
foreign to him. He was able to bring into the
He was the novel
novelaa truer cosmopolitanism than many other authors,
probably because as aa foreigner he was
he was in a a better position to question Englishness. As already
Englishness. As
mentioned, Conrad became aa British citizen and and England became his his home to to the
the extent that
Englishmen became his friends and
hisfriends the English language his
and the his mode of of literary expression.
expression. Still, his
his
different upbringing allowed him him not to be be limited in outlook or sympathy by race, class or national
consciousness. Poland and and England meant
meantaa lot to to him, but it was
was his
his experience at at sea
sea that gave him
the perspective lacking in most of
theperspective his contemporaries. The
ofhiscontemporaries. The multiple characters he he encountered when on
board of
of different ships and
and in the
the many ports where his ships called, as
hisships as well as the very different
as the
cultural experiences he confronted in different lands during his his years as
asaa sailor, meant that he
he became
aa man of no country in particular,
man ofno particular,aa citizen of the
the world.
66
UNIT 2
UNIT2 “The
England waswas the

the country where he could exercise his
his freedom of speech and because of
ofspeech this he
ofthis he
chose toto live there. Yet, in the
the characters that populate his one can
his fiction one can observe that Conrad’s
Conrad's life
experience allowed him him to cross the barrier of the
the apparent difference and
and go
go beneath thethe surface to
present people whose differences and and similarities have nothing to do
do with their origins, although asas we
we
shall discuss, there have been different opinions in relation to this point. In this way
way wewe find in the
the novels
Malaysians andand Borneans, Swedes and and English, Germans and Dutch who, it seems to to be Conrad’s
intention, are
are all alike in their human happiness or misery. What appears as superficial difference is no no
obstacle, in Conrad’s
Conrad's view, to grasping the fundamental resemblance among the the inhabitants of the
the
who are all stirred by
world who by common human passions such as love or hate, for example.
Conrad’s characters are in general heroic people struggling out of extreme situations. Both the
universality of the characters (in so far as they are built up within the framework of certain general and
basic human experiences) and their foreign status (brought about by the constant displacement to which
Conrad submits them) are distinguishing characteristics of the men and women populating his work.
Dealing with Conrad’s

Conrad's characters asasaa group seems tocontradict
to contradict his own
own principle,
principle, for Conrad’s
Conrad's
main preoccupation was the essential isolation of
preoccupation was ofaa person’s
person's nature, regardless of nationalities. It is safe
to argue that Conrad’s
Conrad's characters are lonely figures facing moral problems. Perhaps
Perhapsaa good example
appears in Heart
Head of Darkness where Marlow states: “We
ofDarkness “We live, as
as we
we dream —alone” (Norton 2000: 1977).
One
One might add, asas we
we die, alone. The
The isolation confronted by Conrad’s
Conrad's characters waswas also
alsoaa major
preoccupation of
preoccupation of the ‘Modernist’ literature produced after the
the First World War
War and for this reason,
for
among others; he
he has
has been regarded asasaa proto-Modernist.
Conrad’s main concern in this respect is with man in isolation fighting against whatever is
outside him and, as a consequence, the need for a personal code of behaviour and a capacity for
moral discrimination as opposed to the submission to the public moral codes and behavioural
manners that, too often, proves inadequate.
This is not to say

not to say that Conrad’s
Conrad's characters are cut out of of or detached from society, quite thethe
to a great extent the problems and
opposite; toa and courses they set to overcome are
set out to are determined by the
particular society in which they live. For
For this reason Conrad, writing in between Victorian and and post-war
values, is not
not purely
purelyaa psychological
psychological writer but
but also
alsoaa moralist still concerned about the effect of the
the
individual’s
individual's moral dilemmas upon society. The
The well-being of society at large seems compared to the
to the
good running ofaof a ship where even though the individual
individual cannot escape his own isolation,
hisown isolation, he
he knows that
his behaviour is fundamental to to the safety of the voyage.
Given the
the amount of of people he encountered throughout his his different voyages, for
for Conrad one
thing appears certain; namely, that human nature is not not a a simple or straightforward collection of facts.
On the contrary: it is the
On the the complex set set of
of experiences and
and sensations that need to to find expression in
writing in order forthe
for the writer to try
try to untangle the mystery ofof life.
life.
In Heart of
In Heart Darkness he
ofDarkness he uses
usesaa romantic
romantic Realism
Realism close to the
close to the mystery
mystery of the Gothic
ofthe that stands
Gothic that stands
as
asaa metaphor for the creative / non-creative
metaphor forthecreative/ non-creative quality
quality of his writing.
of his writing. What
What elements
elements in
in the novel
the novel
introduce an
introduce an unsettling,
unsettling, mysterious
mysterious and
and disturbing
disturbing atmosphere?
atmosphere?
In
Ina a sense it can
can bebe argued that he wasaa Realist given that his creative genius, considered
he was
against his
his experience,
experience, sought certain actuality as the starting point of his story, in that it is based on
as the
autobiographical data andand other’s of experience. He
other's account of He hardly ever invented plots; the raw
plots; the raw material
for his narratives in general and
and Heart
Head of Darkness in particular is found on
ofDarkness on his research and
hisresearch and on
on his own
his own
life experience. Where he he innovates is in that he he submits these experiences toa to a creative process
enabling both the blurring of the the line between fiction and
and reality,
reality, and the exploration of
and the ofaa truth found
beyond thethe world ofof appearances that surrounds us. The transforming process of
us. The of Conrad’s
Conrad's lively
imagination makes possible the transmutation of of actual facts into facts wrapped in romantic glamour
and adventurous exaltation.
exaltation.
77
UNIT22 “The
Even though elements of of the traditional

traditional novel can
can be
be seen and thethe presence ofof the
the omniscient
voice ofof the author cancan be
be heard in Conrad’s
Conrad's first publications such as Almayer's
Almayer’s Folly (1895), An An
Outcast of of the Island (1896) and
and The
The Nigger
Nigger ofof the
the ‘Narcissus’ (1897), the
the truth is that Conrad was was not
not
happy with this form of of writing and
and it is precisely in the Preface to to the last of these three books, The The
Nigger
Nigger ofof the
the ‘Narcissus’ we find an
‘NarcissuS’ (Norton 2000: 1954-6), that we an honest declaration of method. Conrad was was
not to follow the
not to the conventions ofof the English novel but experimented boldly with form and and language. In
his
his view, story-telling was
was secondary to to the
the real task of
of the writer who
who “by the power of
the power the written word”
ofthewritten word”
should bebe able to make thereader
the reader “hear,”
“Year,” “feel,”
“See/,” and, above all, “see”
“see” (Norton 2000: 1955). It is the
the task of
of
to
fiction to awaken “that feeling of unavoidable solidarity ... which binds men to
men to each other and
and all
mankind to the visible world” (Norton 2000: 1956).
tothevisible
For Conrad, the novel ceases to be a form devoted merely to story-telling, with an escapist
end and an entertaining purpose. As did Henry James, Conrad regarded novel writing as a
definite form of art alongside painting or music (Norton 2000: 1955).
This unifying purpose is central to the the writing of Conrad who, not not surprisingly given his his
background, hadhad always expressed his his conviction that there should be be aa commitment to to fidelity in
human relationships, that thethe artist should speak to
to the
the latent feeling of fellowship with all creation ——
and the subtle but invincible conviction of solidarity that knits together the loneliness of innumerable
and to the
hearts, to the
the solidarity in dreams, in joy, in sorrow, in aspirations,
aspirations, in illusions,
illusions, in hope, in fear, which
binds men
men to each other, which binds together all humanity —— the the dead totheliving
to the living and the living to
and the to the
the
unborn
unborn (Norton 2000: 1954).
His
His different view of of the
the task of the writer implies that Conrad will be be in
ina a constant search forforaa
fictional form that allows him him to achieve what he believes should be be the aim
aim of
of the artist:
To arrest,
To for the
arrest, for the space
space ofof a breath, the
a breath, the hands
hands busy
busy about
about the work of
the worm the earth, and
oftheearth, and compel
compel men
men
entranced
entranced byby the
the sight
sight of
of distant
distant goals to glance
goals to for aa moment
glance for moment at the surrounding vision
atthesurrounding vision of form and
of form and
colour,
colour, of
of sunshine
sunshine and
and shadows;
shadows; toto maize
make them
them pause
pause for
for a look, for
a loom, for aa sight, for aa smile
sight, for smile —— such is
such is
the aim,
the aim, difficult
difficult and
and evanescent,
evanescent, and reserved only
and reserved only for
foraa very
very few
few to
to achieve.
achieve.
(Norton
(Norton 2000:
2000: 1956)
1956)
His frequently-used method of indirect narration causes discomfort in many readers who
ofindirect who find his
writing tiresome because it fails toto force progress in the the story. In Conrad’s work a story-within-a-story
Conrad's worka
andaa dislocation of time that impedes the
and the ‘normal’ progression expected in story-telling are often found.
story-telling are
Conrad’s
Conrad's technical device is because of of his particular vision of the
hisparticular the narrative asas anan art
art that would allow
the reader to seesee and
and therefore, byby delaying the deliverance of the story, by by superimposing
superimposing other
possible narratives,
narratives, Conrad tries as
as far as
as possible,
possible, to provide,
provide,aa clear revelation of the the truth underlying
the particular human problem that has has attracted his attention.
attention. In this sense, for
for Conrad, the story is just
aa means of exploration and
ofexploration and not an
an end
end in itself.
itself. In
In order to do
do so, he
he introduces
introducesaa number ofcharacters
of characters
that will allow different perspectives,
perspectives, different points of view, of the same problem. The The different angles
from which the subject matter is told imply that the the narrative is composed ofmultiple
of multiple postponements.
This narratorial voice detaches the reader from the story, preventing the reader from identifying too closely with any character in
particular, and, more importantly, puts the reader on guard not to take everything said or seen for granted, as he/she has been induced
to do with the traditional narrator.
This questioning of the narratorial voice, the the fact that the
the narrator may
may not bebe as
as trustworthy as
as
the c19
c19 English novel had had thought him/her to be, brings about aboutaa rather more discomfiting discovery,
namely, that ‘reality’
‘reality’ might not be
be as reliable as
as it seems tobe
to be and
and that, therefore, it may
may be
be questioned,
questioned,
too. In this order ofof things, what late Victorian England offers in relation to thinking, moral and and social
behaviour is neither sufficient nornor valid in situations other than in Victorian England and, therefore,therefore,
Conrad introduces what he considers to be be universal topics able to address human problems while
disregarding the nationality of the
disregarding the individual.
individual.
In this sense, and

and generally speaking, Conrad’s topi‹s of interest presented in Heart
onrod's main topics heart of Darknesssare:
oldarkness e: evil, man’s
mon's moral
reality, fidelity, and
and individual responsibility, in the
the last
lost case
‹ose with particular reference to the Empire.
88
UNIT22 “The
In Heart
Head of Darkness he takes the narrative to its extreme both in form and
ofDarkness and content as
asaa means
of exploring the
ofexploring the theme that ultimately appears as his obsession in relation to the
hisobsession the Empire: man
man against
himself in
ina a natural environment.
environment. The
The other themes that cancan be
be traced in Conrad’s
Conrad's work seem tobe
to be
additional to this main preoccupation. He He explores themes such as the the subconscious, honour, guilt,
guilt,
moral alienation,
alienation, and The theme of
and expiation. The of brotherhood andand fidelity will come asa
as a result of this
responsibility.
In Heart
heart of Darkness Conrad
ol0arLness onrod is not interested in his characters’
‹hsra‹ters’ progress in life,
but in the moral responsibility of the individual towards himself.
Reality, for Conrad, is an an entity completely different from appearance.

appearance. Whereas one might be be
able to explain apparent reality, that is, the the reality readily available under the umbrella of of common-
sense, there seems tobe to be an inability onon the
the part of the
the human being to understand experience to its
fullest. In other words, Conrad is looking for the means toexpress
fullest. to express those unknown realities that are are
beyond our our perceptive capacity. For example, if one one is listening toa
to a piece of music, anything one one may
may enjoy
from classical music to to ‘heavy-metal’
’heavy-metal' rock, one
one might be be able to explain it toto someone else if asked to to do so, and
so, and
even, if our
our musical literacy allows us to transcribe into graphic signs the different sentences of
us to, to of the musical
piece to which we we are listening.
listening. Nevertheless,
Nevertheless, nono matter how
how detailed our
our transcription
transcription might be,
be, this explanation of
this reality,
reality, in particular,
particular, does notnot account for thethe sudden and overwhelming feeling that overcomes us while
listening,
listening, which is precisely why why we
we like that piece of music; nor does it account for the the different experiences the
same piece of music provokes in different people. The The Victorian illusion that the the mind can understand and and
control matter, that the the human being can can create
createaa permanent civilised order, should be be questioned
questioned and and
challenged, leaving to the the scientists and the thinkers the task of understanding the tangible reality:
and the reality:
And their
And their words
words are heard with
areheard with reverence,
reverence, for their concern
for their is with
concern is with weighty
weighty matters: with
matters: with
the cultivation of our minds and the proper care of our bodies, with the attainment of our
the cultivation of our minds and the proper care of our bodies, with the attainment of our
ambitions, with the
ambitions, with the perfection
perfection of
of the
the means
means and the glorification of
and theglorification of our
our precious
precious aims.
aims.
It
It is
is otherwise with the
otherwise with the artist.
artist.
(Norton
(Norton 2000:
2000: 1954)
1954)
Furthermore,
Furthermore, through this multiplicity of perspectives of experience, the impossibility of knowing
reality to
to the
the full and, therefore,
therefore, the
the impossibility of achieving anan ultimate truth are
are revealed. The
revealed. The
eventual consequence of of this discovery is that there can
can be
be no
no ending to
to the story and
and it is necessarily
left open as thetrue
the true meaning cannot be resolved.
Fracturing the time scheme,

s‹heme, implementing multiple points of view, including stories-within-stories are
ore all techniques ensuring that
thot no
no
coherent
‹oherent interpretation based on appearances can
‹on be imposed on the novel.
What happens in Conrad’s

Conrad's texts in general, but in particularly in Heart
Head of Darkness, is that the
ofDarkness, the
end
end is
isa a never-ending
never-ending story comprised of of an
an unlimited number of possible conclusions impinging upon
ofpossible
the narrative the
thenarrative the tensional contradiction brought about by conscious ambiguity.A
ambiguity. A very good example in
this respect is that Marlow’s
Marlow's body posture as as aa Buddha when he he starts his story
stOry (Norton 2000: 1961) is
ÏS
exactly the same as as his posture
hisposture when he has
has apparently finished talking (Norton 2000: 2016). Because
Marlow is seen in exactly the same physical position at the the beginning and
and atat the end, hypothetically
speaking, he he could be be starting to recount his
his story at the
the moment that he he has
has apparently finished
relating it. In fact, the
the last words of the novel indicate that the
ofthe the awaited ebb
ebb has for the
has occurred. Waiting forthe
ebb
ebb prompted Marlow totalk to talk because by the
the end of
of his story it is gone. There is again time forwaiting
hisstory for waiting
and
and therefore time for the
forthe story:
Marlow
Marlow ceased,
ceased, and
and sat
sat apart,
apart, indistinct
indistinct and
and silent, in the
silent, in the pose
pose of
ofaa meditating
meditating Buddha.
Buddha.
Nobody
Nobody moved foraa time.
moved for time. ‘We have lost
’the fiore the firstof
lost the first of the
the ebb,’
ebb,’ said the Director
said the Director suddenly.
suddenly.II
raised my
raised head. The
my head. The offing was barred
offing was barred by by aa black
black bank
bank of of clouds,
clouds, and the tranquil
and the tranquil
waterway leading
waterway leading to the uttermost
to the uttermost ends
ends of the earth
of the earth flowed
flowed sombre under an
sombre under an overcast
overcast sky
slay
—— seemed to lead into
seemed tolead the heart
into the heart of
of an immense darkness.
an immense darlfiness.
(Norton
(Norton 2000:
2000: 2017)
2017)
99
UNIT22 “The
Heart
Head of Darkness, a proto-Modern work produced at
ofDarkness,a the end
at the end of the c19, is one
of the one of the most
of the
important, shocking and and predictive novels of of the c20. The The suggestive quality of the the novel, andand
suggestion is the the nearest to an an answer that we we can
can obtain from the narrative,narrative, is already hinted at in ina a
title that reverberates with the the same ambiguity that impregnates the narrative. The striking impression of
narrative. The of
the title is the
the apparent contradiction of the the two
two terms, ‘heart’ and ‘darkness’.
‘Sea/I’ and ‘darkness’. ‘Heart’
‘Heart’ implies life, the
the very
organ that makes human life possible. ‘Darkness’ seems to to imply the converse, death. The The tensional
force of the narrative is already present in the the title,
title, because here one one realises for the the first time the
impossibility of acquiring ultimate knowledge. The The impossibility of achieving the ‘heart ‘head of
of darkness’
dawns in the the sudden realisation,
realisation, abhorrent to the individual,
individual, that while living we we are
are dying or, to
to put
put it in
another way, that we we die asas wewe live. This unsettling contradiction is also posited in the the sentence that
opens thethe narrative.
narrative. Here is how the story begins: “The Nellie,
how the Nellie, aa cruising yawl, swung to her anchor
toheranchor
without
withoutaa flutter of the the sails,
sails, and
and was
was at rest” (Norton, 2000: 1958). In this first sentence the contrast
rest” (Norton,
between ‘cruising’ and ‘rest’ has
‘cruising’ and the same tensional force of the title.
has the title. The
The image ofthevessel
of the vessel created in
the
the sentence is simultaneously in movement (cruising) and
and still (at
(at rest).
Such
fu‹ha a combination
‹ombinotion in
ina a single sentence will be
be present all along the narrative and
and signals the ambiguity ingrained in the discourse on
on
the Empire at the time and
and will be
be the key
key to understanding
understanding the narrative.
Heart
Head of of Darkness might also suggest the sense of of trying to gain access to to the
the core of of
something very deep, something unknown, mysterious and and possibly,
possibly, because it is unknown, also
dangerous, and and here is where theGothic
the Gothic elements of the novel are found. The
ofthe The structure of of the whole
narrative is sustained by polarities that uncannily converge in meaning: life and and death, coloniser and and
colonised, Africa andand Europe, inland and and offshore.
offshore. TheThe setting of of the novel, the
the Belgian Congo in
Africa, adds to to the
the sense of of loss dissipated through the apparent tranquillity of the the beginning of of the
novel. Travelling into thethe wilderness of of the Dark Continent is related, in the the text, to
to discovering the
darkness of of the heart. As
As O’Prey
O'Prey argues in the the introduction to thethe Penguin edition “the darkness is many many
things: it is the
the unknown,
unknown, it is the
the subconscious,
subconscious, it is also moral darkness,
darkness, it is evil which swallows up Kurtz
and
and it is the
the spiritual emptiness he he sees at at the
the centre of existence; but above all it is mystery itself,itself, the
the
mysteriousness of man’s
ofman's spiritual life, and to
life, and to convey all this a
thisa certain amount of ambiguity essential”.
ofambiguity is essential”.
Ambiguity, as already suggested,
suggested, is crucial to thethe story because, if it is agreed that reality is
different from appearances and that there are are unknown toreality
to reality dark sides constituting asas much part of
reality as
as the
the visible,
visible, then language stops being self-referential and and informative,
informative, as
as it is in traditional
traditional
fictional form. Conrad is suspicious of language because language is no no longer
longeraa reliable tool with which
to express life experience.
to experience. In In Heart
Head of Darkness language is poetical and
ofDarkness and condensed, with ambiguity,
ambiguity,
symbolism and and diffuseness as as its main linguistic features. For example, although telling of his his
experiences, Marlow is not not eager toto relate his story but tries to extract some meaning with his The
his words. The
readers and
and listeners are
are thus implicitly invited to share Marlow’s
Marlow's experiences as if alongside him: “We “We
knew we were fated,
knew fated, before the ebb
ebb began to run, to hear
torun, hear about oneone of
of Marlow’s
Marlow's inconclusive experiences”
(Norton 2000: 1961,
(Norton added). His
1961, emphasis added). are weary because they are made up
HiS words are of the conventions his
up oftheconventions his
voyage left behind; hishis experiences in thethe wilderness escape classification, systematic order and and logic.
Nonetheless,
Nonetheless, despite there isisa a great disparity between language and and reality, and
and as
as much as as
language should be be under suspicion, it is only through language that experience can can be
be observed andand
analysed. For this reason andand in order to extract some level of meaning, the experience is repeated
through words such as ‘darkness,’
‘darkness, ‘inscrutable,’
‘inscrutable, ‘mysterious,’ and ‘incomprehensible’
‘mysterious, and ‘incomprehensible’ throughout the text
in the
the hope thata
that a new
new meaning might emerge. Conrad is determined to to draw attention to thethe total
imprecision of language precisely because he needs language to to comprehend thethe world. His
His search isis
that of his characters and
and his
his readers for
foraa language whose meaning encompasses reality as asa a whole. It
is an
an impossible task, for death can
can never be recounted by the subject.
subject. There is, therefore,
therefore, alwaysa
always a
part of reality necessarily unknown. The The awareness, as our awareness should be, be, is Marlow’s
Marlow's
understanding that reality is beyond the
the immediate appreciation of an an event, and
and that no
no images taken
directly from the senses will help us
us to grasp it. AsAs the
the anonymous narrator tells usus of Marlow:
10
10
UNIT 2
UNIT2 “The
..…to him the

.to him the meaning
meaning of an episode
ofan was not
episode was not inside like a kernel
inside likea kernel but
but outside,
outside, enveloping
enveloping the
the
tale which
tale brought it
which brought it out
out only
only as
asaa glow
glow brings
brings out
outaa haze, in the
haze, in the lilceness
likeness ofof one
one of these
of these
misty halos that
misty halos that sometimes
sometimes are made visible
aremade visible by the spectral
by the illumination of
spectral illumination of moonshine.
moonshine.
(Norton
(Morton 2000:
2000: 1960)
I960)
The narratorial
The narratorial perspective of of the novel shifts constantly. This constitutes one one of Conrad’s
Conrad's most
modern features.
features. Far
Far from the understanding, controlling and and knowledge-providing omniscient narrator
traditional
of traditional novels, the
the voices that tell the
the story do
do not intend to give us
usaa finished,
finished, meaningful and
and
coherent account of of facts. The
The structure of thethe novel is made up of multiple narratorial
up ofmultiple narratorial voices. In an
an
apparent paradox, the multiple narrator works against the process of of communication as much as as it
helps it. The
The narratorial
narratorial frame is notnot built upon the the most obvious voices, those of of Marlow and thethe
unknown, global narrator. Each person who who informs Marlow and talks to him him also becomes
becomesaa narrator,
adding toto the story. This complex use of the narratorial
of the narratorial voice provides, on the one hand, immediacy to
provides, on the one to
the story since the different narrators are
the are first-person narrators and, onon the other hand, provides the
narration with vagueness, mystery and and meaninglessness by never getting to the the heart of the matter.
Despite the fact that they appear to to create distance between the the narration and the reader, the
and the the multiple
narratorial
narratorial voices make of the reader a participant in the
ofthereadera the story, journeying alongside Marlow in his his
attempt toto ‘see’, which is, as
as was
was said above, Conrad’s
Conrad's long-term preoccupation.
Of the narratorial voices Marlow’s

Of all the Marlow's is thethe most prominent since he he is also the protagonist. The
protagonist. The
most shocking aspect of of his voice, although not surprising given what has already been discussed,
hisvoice, discussed, is
his
his inadequacy as aa traditional
traditional narrator. The The reasons for for this failure to fulfil what is expected ofa of a
narrator are
are found in his his inability to
to distinguish andand comprehend, and therefore to reproduce, ‘real’
reality,
reality, that is, the
the reality that exists beyond appearances. There is isa a clear example in thethe text when
Marlow says about Kurtz: “I did not see
did not see the man in
the man in the
the name any more than you
anymore you do.
do. Do you see
Do you see him?
Do
Do you see the story? Do
thesto/y* you see
Do you see anything? It seems to meII am
tome am trying to tell you
youa a dream”
dream” (Norton
(Norton 2000:
1977).A A little later we
1977). we finda
find a kind of allegorical declaration of whata what a traditional
traditional narrator can
can never do: do:
“Your
“Your own
own reality —— for yourself,
yourself, not
not for others —— what no other man can
other man can ever
ever know. They can only see see
the mere show, and and never
never can tell what it really means”means” (Norton 1978). Marlow’s
(Norton 2000: 1978). Marlow's awareness of of his
his
limitations as as aa narrator, his difficulty in fully transcribing
transcribing into words his his dream-like experience,
experience,
represents the unreliability of an an assumed, external,
external, conventional reality that is taken for for granted andand
readily available for articulation.
articulation. Even Marlow, constantly assuminga
assuming a weary attitude towards the taken-
for-granted knowledge,
knowledge, is tricked into making assumptions that prove to to be inaccurate when he he thinks
that his listeners cancan see
see him. But the irony of the the hour makes him himaa mere shadow totheothers,
to the others, justa
just a
voice. This is most important in the the context in which he is bitterly complaining about the impossibility of
his own
own task as asaa narrator. HeHe does not know he is wrong and only the reader and
notknow and the unknown narrator
recognise Marlow’s
Marlow's mistake. The The untrustworthy nature of appearances is emphasised: emphasised:
‘Of
‘Of course
course in
in this
this you
you fellows
fellows see
see more than I could
more thanI then. You
could then. You see
see me, whom youknow...’
me, whom you know...’
It
It had become so
had become pitch dark
sopitch that we
darlc that we listeners
listeners could
could hardly
hardly see
see one
one another.
another. For
For a long time
a long time already
already
he, sitting
he, sitting apart,
apart, had been no
had been no more
more to us than
tous than aa voice.
voice.
(Norton
(Norton 2000:
2000: 1977)
1977)
Marlow’s
Marlow's meeting with Kurtz, the the potential beholder of of the ultimate truth, is constantly deferred.
The great expectations aroused by Kurtz’s
The Kurtz's magnetic andand mysterious personality are are channelled through
Marlow who
who is, ififa a choice must be made, themain
the main character of the story. As As Marlow penetrates further
into the
the unknown, his for self-control
his capacity for self-control and
and his strength are are constantly tested. His His real trial,
trial,
however, takes place when he he realises that he he has
has been transported into the the “lightless region of
of subtle
horrors” (Norton
hOrrors” (Norton 2000: 2001) inhabited by by Kurtz. In the
the text, Kurtz acts asaas a kind of double to
to Marlow. When
Marlow declares that Kurtz is isa a “remarkable man”
man” (Norton as he
(Norton 2000: 2004), as he does on several occasions,
occasions,
they are textually identified since Marlow, at at the beginning of of the story, is also said by by the unknown
narrator to bebe remarkable: “But Marlow was was not
not typical” (Norton 1960). Marlow cannot achieve the
(Norton 2000: 1960).
complete self-knowledge Kurtz gains at at the moment of death simply because this ultimate truth cannot
ofdeath
be shared; its possessor ceases to to be and therefore cannot relate that truth. Yet, through Kurtz’s Kurtz's death,
Marlow is able to glimpse knowledge although he he declares rather ambiguously that it has has come “too
late” (Norton
(Norton 2000: 2011), at the
the moment ofdeath.
of death. The
The ambiguity posed by this rather eclectic sentence
11
11
UNIT22 “The
makes it impossible to decide whether it is too

too late for him
him to understand Kurtz or whether it is tootoo late
because truth can
can be
be grasped only at the moment of one’s own
ofone's own death. Indeed, Marlow feels that he he is
as
as near to
to truth as
as it is possible when he witnesses Kurtz’s
Kurtz's death; then Marlow is able toto gain
gainaa certain
awareness ofof being which can explain Marlow’s
Marlow's affirmation that Kurtz’s
Kurtz's cry is “a
“a moral victory” (Norton
mOr£ll VÎCtOFÿ’”
2000: 2011).
The physical journey in Heart

The Head of Darkness as recounted by Marlow is parallel to the
ofDarkness the emotional
development of of his character.
his character. Again we find a
we finda complex web of
web of journeys happening and enhancing
and
ambiguity. While the the Nellie ‘was
was at rest’ Marlow’s
Marlow's account takes us on onaa voyage to to the
the Congo. Story-
telling is intended to help Marlow fully to to understand his
his experience and, therefore, the the actual journey
being recounted is in facta fact a metaphor forthejourney
for the journey of
of the self. Although the Marlow who who is now
now telling
the story has
the has already undergone the the changes brought about by his African experience, the Marlow who
hisAfrican who
is about toto tell the
the story, in his
his effort to
to understand his experience, is going to
hisexperience, to ‘re-start’
‘re-stad’ with his audience
the journey anew. Thus, he he is able to travel once more from idealism to disillusionment, to acquire in the the
process greater understanding. He He attempts to to comprehend the
the ultimate truth that Kurtz, at the the time of
of
his
his death, revealed to him. The The journey, right from the beginning, is imbued witha with a quality of warning. In
Brussels, Marlow starts feeling uneasily that his trip into Africa will be be an
an extraordinary one; that, as as the
the
doctor says, going into the the ‘Central Station’ changes
changesaa man
man inside and, for for this reason, nobody ever
comes back: “‘And when they
“‘And when they come back too?’I
come back too?’ I asked.
asked. ‘Oh,
‘Oh,II never
never see them,’ he
see them,’ he remarked;
remarked; ‘and,
‘and,
moreover, the changes
moreover, the take place
changes take inside, you
place inside, you lcnow”*
know’” (Norton
(Morton 2000:
2000: 1964).
1964).
It can
can be
be argued that thethe novel is divided into two two different parts. Part one
one is about preparing for for
starting the
the journey. Part two two has
has Marlow painfully going deeper into the the darkness andand towards Kurtz.
The narrative techniques making possible Marlow’s
The Marlow's progress rest upon his his capacity to sort out out
problems. The The difficulties of his
his quest determine that he he starts to question the superficial
superficial aspect of of
reality: he
he discovers,
discovers, for example, how how certainties,
certainties, references,
references, and
and moral codes are are useless in facing
danger, hunger, darkness or or unexpected attacks. In other words, Marlow starts his journey witha with a set of
values and
and only through his his capacity to question those very values is he he able to continue his journey. In
hisjourney.
order to convey the the difficulty of this journey, the language of of the text conveys the
the difficulty of Marlow’s
Marlow's
enterprise symbolised in ina a prose that is rather dense and difficult to to read. Furthermore,
Furthermore, this useuse of
language makes thetextthe text subjective. has to be
subjective. It has to be clear that Marlow has been cut off from his
cut offfrom his original
background and and facesa
faces a strange environment.
environment. Perhaps what makes him him different from other white
Europeans is his his awareness that his moral being is under test and and this knowledge makes him to
him willing to
attempt to understand the significance of his experience. experience. Having been the the epitome of of the
the civilised
man, only through the telling of his his experience is this identity questioned.
questioned.
The voyage
The towards the
voyage towards the outside
outside world
world of
of Africa
/tfri‹a becomes
becomesaa voyage
voyage of
of self-discovery
self-discovery that
thot unavoidably
unavoidably brings
brings some
some inner
inner knowledge
knowledge or
or
vital truth to the traveller.
Perhaps thethe most surprising

surprising element in the the novel is the
the nature of this vital truth. At
At the
the beginning
of the story Marlow refers to the
of the adventure as “the culminating point of my my experience. It seemed
somehow to throw a kind of
tothrowa of light on
on everything about me me —— and
and into my
my thoughts” (Norton 2000: 1961). The
The
darkness toto be illuminated by the ‘light’ is going to
by the to disclosea
disclose a truth that is far
far from being comforting or
beautiful. In fact, the
the moment of the most intense discomfort comes with Kurtz’s
ofthemost Kurtz's death and and his
his last
words “‘The horror! The horror!’” (Norton 2000: 2010). The
The horror!”’ The horror is physical and
and political in relation to the
the
European attitudes in Africa, but but it is also non-material and and metaphysical. It is not only a question of
not onlya
governments’ being abusive and and dehumanised, or or individual people’s
people's being malevolent; rather, for
Conrad, the horror lies in humanity’s
humanity's very nature. In accordance with the spirit of of the
the narrative,
narrative, it is
properly left unexplained so that readers and and listeners become participants in the the experience,
experience, not simply
spectators, and they, too, will consider the experience and
spectators, and and assume whatever truth there is to to be
be
assumed.
12
12
UNIT22 “The
For
For this reason, the narrative cannot conclude. The The circularity of the
the narrative, its open-ended
finale, is symbolised, asas already pointed out, in Marlow’s
Marlow's body position. Both at at the beginning ofof the
narrative and
and at the
the end
end Marlow appears asa as a sort of Buddhist possessor of of some inner knowledge he is
to provide and
about to and from which the listeners, including the the reader, will be
be able to learn. However, this
image is only the reflection of anan apparent reality for, in fact, the
the circularity of the
the narrative signalled by
by
Marlow’s
Marlow's body position indicates that Marlow is not not a a provider of knowledge; on on the contrary,
contrary, he
he is in
search of of it. Marlow’s
Marlow's compulsion to to repeat hishis experience is informed by FFreud’s reud's death drive;
confronted with death, andand intuitively grasping its definitiveness, Marlow is both trying to understand and and
postponing the moment of his own death. Indeed, the knowledge he has acquired is not
ofhis not as
as authoritative
and precise as
and as that given by Kurtz onon his
his own
own death-bed.
The changes Marlow has undergone point towards his
The his awareness that conventional
conventional values and and
assumptions are relative and and conditioned
conditioned by by different circumstances, among them the the social. These
conventions and and values that constitute reality are are nono longer valid for him. TheThe ‘real’ reality is farfar beyond
them and it is his his inescapable duty to look for for the real to bebe found within oneself. The The victory,
victory, even if
partial,
partial, is to
to be
be found in the
the realisation and
and assertion of oneself. The The perspective of having nothing inside, inside,
accommodating conventions,
of accommodating conventions, is the
the real defeat shown in the the novel. Whether we we agree or or disagree, this
may
may bebe a a reason why
why Marlow feels unable or unwilling to judge Kurtz’s Kurtz's activities.
activities. In
Ina a sense, thetext
the text seems
to imply, Marlow is part of the
toimply, the situation that hashas made possible the existence of of someone like KurtzKuM and,
and,
therefore, Marlow himself is not not entirely without blame. This is precisely the the difference that forbids the the
identification of Kurtz with Marlow because Kurtz has has pronounced
pronouncedaa judgement and and has acted accordingly,
accordingly,
exercising his will for
for power over an artificial and
an artificial and hypocritical
hypocritical situation.
situation.
As an
As an emissary of of science andand progress,
progress,aa combination of of values of of European culture, Kurtz
travelled to Africa to campaign forthe for the ideal. Once confronted with the wilderness he he is liberated from
the set of
set of values, either good or evil,
or evil, prevailing in the
the society he
he comes from and, therefore, is free to
exercise hishis own
own will. It is interesting to note that even if knowing the the ultimate truth is very much
muchaa bodily
activity (the body dies), Kurtz’s
Kurtz's character is hardly
hardlyaa flesh-and-bone one one butaa name talked about, to the
point that critic Lionel Trilling has has argued that Kurtz is a a hero of of the spirit against the spiritless
Europeans.
Europeans. To To Marlow thefact
the fact that Kurtz could utter this cry the point of death, while Marlow himself,
cry at the himself,
when death threatens him, can can know it only as a
as a weary greyness, marks the
the difference between the
the
ordinary manman and
and the hero of of the spirit.
Kurtz can be a source of enlightenment even though he is capable of dreadful deeds. HeHe stands as a
symbolic
symbolic figure
figure of the discovery
of the discovery of
of the
the real
real self that comes
self that comes out
out only when one
only when is pushed
oneis to the
pushed to the limit.
limit.
It is remarkable the influence Kurtz leaves on on the people he he encounters,

encounters, and and quite shocking the way way
people gogo to Kurtz, asas if he were a deity, to
he werea to extract some mysterious knowledge or or truth: “You don’t
don't talk with
w”ith
that man
man —you listen to him” (Norton
(Norton 2000: 1997). The Russian recalls that Kurtz
1997). The KuM made him him see
see things, like an an
apparition. Even Marlow once he has seen, metaphorically speaking,
apparition. speaking, “Kurtz
“I¢urtz for the test
ror the first time” (Norton 2000: 1981)
I9RI)
penetrates “deeper
penetrates “deeper and
and deeper into the
deeper Into the heart
heart ofof darkness”
darlmess” (Norton
(x‹›rt‹» 200: forgetting about
i983) forgetting
2000: 1983) about the
the station
station and
and going
going
“towards Kurtz” (Norton 2000: 1983). His
His journey makes Marlow aware now now that past and and present overlap in inaa
prehistory that he
prehistory that feels he
he feels he cannot understand: “We
cannot understand: “be could not understand
could not understand because
because wewe were
were too
too farand
far and could
could notnot
remember, because
remember, because we
we were
were travelling
travelling in the night
in the night ofor first
first ages,
ages, of
or those
those ages that are
ages that are gone, leaving hardly
gone, leaving hardly aa sign
sign ——
and no memories” (Norton
(xrto» 200: t984).A A few
2000: 1984). few lines afterwards, however, Marlow assures his audience: “The mind of
hisaudience: of
man iscapable
man is capable of
or anything —because everything
an hing —because is in it,
eve hing isin it, all the past
all the past as well as
as well as all the future”
allthe future” (Norton
(xorto» 2000:
200n: 1984).
t9f\J).
The novel as
The as aa whole proposes
proposesaa reconsideration of the traditional
traditional notion of reality.
reality. Its most
remarkable originality is that this call for
for reconsideration applies both to fiction and to real life.
and to life. Marlow’s
Marlow's
most certain assumptions in relation to places, time and and people start dissolving andand disappearing
disappearing when he he
approaches thethe nightmarish wilderness of the Congo. The The dream-like experience becomes more real to to
him
him than the European baggage he carries along with him. The The real reference to darkness seems toshift to shift
in the
the novel from Africa to Europe. The The latter becomes, as we we advance in the the story, ghostly and and
frighteningly referred to asas ‘sepulchre’,
‘sepulchre’, ‘dead
‘dead silence’,
silence’, ‘marble’,
‘marble’, ‘sarcophagus’, and ‘halo’,
‘sarcophagus’, and ‘halo’, resembling
resemblingaa
lifeless world built up to protect rottenness and
up to and spiritual death.
13
13
UNIT22 “The
2.2. E.M.
2.2. E.M. Forster’s Web of
Forster's Web of Misunderstandings:
Misunderstandings:AA Passage
Passage to India
toIndia
Edward Morgan Forster was was born in London in 1879. His father died of of consumption soon after
he was born, and
he was and his mother anda
and a paternal great-aunt raised the the child. His
His mother was
was froma
from a more
liberal background than the paternal side of the family and and Forster’s
Forster's family life was
was never devoid of of
tensions. He
He grew up at Rooksnest, the house that inspired Forster’s
atRooksnest, Forster's first major success, Howard’s
Howard's End
End
(1910), and
and was
was educated at at Tonbridge School, in Kent. He He would never forget his experience at at this
and
school and some argue that this is to be
to be held responsible for a
fora good deal of his
of his later criticism the
of the
English public school system. Forster attended King’s King's College, Cambridge, which greatly expanded his his
intellectual interests and
and gave him his first exposure to
hisfirst to Mediterranean culture. After he he graduated from
Cambridge, he went to to Italy and
and his
his experiences there provided the background for for two of
of his
his early
novels Where Angels Fear Fear to
toTread (1905) and and The
The Longest Journey (1907). These novels established
Forster’s
Forster's early conviction that men and
men and women should keep in contact with nature to cultivate their
imaginations.
imaginations. In 1908, he he published AA Room With aa View. This humorous novel deals with the
experience of ofaa young British woman, Lucy Honeychurch,
Honeychurch, in Italy.
These early novels, written quite effectively with moments of high comedy, are concerned with the cultural barrier between English
and Italians in the same way that one of the main preoccupations found in A Passage to India (1924) is the impossibility of finding a
means of mutual understanding between Indians and British Europeans.
During these years E.M. Forster was was part of thethe so-called Bloomsbury Group, aa group of of
intellectuals that included Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, Dora Carrington, Lytton Strachey and and
T.S. Eliot among many others. Although Forster had had published considerably before the First World War,
only after the
the conflict did
did he gain a significant reputation as
he gaina as aa writer.
writer. In ‘Mr. Bennett and
and Mrs
Mrs Brown’
Virginia Woolf considered Forster alongside Joyce and Lawrence as those writers who who were reacting
against the novel, asas it had
had been understood by the Edwardians.
Edwardians. In In spite of Woolf's
Woolf’s efforts to include
Forster among those she she considered avant-garde writers,
writers, the
the truth is that his four pre-war novels diddid
nothing to break free from the mode of of writing of Victorian and and Edwardian fiction. Plots are are
melodramatic andand improbable;
improbable; anan omniscient narrator has
has full control over the characters,
characters, interpreting
interpreting
their motives and
and actions, introducing moral judgements and and generally guiding the reader to like or or
dislike particular characters.
characters. From all the
the novels he
he produced, it is perhaps onlyA
only A Passage to India that
toIndia
can
can be
be said to definitively break with narrative convention both in form andand in content.
Forster spent three years in Alexandria during the First World War, working asaas a civilian officer,
and
and visited India twice. After he he returned to England, he wrote A Passage to
he wroteA to India, inspired by
by his
experience. TheThe novel concerns current preoccupations on on the colonial occupation
occupation of
of India by the
by the
British in
ina a narrative where thepolitical
the political and the personal intermix.
and the
The main tenement of the novel, much in the line — although taking just the opposite direction — of contemporary discussions on
the matter after the Mutiny of 1857, is the exploration of the misunderstandings created by the different cultural backgrounds of the
protagonists.
Misunderstandings are seen as the the ultimate reason forfor the lack of communication among the the
characters.
characters. This novel was was the last published by Forster during his his lifetime.
lifetime. In 1971, aa year after
Forster’s
Forster's death, Maurice, aa novel written around 1914 and with an an overt homosexual theme, was was
published.
published.
Although Forster published no no novels after
afterA A Passage to to India, hehe continued writing short
stories and
and essays until his
his death. HeHe published several anthologies,
anthologies, including The The Celestial Omnibus
(1911) and
and The
The Eternal Moment (1928), two two collections of short stories; Abinger Harvest (1936), aa
stories; Abinger
collection
collection of poetry, essays and
and fiction;
fiction; and
and several non-fiction works. Forster also wrote the libretto to to
the Benjamin Britten’s
the Britten's opera Billy Budd. Forster’s
Forster's essays as well as as his frequent lectures on on political
established his reputation as
topics established as aa liberal thinker and asaa strong advocate of
and as of democracy.
democracy. Forster
was
was awarded membership of the
of the Order of
of Companions of
of Honour in 1953 and received the
14
14
UNIT22 “The
Order ofof Merit from Queen Elizabeth in 1969. He He died in June 1970 after afteraa series of strokes.
strokes.
A A Passage to to India differs from Forster’s
Forster's other major works in its clear political content, as as
opposed to to the
the lighter tone and
and more subdued political subtext contained in works such as Howard’s Howard's
End and A Room With
End andA Withaa View. The
The novel deals with the the political occupation of of India by the British,
by the British,a a
colonial domination that ended in 1947, after the the publication of Forster’s The colonial occupation of
Forster's text. The of
India is significant in terms of the background to
of the to the
the novel. Britain occupied an an important place in
political affairs in India from 1760, but did not secure control over India for nearly nearlyaa century. In August
1858, duringa
during a period of violent revolt by the Indians against Britain’s
by the Britain's colonisation of ofIIndia, the British
ndia, the
Parliament approved the the Government of of India Act, transferring political power from the East India
Company to to the
the Crown. This established
established the bureaucratic colonial system in India headed by the the
Council of of India consisting initially ofof fifteen British politicians.
politicians. Although Parliament and and Queen Victoria
maintained support for for local princes, Victoria added thetitlethe title of
of Empress of of India to her
her crown in 1876.
The typical attitude of the
The the British in India waswas that they were undertaking the “white man’s man's burden,” as as
put by
by Rudyard Kipling. This was was a a system of
of aloof, condescending sovereignty in which the English
bureaucracy did did not
not associate with the the people they were ruling, ruling, and
and finds its expression in characters
such as Ronny Heaslop and and Mr McBryde in inA A Passage to India.
toIndia.
Indian nationalism began totaketo take shape around 1885 with the first meeting of of the Indian National
Congress. At the beginning of of the twentieth century the nationalistic views within the the Indian Muslim
community were unstoppable.
unstoppable. With the the victory of the
the Liberal Party in 1906 the
the British government
introduced several reforms in India’s
India's political system culminating in the the Indian Councils Act of of 1909, but
nationalism continued to rise. India took part in the the First World War War alongside the British army asaa way way
of obtaining political concessions, but even with the promise after the
of the war
war that Indians would play an an
increased role in their own own government, relations between the the British andand Indians did not improve: after
the war
the war the
the differences between India and and Great Britain not not only continued but worsened. In 1919, three
hundred and and seventy-nine unarmed Indians were massacred at Amritsar’s Jallianwala Bagh,
at Amritsar's Bagh,aa public
park, duringa
during a protest.
Around this time Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi became a distinguished voice in Indian politics, and also around this time Forster
wrote A Passage to India. More than twenty years later, after a long struggle, Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act in 1947,
ordering the separation of India and Pakistan and granting both nations their sovereignty.
It is very tempting to assume thatAthat A Passage to India was

toIndia was connected with the the British withdrawing from
India. In this assumption there is the the belief that literature is notnot a a mere exploration of human reality but but
is one
one of the infinite discourses that confirms this reality.
of the reality. In this sense critics such as Nirad C. Chaudhuri
have argued “A Passage To India has has possibly been an even greater influence in British imperial politics
than in English literature.” (Draper, Chaudhuri 201). This rather radical and and somehow superficial
superficial
statement seems to to spring from the earlier approaches to to the
the novel which, in the the vast majority,
concentrated on on the political side of the work. However, it is true that the the novel’s
novel's unkind portrayal of thethe
relationship between the the Indians and
and the Anglo-Indians, the way way in which the latter at best completely
ignored and
and at worst mistreated the former, had had aa strong impact on on general public opinion who who now
now
perceived the Empire as asaa taken for
for granted and, thus, helping to change an attitude that was was utterly
indifferent towards the Empire and its colonies. colonies. In the the political
political arena, the novel’s
novel's themes of of
misunderstandings and and disharmony between the the cultures, the harm that an
cultures, the an imposed relationship did did to
each of the parties involved, were used as arguments by anti-imperialists who
ofthe who wanted to to remove Britain
from India.
India.A A good example in this respect is to to bebe found in Ronny Heaslop who who confronted by his his
mother, Mrs
Mrs Moore, accusation that he he “never used tojudge
to judge people like this at home” retorts,
retorts, “India isn’t
isn't
home” (Forster 1979: 54). It is also the case of of Mahmoud Ali who, as Ronny, has lost his his humanistic
approach to to life and
and is capable ofof harm against the British, for example by withholding about Fielding’s
British, for Fielding's
wedding vital information that could have saved much trouble for Dr Dr Aziz.
The novel, as
The as happens with Heart
Head of Darkness, provides no
ofDarkness, The only way
no answers. The way to resolve
the problem seems to to be the
the withdrawal of of the British from India. It is important to note that, as as
Chaudhuri has pointed out, this way way out
out “is not
not a a solution of the the problem butbut only its elimination”
(Draper, Chaudhuri 202). Therefore,
Therefore, while froma
from a political perspective the end end of British occupation
15
15
UNIT 2
UNIT2 “The
would be the
the outcome that would satisfactory to those in conflict, the realm of
conflict, within the of the novel, and
and in
of human relations in general, the conciliation
view of conciliation of cultures is
isa a negation of
of the problem rather than
its solution, for there are always relationships between individuals belonging to different cultures.cultures. The
The
question stands as as to whether it is
isa a failure on
on Forster’s
Forster's part not to provide
provideaa solution, even if partial and
and
subjective, the problem.
subjective, to the
The effectiveness of Forster’s novel as a political influence is found in his dramatisation of a great imperial system at its worst. He
depicts both the British and Indians as petty and snobbish to such an extent that in different moments of the narrative the reader has
constantly to shift her/his likes and dislikes of the main characters, Mrs. Moore being perhaps the exception.
However, it is perhaps, far

far beyond the
the political surface of the novel forwhich
for which Forster is unwilling
or unable to
to provide
provideaa solution, where theinterest
the interest of the
the novel resides. The interaction
resides. The the individuals
interaction of the
populating
populatingAA Passage to India seems tobe
toIndia to be themain
the main preoccupation
preoccupation explored in the
the novel. In this sense,
Forster,
Forster, escaping the easy stereotypical portrayal of the the characters, presents human beings carrying
the good and evil of their cultural and
with them thegood and life experiences.
Notice how, as we studied in the reading of Heart of Darkness, the blurring of the frontier between good and evil seems to be the
only possible artistic positioning in relation to the very dichotomised discourse of the Empire.
The title of
The the novel is taken from Walt Whitman's
of the Whitman’s poem of the same name included in Leaves
ofthesame
of
of Grass (1900). In Ina a sense, Forster’s the American poet’s
Forster's text carries further the poet's apparently exuberant and
and
optimistic commentary on the the nineteenth-century belief in a a world unified by by technical progress.
Whitman envisions that the the true unification
unification will come when the ‘Poet’,
the‘Poet’, whom he calls the
hecalls the ‘Son of
of God’,
will be the one
be the one toto make sense of the secrets of the human soul and
ofthe the sufferings of humankind:
and the
Finally
Finally shall
shall come
come the Poet, worthy
thePoet, worthy that
that name;
name;
The true
The true Son
Son of
of God
God shall
shall come,
come, singing
singing his
his songs.
songs.
Then, not
Then, not your
your deeds
deeds only,
only,OO voyagers,
voyagers,OO scientists
scientists and
and inventors,
inventors,
[shall be justified,
[shall be justified,
All these
All these hearts,
hearts, as
as of
of fretted
fretted children,
children, shall
shall be
be sooth’d,
sooth'd,
All affection
All affection shall
shall be fully responded
be fully responded to—the
to—the secret
secret shall be told;
shall be told;
All these
All these separations
separations and
and gaps
gaps shall
shall be
be taken
talcen up,
up, and hook’d and
and hook'd and
[link’d together;
[linlc'd together;
The passage to
The to India was
was made more easily possible by by the construction of the Suez Canal
connecting the Mediterranean
Mediterranean to the Red Red Sea. The The canal waswas finished in 1869 by Ferdinand de de
Lesseps, who who was
was granted by Khedive Said of of Egypt ownership of of the Canal forninety-nine
for ninety-nine years after
it was
was completed. M. M. Lesseps sold shares mainly to to the French gentry but also to the Khedive to to form
the Suez Canal Company. When Disraeli was was elected as as Prime Minister in 1874 he saw the opportunity
saw the
for Britain to obtain control over the Canal after being informed by his
for the banker Lionel
his friend, the
Rothschild,
Rothschild, that the the Khedive, whose number of of shares was
was enough to to control the
the Company, was was in
in
need of of ready money. The The French also knew of the Khedive’s financial difficulties
oftheKhedive's difficulties but, thinking they
were the the only ones in possession of of this information,
information, were waiting for for the price to go go down. The The
Russians and the Turkish were also interested
and the interested in participating in the
the running ofof the Canal. In In the end,
the British were the the first in offering the
the amount required and and they thus obtained control of the the Canal.
This brief sketch of of the complex history of thethe Suez Canal is intended to show that despite appearances
and the
and the pompous ceremony of of its opening, the Canal has always been beenaa place of of confrontation
confrontation and and
controversy. It hashas toto be
be remembered that it has has been thethe site of three wars: the 1956 Suez Crisis, the
Crisis, the
1967 SixSix Day War and the
Day War the 1973 Yom
Yom Kippur War. Therefore, when Whitman, hopeful of ofaa better future,
proclaimed that “Nature and and Man
Man shall be be disjoin’d
disjoin'd and
and diffused nono more,/ The
The true Son
Son of God God shall
absolutely fuse them," them,” many of of his contemporaries were much more reluctant to celebrate the
hiscontemporaries
achievement oftheof the enterprise or of technical achievements in general.
Forster was
was among those less optimistic. As has
optimistic. As has been mentioned above, E.M. Forster was was not
as daring in his
as his experiments with language and and form as were Lawrence or or Joyce, yet it is important to
note that his attitude towards life was was modern. As Asaa consequence the the reader should be be wary when
approaching Forster’s
Forster's texts, particularly A A Passage to to India, for the
the rational surface present
16
16
UNIT 2
UNIT2 “The
is deceptive and
and beneath that surface there is an
an undercurrent text that needs tobe
to be explored.
In Forster’s view, India, as he shows in the novel, is not so much a mystery as a ‘muddle’, a labyrinth very similar to the riddle of
life itself.
In this respect it should be be noted that the the ‘muddle’ that forms much of the turning point of the
oftheturning the
novel, what happens at at the
the Marabar Caves, is left unresolved. unresolved. Indeed, Forster was was aware of of the
the
criticism that leaving open to to speculation the Marabar Caves episode might bring. As As hehe states in ina a
letter answering what has happened in the the Marabar Caves:
In the cave
In the cave it it is
is either
eitheraa man,
man, or the supernatural,
or the supernatural, or or an illusion. If
an illusion. IfII say,
say, itit becomes
becomes
whatever the
whatever the answer
answeraa different book. And
different book. And even
even ififII knew!
knew! My writing mind
My writing mind therefore
therefore isais a
blur here
blur here —– i.e.I
i.e. I will
will it
it to remain a blur,
to remaina blur, and
and toto be uncertain, as
be uncertain, asII am
am ofof many facts in
many facts in daily
daily
life. This
life. isn’t a philosophy
This isn'ta philosophy of of aesthetics.
aesthetics. It’sIt'saa particular
particular trick
trickII felt justified in
felt justified in trying
trying
because my
because theme was
my theme was India
India … Without
Without the the trickI
trick I doubt whether I could
doubt whetherI have got
could have the
got the
spiritual reverberation going.
spiritual reverberation going.
(Quoted
(Quoted in in Stallybrass
Stallybrass 1979:
1979: 26)26)
Therefore, as as Oliver Stallybrass has has pointed out in his his introduction
introduction to thethe Penguin edition, we we
are confronted witha
are with a novel that combines “realism and and symbolism … the the personal and and the cosmic”
(Stallybrass 1979: 27). Certainly, here, the the poetic exploration of the passage to to India detours from the the
interesting and and overt, yetyet froma
from a literary perspective rather superficial,
superficial, political insight found in the the novel.
Whitman’s view ofthe
Whitman's of the world as as unified by the fusion of man
by the man andand nature is adopted by the liberal
Cyril
CyrilFFielding,
ielding, whowho believes that the the world “is“isa a globe of of men
men whowho are trying to reach one one another and and
can
can best do do so by by the help of of good will plus culture and and intelligence”. This creed, Forster claims, is “ill
suited to Chandrapore” meaning that it is irrelevant in the the context of the riddle of India. The The whole first
chapter of of the novel is isa a description of Chandrapore.
Chandrapore. Forster establishes Chandrapore asa as a prototypical
prototypical
Indian town, neither distinguished
distinguished nor exceptionally troubled. troubled. This town can, therefore, be be taken as
symbolic of of the rest of India rather than as an an exceptional case: “Chandrapore was was never large or
beautiful, but two hundred years ago
but two ago it lay
lay on the road between Upper India, then Imperial,
on the Imperial, and the sea”
and the
(Forster 1979: 31). Chandrapore has also been beenaa passage to to India, in past times that coincided with
those when India was was an an empire. Note here how how the memory ofpast of past empires in Forster coincides with
those in Conrad’s
Conrad's Heart
Head of Darkness.
ofDarkness.
In
InA A Passage to India, however, the process is reversed in the
toIndia, the sense that if Conrad’s
Conrad's narrative
refers to thethe times when European people were colonised by other empires, Forster’s Forster's empire is placed
at
at the very heart of the British colony. It should be
be pointed out that, although subordinated to London,
subordinated
India was
was in fact an an Empire in itself,itself, ruling the
the modern states of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bangladesh, Burma,
and Sri
Sri Lanka. Therefore,
Therefore, while substantiating the the idea of the circularity of time present in Heart Head of of
Darkness, Forster’s
Forster's image of the Empire serves also to dignify India and
of the and contrast its past with the the
treatment dispensed by the British. Having said this, in both cases, the introduction introduction of thethe memory of of
former empires serves to to delineate the temporal boundaries of
of the actual situation lived by the
by the
characters in the the texts.
Hence,
Hen‹e, this memory introduces an
on element of conflict
‹onfIi‹t to the apparent durability of the concept
‹on‹ept of Empire and its grandeur. Once
0n‹e this
element has been questioned, what remains are ore the individual and
and the conflicts
‹onfIi‹ts within.
A A Passage toto India addresses complex questions about human relations. The tragedy of
relations. The of the
novel lies in the
the breakdown ofcommunication
of communication both between races and and between individuals. The book is
individuals. The
divided into three main sections entitled ‘Mosque’, ‘Caves’ and and ‘Temple’ in that order, which might
correspond to to the three seasons of the
of the Indian year and stand as aa symbol of
and of how
how individual
individual
relationships are
are weathered by byaa lack of communication and
and misunderstanding.
From
Fromaa Christian European perspective, the three in one one recalls the
the mystery of of the Holy Trinity,
whose resolution
resolution is an
an act
act of
of faith and
and not
not of reason. Furthermore,
Furthermore, the religious imagery serves to to
explore different aspects ofof the human being. In ‘Mosque’ Forster uses Aziz who who expresses emotional
nature through Islam: “Aziz liked to hear his his religion praised. It soothed the surface of his his mind, and
and
allowed beautiful images toform
to form beneath” (Forster 1979: 105). Godbole represents Hinduism in
17
17
UNIT 2
UNIT2 “The
‘Temple’.
‘Temple’. During the birth of Shri Krishna love, as as aa faculty,
faculty, is exercised.
exercised. In this manner emotional
nature and
and the capacity for for love are explored in these two two sections.
sections. Religion is ofof little assistance when
confronting the
the intellect.
intellect. Thus, Adela and and Fielding,
Fielding, by
by expressing their Western views, become becomeaa textual
symbol ofthe
of the part entitled ‘Caves’. They lack the emotional and and mystical insight into life, and and depend on
their reason and
and academic background to to understand human relationships.
These different aspects of of human nature in isolation are are of no
no help in fully understanding the
riddle of life; among all the the characters only Mrs. Moore is capable of of crossing religious and and intellectual
boundaries,
boundaries, which implies that she she is indeed capable of fully understanding the meaning of
offully the echo she
oftheecho
experiences at at the Marabar Caves. Mrs. Moore is able to grasp the truth of human existence because
she becomes
becomesaa conduct forcultures
for cultures and
and religions. The physical death of
religions. The of this character is isa a metaphor for
for
the ultimate knowledge she has acquired at
the at the Marabar Caves, in her her understanding of of an
an echo that
seems tosay
to say “Pathos, piety, courage, —— they exist but but are
are identical, and so is filth. Everything exits,
and so exits,
nothing has
has value” (Forster 1979:), indicating that each individual is alone in ina a rather hostile universe.
universe.
As has
As has Kurtz in HeartHead of Darkness, she
ofDarkness, she has
has confronted good and evil at the the same time and and this
experience hashas changed her for ever: “Her Christian tenderness had
her forever: had gone, or or had
had developed into intoaa
hardness,
hardness,aa just irritation
irritation against the human race” (Forster 1979: 204).
As does Kurtz in Heart
heart of Darkness, Mrs. Moore becomes
ol0arLness, âe‹omesaa kind ofa a goddess,
goddess,a a Vishnu, seen by others as provider of truth and
and
knowledge.
It comes asas no surprise that at the the ceremony of of Krishna’s

Krishna's birth Godbole, the other character
who has
who has been at at the
the caves but but is unable to to describe them, in ina a trance-like state very close to his his
comprehension of of God, brings to the text the
the memory of Mrs.
ofMrs. Moore. Indeed, at the time of
of the trial the
the
belief among theIndians
the Indians that Mrs. Moore has has been sent back to to England by herher son so that sheshe cannot
testify and
and give evidence to to support Aziz's
Aziz’s innocence helps to to widen herher popularity.
popularity.
On the other hand, Ronny fears that his mother might cause trouble if she
On the she remains in India. Yet Yet
nobody, neither the the British, nor the Indians (nor the
nor the the reader),
reader), can
can bebe sure that Mrs. Moore knows what
actually happened in the the Marabar Caves. When Adela comments to her: “I thought you
toher: you said ‘Aziz is an an
innocent man’ but but it was
was Mr.Mr. Fielding’s
Fielding's letter” her
her answer is “Of
“Of course he is innocent” (Forster 1979:
209). When pressured by her son son on
on the point, she
she simply replies “One knows people’s characters, as
people's characters, as
you call them” which, as
you as is explicitly acknowledged in the the text, proves nothing conclusive but is isa a
subjective point of view.
The main difference between Kurtz and
Themain and Mrs. Moore is that
thot the reader is able to witness, although may
may not understand, Mrs. Moore’s
Moore's
transformation.
Mrs. Moore comes to to India in thethe company of of Miss Quested who, by the the way, has
hasaa similar
experience but is not yet ready to
not yet to understand the real significance of the the echo. She to Mrs. Moore:
She says to
“There is this echo
echoII keep on hearing ... ...II can’t
can't get
get rid of
of it” to
to which Mrs. Moore answers: “I suppose you
never will”. Aftera
After a while Adela insists:
insists: “what is this echo?” Finally,
Finally, Mrs. Moore ends the
the conversation
conversation
with a truth that is mistakenly understood as
witha asaa stubborn uncooperative attitude by by Ronny and Adela: “If
you don't
you don’t know, you
you don't
don’t know;
know;II can't
can’t tell you” (Forster 1979: 205). The The Marabar Caves are introduced
areintroduced
right from the beginning of of the novel as
as the only distinguishable item in Chandrapore’s
Chandrapore's landscape:
landscape:
Only
Only in the south, wherea
inthesouth, where a group
group of fists and
of fists fingers are
and fingers are thrust up through
thrust up through the
the soil, is the
soil, is the
endless
endless expanse
expanse interrupted. These fists
interrupted. These fists and fingers are
and fingers the Marabar
are the Marabar Hills,
Hills, containing
containing thethe
extraordinary
extraordinary caves.
caves.
(Forster
(Forster 1979:
1979: 32-3)
32-3)
At the beginning of of the novel, thethe caves are
are already imbued with aa mysterious aura
foreshadowing the future events that constitute
constituteaa turning point in
inA A Passage toto India. Although they
and are often contemplated from Chandrapore,
overlook and Chandrapore, nobody in the the novel is really able to describe
The caves reflect everything as
them. The does a mirror. They have no feature that makes them remarkable
as doesa
save the
the echo. They are
are similar to aa labyrinth and, in that, it is impossible to distinguish oneone from
The caves represent everything in life. They stand for
another. The for all the
the possible emotional, intellectual
intellectual
18
18
UNIT 2
UNIT2 “The
toImperialism
and
and mystical views. They are
are intangible because no one one is capable of
of experiencing
experiencing life in an
an absolute
The symbolism of
way. The of the
the Marabar Caves lies precisely in the the echo they produce, presented
throughout the narrative as
as aa representation ofa
of a timelessness that knows no narrative but which
nevertheless exists and
and forms part of life and
and reality:
reality: “What dwelt in the
the first of
of the
the caves? Something
old and
very old and very small. Before time, it was
was before space also” (Forster 1979: 212). An An echo that, as
as
Mrs. Moore painfully understands is impossible to articulate.
articulate.
Mrs.
Mrs. Moore,
Moore, after the visit
after the to the
visit to the caves,
‹oves, becomes
becomes the
the bearer
bearer of
of their
their echo
e‹ho and this might
and this might be
Be the
the reason
reason why
why she
she now
now repeats
repeats words
words
almost every time she speaks: ‘say, say, say’, ‘bad, bad, bad’, ‘love, love, love’.
almost every time she speaks: ‘soy, say, say’, ‘bad, bad, bad’, ‘love, love, love’.
Interestingly
Interestingly enough
enough these repetitions of
these repetitions words come
of words come always inaa set
always in of three,
setof three, resembling
resembling the
the
tripartite structure
tripartite structure of the novel
of the novel asasaa whole.
whole. In fact, these
In fact, these repetitions
repetitions world
work at trying to
at trying to expel the evil
expel the evil
she
she has
has encountered
encountered at at the
the caves:
caves: “She has come
“She has come totoaa state where the
state where the horror
horror of the universe
of the universe and
and its
its
smallness
smallness areare both visible at
both visible at the
the same
same time”
time” (Forster
(Forster 1979:
1979: 212).
212). Not
Not evil itself as
evil itself as much
much as the
asthe
nature of
nature of evil
evil is
is at
at stake
stake inin the
the novel.
novel. As
As Mrs.
Mrs. Moore
Moore points
points out,
out, “There
“There are
are different
different ways
ways of evil”
ofevil”
(Forster
(Forster 1979:
1979: 210).
210).
Much of of the
the symbolism Forster develops in the the novel is taken from Hindu scripture and and
philosophy. The
The caves elude all explanation,
explanation, asas does the
the conception ofof Hindu deity: it implies that to
understand deity is to to limit it. Hindu deity extends universally,
universally, comprehending all that exists, both good
and evil as
as Godbole explains in the the novel:
Good
Good and
and evil
evil are
are different things as
different things as their
their names
names imply.
imply. But,
But, in
in my
my own
own humble
humble opinion,
opinion,
they are
they both aspects
are both aspects of
of my
my Lord.
Lord. He
He is present in
is present the one,
in the one, absent in the
absent in the other,
other, and the
and the
difference between presence
difference between presence and
and absence
absence is great, as
isgreat, as great
great as
as my feeble mind
my feeble mind can grasp. Yet
cangrasp. Yet
absence implies presence,
absence implies presence, absence
absence isis not
not non-existence,
non-existence, and we are
and we therefore entitled
are therefore to
entitled to
repeat ‘Come,
repeat ‘Come, come,
come, come,
come, come’.
come’.
(Forster
(Forster 1979:
1979: 186)
186)
In Hindu philosophy,
philosophy, Brahman, also called ‘soul of the the world’, represents ‘All that exists’. All the the
other gods represent the various parts of Brahman like a a tree with its many branches. They are are
separated by the veil of illusion. When mystical release comes, the the veil is lifted, and the
lifted, and the two
two appear to to
be one. Forster gives the echoa echo a characteristic sound of of “boum”. There is little difference between its
phonetic pronunciation, and and the Hindu syllable Ohm. When onemeditates one meditates with that syllable, one one can
can
reach
reach Brahman,
Brahman, expel
expel evil, and “learn
evil, and to see
“learn to the all
see the all —— pervading,
pervading, the the Highest
Highest Person”
Person” (Draper:
(Draper: 208).
208).
Forster used this symbolism to toaa great extent in conveying his message. The
hismessage. The echo taunts Adela
until she
she withdraws her accusation against Aziz. She She has
has to recognise the common being of of humanity.
Until then, the
the evil stays with her in the
the echo (Draper: 210). Also, when Mrs. Moore had her vision at the
hervision the
caves, their essential meaning was was revealed to her. As As was
was Godbole who who could not describe the caves,
she
she could not describe their meaning, because it surpassed the the principle of individualisation. However,
she understood it, when she she compared it toto Christianity:
Christianity: “poor little talkative Christianity, and she
Christianity, and she knew
that all its divine words from ‘Let there be be light’ to
to ‘It is finished’ only amounted to‘boum”’
to ‘boum’” (Draper, Allen
211). It is not the revelation,
not surprising that the revelation, beyond her her intellect,
intellect, toto realise that thethe beginning and and the
end, the alpha andand omega of human existence,
ofhuman existence, amount tonothing
to nothing more nor less than ‘boum’ frightened
norless frightened
her beyond what words can express. Her Her repetition of words is isa a symbol representing
representing the calling of the the
presence of of Brahman when confronted with the the sudden realisation
realisation of thethe absence.
The technique of repeating events with slight variations in different contexts
Thete‹#nique ‹ontexts is used asaa way
way to explore the meaningless but
hut
disturbing echo,
e‹ho, which
whi‹h is, as
as the
the novel implies, the
the heart of human existence.
The echo ofthe

The of the caves provides the novel witha
with a rhythm to
to be found in the
the use
use of repetition. An
repetition. An
important example of of this rhythm lies in the
the similarity between the
the accident involving the
the unknown
animal and Adela’s entrance to the cave. In
and Adela's In the scene with the accident, Adela is concerned with her
marriage to
to Ronny. The
The car
car crashes into an
an animal and
and the people are confused over what the the animal
was. Then they all return in Miss Derek’s
Derek's car, Adela and
and Ronny who
who were about to to break up realising
that they do
do not want tomarry
to marry each other. In the
the cave scene Adela again questions her love forfor Ronny:
But
But as
as she toiled over
she toiled over aa rock
rock that resembled an
that resembled an inverted
inverted saucer,
saucer, she thought,
she thought,
19
19
UNIT22 “The
‘What
‘What about love?’ The
about love?’ The rock
rock was
was nicked
nicked by
byaa double row of
double row footholds, and
of footholds, and somehow the
somehow the
question was suggested
question was suggested by
by them. Where had
them. Where had she seen footholds
sheseen footholds before?
before? Oh yes, they
Oh yes, they were
were
the pattern
the pattern traced
traced in
in the
the dust by the
dust by the Nawab
Nawab Bahadur’s
Bahadur's car.
car. She
She and
and Ronny
Ronny —— no,they
no, they
did
did not love each
not love each other.
other.
(Forster
(Forster 1979:
1979: 162)
162)
This sudden realisation,

realisation, that she
she does not not love Ronny, makes her her ask
ask Aziz the offensive
question which will precipitate the the following course of of events: “Have you one wife, or more than one?”
(Forster 1979: 164). Aziz, offended by the question,question, stops taking good care of of her and
and apparently she
she
disappears out of of his
his sight. Only later dodo wewe learn that she
she has
has entered
enteredaa cave, thinks sheshe has
has been
and races down theKawa
attacked, and the Kawa Dol to Miss Derek’s
DoltoMiss Derek's car. The
The accident scene is mentioned to to imply
similarities to this incident. Who
Who is to
to be
be blamed forthecaraccident?
for the car accident? Who
Who is to
to blame forwhat
for what occurred
in the
the Marabar Caves? Indeed, did anything actually happen? Forster’s Forster's use
use of rhythm is thethe only
possible way
way to allow forthis
for this connection.
The introduction
The introduction of this apparently feeble, muddled mystery plot, this unsatisfactorily unresolved
‘whodunit,’
‘whodunit,’ serves in thethe narrative to introduce
introduceaa feeling of deception and and uneasiness since the question
finds nono satisfactory answer. This fact, no no doubt, pinpoints andand highlights the
the idea that there is nono
readily available answer totheto the riddle of life. The best one
life. The one can do is to
can do to count on
on fellow human beings to
ease the
the pain of this tragedy.
If Conrad’s
onrod's experience on board had taught him
him that fidelity was
was the only anchor
an‹hora a human being could
‹ould have against the evil of the
universe, Forster seems to think thot
that affection is the key
key to the matter: “Why can’t
‹on't we
we be
be friends now? said the other holding him
him
affectionately” (Forster 1979: 316).
the power that would unite people, nevertheless seems tobe

Affection, the to be an elusive quality of the the
human being. The The non-event of of Aziz's
Aziz’s trial with all charges dropped brings to the surface the
insurmountable confrontation
confrontation between people; at first sight between British and and Indians, but but also among
the British themselves since Fielding, on
theBritish on account of of his views on
hisviews on the
the court case, becomes suspicious of of
the Anglo-Indians. In the the same way, later on on in the
the narrative,
narrative, after she
she confesses to to Aziz's
Aziz’s innocence,
Miss Quested is rejected by the British community. There is also division among theIndians,
by the the Indians, between
Muslims and and Hindus; Professor Godbole refuses to aid Dr Aziz.
A A Passage to to India seems tobe to be an essentially pessimistic book where more connections are
severed than made between people. Even strong friendships, friendships, like that of Fielding and and Aziz, break down
under the pressure exerted on on both sides. Within the framework of the narrative,
ofthe the hopeful passage to
narrative, the to
India of Whitman's
Whitman’s poem turns out to be be an
an impossible bridge, as as symbolised in the the Bridge Party.
Even Mrs. Moore’s
Moore's vision is only onlyaa part of Forster’s
Forster's theme. It was was never complete, as as his
his
resolution of the the story is never completed, and as life itself never completes,
and as completes, only expands. Forster
could never havehaveaa single character convey the the entire message of of his novel, nor
hisnovel, nor convey the the message
by
by resolving thethe dramatic conflict.
conflict.
Most of the names of
ofthe the characters are symbolic of
ofthecharacters of their respective personalities and and attitudes
to life. Mrs. Moore is the the everlasting presence of of the novel. She
She comes toIndia
to India looking forfor more than is
readily available and and in finding it sheshe becomes greater than life. Miss Quested, as as does Mrs. Moore,
to India
comes toIndia in search for further
forfurther knowledge. She
She wants to
to know ‘the real India’ and
and in doing so sheshe
tests herself andand questions herself, hence the the past participle of her her name. Fielding is the the Promised
Land, lacking any any prejudices he he is thethe theoretical enabler of of affection across cultures and and individuals,
individuals,
yet he
yet he fails because for for all his
his good intentions he he has
has not yet understood the importance of of
communication. Aziz, as as friendly asas hehe is, is
isa a victim of this inefficiency to communicate clearly. He He is
often misunderstood, and and misunderstands just as
as frequently when speaking to
to people who do not
who do not share
his culture. ‘Bole’ according to the Oxford English Dictionary means “main stem or
hisculture. trunk of
ortrunk ofaa tree,” thus
the name ‘Godbole’ seems to to be
beaa synonym forBrahman,
for Brahman, the the one connected with God. However,
because God God cannot be explained, Godbole is lacking in communication, forall for all his
his spirituality seems to to
be aa way out out of of the
the claustrophobic web web of misunderstandings and
and miscommunications
20
20
UNIT 2
UNIT2 “The
toImperialism
present in the
the novel. AtAt the
the end the novel the reader is left with the same feeling of uneasiness
end of the
provoked by the
the unsolved crime. This is soso because thethe novel attempts, but necessarily fails, to
to grasp
the whole meaning of life, because
oflife, becauseAA Passage to India raises questions about reality and
toIndia and life that cannot
be answered. TheThe best wewe can
can do, as
as does Marlow in Heart
Head of Darkness, is to
ofDarkness, to repeat the experience
through words in the
the hope that some new meaning will break through allowing us us to grasp some
knowledge beyond theappearances
the appearances of the readily available world.
ofthe
3. ACTIVITIES
3. ACTIVITIES
3.1. Test
3.1. Test yourself
yourself
1. Briefly explain the
I. the implications ofof the
the title
title Heart of Darkness.
o(Darkness.
2. Is there
there any
any autobiographical element in inA A Passage
Passage to
to India?
India!
3. Explain the
the significance of the
the characters’
characters' names in Forster’s
Forster's novel.
4. Why
4. Why is Marlow telling
telling his story?
story!
1. Analyse
I. Analyse how the texts
how the texts studied
studied in this Unit
in this are representative
Unit are representative of
of contemporary
contemporary discussions
discussions on
on
the Empire.
the Empire.
2.
2. Compare
Compare andand contrast
contrast Kurtz
Kurtz and
and Mrs.
Mrs. Moore
Moore as
as characters
characters epitomising the paradoxes
epitomising the and
paradoxes and
contradictions held by prevailing attitudes towards the Empire.
contradictions held by prevailing attitudes towards the Empire.
3.3. Explore:
1. There
I. There has
has been
been serious
serious criticism
criticism regarding the racism
regarding the racism and gender bias
and gender bias of
of Conrad’s
Conrad's Heart
Heart of
o#
Darkness.
Darkness. Read the following
Read the following extract from Chinua
extract from Achebe’s “An
Chinua Achebe's “An Image
Image of Africa: Racism
of Africa: Racism in
in
Conrad’s
Conrad's Heart of Darkness” and
Heart o{Darkness” and discuss Achebe’s opinion
discuss Achebe's opinion in
in relation to the
relation to the text
text (450 words):
(450 words):
Students of Heart of of Darkness will often tell you
you that Conrad is concerned not so
the deterioration of one
much with Africa as with thedeterioration one European mind caused by solitude
and sickness. They will point out to you
and you that Conrad is, if anything, less charitable to
the Europeans in in the
the story than he is to
to the
the natives, that the
the point of the story is to
to
Europe’s civilizing mission in Africa. AA Conrad student informed me
ridicule Europe's me inin
merely a setting for the
Scotland that Africa is merelya the disintegration of the mind of Mr Kurtz.
ofMr
Which is partly the point. Africa as setting and and backdrop which eliminates the
African as human factor. Africa as aa metaphysical battlefield devoid of of all
the wandering European enters at his peril. Can
recognizable humanity, into which thewandering Can
see the preposterous and
nobody seethepreposterous and perverse arrogance in thus reducing Africa to the
for the break-up of
role of props forthe of one
one petty European mind? But But that is not
not even the
the
The real question is the
point. The the dehumanization ofAfrica
of Africa and
and Africans which this age-
has fostered and
long attitude has and continues to forster in the
the world. And
And the question is
whether aa novel which celebrates this dehumanization, which depersonalizes aa
portion of the human race, cancan be
be calleda
called a great work ofart.
of art.
(Norton 2000: 2040)
2. There
There has
has been criticism
criticism in relation to
to racism and
and Forster’s
Forster'sA A Passage
Passage to
to India. For
For example,
Chaudhuri feels
feels he
he has
has unjustly portrayed thethe Indians: “The Indians werea
were a people whowho had
established aa great
great modern culture that that could
could stand up with names such as
up with as Erasmus and
Holberg, but at at the
the introduction of the the British were
were slighted and
and cheated. Some were were
assaulted, and
assaulted, and none could compare
compare or even hold
holdaa relationship with
with anyone
anyone in the
the new
new ruling
community” (Chaudhuri: 203). Discuss this this opinion
opinion taking
taking into account the
the different Indian
characters present in Forster’s
Forster's novel. (450 words).
words).
3. Write
Write anan essay of 450
450 words
words on the
the similarities and
and differences between Heart o{Darkness
of Darkness and
and
AA Passage to
to India
/ndia in their
their involvement with
with the
the theme
theme of Empire.
ofEmpire.
Key terms:
3.4. Key
- Affection
Affection
21
21
UNIT 2
UNIT2 “The
toImperialism
- Africa
- Ambiguity
- Appearances
- Britain
- Colony
- Composite characters
- Culture
- Empire
- Fidelity
- Imperialism
- Misunderstanding
- Paradox
- Story within story
- Unreliable narrator
- man’s burden
White man's
5.
5. BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Joseph Conrad (selected bibliography)
BATCHELOR, John. 1993. 1993. The Biography. Blackwell

The Life of Joseph Conrad: AA Critical Biography.
Publishers.
Publishers.
BLOOM, Harold. 1992.
1992. Marlow,
Marlon, Major
Major Literary Chnrncters. Chelsea House Public Library.
Literacy Characters. Library.
GOGWILT, Christopher L. L. 1995.
1995. The Invention of
The invention of the West:
iVest: Joseph Conrad
Conrnd and
rind the Double-
Mapping of rind Empire. Stanford University Press.
Europe and
ofEurope
HARPHAM, Geoffrey.
Geoffrey. 1996.
1996. One
One of
of Us:
Us: The
The Mastery ofof Joseph Conrnd. University of
Joseph Conrad. of Chicago
Press.
SAID, Edward W. 1993.
1993. Two
Two Visions in Heart of
Visions in of Darkness. Culture and Imperialism. New
rind Imperialism. New York:
Vintage.
SHERRY, Norman. 1980.
1980. Conrad's
Conrnd's Western World. Cambridge University
Western World.
E. M. Forster
E. M. E'’orster (selected bibliography)
(selected bibliography)
BRADBURY, Malcolm, ed. ed. 1966.

1966. Forster: AA Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N.
N.
J.: Prentice-Hall.
J.:
BRISTOW, J.,
J., ed. 2002. E.M.
ed.2002. Forster. Longman Higher Education.
fi.M. Forster. Education.
SINGH, Aviar. 1996.
1996. The
the Novels of Forster. Atlantic Publishers &
E.M. Forster.
ofE.M. & Distributors.
Distributors.
TAMBLING, Jeremy, ed. ed. 1995.
1995. E.M. Forster: Contemporary Critical Essays. St. St. Martin’s
Martin's
Press.
Historical Context(selected bibliography)

Context{selected bibliography}
ELDRIDGE, C.C. 1996.

1996. The
the Imperial Experience: From
from Carlyle to Forster. New
to Forster. New York,
Basingstoke:
Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Specific texts
ALLEN, Glen, O. 1968.

1968. “Structure,
“Structure, Symbol, and
and Theme in E.M. Forster’s
inE.M. Forster's AA Passage To /ndin”
India”
V. A.
in V. A. SHAHANE (ed) Perspectives in Forster’s A Passage To
in E.M. ForBter’S;A To India: AA Collection of
Essay:s. Barnes &
Critical Essays. & Noble.
CHAUDHURI, Nirad, C. 1968. 1968. “Passages To To and
and From India” in V. A. SHAHANE (ed)
Perspectives in Forster’sAA Passage To
in E.M. Forster’s To India: AA Collection of Critical EBBays. Barnes
Essays. Barries
&
& Noble.
DAVIES, Tony and Nigel WOOD, eds. 1994. 1994. AA Passage to India. Milton Keynes: The
to Jndin. The Open
University Press.
JAY, Betty, ed. 1998.
1998. Icon Critical Guide: E.M. Forster’sAA Passage toto India. Icon Books.
Web sites
Web sites
& The Joseph Conrad Society (UK): http://users.bathspa.ac.uk/conrad/

TheJoseph
‘Only Connect’: The Unofficial
Connect': The Unoficial E.M. Forster Site: http://www.musicandmeaning.com/forster/
22
22
UNIT 2
UNIT2 “The
toImperialism
& For
Fora a brief overview
overview on
on the
the history of
of the
the British Empire: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire
23
23
UNIT 3
UNIT3 and War:
Literature and War. “Disillusion
“Disillusion as
as Never Told
Told in the Old Days
intheOld Days”
”
UNIT III
Literature and
and War: “Disillusion as Never Told in
in the Old Days”
Programme
1. PRESENTATION: ‘The War That Ends All Wars’
2. TEXT ANALYSIS:
2.TEXT
2.1. “The Poetry is in the Pity:” Georgian Poets Experiencing War.
in the
2.2. “Let’s We Forget:” Women Writing the War.
“Let's We
3.
3. ACTIVITIES
4.
4. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Learning outcomes
- To analyze the relationship between war war and literature.
and literature.
- To discern the strategies through which contemporary poets and
To and writers
developed original techniques and and learnt from their predecessors toto convey their
experiences ofof war.
- To be
To be aware of the interaction between poetic discourses and
of the and other social or or
political discourses pondering whether literature is an an active participant in the
the
construction ofof the world.
- To consider both aesthetic and
To and ethical questions such us the the poetic attempt toto
transform atrocity into art.
- Through thethe comparison of of texts, students will heighten their awareness of of the
the
complex and
and controversial debates surrounding the the genre of war writing itself.
ofwar itself.
- To consider the relationship between women writers and war.
1.
1. PRESENTATION:
PRESENTATION: ‘The War That
‘The War That Ends All Wars’
Ends All Wars’
The aim is to to study the relationship between war and and literature. The Unit will
literature. The
concentrate (albeit not
not exclusively) on the First World War. This was
on the was the major event that
changed European civilisation
civilisation as
as it had
had been known up tothis
to this conflict. The Unit will also deal
conflict. The
mainly with poetry, although some prose relating to war war will also be
be considered. The The general
the Unit is to
objective of the to chart the strategies through which poets and and writers in general
developed original techniques and and learnt from their predecessors to to convey their experiences
of war. In
of we shall explore the ethical considerations underlying war
In doing so we war poetry as as it
attempts toto transform atrocity into art. Therefore, this Unit will consider both aesthetic and and
ethical questions such us: for whom does the
us:forwhom the poet speak, and and for
for what purpose? How How might
the poet write about violence without exploiting
exploiting or cheapening it? Does the the combatant-poet
have rights that are to civilian poets? What should the emotional stance of
are denied to of the poet be?
be?
How
How and
and in what detail must thehorror
inwhat the horror of war
war be
be described? We We will see
see that these andand similar
questions are always posed implicitly,
implicitly, and
and often directly,
directly, by war poets. In
by war the process, debates
In the
about war
war writing as
as experiential or non-experiential writing will be be examined, as will the the
relation between history andand thethe imagination; war war and
and Empire; gender in writing; war
in war writing; war
poetry and
and popular culture; and and identity andand nationality in war war literature.
literature. Through the the
comparison of of texts, students will heighten their awareness of
heighten their of thethe complex and
11
UNIT 3
UNIT3 and War:
“Disillusion as
as Never Told
intheOld Days”
”
controversial surrounding the genre of

controversial debates surrounding of war
war writing itself, and
and examine the the extent to
the production and
which the and interpretation of war
war poetry is conditioned by cultural, social and
by cultural, and
political The relationship between women writers and
political factors. The and war
war is also an an important
objective of this Unit.
The writers studied in this Unit are
The are by
by no
no means theonly
the only ones who
who could be be studied in
war and literature.
relation to war and literature. Choosing these writers in preference to other authors means not
not
that they are better writers but
but that they provide an of insight into the
an adequate amount ofinsight the subject
as
as to give anan accurate idea of the main aim and objectives described here.
The second part of the
The the title of
of this Unit has
has been taken from Ezra Pound’s
Pound's poem ‘Hugh
Selwyn Mauberley’ (1920, emphasis added):
These fought in in any

any case,
and some believing,
and
pro domo, inany
pro in any case ...
Some quick to to arm,
some for
for adventure,
some from fear of weakness,
some from fear of censure,
some for
for love of slaughter, in imagination,
learning later ...
some infear,
in fear, learning love of slaughter;
Died some, pro patria,
non ‘dulce’ non
non non ‘et decor’ … ...
walked eye-deep in hell
men’s lies, then unbelieving
believing in old men's
came home, home to toaa lie,
to many deceits,
home tomany
to old lies and
home toold and new
new infamy;
usury age-old andand age-thick
and liars in
and in public places.
Daring as never before, wastage as
asnever as never before.
Young blood and and high blood,
and fine bodies;
fair cheeks, and
fortitude as never before
frankness as never before,
disillusions as never told in the old days,
confessions,
hysterias, trench corifessions,
laughter out of dead bellies.
This title deserves some explanation as as it may

may seem paradoxical thata
that a writer to
support Fascism during the Second World War, broadcasting Fascist propaganda by radio to
the United States, is taken as paradigmatic of the literature produced asa
the as a reaction to the the
Great War. Precisely the paradox conveyed in Pound’s Pound's book of of poems as
asaa whole and
and in this
poem in particular in relation to its author, is intentional. The Great War
intentional. The War can bebe approached
reasonably only by undertaking
undertaking anan attitude of paradoxical wonder at ataa conflict that was
was to be be
‘the war
war that ends all wars’. In fact, the
the First World War
War was was one
one of the most meaningless wars
ofthe
ever fought, at the cost of
of the highest number ofcasualties
of casualties ever (8,538,315 died in conflict).
conflict).
In the
the first section of Ezra Pound’s
Pound's ‘Hugh Selwyn Mauberley,’ the speaker, Mauberley,
who could be
who be seen as Pound’s
Pound's poetic voice, reveals the reasons why
why he fails to
to elevate poetry
by
by describing his efforts to writea
write a poem that his society will find as
as beautiful as
as he
he finds
22
UNIT 3
UNIT3 and War:
“Disillusion as
as Never Told
intheOld Days”
”
classical works.
works. As
As Mauberley tells
tells us,
us, how to “resuscitate
how to “resuscitate the
the dead
dead artof
art of poetry” is what
what has
occupied his
his mind forthe
for the last three years. InIn his search, however, he is confronted with the
absolute ugliness of the Great War, which he compares to to Horace’s
Horace's dictum in his
his Odes by
by
negating the heroic attributes of dying forone's
for one’s country “‘non dulce’ non
non ‘et decor.’”
decor.”’
Horace is also recalled in the title of Wilfred Owen’s poem ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ written in 1918 and published for the first time in
1920. Owen, as we shall see, by actually experiencing the cruelty and desolation of life in the trenches became one of those giving voice to
‘disillusions as never told in the old days.’ Why is Horace so recurrent in the war literature of the period?
The way
The way in which the
the lives of millions were wasted on the
the battlefield was neither sweet
battlefield was
nor decorous. This
nor decorous. This poem surprises the the reader forfor it is one
one of the few
of the few instances in which Pound
inwhich
shows
showsaa sense of humanity. Despite his
ofhumanity. his latter alliances,
alliances, andand despite hishis mania forgood
for good art and
artand
impatience with public stupidity,
stupidity, in this poem Ezra Pound provides an an intelligent and
and clear
the Great War
outline of what the War meant forthose
for those who
who directly experienced it. Pressed to to ponder
the similarities between human life and
the and art, he he seems inclined to concede, at at least in this
poem, that art
art becomes meaningless when confronted with the nothingness found in the
in the
pointless cruelty of the
the First World War. Yet, it was was toto art
art that people turned when trying to
make sense of the atrocities of this War. As
of the As Catharine Reilly has has pointed out in in the
Introduction to her
her engrossing Scars upon My My Heart
Head (1981) the amount of of people that took to
to
poetry writing during the War War and
and its aftermath is absolutely exorbitant, counting to 2225
combats and non-combats (of whom 532
(ofwhom 532areare women).
Among these voices are included, albeit not
not exclusively,
exclusively, Charles Hamilton Sorley,
Edward Thomas, Siegfried Sassoon, Isaac Rosenberg, Vera Brittain, Rose Macaulay, Jessie
Pope or
or Robert Graves. Other poets such as Rupert Brooke died too soon to
to be able later to
to
counterbalance what he felt on the break out
on the out of World War
ofWorld War I.
The reactions to the War
The War seemed as
as varied as
as the people who
who inhabited Britain and the
and the
British Empire at that moment. Before approaching these reactions it seems necessary to
atthat to give
aa succinct historical
historical overview.
When War was was declared in 1914, few

few people had any idea of the struggle that lay
had any
ahead. Some even welcomed it. They failed to realise that modern weapons would lead toa to a
terrible loss of life. Taking Pound’s
Pound's poem asa
as a vivid description of what happened on thethe
different fronts of the
the War, we
we shall concentrate here on on what has come to to be the
be termed the
Home Front. In London, as in in other capital cities, crowds cheered and
and sang. Soldiers in in the
Reserves joined their regiments, expecting that the the conflict would soon finish. It was
was commonly
thought that ‘it will all be
be over by Christmas’. Most people in Britain believed that the the combined
strengths of the French Army and the British Navy would quickly settle things favourably.
and theBritish favourably.
The first men
The men to volunteer for
to for the war
war were filled with ideas of of patriotism.
patriotism. They
imagined that they were going ona
on a crusade, ‘to teach the Hun
Hun aa lesson’. To
To those civilians at
home, they were ‘brave boys’ fighting for right against wrong. The
The feelings of those early days
are
are shown in the poem ‘In Flanders Fields’ published in
inthepoem in Punch Magazine inin 1915 and written
by
by Canadian poet John McCrae,
McCrae,aa medical officer in both the Boer War
War and the
the First World
War. This poem is thethe only one
one by
by which he would be remembered. The The significance of the
the
the
poem is that to this day, the red poppy is the symbol of
of Remembrance Day:
In Flanders fields the

the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row
Between thecrosses, row on
on row,
row,
That mark
That mark our place: and
ourplace: in the
and in the sky
sky
33
UNIT 3
UNIT3 and War:
“Disillusion as
as Never Told
intheOld Days”
”
The larks,
The larks, still
still bravely
bravely singing, fly
singing, fly
Scarce
Scarce heard
heard amid the guns below.
amid theguns below.
We are
We are the
the Dead.
Dead. Short
Short days
days ago
ago
We lived,
We lived, felt
felt dawn,
dawn, saw
saw sunset
sunset glow,
glow,
Loved
Loved andand were loved, and
were loved, and now
now we lie
we lie
In
In Flanders fields.
Flanders fields.
Take up
Take up our quarrel with
ourquarrel with the
the foe:
foe:
To you
To you from failing hands
from failing hands we throw
we throw
The torch:
The torch: bebe yours
yours to
to hold
hold it high.
ithigh.
If ye bream
If ye break faith with us
faith with who die
us who die
We shall
We not sleep,
shall not sleep, though poppies grow
though poppies grow
In
In Flanders fields.
Flanders fields.
(John
(John McCrae
McCrae In
In Flanders
Flanders Fields: web)
Fields: web)
The call for

for volunteers came from Lord Kitchener, Secretary forWar.
for War. He wasaa greatly
He was
respected figure. The
The next extract comes from Lloyds Weekly News. It waswas inserted on
on 11
November 1914:
YOUR KING
YOUR HINT AND AND COUNTRY
COUNTRY NEED ANOTHER 100,000
NEED ANOTHER 100,000 MEN
MEN
In the present
In the present grave national emergency
grave national emergency another
another 100,000
100,000 men
men are
are needed
needed at at once
once to rally
to rally
round the
round the Flag
Flag and
and add to the
add to the ranks
ranks of
of our
our New
New Armies.
Armies.
Terms of
Terms Service.
ofService.
(Extension of
(Extension Age Limit)
of Age Limit)
Age on
Age on enlistment
enlistment 19
19 to
to 38.
38. Ex-soldiers up to
Ex-soldiers up to 45.
45. Minimum height 5ft.
Minimum height 5ft.44 ins.,
ins., except
except for ex-
forex-
soldiers
soldiers and
and those units for
those units for which
which special
special standards
standards are
are authorized.
authorized. Must
Must bebe medically fit.
medically fit.
General
General Service
Service for
for the
the War.
War. (bbc web site)
(bbc web site)
Women took over men’s The Suffragettes were able to prove their equality in an
men's jobs. The an
active way. War
War munitions were needed, so thousands of of women went to to work in factories.
factories.
They often had
had to bring up
up their families alone while their husbands were away fighting.
fighting. Some
discovered independence and
and reasonable wages forthefirst
for the first time. Here is an
an account written
by
by one
one of them:
The country
The country was
was asking
asking all women who
allwomen who could
could toto go
go and
and help the War
help the War effort.
effort. II
heard of
heard of a firm in
a firm in the
the Tower
Tower Bridge
Bridge Road wanting girls
Road wanting in their
girls in their factory.
factory. It
It was
was a
a pleasant
pleasant
factory compared
factory compared withwith some.
some. Hours were 8 a.m.
Hours were8 to 6 p.m.
a.m. to6 p.m. and
and II often worked an
often worked hour’s
an hour's
overtime till 7.
overtime till 7. On
On Saturdays it was88 till
Saturdays itwas till 12. We had
12. We had ten
ten minutes
minutes break
brealc in
in the
the morning
morning
and
and an
an hour
hour for dinner. Wages
fordinner. Wages were
were 10/7d
10/7daa week
week at the age of 16.
attheageof16.
Young married
Young women came
married women came flocking
flocking in,
in, glad
glad to
to earn
earn extra
extra money
money besides their
besides their
allowance from the
allowance from Army. They
the Army. were allowed
They were allowed toto stay
stay away
away for
fortenten days
days when
when their
their
husbands came
husbands came on leave from
on leave from France. The grannies
France. The grannies and
and aunts
aunts looked
loolted after
after the
the children.
children.
Women loolced
Women looked upon
upon this
this new found freedom
new found freedom andand also extra money
also extra money as asa a blessing.
blessing. The
The work
work
in thefactory
in the factory was
was arduous. You had
arduous. You had to
to be
be clocked in and
cloclced in and at your bench
at your bench atat eight
eight o’clock
o'cloclc
and
and ready
ready to
to start
start work
world directly
directly the hooters went.
the hooters went. You
You were not supposed
were not supposed to to speak to one
speak to one
another
another and if caught when
and ifcaught when theboss
the boss or
or manager
manager came looking at
came looking your work
at your work around the
around the
factory, it
factory, it meant
meant instant
instant dismissal,
dismissal, or
or else you were
else you threatened with
were threatened with itthe
it the very
very next
next time.
time.
We made
We petrol cans,
made petrol the big
cans, the big machines
machines in the men’s
in the men's shop
shop cutting
cutting outout and
and the
the women,
women,
standing up all
standing up day, soldering
allday, soldering seams
seams and
and handles
handles and
and necks.
necks.
Miss
Miss G.
G. Lovegrove
Lovegrove (bbc web site)
(bbc web site)
Civilians volunteered
volunteered for
for the services in their thousands. By
By the spring of 1916 more than
2,500,000 had
had joined up, of their own to serve Britain. After this,
own free will, to this, conscription was
conscription was
introduced and
and thousands more were forced to enlist. Anyone who who was
was of
of German origin oror
name, oror had friends in that country, became unpopular. German-owned shops were
44
UNIT 3
UNIT3 and War:
“Disillusion as
as Never Told
intheOld Days”
”
attacked.
attacked.AA campaign of of hate was
was launched against ‘The Hun’. Stories were
were told
told of German
atrocities against civilians in other countries. These stories were almost always untrue, but
but
they were
they were used tocreate
to create bitterness towards
towards the
the enemy.
This campaign against anything German greatly affected poet Charles Hamilton Sorley who was actually in Germany when the War
broke out. Sorley, as we shall study later on, was also one of those who volunteered for the army and died in the front.
By the
the end of
of 1916 it had
had become obvious that thethe Prime Minister, H.H. Asquith, was
was
not the best War
War leader for
for Britain. David Lloyd George, who
who had
had been Minister of Munitions
and War Secretary, replaced him. In
and then War In 1915 there had
had been
beenaa shortage of for
of ammunition for
the British Army. Lloyd George, by great efforts, reorganised the production of shells. His
the His work
was vital to
was to the
the conduct of the War. In
of the the years just before 1914 there had
Inthe had been some violent
strikes and
and aa great deal of labour trouble in in industry. During the War, this decreased
considerably.
considerably. Men Men and
and women felt that they must not not let down theservicemen
the servicemen fighting the
the
enemy atclose
at close quarters.
War and
War and death were carried to civilians in Britain. This came as
asaa shock to
toaa people who
who had,
for centuries, used the
for the sea as
asaa shield. On
On aa few
few occasions German ships bombarded towns
the east coast.
on the coast.AA more dreaded weapon was an air airattack. German Zeppelins appeared in in
the skies over several cities and
the and dropped bombs, killing many. The
The terror of War
War became very
real. The
The air attacks on
on Britain alarmed the
the population. The
The amount ofcasualties
of casualties was
was not high
compared with those of of later wars, but an
an enemy who made Zeppelin flights even over
London, the
the capital of the
the Empire, disrupted work and sleep. Here is an
an account of
of one
one of
of
those air raids:
airraids:
Peculiar conditions in the upper air muffled the sound of

airmuffled of L.45’s engines andand also
deadened
deadened thethe crash
crash ofof her
her sighting
sighting shots
shots on the outskirts
on the outskirts of the capital.
of the capital. Consequently
Consequently
people were
people were moving
moving about when Kolle’s
about when Ikolle's first
first 660-pounder
660-pounder descended near Piccadilly
descended near Piccadilly
Circus.
Circus. It blew in
It blew in the
the glass fronts of
glass fronts many fashionable
of many fashionable stores
stores and
and tore
tore aa hole
hole in
in the
the road
road55
feet deep
feet deep and
and 10
10 feet
feet across.
across. Seven
Seven people were killed
people were killed and
and eighteen injured.
eighteen injured.
Kolle’s
Kolle's next bomb fell across the river. In In Camberwell the the second 660-pounder
struck
struck a party wall
a party wall between
between two
two houses
houses and utterly destroyed
and utterly them, at
destroyed them, the cost
at the cost of
of twelve
twelve
lives. The
lives. The last
last of the “big
of the “big ones”
ones” demolished four houses
demolished four houses inin Hither
Hither Green,
Green, while twenty-six
while twenty-six
neighbouring villas
neighbouring villas were
were damaged
damaged by by the blast.
theblast.
(Robinson 1962: 237)
The fear of air

The attack caused many people to
airattack to leave their homes at night; it also affected
atnight;
factory production.
production. In many places, the
the blackout was
was introduced asas aa defensive measure
against possible attacks from the
the air.
As the
As the conflict dragged on, the early enthusiasm was
on, the was lost. Casualty lists were too
too long
and
and thousands ofof families suffered the loss of
ofaa husband, son ora
or a brother. When soldiers
returned from the
the front line with stories of the
the horrors experienced there, civilians in Britain
grew numbed by the War, but
by theWar, were determined to
butwere to see
see it through.
The contrast between the life-and-death problems of war time and the trivia of civilian life was a recurring theme in women’s
narratives at the time.
Soldiers on leave, for their part, did not find the support that they thought they deserved
and
and often found that their friends and and relations viewed the the front as as something terrible over
there, soso far away that it was was nothing to do do with them. Confronted witha with a horror that they could
not possibly experience for for themselves,
themselves, many choose ignorance as as aa defence
defence mechanism.
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did not really want to

They didnotreally to know, and was the
and this was the case even in those parts that happened to
to
have escaped thefirst-hand
the first-hand effects of
of War.
War.
In
In 1917 the
the food shortages increased. Certain areas of
of Britain had few shortages of
had few of
food during the war; in some towns and cities, however, it became very difficult to
to obtain such
things as
as sugar, margarine, tea and
and meat. People had to
to queue forthem.
for them. By
By 1918 there were
limited supplies of other foods such as preserves:
Jam,
Ham, marmalade,
marmalade, syrup, treacle and
syrup, treacle honey will
and honey will be rationed as
be rationed from November
as from November 3rd,
3rd,
on the red
on the red coupons
coupons on leaf 5 marked
on leaf5 marked “spare”. You can
“spare”. You buy jam
can buy jam and marmalade on
and marmalade these
on these
coupons
coupons only from the
only from retailer with
the retailer with whom
whom youare
you are registered.
registered. You
You can
can buy
buy syrup, treacle
syrup, treacle
and honey on
and honey on these
these coupons
coupons from
from any retailer who
any retailer who can
can supply you.
supply you.
Persons who will
Persons who be between
will be the ages
between the ages of
of 66 and
and 1818 at midnight on
at midnight on the
the 31st
31st
December
December next
next can
can obtain
obtainaa supplementary ration of
supplementary ration jam.
of jam.
(Ministry
(Ministry of
of Food,
Food, Food
Food Rationing
Rationing Order,
Order, 1918)
1918)
Surprisingly,
Surprisingly, and
and probably due
due to
to the official propaganda, although some grasped the
full horror of the War, formany
for many across the Channel it was was viewed as nothing more profound
than casualty lists, relevant to everyday life only if these tragedies became personal ones.
What mattered to to most middle-class people in in England were ‘the universal topic, maids and
ration cards’, as
as Vera Brittain found in 1918:
From
From a a world in which
world in which life
life or
or death, victory or
death, victory or defeat,
defeat, national
national survival
survival or national
or national
extinction, had been
extinction, had the sole
been the sole issues,
issues, II returned
returned toto aa society where no
society where no one
one discussed
discussed
anything
anything but
but the price of
the price of butter
butter and the incompetence
and the incompetence of the latest
of the latest ‘temporary’
‘temporary’ matters
matters
which, in
which, the eyes
in the eyes of
of Kensington
Ikensington andand ofof various
various acquaintances
acquaintances who who dropped
dropped in in to
to tea,
tea,
seemingly
seemingly far out-weighed in
farout-weighed in importance
importance the the operations
operations at
at Zeebrugge,
Zeebrugge, or or even
even such
such topical
topical
controversies
controversies as those which
as those which raged
raged round
round Major
Major General
General Maurice’s letter to
Maurice's letter to The
The Times,
Times, and
and
the Pemberton-Billing
the Pemberton-Billing case.case. Keyed
Ikeyed up up as
asII had
had been
been by
by the
the month-long
month-long strain
strain of
of daily
daily
rushing to
rushing to and fro in
and fro in attendance
attendance on the dying,
on the dying, and
and nightly
nightly waiting
waiting for
for the
the death
death which
which
hovered darkly
hovered darkly in in the
the sky
sky overhead,
overhead, II foundfound it
it excruciating
excruciating to to maintain
maintain eveneven anan
appearance
appearance of of interest
interest and
and sympathy.
sympathy. Probably
Probably II did
did not
not succeed, for the
succeed, for the triviality
triviality of
of
everything
everything drove
drove meme to
to despair.
despair.
(Brittain,
(Brittain, 1994:
1994: 123)
123)
The German boat campaign became more ruthless. Thousands of

The of tons of
of supplies
were destroyed as
as ships were torpedoed and
and there were many fears that people would face
starvation. Some rationing waswas introduced.
introduced. Outside food shops were lines of patient, tired
women waiting. As As we
we have seen, World War War II was
was not the war
not just the war to end
end wars, aa holy
crusade fought to make theworld
the world safe fordemocracy;
for democracy; it was
was also the war
war of wars, a paradigm
of wars,a
of technological warfare:
of
In
In some
some sense,
sense, The
The Great
Great WarWar created
created all
all subsequent battles in
subsequent battles in its
its own
own bleak
bleak image.
image.
Indeed, with its
Indeed, with trenches and
itstrenches and zeppelins, its gases
zeppelins, its gases and
and mines, this conflict
mines, this conflict has
has become
become a a
diabolical
diabolical summary
summary of the idea of
oftheidea of modern warfare —western
modern warfare —western science bent to
science bent the service
to the service of
of
western imperialism
western imperialism (…).
(.. .). Even the name modern
Even thename modern historians
historians have
have given it, World
given it, World War
War I,I,
defines the event
defines the event as
as merely
merely the the first inaa series
first in series of
of global
global apocalypses,
apocalypses, while
while the
the phrase
phrase byby
which itwas
which it was lcnown
known to to contemporaries,
contemporaries, thethe Great War, with
Great War, with itsambiguous
its ambiguous muddling
muddling of of
size
size and value, seems
and value, seems also to describe
also to describe a a crucial
crucial (though
(though slightly
slightly different)
different) millennial
millennial
occurrence.
occurrence.
(Gilbert
(Gilbert and
and Gubar
Gubar 1989:
1989: 259)
259)
By
By the time that victory came, at the end of 1918,
at the 1918, the
the meaning of
of total war
war had
had been
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brought home to to civilians as

as well asas to soldiers. All were exhausted by the the fighting and
and
bloodshed. In
In Britain the
the armistice was
was greeted with great relief and
and people went wild with joy
knowing that the
the ‘boys’ would now
now be returning home and and there would be an end toto concern.
People at
at home were ready to to explode with happiness.
happiness. Singing, dancing and
and parties went on
for hours. The
forhours. The unusual celebratory behaviour witnessed by those in London at the time are
at the
symptomatic ofof the
the sense of
of relief felt by
by all who had
who had survived the massacre the First World
the
War came tobe.
War to be.
The Great War changed the lives of Europeans for ever and, once the party was over, what remained in its aftermath was a bitter
insecurity, translated into a total rejection of the positive humanistic traditional values held before the war, and a sense of total alienation
of the individual that, in literature, would produce works such as Pound’s ‘Hugh Selwyn Mauberley’ or T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land (1922).
2. TEXT ANALYSIS
2.TEXTANALYSIS
2.1. “The Poetry is
2.1.“The in tbe
isin the Pity:” Georgian Poets Experiencing War.
As we
As we did
did in the
the previous section, we we should start here by thinking about the the
implications of the
the title of
of this section. The
The currency of
of the term ‘Georgian’ began in 1912 with
in1912
the publication by
the by Edward Marsh (1872-1953) of of an of Georgian Verse.
an anthology of Verse. ‘Georgian’
as
as aa name given to to aa generation of of poets is clearer-cut than other terms such as
‘Romanticism’ or ‘Modernism’ in that it refers simply to the period of the reign of George V, V,
from 1910 toto 1936, inin the same way as as ‘Elizabethan’
‘Elizabethan’ refers to the
the reign of Elizabeth I. AsAs all
periods, ‘Modernism’ and and ‘Romanticism’ also have aa time span, for for example, British
Romanticism begins around 1785 and ends in 1830. These terms, however, allow for for later
writers to ascribe to the movement. For For example, this is thethe case ofof Malcolm Lowry’s
Lowry's Under
Under
the
the Volcano (1947), aa novel that Lowry started writing in 1940 when the the heyday of of the
the
Modernist movement was already in decline. As As Graham Martin has has observed, these terms
are such thata
that a young writer today might think of her/himself as as ‘Modernist’.
‘Modernist’. This is not the
not the
of ‘Georgian’, a
case of ‘Georgian’,a term very closely linked with the historical
the historical period to which it refers. This is
not to say
not to say that Georgian poets were directly linked with the King or, or, by implication,
implication,
conservative inin their form and
and style; quite the
the opposite. AsAs Angus Calder argues, the intention
in choosing the name was tohighlight
to highlight the
the newness of the poetry being produced at
ofthe the time.
at the
Since the
the King had
had come tothethrone
to the throne only twotwo years before the publication of the the anthology
“Marsh’s choice of of the title signified ‘innovation’”
‘innovation"’ (Calder 1991: 20).
The anthology was

The was followed by
byaa number of Georgian anthologies,
ofGeorgian anthologies, the last published in
in
1922, and
and altogether forty writers were included. Many of of the
the young members of of the
the
generation were considered at as C.K. Stead has argued, “dangerous literary
at the time, as
revolutionaries” (Stead 1967: 58). For
For example, Stead comments on the the literary vandalism
perpetrated by
by Brooke when he he wrote vividly about seasickness in ‘Channel Crossing’. Also
was
revolutionary was the overt sexual of the free verse of
content of of D.H. Lawrence. Wilfred Owen
(1893-1918) was
was never included in any of Marsh’s
in any Marsh's anthologies but, asas he
he exultantly wrote to
to
his
his mother in
in 1917, hehe felt very closely related to the
the movement: “I amam held peer toto the
the
Georgians, I’m
I'm held
heldaa poet’s
poet's poet” (Owen 1967: 521).
In
In the introduction the volume Georgian Poetry (1911-12) Edward Marsh, using
introduction to the
terms such as ‘strength’ and
and ‘beauty’, proclaims thata
that a new
new poetic, comparable toto landmark
poetic movements of of the
the past, was
was born. This is perhaps too
too expansive
expansiveaa statement forafor a
generation caught up between criticism from the
the previous generation for
for being too innovative,
innovative,
on the
on the one
one hand, andand criticism from thethe following generation for
for being unadventurous
77
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in
in theme and style on the other. It is significant in this sense that the
on the the last anthology was
was
published in
in 1922, the
the same year
year as Modernist icons suchsuch as T.S.
T.S. Eliot’s
Eliot's The
The Waste
Waste Land,
James Joyce's
James Joyce’s Ulysses or Virginia
Virginia Woolf's
Woolf’s third
third novel, Jacob’s
Jacob’s Room, were
were published. This
This
has
has provoked different approaches to to the
the poetry produced by the the Georgian poets. Looking at at
the first half of the
the twentieth century asas aa whole, although there were many interesting
innovations,
innovations, the poetry produced by the members of
the this generation did not signify as
ofthis as clear
clearaa
break with previous generations asas did Modernist poetry.
The names of the writers included already point to the heterogeneity of the generation: D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930), Rupert Brooke
(1887-1915), Robert Graves (1895-1985), Edward Thomas (1878-1917), Andrew Young (1885-1971), W.H. Davies (1871-1940) and Vita
Sackville-West (1892-1962) among others.
As for their literary influences, they paid tribute to the

As the living Thomas Hardy; they were
inspired by the Romantics, Wordsworth in
by the particular, and
inparticular, and had
had strong roots in Victorians such
as Mathew Arnold and and Robert Louis Stevenson. Rudyard Kipling’s
Kipling's poems, as these are
related to the
the English theme, can
can also be
be traced as an inspiration.
as an inspiration. There is some influence
from A.E. Housman (1859-1936) as well.
The Georgians were interested

The interested in expressing everyday life experience and
and looking at
the world with fresh eyes. This went against the current tendency towards imperialistic and
the and
patriotic verse produced by, among others, Alfred Noyes, Rudyard Kipling (when he dealt with
by,among
themes other than the English one), and
and Henry Newbolt. In In general, Georgian poetry consists
of a complacent and
ofa and meditative lyrical vision of certain aspects ofof life and
and nature. C.K. Stead
has commented that Wilfred Owen, who who paradoxically, asas said before, was was never included in
in
any
any of Marsh’s
Marsh's anthologies, represents the prototypical
prototypical Georgian poet in his his “attempt to come
to terms with immediate experience,
toterms experience, sensuous or or imaginative,
imaginative, in
ina a language close to common
speech”
speech" (Stead 1967: 89).
The revolt caused by the

The the Georgian poets held
heldaa great appeal for
for the general public
and, in
inaa sense, their poetry was
was paramount in the construction of an
in the an ‘Englishness’, white,
rural and
and in many ways romantic, that pervaded thethe perception of England forfor most of the
of the
twentieth century. For
For example, in Vita Sackville-West’s The
The Land (1926), the Georgian view
of the
of the beauty of the English countryside and
of the and its relationship with the lives of those inhabiting it
is clearly reflected:
The country habit has me
The me by
by the heart,
For he’s bewitched for
For he's ever who
forever who has
has seen,
Not his eyes but
Not with hiseyes but with hisvision,
his vision,
Spring
Flow down the woods and stipple leaves
thewoods
with sun.
with sun.
(‘Winter’ from The
The Land, 1926)
The time-span constituting
The the period when Georgian poetry was
constituting the was at its most productive,
productive,
around 1912 to
to 1930, bears witness to
to the First World War
War and
and its aftermath.
The neo-Romantic poetry of the Georgians was one of the losses of the War as it changed for many, particularly for those who fought in
it, their attitude towards poetry.
Asaa result of the

As the literary examination of the War
of the War provided by
by many Georgian poets,
some are
are now better known as
as ‘The War8Poets’.
War Poets’. Since the
the main topic
topic of
of this
this Unit is the
the
8
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intheOld Days”
”
relationship between literature and we shall now

and war, we now concentrate on on the poetry produced by
these poets. However, it is important to
these to bear in mind that
that many ofthese
of these poets wrote
wrote very
very fine
fine
poetry prior to
to the
the Great War
War and that this
and that this work,
work, as
as it is the
the case ofof Rupert Brooke, may
may
constitute aa better example of
of their poetic skills than does thethe poetry inspired by the First
by the
World War.
It has
has frequently been suggested that the the First World War
War came asa as a surprise to
everybody including those at at the time inin office. The
The fact is that when on
on33 August thethe First
War broke out, it was
World War was the
the result of
ofaa crisis hidden behind the apparent security ofa of a
political
political and
and economic system established in in the nineteenth century. The
The War
War was
was to destroy
destroyaa
social and
and cultural structure in place in
in England since the Renaissance. England entered the
war and
war and immediately sent its troops byby sea
sea and
and by land to fight against the Germans and their
allies. Some of the men forming part of these troops were poets. For
ofthemen of them, and
For some ofthem, and
especially at the beginning ofof the conflict, war
war represented
representedaa way
way to
to break free from what they
saw
saw asaa materialist andand undignified milieu surrounding them. This is clearly expressed, for for
example, in Rupert Brooke’s
Brooke's sonnet ‘Peace’:
Now,
Now, God
God be thanked Who
be thanlced Who has
has matched
matched us with His
us with His hour,
hour,
And caught
And caught our youth, and
our youth, and wakened
wakened us us from
from sleeping,
sleeping,
With hand
With hand made
made sure,
sure, clear
clear eye,
eye, and
and sharpened
sharpened power,
power,
To turn,
To turn, as
as swimmers
swimmers into
into cleanness leaping,
cleanness leaping,
Glad
Glad from
from a world grown
a world grown old and cold
oldand cold and weary,
and weary,
Leave the sick
Leave the sick hearts that honour
hearts that honour could not move,
could not move,
And half-men,
And half-men, and their dirty
and their dirty songs
songs and
and dreary,
dreary,
And all
And the little
allthe little emptiness
emptiness of love!
of love!
Oh! we, who
Oh! we, who have known shame, we we have found release there,
there’s no
Where there's no ill, no
no grief, but
but sleep has
has mending,
Naught broken save
Naught broken this body,
save this body, lost
lost but
but breath;
breath;
Nothing to shake
Nothing to the laughing
shame the laughing heart’s long peace
heart's long peace there
there
But
But only
only agony,
agony, and
and that has ending;
that has ending;
And the
And the worst
worst friend
friend and
and enemy
enemy is isbut Death.
butDeath.
(Oxford
(Oxford Virtual
Virtual Seminars: Web)
Seminars: Web)
They felt an
an emotional and
and patriotic duty to
to defend their beloved England and
and join
forces against an
an enemy whom, in this early stage of
inthis of the War, they considered brutal. The
The
current feeling that the
the cause forwar
for war was
was justified
justified and
and legitimate stimulated an
an idealisation,
idealisation,
rooted in
in the tradition of the
the hero, of those who
who were willing to sacrifice their lives fora
for a just
cause. This is true of Rupert Brooke, but, in those early stages of of the war, it is also true of
Wilfred Owen; inina a stanza drafted in
in 1914, to be
be part of
ofaa poem called ‘The Ballad of Peace
and War’ that was
was never toto be finished, he
he wrote:
0O meet
meet it is and passing
itisand passing sweet
sweet
To live
To live in
in peace
peace with
with others,
others,
But
But sweeter
sweeter still
still and
and far
far more
more meet,
meet,
To die
To in war
diein war for brothers.
forbrothers.
(Norton 2000: 2050)
Notice the clear reference to Horace in these lines. Owen’s experiences in the trenches of the Western Front will make his war poetry
sharper, showing his growing disenchantment, and will reshape the heroic vision of the warrior provided by this stanza.
Rupert Brooke had no time

time fully
fully to
to experience
experience the
the War
War since he
he died of blood
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poisoning on
on 23
23 April, Easter Sunday, 1915. He He enrolled in the
the Royal Naval Division but his
only encounter with military action was
was one day with the
one day the HMS
HMS Hood was being
Hood while Antwerp was
evacuated. Therefore, Brooke did
did not
not really experience the savagery and
and hardship of
of the war.
For this
this reason Robert Means claims that:
that:
One
One of the many
of the ironies of
many ironies the war
of the war is
is that
that Rupert
Rupert Brooke
Broome is remembered as
is remembered asaa war
war poet
poet at
at
all, because he
all, because he isactually
is actually not
notaa war
war poet
poet —— not
not in
in the
the same
same sense that Siegfried
sense that Siegfried Sassoon,
Sassoon,
Robert
Robert Graves
Graves and
and Wilfred
Wilfred Owen
Owen are
arewar poets. Rupert
warpoets. Rupert Brooke
Broome is rather a pre-war
israthera pre-war poet.
poet.
(Oxford
(Oxford Virtual
Seminars: Web)
The irony seems togo

The to go further in the
the myth constructed around him and
and his death. Dean
hisdeath.
Inge, as
as part of his Easter Sunday sermon, read Rupert Brooke’s
Brooke's poem ‘The Soldier’ in St
St
Paul’s
Paul's Cathedral. The
The sermon was
was published in The
The Times the
the following day. The
The poem and
and
the poet mythically entered into the
thepoet the public imagination.
imagination. Indeed, Rupert Brooke had all the
the
qualities of
ofaa national hero. He
He was, as W.B. Yeats commented, ‘the handsomest young manman
in England,’ he
inEngland,’ was young, cultivated, agreeable, courageous, and
he was andaa poet. Similarly to the
the way
way
Philip Sidney was
was seen by the
the Elizabethans,
Elizabethans, Rupert Brooke became, at this stage of
atthis of the War,
the icon of
the ofaa country enthusiastically confident in its final triumph. He
He came torepresent
to represent the
sublimation of the sacrifice the
the nation had had been pushed to
to make. His
His sonnet sequence entitled
‘1914’ consisted of five numbered sonnets, preceded by an unnumbered sonnet: ‘The
Treasure’, ‘I Peace’, ‘II Safety’, ‘III The
Treasure’, The Dead’, ‘IV The Dead’, ‘V The
‘IVThe The Soldier’. They were first
published inin the periodical New
New Numbers in in January 1915. They later appeared in the
in the
Collected Poems in 1918. These sonnets contain the romantic patriotism of the
in1918. the first months of
of
the War before the battle of the
theWar the Somme proved its actual, brutal nature. From them, the most
famous and quoted is ‘The Soldier’, particularly thethe opening lines:
If
IfII should die, think only this of me:
me:
That there's
That there’s some
some corner
corner of
of a
a foreign field
foreign field
That isforever
That is for ever England.
England.
(Norton 2000: 2050)
The prophecy of these words is uncanny, for they may have constituted his epitaph. Brooke died on the Aegean Sea on his way to the
battle at Gallipoli and was buried on the island of Skyros.
The poem follows the form of

The of the English sonnet introduced by
by Wyatt and Sidney:
fourteen lines of
fourteen of iambic pentameter divided
divided into an
an octave and
and aa sestet.
sestet. There
There is, however,
however,aa
disruption of the
disruption the form in that the octave is rhymed after the
the Shakespearean form (ababcdcd)
the sestet follows the Italian rhyme (efgefg). In this manner, the
whereas the the poem also disrupts
thematically the sonnet form inin that there is no
no predicament/resolution division,
division, traditionally
placed in the
the octave and
and the sestet respectively.
respectively. Nonetheless, as
as aa whole, it is effective in
showing the
the blissful state of the
the fallen soldier and the immortality of the
and the the English heritage hehe
carries as
as cultural baggage.
Being thethe last one

one of the
the series, it is considered the culmination of the emotional
tension built up
up by the previous ones. It sums up
by the the themes present in
up thethemes in the previous sonnets:
spiritual liberation old ideas, the
liberation from old the permanence of the memories ofthedead,
ofthememories of the dead, and
and the hero’s
hero's
immortal legacy. However, now now he relates these toto the idea of Englishness and
and aa personal
loyalty to English heritage. The The sonnet does not, in any any way, insinuate an an apology for
for
England’s
England's imperial policy, yet, it seems tobe
to be informed by the imperialistic idea that England is
10
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as Never Told
intheOld Days”
”
wherever her
wherever her sons are.
It was
was never Brooke’s
Brooke's intention to write propaganda poetry and and yet, ‘The Soldier’ in
particular and the ‘1914’ sonnets, have together
and the together aged in the same
inthe same way
way as
as propaganda does.
Associated with
Associated with the
the idealistic attitudes ofof 1914, the
the endurance ofof ‘The Soldier’ is constrained
by
by changing attitudes towards the War. However, there is more to to the
the ageing of of this poem
than the mere suggestion that it was was appropriated
appropriated by by the establishment to stimulate in in the
population aa feeling
feeling of necessary sacrifice. The poem, as Martin Stephen has pointed out,
sacrifice. The
sums up: “admirably a mood that was
up:“admirablya was felt by
by many people when war war broke out.” This seems to to
be
be precisely thethe issue with ‘The Soldier’: it seemsa
seems a poem that could have been written by by aa
poet Laureate foran
for an occasion. No
No doubt there is some personal emotion in the poem, but
inthe this
butthis
emotion is shared with public emotion and and does not
not attempt any
any very new, intense, personal
insights of
ofaa surprising quality. In the
the light of history, it seems unacceptably idealistic.
idealistic.
Furthermore, the whole imagery of of the

the poem on on thesubmission
the submission of of the fallen soldier
dates it as
as rather naive. It seems as as if nothing up
up until then had
had happened to to Rupert Brooke,
as
asaa man
man or as asaa poet, to prepare him
him adequately toto meet thechallenge
the challenge of war and
of the war and all that
it implied. It is too
too weak toclaim
to claim that he
he did not
not meet thehorrors
the horrors of war, for
for other poets such
as Charles Hamilton Sorley (1895-1915) were capable of of envisioning the futility of
of the
the war
war that
had
had just started, yet yet with the
the same lack of experience and and at
at an
an even younger age. Charles
Hamilton Sorley was was only twenty when he he was killed in France, justa
just a few
few months before
Brooke died at twenty-seven.
twenty-seven. As As Charles Hamilton Sorley expressed in his his sonnet ‘When You You
See
See Millions of thethe Mouthless Dead’:
When you
When see millions
yousee millions of
of the
the mouthless
mouthless dead
dead
Across your
Across your dreams in pale battalions
dreams inpale battalions go,
go,
Say
Say not
not soft
soft things
things as
as other
other men
men have
have said,
said,
That you'll
That you’ll remember.
remember. For
For you
you need not so.
need not so.
Both Brooke and

and Sorley were university educated, Cambridge and Oxford respectively,respectively,
and
and had
had aa background that allowed them to to travel. Both of
of them had parents involved with
these universities and
and in both cases they understood at at an
an early stage of of their lives that they
could become poets. In In both cases they were among thefirst
the first to
to enlist, believing war
war to be
be aa
necessary evil. The
The only difference between them is that Sorley knew Germany and the the
Germans; in fact, he was visiting Germany when thewar
he was the war broke out, so was arrested and
so was and
The quality lacking in
deported. The in Brooke’s
Brooke's sonnets is that although his his sonnet affected the
emotions of the public at large, he
of the he seems tohave
to have been unable, asa as a poet, to see the human
see the
soul with an
an insight that would be eternal,
eternal,aa quality expected from poetry.
Sorley’s
Sorley's sonnet, at this early stage, seems already aware of of the
the yetyet unexpected
the War
fatalism the War would bring to the the people. Perhaps his his experience ofof Germany and the the
Germans gave him himaa more mature attitude to war war than that shown by most ofthe
of the early poets.
He
He accepted warwar as
asaa necessary evil, butbut saw
saw no
no glory in war or in dying for
in war for his
his country (as
Horace dictum goes). He He also knew that when thewar the war ended, thethe former enemies would
shake hands and thesacrifice
the sacrifice of ‘millions of the
the mouthless dead’ would be fornothing.
for nothing.
When it
When is peace,
itis peace, then
then we
we may view again
may view again
With new-won
With new-won eyes
eyes each
each other’s
other's truer
truer form
form
And wonder.
And wonder. Grown
Grown more loving-kind and
more loving-hind warm
and warm
We’ll grasp
We'll grasp firm
firm hands
hands and
and laugh
laugh at the old
at the old pain
pain
When it
When it is
is peace.
peace. But
But until
until peace,
peace, the storm
the storm
11
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UNIT 3
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as Never Told
intheOld Days”
”
The darkness
The darlcness and
and the
the thunder
thunder and
and the rain.
the rain.
This is not
This not to to say
say that
that Rupert Brooke was
was aa weak
weak poet. Other poems such as as
‘Success’,
‘Success’, ‘The Hill’,
Hill’, ‘Menelaus and
and Helen’ or ‘Song’ show of
of his poetic qualities.
hispoetic qualities. They are
are
with a poetic tone reminiscent of
distant from convention, witha of Thomas Hardy or
or A.E. Housman.
His death ended, unfortunately, an
Hisdeath an inspiration that would have found, probably and
and naturally,
naturally,
experience, a way
through experience,a way to
to raise and
and make modern his poetry.
hispoetry.
What dates ‘The Soldier’ is the gap between the poetic sensibility it displays and the truth about the war that, partly as a result of our
experience of poetry such as Sorley’s but particularly Owen’s, we have learnt to recognise.
Wilfred Owen waswas born in

in Oswestry, Shropshire, on 18
Shropshire, on 18 March 1893. His early
experiments in poetry began when he
he was seventeen years old. After being rejected
rejectedaa place at
at
London University he
he spent
spentaa year
year as lay assistant to
lay assistant to the
the Reverend Herbert Wigan
Wigan before
leaving for Bordeaux, France, where he was
was appointed as as English teacher at
at the Berlitz
School.
The Owen who
The who left for
for France to
to become an English teacher had
had Keats and
and Shelley as
as
his
his literary inspirations,
inspirations, but
but in France he met
met Laurent Tailhade, aa French Decadent poet.
Tailhade’s guidance was
Tailhade's was informed by the Decadent motto ‘art for
for art's
art’s sake’ as
as seen in Unit 1.
inUnit 1.
He
He introduced Owen toVerlaine's
to Verlaine’s poetry, Flaubert’s
Flaubert's novels and and other nineteenth-century
French writers who
who were shocking and and shaking the beliefs of bourgeois society. An An example of
of
this period of French influence is Owen’sOwen's ‘Maundy Thursday.’ The The title refers to The
The Last
Supper ofof Jesus andand hishis disciples as
as recorded in the the New
New Testament. It is also aa clear
reference to William Blake’s
Blake's ‘Holy Thursday,” first published in in Songs of of Innocence and
and
Experience (1794). If Blake uses this religious image to to question social andand moral injustice,
Owen’s
Owen's reference to Holy Thursday and the the Catholic ceremony on this particular day day of Easter
is questioning the very ritual itself as
as he
he sees in itita a superficial act
act of veneration of the gesture
rather than of The sonnet shows how, in Owen’s
of faith. The Owen's opinion, the the rite is carried out
out by
by habit
not conviction. Even those of of the congregation who who show real Faith (women) end up in inaa
monotonous and superficial worship for for they have to to submit toto the Church’s
Church's dogma. The
ending of
of the poem is extremely critical and and surprising in that it posits
positsaa scandalous ambiguity
(not devoid of
of sexual connotations):
Then I,
Then too, knelt
I,too, knelt before
before that
that acolyte,
acolyte,
Above thecrucifixI
Above the crucifix I bent
bent my
my head:
head:
The Christ
The was thin,
Christ was thin, and
and cold,
cold, and very dead:
and very dead:
And yetI
And yet I bowed, yea, hissed
bowed, yea, kissed -my lips did
-my lips did cling.
cling.
(I kissed the
(I kissed the warm
warm live
live hand that held
hand that held the thing.)
the thing.)
xxxi )
(Stallworthy 1994: xxxi)
Owen, seeing the growing scale of of the War, returned to England in in September 1915
and, aa month later, signed upup in the
the Artists’ Rifles. By
By now
now hehe had
had also read the English
Decadents, particularly Wilde and
and Swinburne. He He met
met in
in 1915 Harold Monro, who
who saw
saw some of of
his
hispoems. AsAs Owen wrote in inaa letter to
to his
his mother, he
he appreciated very much thesincerity
the sincerity of
Monro’s
Monro's comments: “he“he told me
me what waswas fresh and
and clever, and
and what was
was second hand and
banal; and was Keatsian, and
and what was and what ‘modern’”
‘modern”’ (quoted inin Stallworthy 1994: xxxi). Monro
also introduced him
him to Edward Marsh and his Georgian Poets anthology.
hisGeorgian anthology.
In
In June 1916 Owen was commissioned in
was the Manchester Regiment
in the
12
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as Never Told
intheOld Days”
”
and
and spent the rest of thethe year training in England. InIn January of of the
the following year he was
was
posted toto France. There he confronted the hardships of of the front. He and his
He and his men
men held out for
for
fifty hours in
inaa flooded trench in
in no-man’s-land
no-man’s-land under heavy bombardment (see Norton 2000:
2072-2073). In March he was
2072-2073). was injured but
but returned to the front in April. In May
May he was caught in
he was
an explosion and
an explosion and as
asaa result in June he was
was diagnosed
diagnosed with
with shell-shock.
shell-shock.
Evacuated to
to England, on
on 26
26 June Owen arrived at Craiglockhart War War Hospital near
Edinburgh. This was
wasaa turning point in his
his life for
for it was
was here that hehe met
met Siegfried Sassoon,
who had
who had also been diagnosed with shell-shock after writing his famous declaration against the
war (see Norton 2000: 2055). Sassoon already had
war had aa reputation as
as aa poet and
and was
was known by
by
Owen from having been included in the
the anthology of of Georgian poetry.
At first reluctant,
At reluctant, Sassoon finally agreed to
to see Owen’s
Owen's poems. After reading them
Sassoon not only encouraged Owen tocarry
notonly to carry on
on his poetic pursuit but
but also introduced him
him to
his
his friend Robert Graves who, in in turn, after his release from hospital,
hospital, made it possible for
for
Owen tomixup
to mix up with literary figures such as Arnold Bennett andand H.G. Wells. In
In June 1918
Owen rejoined his regiment and and in August he was was sent toto France again. He
He died onon 44
November, the
the news of
of his death reaching his
hisdeath on 11
his family on 11 November 1918, the very same
day as the Armistice.
dayastheArmistice.
The poems that had

The so impressed Sassoon were influenced by
had so by the French literature
Owen encountered at at Bordeaux. This literature made it possible Owen as
asaa War
War poet, as
as
Stallworthy suggests in his
his introduction:
introduction: “The neo-Romanticism of
of Owen’s
Owen's early years gave
way to
way toaa modern poet.” Siegfried Sassoon, according to Stallworthy,
Stallworthy, helped Owen to“finda
to “find a
language forhisexperience”
for his experience” (Stallworthy 1994: xxxi).
This is not to suggest that Owen, had he lived, would have become a Modernist. Of course, this point has to be left but to speculation,
yet, apart from incorporating poetic innovations contemporary to him, Owen was hardly an experimental poet himself in form or language
in his lifetime. His poetry was modern in that it was innovative, in the sense of ‘make it new’ discussed in Unit 1.
What Sassoon taught himhim he

he had
had learnt for himself from Thomas Hardy’s
Hardy's poetic
originality. Through reading Sassoon’s
originality. Sassoon's poems, Owen clearly understood the need toabandon
to abandon
traditional poetic diction and
traditional and syntax and
and to use
use the direct speech introduced by
by Hardy. Owen
would have read poems such as ‘They’ and and would have been able to see
see the bitter irony that
transforms horror into satirical laughter through the masterful use
use of the direct speech
technique in Sassoon’s poetry:
inSassoon's
The Bishop
The tells us:
Bishop tells us: ‘When
‘When the boys come
theboys come back
back
They will
They will not
not bebe the
the same;
same; for they’ll have
forthey'll fought
have fought
In
Inaa just
just cause: they lead
cause: they lead the
the last
last attack
attach
On
On Anti-Christ; their comrades’
Anti-Christ; their blood has
comrades’ blood has bought
bought
New right to
New right to breed
breedaa honourable race,
honourable race,
They have
They have challenged
challenged Death
Death and
and dared
dared him face to
him face to face.’
face.’
‘We’re
‘We're none
none of us the
ofus the same!’
same!’ the boys reply.
the boys reply.
‘For George lost both hislegs;
his legs; and
and Bill’s
Bill's stone blind;
Poor
Poor Jim’s
Jim’s shot
shot through the lungs
through the lungs and like to
and like to die;
die;
And Bert’s
And Bert's gone
gone syphilitic: you’ll not
syphilitic: you'll not find
find
AA chap who's
who’s served that hasn't
hasn’t found some change.’
And the Bishop said: ‘The ways of
And God are
ofGod strange!’
arestrange!’
(Norton
(Norton 2000:
2000: 2055)
2055)
In
In this manner, Owen was
was able to find his own
own dramatic poetical voice charged with
13
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intheOld Days”
”
the immediacy of
the of trench
trench warfare.
warfare. He was also
He was also able to
to sum
sum upup all the
the influences and
and writea
write a
poetry shocking not only for
for its theme but for its newness in that it is
butforits isa a collage of tradition and
and
innovation.
innovation.
Owen mastered the use of contrastive and powerful images aimed at creating a strong emotional impact.
This is the
This the case,
case, forexample,
for example, with
with ‘Greater Love’,
Love’,aa poem witha
with a mixture of
of insights. As
insights. As
Stallworthy has
has rightly pointed out, the
the poem isisa a response toto Swinburne’s
Swinburne's ‘Before the Mirror’;
it is inspired by
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s
Browning's Aurora Leigh (1857) and and Oscar Wilde's
Wilde’s Salomé
(1893). Shakespeare’s
Shakespeare's sonnet 130
130 ‘My mistress’ eyes are are nothing like the
the sun’ is an
an obvious
source of
of the poem in the
the negative structure of the
the first line (“Red lips are
are not
not so
so red”). In
‘Greater Love’ the red lips, the
the glaring eyes, the elegant posture, the the soft voice, and the
and the
beating heart of the beloved merge with the blood, the blinded eyes, the severed limbs, and and
the silenced mouths ofthe
the of the dead, and
and the bullet-ridden
bullet-ridden broken hearts of the men. The The first two
two
stanzas of
of the poem givea
give a clear example of what is meant by this:
ofwhat
Red
Red lips are not so
are not red
so red
As the
As the stained stones hissed
kissed by
by the English dead.
Kindness
Ikindness of
of wooed
wooed and
and wooer
wooer
Seems shame to their love pure.
totheir
OO Love, your eyes
Love, your lose lure
eyes lose lure
WhenII behold eyes blinded in my my stead!
Your slender
Your slender attitude
attitude
Trembles not
Trembles not exquisite like limbs
exquisite like limbs knife-skewed,
lcnife-shewed,
Rolling
Rolling and rolling there
and rolling there
Where God seems not to care;
Till the
Till the fierce
fierce Love they bear
Love they bear
Cramps them in
Cramps them death’s extreme
indeath's extreme decrepitude.
decrepitude.
(Stallworthy
(Stallworthy 1994:
1994: 53)
53)
The poem does not

The stop at
notstop at this effective contrast of images. If it is read aloud, it will be
be
noticed how
how the sequence of of words in in each line produces an effect that creates aa war war
atmosphere. For example, in the line “As
inthe the stained stones kissed by
“As the by the English dead”, the
repetition of [s], [z] and
and [ʃ]
|}] produces, through alliteration,
alliteration, the
the whistle of bullets. This sound
carried forward to the next line in ‘Kindness’ is abruptly stopped by the
the gutturals in ‘wooed and
and
wooer’ as it abruptly ceases to to be heard by the person who who dies who
who would, probably, bebe
producing
producingaa similar guttural sound when hit.
This device works at

at positioning the
the beloved in
in the battlefield. The beloved merge the
battlefield. The the
alliterative hissing bullets since, within the
the line, both are equally present even if one
one ofof them is
not
not actually mentioned. In In this third line, for
for instance, any
any explicit reference to war
war is absent
except in the
the significance of the
the phonetic power ofthewords.
of the words.
The juxtaposition of such different experiences as love and
The war fails, it might seem at
and war at
first sight, to sublimate the love of the soldier for his country. In
In fact, it is quite the
the opposite.
The
The ‘Greater Love’ of
of the title carries with it ambivalence never fully resolved in the poem. If it
the
seems toto imply in the
the first instance that there is no no greater love than that felt by
by a a soldier
capable of
of giving his life to
to war
war for
for the
the sake of
ofaa just peace, it could also be
be argued that when
aa soldier is faced with horror and and death, the love felt towards thethe beloved is magnified since
14
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UNIT 3
UNIT3 and War:
“Disillusion as
as Never Told
intheOld Days”
”
there is
there isa a clear possibility of
of losing it for
for ever.
The ambiguous game proposed by the
The the poem goes further
further with
with the
the absurdity
absurdity of the
the
comparison that in effect signals the absurdity of the war
war and
and the waste in the losses it brings.
inthe
The superimposition
The superimposition of these images brings to
of these to the
the poem theflimsy
the flimsy workings
workings of the human
of the
mind that very often, when pushed into extreme situations,
situations, freely wanders in random thoughts,
thoughts,
irrelevant and
and often inappropriate for the the situation. In this case they are about love, butbut they
could bebe on
on any
any other subject such as home,home,aa landscape or or even the
the most banal everyday
experience.
experience. It is isa a wonder that, in the
the middle of
of warfare, the soldier can
can think of anything other
war itself. In
than war In this sense, ‘Greater Love’ whilst signalling thethe immense sacrifice men
men are
are
undertaking fortheir
for their country, is actually pointing out the absurdity of sucha
out the such a gift. This constant
deferral of meaning results in ina a reminder of
of how
how irrational and
and meaningless effort the
the war
war has
has
become; aa foolishness actually voiced loud and and clear in ‘Strange Meeting’, the poet
Meeting’, where the
imagines an an impossible meeting in inaa dream-like world between
betweenaa soldier and the enemy he
and the he
has just killed. The
hasjust The ludicrousness of of the war
war is carried forward through the useuse of
of the direct
speech ofthe
of the impossible dialogue between them:
‘Strange
‘Strange friend,’
friend,’II said,
said, ‘here
‘here is
is no
no cause
cause to
to mourn.’
mourn.’
‘None,’
‘None,’ said that other,
said that other, ‘save the undone
‘save the undone years,
years,
The hopelessness.
The hopelessness. Whatever hope is yours,
Was my
Was life also’
my life also’
(Norton
(Norton 2000:
2000: 2070)
2070)
The dead enemy carries on

The on relating what will no
no longer be, until hehe says that in spite of
it all what really worries him
him is that he
he will never be able to
to tell the
the truth about the war:
‘Which
‘Which must
must die now. I mean
dienow.I mean the truth untold,
thetruth untold,
The pity
The pity of war, the
of war, the pity war distilled.
pity war distilled.
Now
Now men
men will
will go
go content
content with what we
with what we spoiled,
spoiled,
Or, discontent, boil bloody, and
and be spilled.’
(Norton
(Norton 2000:
2000: 2070)
2070)
the real essence of

This is the of Owen’s
Owen's war poems: to to tell the
the truth about the
the war. This
objective changed completely his his view on poetry. The The ‘art for
for art’s
art's sake’ of
of his
his beginnings is
transformed into
intoaa total lack of interest in the
the art per
per se,
se, but
but into
intoaa need forthis
for this art to become
becomeaa
the truth about war. As
vehicle to express the As Owen wrote in
inaa draft Preface for
foraa publication of
some of these war
ofthese war poems that he
he hoped would appear in 1919:
This book is not

not about heroes. English poetry is not yet fit to
not yet to speak of them.
ofthem.
Nor
Nor is it about deeds, or lands, nor nor anything about glory, honour, might, majesty,
dominion, or power, except War.
Above all
allI I am not concerned with Poetry.
am not
My
My subject is War, and the pity of War.
thepity
The Poetry is in in the
the pity.
(Stallworthy 1994: 98)
This statement explicitly expresses Owen’s

Owen's concern with the writing of his war
war poetry
and
and contains the essence ofwhat
of what makes his poetry modern although by no
hispoetry no means Modernist.
AA Modernist would never say, “Above all
allII am
am not
not concerned with Poetry”,
Poetry", for Modernists were
very much concerned with it. This is not to say
not to say that Owen’s
Owen's words should be
be taken literally.
literally.
Poetry was
wasaa very great concern to
to him, since it was
was through poetry that hehe chose to to
15
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intheOld Days”
”
articulate his subject

subject matter: “War, and the pity of
and the of War”.
War”. As
As Arnold
Arnold Kettle argues: “Owen,
whose concern with
whose with poetry is manifest, is warning
warning against an aestheticism which
an aestheticism which has too
too
limited aa view
view of
of beauty, rather than
than against the
the poet’s
poet's being conscious that
that his job
job is to
to
produce art” (Kettle 1975: 60).
IItt is precisely the subject

prI?‹iseIythe su*i«tImatter
Tlatter of Wilfred Owen’s
0wen’s poetry that makes it new, since
sin‹e in order to portray war
war he has to bend poetic
poeti‹
tradition to his own
tradition own means. Is this
this the first time
the first time that
that poetry deals with war? How
How does Owen achieve his aim?
AA very good example of

of this argument is his
his poem ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ (Norton
2000: 2069-70).
2000: 2069-70). The
The Latin tag
tag that
that serves
serves as the
the title
title of the poem, as has been already pointed
of the
out, is taken from the
the work of
of the
the Latin poet, Horace, who who lived towards the end of the
end of the first
century BC. The phrase translates as
BC. The as ‘It is sweet and proper to
to die for one’s
die for one's country’ and the
and the
whole stanza reads:
It is sweet
It is sweet and
and proper
proper to
to die for one’s country
dieforone's country
and
and death pursues even
death pursues the man
even the who flees
man who flees
nor spares
nor spares the hamstrings or
the hamstrings or cowardly
cowardly
backs of battle-shy youths.
baclxs
(Horace,
(Horace, Odes,
Odes, 3.
3. 2.,
2., 13-16)
13-16)
In
Inaa letter to his
his mother on 16 October 1917 Owen was was pondering the full meaning of of
Horace’s
Horace's words and he wrote: “it is sweet and and meet to to die for one’s country. Sweet! And
dieforone's And
The word ‘meet’ used by Owen in
decorous!” The ‘The Ballad of Peace and War’ is an
in‘The an archaic
voice. While meaning ‘proper’, it carries
carriesaa stronger sense ofof duty which in the English context
inthe
is connected toto the
the Anglican Communion service as asaa response toto the
the clergyman’s
clergyman's call ‘Let us
us
praise the Lord’, ‘It is meet and just so so to do’.A
do’. A question that should be be considered is why
why
Owen has chosen in
haschosen this later poem torender
inthis to render the tag in
in Latin, instead of the English he
he had
had
used earlier in the
the first line of the
the ballad. By
By using Latin instead of English hehe is answering
answeringaa
poetic tradition that, from Horace onwards, has has made sublime the sacrifice of one’s
one's life for
for
one’s
one's country.
The Owen who wrote the ballad,

Ïhe #ollod, as
as has
has been discussed
dis‹ussed earlier,
eorlier, is an
an Owen who, very much
mu‹h in the
the line of Rupert
kupert Brooke’s
Brooke's war
oor sonnets,
had
had an
an idealistic
ideaIisti‹ view of war
car and
ond justice,
iusti‹e, and
and the
the importance
importon‹e of its aims.
oims. The
The Owen who is writing ‘Dulce
‘Dul‹e et Decorum
De‹orum Est’
Hst’ is voicing
voi‹ing his
feeling of ‘disillusions
feeling disillusions as
os never told in the
the old days’. By
By bringing Horace
Hora‹e into ‘Dulce
‘Dul‹e et Decorum
De‹orum Est’
Hst’ he
he is not
not only answering
onswering external voices
voi‹es
#but
Utdalso
I SO #his
ÏS own.
0Wh.
It has also been

has also beenaa widespread
widespread view
view that
that the
the poem is undermining the the views
views expressed
expressed
in
in the poetry of Jessie Pope, to to whom in the first instance he
inthefirst he dedicated the poem, later
dedication following the
withdrawing the dedication the advice of of Siegfried Sassoon. Jessie Pope was was aa
writer of children’s
children's books andand aa poet. She was writing her
She was war poems with strong patriotic
her war
overtones from the the home front and
and they were being published in in the newspapers, forexample
for example
‘The Call’ and
and ‘War Girls’.
Girls’. This patriotic tone was
was used by many contemporary voices at at home
who were misled by by the censored news reaching them through the papers. At home it was was still
thought that, indeed, it was was ‘dulce et decorum pro pro patria mori’. In the
the case of
of women in in
particular,
particular, asas will be
be discussed in in the next section, one the side effects of War
one of the War was,
paradoxically, the
the entry of women into the the work force en en masse;
masse,aa fact that in many women
provoked aa feeling of exulted liberation that in turn produced poems such as Pope’s Pope's ‘War
Girls’:
16
16
UNIT 3
UNIT3 and War:
“Disillusion as
as Never Told
intheOld Days”
”
‘There’s
‘There's the
the girl who clips
girl who your ticlcet
clips your ticket for
for the train,
the train,
And the
And the girl who speeds
girl who speeds the
the lift from floor
lift from floor to
to floor,
floor,
There’s the
There's the girl who does
girl who doesaa milk round intherain,
mills round in the rain,
And the girl who
And who calls for
for orders at your door.
Strong,
Strong, sensible,
sensible, and fit,
and fit,
They’re out
They're out to
to show
show their
their grit,
grit,
And tackle jobs with energy and
And ta ckle jobs with energy knack.
and knack.
No
No longer
longer caged
caged and penned up,
and penned up,
They’re going
They're going to keep their
to keep their end
end up
up
‘Til the khaki
‘Til the lchaki soldier boys come
soldier boys come marching
marching back.
baclc.
There’s the
There's motor girl
the motor girl who
who drives
drivesaa heavy van,
heavy van,
There’s the
There's butcher girl
the butcher girl who brings your
who brings joint of
your joint of meat,
meat,
There’s the
There's the girl
girl who
who calls
calls ‘All
‘All fares
fares please!’ like a man,
please!’ lilcea man,
the girl who
And thegirl who whistles taxi’s
taxi's up
up the
the street.
Beneath
Beneath each
each uniform
uniform
Beats
Beats a a heart that’s soft
heart that's soft and
and warm,
warm,
Though of canny mother wit they
Though ofcanny mother wit they show
show no lack;
no laclc;
But
But aa solemn statement this is,
They’ve no time for
They've love and
forlove and kisses
hisses
‘Till the khaki soldier boys come marching back.
the khalci
(Oxford
(Oxford Virtual
Seminars: Web)
Without any
any doubt, the most frustrating factor in
in reading poems of this sort was
ofthis was the
the
total lack of knowledge or of what was
or understanding of was actually happening on the different fronts
on the
in the
the war. The
The light tone of
of Pope’s
Pope's poem summarised in the the way
way the
the ‘boys’ are
are brought into
the text “‘Til the
the the khaki soldier boys come marching back”, probably in triumph, is bitterly
contrasted with the realisation, as as has
has been shown above, that the the actual experience of of the
trenches brought about the the revelation that there were to to be neither victorious nor nor defeated
parties in this War. Owen’s
Owen's poem tries to right the the situation; in this manner he showsashows a
commitment in his his poetical voice to attempting to change the the reader’s
reader's attitude.
attitude. Owen also
recalled in the
the poem the“children”
the “children” who
who were thethe readers ofof much ofPope's
of Pope’s literature,
literature, in that
rather angry and
and patronising
patronising “My
“My friend” of his final stanza.
Going back tothe

to the idea of the newness of the poetry written by
ofthepoetry by Wilfred Owen, it has
has toto
be the commitment of
be said that the Owen’s ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ is not
ofOwen's not in itself something new.
Most Victorian poets moralised in their
intheir poems. On the
On the other hand, in showing his
inshowing commitment,
hiscommitment,
Owen’s
Owen's poem could be be accused of of being
beingaa ‘propaganda poem’ in the the same way as as Brooke’s
Brooke's
poems were, even if it was
was not
not intended asas such.
What was shocking and

and disturbing,
disturfiing, hence
hen‹e new, about Owen’s
0wen's poem was that
thot it was
was an
an anti-establishment poem,
poem,aa kind of ‘protest
poem.’ What elements in the
the poem target
target this subversive quality?
Within the context of The

The Great War, talking aa truth that ought not to be told was
not to was
received with coldness and, often, disgust. If other writers such as Percy B.
B. Shelley and
and Oscar
for example, had
Wilde, for had already written responses to
to war
war driven by an indignation provoked by
by an
the absurdity of the situation, the
the new
new commitment provided by
by Owen’s
Owen's poem rests in ina a desire
to break up the
the social order within the
the context in which it was
was produced. This commitment, in
in
turn, brings about aa new
new view on poetry in in the subject matter that it conveys. It was
was
unthinkable at the time that such themes as
asaa gas attack could be
be the subject of poetry.
tow WWhat
t is new
ew intthis case
e is the viewtthat
t anyttopic at
t all can
n be
e the subject
use the u i t Iof
nf a poem,
oe a view
w unimaginableffor
r mmany of
f his
17
17
UNIT 3
UNIT3 and War:
“Disillusion as
as Never Told
intheOld Days”
”
contemporaries.
‹ontemporories. It
It is
is the
the style
style of
of the
the poem
poem and the poetic devices
andthepoeti‹ devices used
used that
thot makes
makes possible
possifile its
its innovative
innovative newness.
newness. Put
Put differently,
differently, the
the
poem would have been a different poem. How does Owen poetic language work?
poem would have beena different poem. How does Owen poeti‹ language work?
‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ begins witha with a simile in the

the first line of the
the first stanza: “Bent
double, like old
old beggars under sacks” which conveys
conveysaa myriad of of multiple images hidden in thethe
ambiguity of
of the simile itself. It recalls the
the image ofsoldiers
of soldiers heavily loaded and
and the ruined state
of their uniforms which are, in fact, the
the rags worn by beggars: “Many had lost their boots”. The The
paradoxical ‘bent double’ brings to the text the the image of the soldiers as
of the as they tryto
try to advance
through the trenches bent forfor protection beneath the sacks that are are piled to make
makeaa defensive
wall, and
and also bent under the
the weight of of their own
own sacks.
Metaphorically speaking, the soldiers are are bent double under the the weight of
of their own
own
emotions and tiredness: as
and tiredness: as said
saidaa few
few lines later, these soldiers are on their way
are on way to the
the again
ambiguous “distant rest”. This ‘distant rest’ alludes figuratively toa to a camp away from the the front
line where exhausted soldiers might rest fora for a few
few days, or more. Yet ‘distant rest’ already puts
the reader on on guard about the the perils to bebe found onon the way, because resting is yet yet out
out of
of
hand. The
The image of of these ruined men
men whowho advance “Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we we
cursed through sludge” comes with the surprising use use of the
the pronoun ‘we’ implying that the the
men
men are
are still capable ofof action, even if it is only to
to curse, when in fact the
infact the image given is that of
men
men ‘cursed’ by the depth of
by the the mud
ofthe mud weakening them, doomed by by events.
Moreover, it brings the poet into the the text and

and includes the reader through the use use of
of
‘we’. Certainly the first stanza of
of the poem is poetry telling about ‘the pity of War’. The The image
here is of
of men
men ‘lame’ andand ‘blind’ walking ‘asleep’, so tired that they are metaphorically said to
‘asleep’, so
be fatigue”. Even if, onona a superficial level, the
be “Drunk with fatigue”. the first stanza is
isa a mere description of
the state in which the
the the overworked soldiers find themselves before their rest, implying in in this
sense the
the hardships they have gone through.
There are
There throughout the stanza signals warning of their probable fate.
ore throughout fate. The
The soldiers themselves are
ore unaware of them (for
(for they
they cannot
‹onnot
see or hear properly). The
The reader has by now
now been directed to be
be witness to the
the event. What is our
our response as readers?
The irony portrayed here is that it is not

The not necessary to to be actually in the
the front line,
hearing the hissing of the
the bullets,
bullets, to be
be in danger in the war. On
inthe way back from the
On their way the front
line they
they are attacked and one man
and one man is going
going to
to die.
die.
The powerful use
The use of direct
direct speech
speech condenses in in short sentences, made up up of
of
monosyllables, the surprise of the attack. It also suggests the
the strong pulse of
of the action: “‘Gas!
Gas! Quick, boys!’ —– An
An ecstasy of
of fumbling.” The
The dash dividing the
the line creates
createsaa pause, not
long enough forthe
for the soldiers to be
be able to properly respond to
to the
the attack thus producing aa
frantic mishandling ofof the only weapon they have, aa defensive one, to to counteract the
aggression.
aggression.
‘Ecstasy’ is used paradoxically; it shows thespeed

the speed and panic of of the men
men as
as they know
how important it is to
to get
get their helmets on
on and yet their fingers fail them. The
and yet The poet tricks the
the
reader by saying “Fitting the
the clumsy helmets just in time”, giving us the impression that each
us the
soldier has
has his helmet on; this is notnot true. ‘Clumsy helmets’ is a a transferred epithet: the the
helmets themselves are not not ‘clumsy’ but the
the soldiers are
are clumsily trying to fit on the heavy
on the
helmets amid thechaos.
the chaos.
ItIt isis ironic

ironi‹ that
that the
the ‘clumsiness’
‘‹lumsiness’ of
of one
one of
«f the
the men
men is
is going
going to
to cost
‹ost his
his life.
life. What
What is the poet’s
is the poet's response to this?
response to this?
118
UNIT 3
UNIT3 and War:
“Disillusion as
as Never Told
intheOld Days”
”
The third stanza provides the horror of witnessinga

The witnessing a man
man dying without being able toto
help him. The
The next few
few lines talk about the
the terror and
and pain the man gas
man experiences as the gas
enters his
his body. The
The simile “flound’ring
“fIound'ring like
likea a man
man in fire” is used to
to provide an
an image of the
ofthe
panic growing in the
the man
man asas he
he knows he is going to to die. This is made more poignant by the
fact that no
no one
one can
can do
do anything to help. It has
has toto be
be noted that Owen was
was an
an officer and
and as
as
such he thought it his
his duty to
to see
see to
to the well-being
well-being of his men. The clumsiness of
of this man
man is
transferred to Owen’s own clumsiness at
Owen's own at not being able to help.
In this
this respect, the third
third stanza is purposely short so as to
to convey the desolation and
‹onvey the and lack
Ia‹k of words of one
one man
mon witnessing another
dying. Notice
Noti‹e the change
‹hange of pronoun from
from ‘we’ to ‘I’. Owen
Oven makes this
this verse short so thot
that it stands out from
from the rest. Why
Why does he do so?
The poem shows that Owen still has

The has nightmares about the
the event. Even in his
his sleep, he
he
cannot escape
escape thethe torture
torture and
and suffering of the
the man, soso he, too, is
he,too, isa a victim
victim of
of the
the gas attack. He
gas attack. He
uses the
the word ‘my’ to illustrate this. In Owen’sOwen's dreams the the man
man pleads with the poet to to help
him, yet he
he cannot do do anything. TheThe last three words end in -ing, ‘guttering,
in-ing, ‘guttering, choking, drowning’
evoke the
the sounds ofthe
of the dying manman as as well as
as making us aware of the length of the suffering
ofthe
before he
he dies. In fact, in the the last stanza, it is not
not clear at all whether the the man
man placed in in the
wagon is alive or dead. “Behind the wagon that we we flung himhim in,” makes us us wonder if the
the man
man
is actually dead or or still ‘floundering’, asas recalled by the use
by the use of ‘flung’. In the
the last verse Owen
uses ‘you’ frequently,
frequently, as as he
he is now
now talking to us. This makes thelast the last verse unique: throughout,
throughout,
the poem is otherwise written in the the third and
and first person. ‘Cancer’ is used to to tell us the
us that the
pain of the man
man is hidden: the man man is dying from inside out, the the gas
gas cannot be be seen as asaa
wound could be. Moreover, his death,
hisdeath, the poem implies, is hidden from those, as
as Jessie Pope,
who
who cannot or will not
not acknowledge the
the horror, the
the pity and
and pointless nature of
of war.
The message lies at the

Themessage end of the poem, “The old lie: dulce
the end dulce et
el decorum
decorum est pro patria
estpro patria mori ”. The
inari’. The dignity of death is precisely in the
the
knowing and the
the telling of the war, not in dying for one’s
one's country.
‹ountry. Doing so ‘disillusions as
as never told
told before’ are brought back
ba‹k from the
front.
2.2.
2.2. “Let’s We Forget:”
“Let's We Women Writing
Forget:” Women Writing the War
the War
It seems appropriate to start this section by

by considering theoretical
theoretical issues concerning
the interrelationship between war and gender in in twentieth-century Britain. Many historians
argue that the
the First World War
War waswas aa watershed forfor women in in Britain.
Britain. In reality, the
reality, the
development of of women's
women’s political and
and economic rights between 1914 and 1918 was was more
complicated than such arguments allow. Some writers indeed contend that the the impact ofof the
Great War
War on women's
women’s emancipation has
has been vastly overstated.
overstated.
On the eve of the War, the position of women in British society was largely unfavourable. In the workplace, ‘women’s work’, most
commonly, domestic service, was poorly paid and considered separate from, and inferior to, ‘men’s work’. Women were still expected to
give up work once they were married, to revert to their ‘natural’ roles of wife, mother and housekeeper. How does War change this lack of
egalitarian rights for women?
Despite or
or because of
of this
this situation,
situation, Britain was
was home tothemost
to the most active feminist
feminist
movement in Western Europe: the Women's
Women’s Social andand Political
Political Union (WSPU), founded in
1903 by Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst and
and better known as theSuffragettes.
the Suffragettes. However,
19
19
UNIT 3
UNIT3 and War:
“Disillusion as
as Never Told
intheOld Days”
”
many politicians,
politicians, including Prime Minister H.H. Asquith, remained actively reluctant to support
women’s suffrage, providing examples of
women's of the
the WSPU's
WSPU’s violent methods in in justifying their
position.
The response of
The to the outbreak of
of women totheoutbreak of War
War in
in August 1914 was
was mixed.
mixed.AA small
number, such
such as writer
writer Margaret Cole, adopteda
adopted a staunch anti-war position and
and later worked
worked
with the conscientious objectors’ movement.
movement.AA much larger minority threw their patriotic weight
behind the Allied cause. The
The Pankhursts reined in the
the WSPU's
WSPU’s militant campaign, arguing that
aa military triumph of
ofaa ‘male nation’ such as Germany would be ‘a ‘a disastrous blow to to the
the
women’s movement’.
women's
Government propaganda made great play of patriotic women who pushed their ‘cowardly’ men to enlist in the armed forces. The
majority of British women, however, fell somewhere between these two extremes, viewing the War as an inevitability for which they now
had to make sacrifices.
The Pankhursts rightly saw

The saw that the
the War, paradoxically, would provide new new
employment opportunities for women. The Great War
War did
did offer women increased opportunities
in the paid labour market. At least one
in the one million women were formally added to to the
the British
workforce between 1914 and 1918 and an estimated two two million women replaced men men inin
employment. This resulted in
in an
an increase inin the proportion of women in total employment from
24 per cent in July 1914 to
24 to 37 per
per cent by November 1918. Just 2,000 had had been employed in in
government dockyards, factories and
and arsenals in July 1914 but, by
inJuly by November 1918, this figure
had
had risen to 247,000. ByBy 1911, between 11 and 13 per per cent of
of the female population in in
England and
and Wales were domestic servants.
servants. By
By 1931, this figure had
had dropped toto lower than8
than 8
per cent. For the
For the middle classes, the
the decline of domestic servants was
was facilitated by the
by the
increased use
use of domestic appliances, such as cookers, electric irons andand vacuum cleaners.
The popularity of ‘labour saving devices’ does not, however, explain the dramatic drop
The
in the servant population. Middle-class women continued to clamour forservants,
inthe for servants, but working
women whowho might previously have been enticed into service were being drawn away byby
alternative employments that were opening up to
to satisfy the
the demands of War. Thus, nearly
ofWar.
half of the
the first recruits to the
the London General Omnibus Company in in 1916 were former
servants. In other areas such as agriculture there were smaller, but still noticeable,
domestic servants.
increases.
increases. Clerical work, banking and
and the civil service were other opportunities: the number of
of
women in the civil service increased from 33,000 in
inthe in 1911 to 102,000 by 1921. The
1911 to The advantages
of these alternative employments over domestic service were obvious: wages were higher,
of
conditions better and
and independence enhanced.
The War opened up a wider range of occupations to female workers and hastened the collapse of traditional women’s employment,
particularly domestic service.
Although they
Although they wrote
wrote from
from different perspectives,
perspectives,aa range of women who
ofwomen who commented on
the conflict nevertheless agreed on this point. The
the The Englishwoman Iris Barry, for instance,
instance, in
1934 wrotea
wrote a candid and
and ironic memoir entitled ‘We
‘We Enjoyed the
the War’ in which she noted that:
inwhich
Girls
Girls older than myself
older than myself were breaking away
were breaking away from home in
from home in the most alluringly
the most alluringly novel
novel
manner, joining organizations
manner, joining organizations called the Woman's
called the Woman’s Yolunteer
Volunteer Reserve which had
Reserve which had itsown
its own
uniform, training
uniform, training as
as nurses,
nurses, getting
gettin
20curiously well-paid
s2o•
uriously well-paid government jobs. It
government jobs. was not
It was not
UNIT 3
UNIT3 and War:
“Disillusion as
as Never Told
intheOld Days”
”
merely that instead

merely that instead of
of staying
staying at home they
at home were allowed
they were allowed toto talce
take jobs,
jobs, but
but that
that having
having
work of
work this kind
ofthis kind made them feel
made them feel very important, patriotic,
very important, patriotic, and highly meritorious
and highly meritorious.… We
.. We
were all
were allgetting
getting rich,
rich, or richer. ...
or richer. Wages were
... Wages rising steadily.
were rising steadily.
(Quoted
(Quoted in
in Gilbert
Gilbert and
and Gubar
Gubar 1989:
1989:2272-3)
72-3)
Virginia Woolf, in
ina a crucial passage in Three Guineas (1938), provides an an explanation
explanation
for what might appear otherwise as
for as the morbid exploitation
exploitation of
ofaa dreadful situation:
How
How ...
... can
can wewe explain
explain that
that amazing
amazing outburst
outburst in in August
August 1914, when thedaughters
1914, when the daughters of of
educated
educated men men ... rushed into
... rushed into hospitals
hospitals ...
... drove lorries, worked
drove lorries, worked in fields and
in fields and munitions
munitions
factories, and
factories, used all
and used their immense
alltheir immense stores
stores of
of charm
charm ...... to
to persuade
persuade young
young menmen that
that to
to
fight was
fight was heroic
heroic ...?
...? So profound was
So profound was [woman’s] unconscious loathing
[woman's] unconscious loathing for the education
for the education of
of
the private
the private house
house thatthat she
she would
would undertake
undertalce any task however
any tasli however menial,
menial, exercise
exercise any
any
fascination however
fascination fatal that
however fatal that enabled
enabled her to escape.
her to Thus consciously
escape. Thus consciously she
she desired
desired ‘our
‘our
splendid
splendid Empire’;
Empire’; unconsciously
unconsciously she
she desired
desired our
our splendid war.
splendid war.
(Woolf
(Woolf 1991: 45-46)
1991: 45-46)
The very fact that Woolf felt the

The the need to
to explain women's
women’s paradoxical situation in the
the
First World War
War is very telling within aa context ofa
of a pacifist essay. However, even in areas
where they were employed in large numbers, such as munitions and
inlarge and transport, women were
often treated as
as inferior, stop-gap replacements forenlisted
for enlisted men. Moreover, women's
women’s wages,
routinely portrayed as
as ‘high’ in the
the wartime press, remained significantly lower than those of
of
their male counterparts.
counterparts.
Throughout the War, both the Government and the press tended, for propaganda reasons, to exaggerate the extent to which women
took over men’s jobs. Real female dentists, barbers and architects, all of whom were featured on War savings postcards, were extremely
rare. Most male-dominated professions remained closed to women. Did the First World War actually improve women’s lives in Britain?
Many women diddid find their wartime labour experiences in some way ‘liberating’,
‘liberating’, if only
because these freed them from woefully paid jobs in domestic service. At At the
the time many
people believed that the
the War
War had
had helped advance women politically and
and economically.
economically. Mrs Mrs
Millicent Fawcett, aa leading feminist,
feminist, the
the founder of
of Newnham College in
in Cambridge and
President of
of the National Union of of Women's
Women’s Suffrage Societies from 1897 to to 1918, said in
1918: “The war revolutionised the industrial position of women —
— it found them serving and and left
them free’. However, this comment should be read today with caution.
caution.
Sylvia Pankhurst, wasaa talented writer as

Pankhurst, was as much asasaa feminist activist and
and pacifist,.
pacifist,. In
1911
1911 her book The
The History of the Women’s
Women's Suffrage Movement was published. She She produced
aa weekly magazine forworking-class
for working-class women, The
The Women’s
Women's Dreadnought. The The outbreak of of the
First World War
War caused
causedaa serious conflict between Sylvia and the WSPU asshe
and the as she was
wasaa pacifist
and
and disagreed with the WSPU's
WSPU’s strong support forthe
for the War:
When I read
WhenI read in
in the
the newspapers
newspapers that
that Emmeline
Emmeline Pankhurst
Panlchurst and
and Christabel were returning
Christabel were returning to
to
England
England forfor aa recruiting
recruiting campaign,
campaign,II wept.
wept. ToTo me
me this
this seemed
seemedaa tragic
tragic betrayal
betrayal ofof the
the
great movement to
great movement bring the
tobring the mother-half
mother-half of the race
of the race into
into the
the councils
councils of the nation.
of the nation.
We set
We up aa League
set up League of of Rights for Soldiers’
Rights for Soldiers' and
and Sailors’ Wives and
Sailors' Wives and Relatives
Relatives to to strive
strive for
for
better pensions
better pensions andand allowances.
allowances. WeWe also
also campaigned
campaigned for pay equal
forpay equal to
to that
that ofof men.
men. Votes
Votes
for Women were
forWomen were never permitted to
never permitted to fall
fall into the background.
into the background. We worked continuously
We worked continuously forfor
peace, in
peace, in face
face of
of the
the bitterest
bitterest opposition
opposition from
from old enemies and
oldenemies and sometimes,
sometimes, unhappily, from
unhappily, from
old friends.
oldfriends.
(Quoted
(Quoted inin Gilbert
Gilbert and
and Gubar
Gubar 1989:
1989:
221
1
265)
265)
UNIT 3
UNIT3 and War:
“Disillusion as
as Never Told
intheOld Days”
”
Sylvia Pankhurst joined

joined with
with Charlotte Despard to
to form
form the
the Women's
Women’s Peace Army,
Army, an
organisation demanding
organisation demanding aa negotiated peace. The The Women’s
Women's Dreadnought continued to to
campaign against the WarWar and
and gave strong support to to organisations such as the
the Non-
Conscription
Conscription Fellowship. The
The newspaper also published Siegfried Sassoon’s
Sassoon's famous anti-war
statement in July 1917.
inJuly
During the War

War Sylvia Pankhurst worked with Dr
Dr Barbara Tchaykovsky to
to open four
mother-and-baby clinics in London. Tchaykovsky saw saw the
the need to
to open up these clinics since
she
she noticed and
and pointed out that during the first year of
of the War
War 75,000 British soldiers (2.2 per
per
cent of
of the combatants) had had been killed. During the same period, however, over 100,000
babies in Britain (12.2 per cent ofof those born) had
had died. In 1915 nearly 1,000 mothers andand their
babies were seen at at these clinics.
clinics. Confronted to
to these numbers, politicians such as George
Lansbury helped to to raise funds forthe
for the organisation. Its milk bill alone was
was over £1,000a
£1,000 a year.
The First World War
The War also forced unions to
to deal with the
the issue of women's
women’s work. Trade
unionism proved toto be aa second legacy of
of the War. Female workers had had been less widely
unionised than their male counterparts. was because they tended to
counterparts. This was to do
do part-time work
and to
to work in smaller firms. Also, existing unions were often hostile to female workers. The
insmaller The
scale of women’s employment could no
of women's no longer be and the higher number of
be denied and unmarried
ofunmarried
at the end of the war forced
or widowed women atthe endofthe warforced the established unions to
to consider the status
of women in the workplace. In
inthe In addition, pressure on
on established unions and
and the formation of
separate women's
women’s unions threatened toto destabilise men-only organisations.
The increase in female Trade Union membership from only 357,000 in 1914 to 1,086,000 by 1918 represented an increase in the number
of unionised women of 200 per cent. This compares with an increase in male union membership of only 44 per cent.
The Representation of
The of the
the People Act
Act (February 1918) was
was widely
widely portrayed asas aa
‘reward’ for the
the contribution
contribution of female labour to
to the War
War effort. However, while the Act
Act granted
to all men
the vote to men over twenty-one (subject toato a six months’ residency qualification), only
women over the ageage of
of thirty were given the same privilege.
privilege. Some historians still believe that
the War
the War was
wasaa key
key element in the granting of the vote to women over the age
in the age of who
of thirty who
held property in
in 1918. However, gratitude for women's
women’s war work cannot explain why
why only
women over thirty got the vote while it was
got the was younger women who had done thework.
haddone the work. Rather, it
is more convincing to argue that the
the lobbying of the feminist movement and thecommitment
the commitment of
of
the Labour Party toa
the to a wider franchise were crucial factors.
Further proof of the limits of the
the wartime march towards sexual equality was
was provided
by women’s employment and, in
by the post-war backlash against women's in particular,
particular, against the
continued employment of
of married women. Women themselves were divided with single and
and
widowed women claiming
claimingaa prior right to employment over married women.
For instance, Isobel M. Pazzey of Woolwich reflected a widely held view when she wrote to the Daily Herald in October 1919 declaring
“No decent man would allow his wife to work, and no decent woman would do it if she knew the harm she was doing to the widows and
single girls who are looking for work.” She directed: “Put the married women out, send them home to clean their houses and look after the
man they married and give a mother’s care to their children. Give the single women and widows the work.” Is this division among women
due to the fragility of the newly gained rights?
22
22
UNIT 3
UNIT3 and War:
“Disillusion as
as Never Told
intheOld Days”
”
In
In some occupations single women insisted on on excluding their married sisters. For
For
example, in 1921, female civil servants passed
passedaa resolution asking for
for married women tobe
to be
banned from working in the
the service. The
The resulting ban was enforced until 1946.
ban was
As soon as the
As the conflict ended thenumber
the number ofwomen
of women working in munitions factories and
and
transport fell away rapidly. Ex-servicemen reclaimed the jobs that had
had been performed by
women during the previous four years. Moreover, even in
in longstanding bastions of female
the
employment such as the laundry industry,
industry, women now
now found themselves in
in competition with
The War
disabled ex-servicemen. The War did
did not inflate women's
women’s wages. Employers circumvented
wartime equal pay
pay regulations by
by employing several women toreplace
to replace one
one man
man or by
by dividing
skilled tasks into several less skilled stages. In this manner, women were employed at ataa lower
wage and
and could not be be said to be be directly ‘replacing’ men. By 1931, aa working woman's
woman’s
average weekly wage had had returned to the pre-war situation of being half the
the male rate in most
industries.
industries.
As in France, the idea of

As of women returning to their ‘rightful’
‘rightful’ domestic place was
was aa
prominent theme in post-war Britain:
The literature
The literature of the post-war
of the post-war years was marlced
years was marked byby an
an ‘anti-feminism’ which, in
‘anti-feminism’ which, in the words
the words
of Rebecca West,
ofRebecca West, was
was ‘strikingly the correct
‘striltingly the fashion ...
correct fashion ... among
among ...
... the intellectuals’
the intellectuals’
(Gilbert
(Gilbert and
and Gubar
Gubar 1989:
1989: 319)
319)
of their undoubted advances between 1914 and 1918 were thus only partial or
Many oftheir or
temporary. In
temporary. this respect, Winifred Holtby wrote in the
Inthis the journal Time
Time and Tide (6
(6 August 1926):
Hitherto,
Hitherto, society has drawn
society has drawn one prime division
one prime division between
between twotwo sections
sections of people, the
of people, the line
line of
of
sex-differentiation, with men
sex-differentiation, with men above
above and women below.
and women below. The
The Old
Old Feminists believe that
Feminists believe the
that the
conception
conception of of this line, and
this line, and the
the attempt
attempt to to preserve
preserve itit by
by political
political and
and economic
economic laws
laws and
and
social traditions not
social traditions not only
only checks
checlcs the
the development
development of the woman’s
ofthe woman's personality, but prevents
personality, but prevents
her from
her from making
making thatthat contribution
contribution toto the
the common
common good which is
good which the privilege
isthe privilege and the
and the
obligation
obligation ofof every human being.
every human being.
While the
While the inequality
inequality exists, while injustice
exists, while injustice isis done
done and
and opportunities
opportunities denied
denied to the great
to the great
majority
majority of women, I shall
of women,I have to
shall have to be
be aa feminist,
feminist, and
and anan Old
Old Feminist, with the
Feminist, with the motto
motto
Equality
Equality First.
First. And
And II shan’t
shan't bebe happy till I get
happy tillI it.
get it.
(Brittain
(Brittain 1940:
1940: 134)
134)
Furthermore, anxiety for for their fellow men

men at War, the the pressures ofof employment
combined with the need to to perform housework in in straitened circumstances and and the
inadequacy ofof social services, exacted aa heavy toll. It also made thewithdrawal
the withdrawal ofof women
back into their homes after the
the War
War less surprising.
surprising. This return to full-time domesticity was
was not,
however, wholly voluntary:
As David
As David Mitchell
Mitchell observed when ‘the
observed when time came
‘the time for demobilisation,’ many
came fordemobilisation,’ many women
women ‘wept
‘wept
at
at the
the ending
ending of
of what
what they
they now
now saw
saw as the happiest
as the happiest and
and most
most purposeful
purposeful days
days of their
of their
lives.’ For
lives.’ For despite
despite the
the massive
massive tragedy that the
tragedy that the war
war constituted for an
constituted for an entire
entire generation
generation ofof
young men
young men — — and
and for
for their
their grieving wives, mothers,
grieving wives, mothers, daughters,
daughters, andand sisters, it also
sisters, it also
represented the
represented first rupture
the first with aa socio-economic
rupture with socio-economic history that had
history that had heretofore
heretofore denied
denied
most women chances
most women chances atat first-class jobs —— and
first-class jobs and first-class pay.
first-class pay.
(Gilbert
(Gilbert and
and Gubar
Gubar 1989:
1989: 276)
276)
23
23
UNIT 3
UNIT3 and War:
“Disillusion as
as Never Told
intheOld Days”
”
In many instances contracts of employment during the First World War

Inmany War had been based
on collective agreements between trade unions and and employers that decreed that women
would only bebe employed ‘for the
the duration of the War’. Employed mothers were stung by the
closure of day
day nurseries that had
had been vastly extended during the War War years. Reinforcing
these pressures were thethe recriminatory voices of of returning servicemen. As As unemployment
levels soared immediately after thethe War, anger towards women ‘taking’ jobs from menmen
exploded. There were other setbacks. During the First World War, hospitals had had accepted
female medical students: in
in the 1920s, women were rejected by the hospitals on
by the on the
the grounds
of modesty. Other areas such as education were also affected by
of by this post-war attitude. The
attitude. The
National Association of Schoolmasters campaigned against the employment of of female
teachers. In
In 1924, the London County Council made its policy explicit when it changed the the
phrase ‘shall resign on
on marriage’ to ‘the contract shall end on marriage’:
end on
Many women, however,

Many women, however, blamed
blamed themselves
themselves for
for the
the loss
loss of the ground
of the they had
ground they had gained
gained
between 1914
between 1914 and
and 1918.
1918. Repressed
Repressed by what was
by what was still,
still, after
after all,
all, aa male-dominated
male-dominated
community
community and reproached by
and reproached by their
their own
own consciences,
consciences, aa number retreated into
number retreated into self-doubt
self-doubt
or
or guilt-stricken
guilt-stricken domesticity.
domesticity.
(Gilbert
(Gilbert and
and Gubar
Gubar 1989:
1989: 322)
322)
In
In an
an article for Good Housekeeping in 1935, Winifred Holtby described the impact that
in1935,
the First World War
the War had on young women:
There are
There are today
today inin England
England — — and
and inin France
France and
and Germany
Germany and and Austria
Austria and
and Italy,
Italy, one
one
imagines —— women
imagines women peacefully
peacefully married
married toto men whom they
men whom they respect,
respect, for
for whom
whom they
they feel
feel deep
deep
affection
affection and
and whose
whose children
children they
they have
have borne, who will
borne, who will yet
yet turn
turn heartsick
heartsick and
and lose
lose colour
colour
at the sight
at the sight of
of a khaki-clad figure,
a khaki-clad figure, aa lean
lean ghost from aa lost
ghost from lost age,
age, a word, aa memory.
a word, These
memory. These
are they whose
are they whose youth
youth was
was violently
violently severed by war
severed by war and
and death;
death; aa word
word onon the telephone, a
thetelephone,a
scribbled line on
scribbled line paper, and
on paper, their future
and their future ceased.
ceased. They have built
They have up their
built up lives again,
their lives but
again, but
their safety
their safety is not absolute,
isnot their fortress
absolute, their fortress not
not impregnable.
impregnable.
(Brittain
(Brittain 1940:
1940: 52)
52)
One
One response toto the
the trauma of the First World War
of the War to
to have an enormous impact on on
women’s lives was
women's was the
the re-making of of the present and the image of
and future in the of the
the past. The
The
question of the ‘benefits’ of the
the War
War for women, as as Sandra Gilbert and
and Susan Gubar claim, in
that it precipitated the
the shattering
shattering of ‘patrimony’ and
and provided women, forthefirst
for the first time, with
‘first class jobs —and
— and first-class pay,’ is highly contentious:
contentious:
Through aa paradox
Through paradox that
that is
is at first almost
at first incomprehensible, this
almost incomprehensible, this war which has
war which has
traditionally been
traditionally been defined
defined as
as an
an apocalypse
apocalypse of of masculinism
masculinism seems
seems here
here toto have led to an
have ledto an
apotheosis
apotheosis of femaleness, aa triumph
of femaleness, triumph of women who
of women who feed
feed on wounds and
on wounds and are fertilized by
arefertilized by
blood. If
blood. we reflect
If we reflect upon
upon this
this point,
point, however,
however, we must inevitably
we must inevitably ask
ask a a set
set of
of questions
questions
about the relations
about the relations between the sexes
between the sexes during this war
during this war of wars. What
of wars. What part,
part, after
after all,
all, did
did
women play
women play in
in the
the Great War? How
Great War? How did men perceive
didmen perceive that
that role?
role? More
More specifically, what
specifically, what
connections
connections might
might there be between
there be between the wartime activities
the wartime activities of women and
of women and the sense of
thesense of
sexual wounding that
sexual wounding that haunts
haunts soso many
many male
male modernist texts? Most
modernist texts? importantly, did
Most importantly, did
women themselves
women themselves experience the wound
experience the wound of the war inthesame
ofthewar in the same way
way that
that their
their sons
sons and
and
lovers did?
lovers did?
(Gilbert
(Gilbert and
and Gubar
Gubar 1989:
1989: 262)
262)
Pay
Pay scales are not, understandably, the issue at the forefront of women'swomen’s novels
written during or immediately after the
the War. Of these, one
one might single out
out Rebecca West's
West’s
fine novel, The
The Return ofof the
the Soldier (1918), with its depiction of the psychic damage caused
by War. In the novel, aa solider returns from the front to the
In the the three women who
who love him.
24
24
UNIT 3
UNIT3 and War:
“Disillusion as
as Never Told
intheOld Days”
”
His
His wife, Kitty, with her cold, moonlight beauty, and and his devoted cousin, Jenny, wait in their
exquisite home on on thecrest
the crest of the Harrow-Weald. Margaret Allington,Allington, his first and
and long-
forgotten love, is nearby in
forgotten the dreary suburb
inthe suburb of Wealdstone. But the
of Wealdstone. the soldier is shell-shocked
shell-shocked
and
and can
can only remember theMargaret
the Margaret hehe loved fifteen years before when he was a young man
he wasa man
and she
she an
an innkeeper’s daughter. His cousin he
innkeeper's daughter. he remembers only as asaa childhood playmate; his his
wife he
he remembers not at all. The
notatall. The women have a
havea choice: to leave him
him where he wishes to be,
to be,
or to
or to cure him. It is Margaret who reveals a
who revealsa love so
so great that she can
she can make the final sacrifice:
thefinal sacrifice:
the amnesiac hero is restored to health by
the by Margaret who
who gathers his his ‘soul’ into ‘her soul’ and
and
keeping it warm so so that his body can rest quiet fora
for a little time, she
she brings himhim to life and
and his
his
actual wife.
Cicely Hamilton’s
Hamilton's William
William —— AnAn Englishman (1919) presents
presentsaa rather grim image of of
The eponymous hero, William, and
War. The and his wife, Griselda,
Griselda, are
are passionate but unquestioning
supporters of of women's
women’s suffrage and and pacifism. However, after Griselda dies asa as a consequence
of being raped by
of byaa German soldier in in Belgium atat the beginning of the War, William becomes
pro-war. InIn this novel Cicely Hamilton denounces what she perceives as as an
an unreliable opinion
based merely on on the
the personal experience of war as
of war as portrayed in her
her novel, where she attacks
the character’s
character's narrowness and and lack of independent judgement. At times her contempt forher for her
characters isisa a barrier to the
the reader, particularly when Cicely Hamilton’s own
Hamilton's own involvement with
the suffrage campaign comes tomind.
the to mind. William's
William’s behaviour, however, is credible as as that of
ofaa
man
man who, singled out of the herd, followed it once tragedy made him face the reality of War. In
himface
her
her later Theodore
Theodore Savage (1922), civilisation has has been destroyed by total scientific warfare;
mankind becomes concerned only with survival, survival, and
and all moral restraints disappear. Later, as as
communities form, people try try to
to understand their lives. A A dread of of science and
and learning
develops as these are seen as the the source ofof all destruction.
destruction. In this powerful and
and apocalyptic
book, Cicely Mary Hamilton expressesa
expresses a cyclical view of of history in which mankind endlessly
refines the
the tools of its own
own destruction and and emerges from the ruins to repeat the process,
mythologizing the past in the the process.
AA foretaste of the
the insularity that was
was to be
be aa part of the
the 1914-18 War
War is given in
in May
May
Sinclair’s
Sinclair's The
The Tree of
of Heaven (1917). Dorothea is told by by her
her lover as
as he for Mons in
he departs for
1914: “it’s too – it’s
“it's your War, too— the biggest fight for freedom.” When he
it's the heis is killed one of her
one of her chief
regrets is all thethe time that they wasted: “All those years —— like aa fool —— over that silly
suffrage.” Her
Her brother, Nicky, finds that it is “‘absolute happiness’ to go go over the top: ‘And the
charge is —— well, it’s
it's simply heaven. It’s
It's as
as if you'd
you’d never really lived till then;I
then; I certainly hadn’t,
hadn't,
not
not up the top-notch”’.
up to the top-notch’”.
In this novel Sinclair suggests that feminism fades into insignificance in comparison
with the greater cause,
cause,aa view with which, in in various forms, women have become very familiar
throughout the century. Militant feminism certainly declined in in the 1920s, although the reasons
for this are
forthis are complex. Olive Banks argues in her her Faces of Feminism (1981) that it was
ofFeminism was replaced
by ‘welfare feminism’,
feminism’, concerned with economic and social issues. The The novels of
of Vera Brittain
and
and Winifred Holtby, inin particular, reflect these concerns.
Winifred Holtby, the

the daughter of
of David Holtby, aa prosperous Yorkshire farmer, was was
born in 1898. Her
Her mother, Alice Holtby, was
was the
the first Alderwoman in Yorkshire. Winifred Holtby
inYorkshire.
was educated at
was at home by
byaa governess and
and then atat boarding school. She
She passed the
the entrance
exam for
for Somerville College, Oxford, but left in early 1918 tojoin
to join the
the Women's
Women’s Auxiliary Army
Corps. Winifred Holtby wrote down in her why she
her diary why she decided tojoin
to join the
the Women's
Women’s Auxiliary
25
25
UNIT 3
UNIT3 and War:
“Disillusion as
as Never Told
intheOld Days”
”
Army Corps:
a)
a) The
The desire
desire to
to suffer
suffer and
and to
to die
die —— especially when suffering
especially when is associated
suffering is with glory.
associated with glory.
b) Fear of immunity from danger when our friends are suffering.
b) Fear ofimmunity from danger when ourfriends are suffering.
(Brittain
(Brittain 1940:
1940: 62)
62)
After the war, Holtby explained, in

ina a letter to
to her
her friend Vera Brittain, why she
Brittain, why she became
becameaa
member ofthe
of the Women's
Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps:
It
It always
always seemed to me
seemed to then thatI
me then that I yielded
yielded to
to desire to join
desire to join the
the W.A.A.C.,
W.A.A.C.,aa desire
desire that
that my
my
poorer contemporaries,
poorer who had
contemporaries, who to hurry
had to hurry through with their
through with their preparations
preparations to
to earn livings,
earn livings,
could
could not
not afford to indulge
afford to indulge in.
in. II had
had been
been so infinitely happier
so infinitely happier both nursing and
both nursing and in
in the
the
W.A.A.C. than
W.A.A.C. thanII had
had been
been in that ghastly
inthat ghastly year
year at
at Oxford
Oxford inin 1917,
1917, that it never occurred
that itnever to
occurred to
me
me that Army life
that Army life was
was anything
anything but
butaa fortunate
fortunate privilege.
privilege.
(Brittain
(Brittain 1940:
1940: 63)
63)
Winifred Holtby’s
Holtby's boyfriend,
boyfriend, Harry Pearson, was
was fighting on the Western Front when he
on the he
was shot in the
the shoulder in 1916. While he was
was recovering from his
his injuries he
he told Holtby
about his experiences:
hisexperiences:
He told me
He told me about
about all the enormities
allthe he had
enormities he had seen
seen at the front
at the front —— the
the mouthless
mouthless mangled
mangled
faces, the
faces, human ribs
the human ribs whence
whence ratsrats would
would steal, the frenzied
steal, the frenzied tortured
tortured horses, with leg
horses, with leg or
or
quarter rent away,
quarter rent away, still living; the
still living; the rotted
rotted farms, the dazed
farms, the dazed and hopeless peasants;
and hopeless peasants; his
his
innumerable suffering
innumerable suffering comrades;
comrades; the the desert
desert of
of no-man’s-land;
no-man’s-land; and
and all
all the
the thunder
thunder and
and
moaning
moaning of war; and
ofwar; and the
the reek
reels and
and freezing
freezing of war; and
of war; the driving
and the driving —— the
the callous, perpetual
callous, perpetual
driving
driving by
by some
some great force which
great force which shovelled warm human
shovelled warm human hearts
hearts and bodies, warm
and bodies, warm human
human
hopes, by the million into the furnace.
hopes, by the million into the furnace.
(Brittain
(Brittain 1940:
1940: 53)
53)
Soon after sheshe arrived in France, the First World War War came toan
to an end. In
In 1919 she
returned to Somerville College where she met Vera Brittain. The two
Brittain. The two women graduated
together and, in in 1921, they moved to to London where they hoped to to establish themselves as
writers. Brittain’s two novels, The
Brittain's first two The Dark Tide (1923) andand Not Without Honour
Honour (1925) sold
badly and
and were ignored by by the critics.
critics. Holtby had
had more success with Anderby Wold (1923),
The
The Crowded Street (1924) and and The
The Land ofof Green Ginger
Ginger (1927). She was also in
She was in great
demand as as aa journalist and, over the the next twenty years, wrote for for more than twenty
newspapers and magazines. They included Time Time and Tide,
Tide, The
The Manchester
Manchester Guardian andand aa
regular weekly article fora
for a trade union magazine, The The Schoolmistress. Books published during
this period included
includedaa critical study of of Virginia Woolf, the first of
of many tocome,
to come, and
andaa volume
of short stories, Truth
ofshort is Not
Truth is Not Sober.
As was
As was her companion, Vera Brittain,
Brittain, Winifred Holtby was
was aa pacifist and
and lectured
extensively for
for the League of
of Nations Union. Gradually she
she became more critical of
of the
the class
system and inherited privileges and
and by the
by the late 1920s was
was active in the
the Independent Labour
Party. In 1931
1931 Winifred Holtby began to to suffer with high blood pressure,
pressure, recurrent headaches
and bouts of of lassitude. She was eventually diagnosed as suffering from sclerosis of the
She was the
kidneys. Her
Her doctor told her
her that she
she only had two years to
had two to live. Aware that she was dying, she
she was she
put all her
her remaining energy into what became her her most important book, South Riding.
Winifred Holtby died onon 29
29 September 1935. South Riding was was published the following year
and was highly praised by
and was critics. Vera Brittain subsequently wrote about their relationship
by the critics.
26
26
UNIT 3
UNIT3 and War:
“Disillusion as
as Never Told
intheOld Days”
”
in her book, Testament

inher Testament of Friendship (1940).
ofFriendship
Very few women gave their lives in the

the First World War, but was the
but this was the last war
war in
was to be
which this was the case. Modern air
be the airwarfare kills men
men and
and women indiscriminately. When
Vera Brittain wrote
Vera wrote Testament
Testament of
of Youth (1933) she was remembering
she was rememberingaa war
war whose
whose impact was
was
uneven between both class and and sex. The
The major impact was, of of course, against the ‘Tommy’,
although popular myth would have us believe that the the officer class suffered the
the greater losses.
In 1914, Vera Brittain was
was eighteen, andand when War was declared she was about to
she was to go up toto
Oxford. Four years later her
her life, and
and the
the life of
of her
her whole generation,
generation, had
had changed in inaa way
way
unimaginable in the
the apparent tranquillity of the
the pre-war years. Testament
Testament of
of Youth, one
one of the
most famous autobiographies of of the First World War, is her her account of
of how she survived it,
how she
how
how she
she lost the
the man she loved, how
man she how she
she nursed the wounded and how she she emerged into an an
altered world. This passionate record ofa of a lost generation women and men made Vera Brittain
andmen
one of the
one the best-loved writers of her her time. Nicola Beauman writes regarding Brittain’s Brittain's
Testament
Testament ofof Youth:
The impact
The impact on women was
on women was more
more enduring:
enduring: often
often their lives were
their lives were irrevocably warped. No
irrevocably warped. No
one
one can
can read
read Testament
Testament of of Youth without tears
Youth without tears and it isa
and it is a great tribute to
great tribute Vera Brittain’s
to Vera Brittain's
prose style
prose style that
that she
she holds
holds the reader enthralled
the reader through nearly
enthralled through nearly seven
seven hundred
hundred pages.
pages. She
She
describes her childhood
describes her childhood in in provincial
provincial Buxton, her brief
Buxton, her brief spell
spell at
at Oxford, her growing
Oxford, her love
growing love
for Roland
for Roland Leighton
Leighton andand her four years
her four years of
of nursing. Yet the
nursing. Yet relentless dramas
the relentless dramas of
of the
the war
war
years leave
years leave her
her emotionally numbed, and
emotionally numbed, and although
although she finally finds
she finally finds aa new
new love
love she
she makes
makes
no pretence
no pretence that
that itwill
it will be
be anything
anything but
but aa very
very good
good second-best
second-best to to the
the dead
dead Roland, who
Roland, who
embodies
embodies so much tragedy
so much tragedy and
and so
so much heroism. For
much heroism. this is
For this is one
one of the most
of the haunting
most haunting
themes of
themes the few
of the few novels
novels written
written by
by women
women whose
whose lovers
lovers were
were killed
killed in
in the
the war:
war: they
they may
may
find someone
find someone else
else but
but they
they will
will never replace what
never replace what they
they have
have lost.
lost.
(Beaumann
(Beaumann 1983:
1983: 35)
35)
AA number of women writers, including Sylvia Townsend Warner and Storm Jameson,
ofwomen
played anan important part in the
the culture of the
the British left in the
the 1930s and 1940s. They used
writing, which includes poetry as
their writing, as prose, to explore women's
as well as women’s roles in society and
and
the tensions between social expectations and women’s desires:
and women's
Even women who

Even women who were
were not
not specifically recording anxieties
specifically recording anxieties about
about female
female survival
survival seem
seem
sometimes to have been infected by the post-war misogyny that was so ‘strikingly the
sometimes to have been infected by the post-war misogyny that was so ‘strikingly the
correct fashion.’ Certainly
correct fashion.’ Certainly war-wounded
war-wounded malemale artists, non-combatant survivors
artists, non-combatant survivors as well as
as well as
those who
those who hadhad lived
lived through
through combat,
combat, could,
could, and frequently did,
and frequently inflict severe
did, inflict pain on
severe pain on
women of
women letters who
ofletters were close
who were close to
to them.
them.
(Gilbert
(Gilbert and
and Gubar
Gubar 1989:
1989: 321)
321)
Warner is particularly interesting in this context. The

The diversity of her
her writing and
and her
her
experiments with different forms of
of expression are
areaa part of her
her concern with the relationship
between art and politics,
artand politics, including the
the question of
of whether Modernist or Realist writing is the
the
more appropriate vehicle for
for political literature.
literature.
The First World War

The War created
‹reated an ambivalent attitude in many
mony women writers towardsa
towards a War they deplored for
War they for its destructiveness
destru‹tiveness but
the need for which
the they felt inhibited from criticising
whi‹h they ‹riti‹ising since
sin‹e they were not considered active
not‹onsidered a‹tive participants in the
the conflict.
‹onfIi‹t.
Although it has
Although has not
not been as deeply
deeply studied
studied as
as other literary forms,
forms, poetry played its part
27
27
UNIT 3
UNIT3 and War:
“Disillusion as
as Never Told
intheOld Days”
”
in the early twentieth-century women's

in the women’s movement and women's women’s experience of of War. TheThe
suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst’s
Pankhurst's poems about her experiences in in prison were published in her her
Writ
Writ on
on Cold Slate (1922). Charlotte Mew’s Mew's poetic responses to to the
the Great WarWar have been
included in anan anthology of of World WarWar II women's
women’s poetry, Scars upon My My Heart
Head (1981).
Charlotte Mew’s
Mew's poem ‘The Cenotaph’ (September 1919) speaks of the loneliness,
of the the
loneliness, the
and
heartache and the sorrow women felt in 1918. Yet it also speaks of a
ofa spirit dedicated to
to the
renewal of won
of life painfully won for the
the Allies on the
on the fields of France:
Not yet will

Not yet will those
those measureless
measureless fields
fields be
be green
green again
again
Where only
Where yesterday the
only yesterday the wild
wild sweet
sweet blood
blood of wonderful youth
ofwonderful youth was
was
[shed;
[shed;
There is
There isaa grave
grave whose
whose earth
earth must hold too
must hold long, too
too long, too deep
deepaa stain,
stain,
Though for
Though for ever
ever over
over it we may
itwe may speak
speak as
as proudly
proudly as we may
as we tread.
may tread.
But,
But, here,
here, where the watchers by
where thewatchers lonely hearths
by lonely hearths from
from the thrust of
thethrust of
an
an inward
inward sword have more
sword have more slowly
slowly bled,
bled,
We shall
We build the
shall build the Cenotaph:
Cenotaph: Victory, winged, with
Victory, winged, with Peace,
Peace,
winged too,
winged too, at
at the
the column’s
column's head.
head.
…
Only, when all
Only, when allis done
is done and
and said,
said,
God is not
God is not moclced
mocked and neither are
and neither are the
the dead.
dead.
(Reilly
(Reilly 1981:
1981: 71)
71)
The poem suggests that women's

The women’s deep, anguished grief must take solace in in the
Christian virtues of forgiveness and
and reconciliation, and
and that they must find the
the courage to
to live
on without their loved ones. Scars upon My
on My Heart
Head took its title froma
from a poem byby Vera Brittain
written to her
her beloved brother, Captain E.H. Brittain. The manuscript was
Brittain. The was written four days
before his
his death in action in the
the Austrian offensive on
on the Italian Front (15 June 1918):
TO MY
TO MY BROTHER
BROTHER (In
(In Memory
Memory of July 1st,
of,}uly 1st, 1916)
1916)
Your battle-wounds
Your battle-wounds are are scars
scars upon
upon my
my heart,
heart,
Received when in
Received when that grand
inthat grand and
and tragic
tragic ‘show’
‘show’
You played
You your part
played your part
Two years
Two years ago,
ago,
And silver
And in the
silver in the summer
summer morning
morning sunsun
II see the symbol of
seethesymbol your courage
ofyour courage glow
glow —
That Cross
That you won
Cross you won
Two years
Two years ago.
ago.
Though now again
Though now you watch
again you watch the
the shrapnel
shrapnel fly,
fly,
And hear
And hear the
the guns that daily
guns that louder grow,
daily louder grow,
As in
As in July
July
Two years
Two years ago,
ago,
May
May you
you endure
endure toto lead
lead the
the Last
Last Advance
Advance
And with
And with your
your men
men pursue
pursue the flying foe
the flying foe
As once
As once in
in France
France
Two years
Two years ago.
ago.
(Reilly
(Reilly 1981:
1981: 15)
15)
As shown above, Brittain would later have to

As to endure the
the death of
of her fiancé in
in 1918.
The anthology Scars upon My
The My Heart
Head reveals the extent to which women became involved with
the ‘pity of
of war’,a
war’, a fact that prior to the
the publication of this anthology had
had been largely ignored in
literary histories. The First World War
histories. The War had traditionally been considered as anan exclusively male
28
28
UNIT 3
UNIT3 and War:
“Disillusion as
as Never Told
intheOld Days”
”
preserve in literary criticism. Critic Jan

Jan Montefiore,
Montefiore, in her
her Feminism and Poetry (1987), has has
pointed out that thethe entrapment ofof women ‘war poets’ in history is, at
at times, paralleled
paralleled by
by their
use
use of traditional Victorian and
and Georgian poetic forms, and andaa ‘masculinist’
‘masculinist’ symbolic language
and
and imagery of of war. Nevertheless, aa number of of women poets ofof this period escaped such
literary and
and ideological
ideological traps, or at least worked well within their confines.
confines. This is the
the case, for
for
example, of of Rose Macaulay’s ‘Picnic’,
Macaulay's ‘Picnic’, written in July 1917:
We lay
We lay and
and ate
ate sweet
sweet hurt-berries
hurt-berries
In the bracken
In the bracken of of Hurt
Hurt Wood.Wood.
Like
Likeaa quire
quire of of singers
singers singing
singing low low
The dark
The pines stood.
dark pines stood.
Behind
Behind us us climbed
climbed the the Surrey
Surrey hills,
hills,
Wild, wild in greenery;
Wild, wild in greenery;
At our
At our feet the downs
feet the downs of Sussex broke
ofSussex broke
To an
To an unseen
unseen sea. sea.
And life
And was bound
life was bound in inaa still ring,
still ring,
Drowsy,
Drowsy, and and quiet,
quiet, and
and sweet
sweet ... ...
When heavily
When heavily up up the
the south-east
south-east wind wind
The great
The great guns
guns beat.
beat.
We did
We did not
not wince,
wince, wewe did not weep,
did not weep,
We did
We did not
not curse
curse oror pray;
pray;
We drowsily
We drowsily heard,heard, and
and someone
someone said, said,
‘They
‘They sound
sound clear
clear today’.
today’.
We did
We did not
not shake with pity
shame with pity andand pain,
pain,
Or
Or sicken
sicken and and blanch
blanch white.
white.
We said,
We said, ‘If the wind's
‘If the wind’s fromfrom over there
over there
There’ll be
There'll rain tonight’.
be rain tonight’.
Once
Once pitypity wewe knew,
knew, andand rage
rage we we knew,
knew,
And pain
And pain we we knew,
knew, tootoo well,
well,
As we
As we stared
stared and and peered
peered dizzily
dizzily
Through thegates
Through the gates of of hell.
hell.
But
But now hell’s gates
now hell’s gates areare anan old
old tale;
tale;
Remote the anguish seems;
Remote theanguish seems;
The guns
The guns are muffled and
aremuffled and far away,
faraway,
Dreams
Dreams withinwithin dreams.
dreams.
And far
And farandand far are Flanders muds,
farareFlanders muds,
And the
And thepainpain of of Picardy
Picardy
And the
And the blood
blood that
that runs there runs
runs there runs beyond
beyond
The wide
The wide waste
waste sea.sea.
We are
We are shut
shut about
about by by guarding
guarding walls: walls:
(We
(We have built them
have built them lest
lest wewe runrun
Mad
Mad fromfrom dreaming
dreaming of of naked
named fearfear
And of
And of black
bla ck things
things done).
done).
We are
We ringed all
are ringed round by
allround by guarding
guarding walls,walls,
So high, they
So high, they shut
shut the
the view.
view.
Not
Not all the guns
allthe that shatter
guns that shatter the world
the world
Can
Can quite
quite break through.
break through.
Oh,
Oh, guns
guns of of France,
France, oh, oh, guns
guns of of France,
France,
Be
Be still, you crash
still, you crash in vain ...
in vain ...
Heavily
Heavily up the south
up the south wind throb
wind throb
Dull
Dull dreams
dreams of pain, ...
ofpain, ...
Be
Be still,
still, bebe still,
still, south
south wind,
wind, lest your
lest your
Blowing
Blowing should bring the
should bring rain ...
the rain ...
We’ll lie
We'll very quiet
lievery quiet onon Hurt
Hurt Hill,
Hill,
And sleep
And sleep once
once again.
again.
29
29
UNIT 3
UNIT3 and War:
“Disillusion as
as Never Told
intheOld Days”
”
Oh, we’ll liequite

Oh, we'll lie quite still,
still, nor listen nor
nor listen nor look,
look,
While the
While the earth’s bounds reel
earth's bounds reel and
and shake,
shalce,
Lest, battered too
Lest, battered too long,
long, our
our walls
walls and we
and we
Should break … should
Should brealc... break ...
should break ...
(Reilly
(Reilly 1981:
1981: 66-67)
66-67)
Joan Montgomery Byles’s

Byles's analysis of the poem seems very appropriate in illustrating the
the point
made in the
the previous paragraph:
At the
At the beginning
beginning of the war,
of the war, early in 1915,
early in 1915, Rose
Rose Macaulay
Macaulay wrote
wrote painfully
painfully and
and exactly
exactly
about the imagined
about the imagined barriers
barriers that
that cut women off
cut women from the
offfrom the front line experience
front line experience of war. In
of war. In
‘Picnic’
‘Picnic’ she
she expresses
expresses the frustration, anguish
the frustration, anguish and
and guilt
guilt at
at staying home (...)
staying home (...) The women
The women
are still part
arestill part of the ethos
of the ethos that
that seeks to protect
seelcs to them from
protect them the obscenity
from the obscenity of war, although
of war, although
this exclusion
this from witnessing
exclusion from witnessing the
the actual
actual battle
battle scenes
scenes cannot
cannot shield
shield them,
them, especially
especially the
the
poets among
poets among them,
them, from the anxiety
from the anxiety of imaging and
of imaging and dreaming
dreaming of these scenes
ofthese scenes (...)
(...) Some
Some of
of
the most powerful
themost powerful images
images of trench warfare
of trench warfare were
were the
the mud,
mud, the rats and
therats blood. In
and blood. In ‘Picnic’
‘Picnic’
Macaulay
Macaulay goes goes on on toto use
use another image of
another image war which
of war which womenwomen writers
writers of World War
of World War II
mention more often than the men: pain. In some respects it was no doubt easier for the
mention more often than the men: pain. In some respects it was no doubt easier for the
men bravely to
men bravely to suffer pain than
suffer pain than fortheir
for their women
women folk folk toto endure helplessly the
endure helplessly the thought
thought of of
their suffering.
their suffering. The The images
images of of pastoral
pastoral England,
England, of of gentleness,
gentleness, fertility,
fertility, and
and growth,
growth,
change into images
change into images of rage and
of rage pain as
and pain as Macaulay thinks of
Macaulay thinks the anguish
of the anguish of the men
of the lying in
men lying in
their own
their blood in
own blood in the
the mud
mud of of Flanders
Flanders (...)
(...) Another recurring feminine
Another recurring feminine image
image of of thethe
trenches is
trenches rain; when
israin; when it rains in
itrains in England it suggests more
England itsuggests more blood-soaked
blood-soaked mud mud in in the fields
the fields
of
of Flanders
Flanders (…)(.. .) the
the poet’s words, ‘be
poet's words, ‘be still,’
still,’ ‘lie very quiet,’
‘lie very quiet,’ ‘sleep,’
‘sleep,’ suggest
suggestaa desire
desire almost
almost
for suspended
for suspended life life ——aa need not to
need not to disturb
disturb the the universe
universe any any more than necessary;
more than necessary; or or any
any
more than itisalready
more than it is already shocked
shocked andand ‘hurt.’ There isa
‘hurt.’ There is a need
need not
not to
to ‘listen’
‘listen’ or
or ‘look’
‘look’ at the
at the
catastrophe
catastrophe goinggoing on on soso geographically
geographically close
close to to the
the women
women of England that
ofEngland that they
they can feel
can feel
the earth
the earth shaking
shaking under under them
them from
from thethe same
same explosions
explosions that that rock
rock the
the men
men in in their
their
trenches. The
trenches. The wordword ‘battered’
‘battered’ inin the
the penultimate
penultimate line line suggests
suggests yetyet another identification
another identification
with the
with the soldiers
soldiers at the front:
at the not only
front: not the implacable
only the implacable destructiveness
destructiveness of the guns,
of the which
guns, which
could
could bebe heard
heard especially
especially clearly in southern
clearly in southern England when aa south
England when wind was
south wind was blowing,
blowing, but but
also
also the battering that
the battering women’s hearts
that women's hearts and
and minds
minds were
were experiencing.
experiencing. Finally,
Finally, thethe poem
poem
ends with the
ends with the perception
perception that that the walls, real
the walls, real and imaginary, that
and imaginary, that have
have heretofore protected
heretofore protected
women from
women from thethe hideous knowledge of
hideous knowledge war, can
of war, can nono longer
longer hold
hold up.
up. There
There is the suggestion,
isthe suggestion,
perhaps, that
perhaps, women no
that women no longer want to
longer want to wait
wait cringing
cringing behind
behind safe
safe walls whilst their
walls whilst their menmen
folk die
folk die in
in ditches.
ditches.
(Montgomery
(Montgomery Byles Byles 1995: 45-48)
1995: 45-48)
Poetry written by by Alice Meynell and and Elizabeth Daryush is also illustrative of many of of
these points. Mary Borden, whose 1914-18 poems and and sketches were first collected in The The
Forbidden Zone (1929), and and Sylvia Townsend Warner, in the the later OpusOpus77 (1931) provided
more devastating and and formally experimental critiques of war.
The label ‘war poet’ pinned on

The onaa woman poet seems, still today, anan elusive one. It is in some ways
waysaa misleading one
one for it is charged
‹horged
with the prevailing attitude towards women during the War time. Contrary
War time. to what happens to
ontrory to to male
mole poets, women poets are
ore still denied the
diversity of their experiences of War. This diversity can
‹an be
be observed, for
for instance, comparing
‹omparing Jessie Pope’s
Pope's and
and Rose
lose Macaulay’s poems.
Would you say that
thot both responses to The
The Great War
War are similar?
3. ACTIVITIES
3.1. yourself
3. 1. Test yourself
1.
1. Was it Rupert Brooke’s
Was Brooke's intention to write propaganda poetry? Discuss your answer.
30
UNIT 3
UNIT3 and War:
“Disillusion as
as Never Told
intheOld Days”
”
2.
2. What is meant by Owen’s
ismeant Owen's statement ‘Poetry is
is in the
the War’?
3. Was the gaining of
3. Was for women a
of the vote for a direct result of the
the role they played during
the Great War? Discuss your answer.
1.
1. Discuss the
the literary differences encountered among those who
who wrote from the
the
and those who
trenches and who wrote from the
the home front.
front.
2. What makes Wilfred Owen’s
Owen's poetry original?
3. Compare and contrast R. Brooke's
Brooke’s and
and Sorley’s war poetry.
Sorley's war
4. Analize women's
women’s literary responses to
to the First World War.
3.3.
S.S. Explore:
1.
1. John McCrae’s
McCrae's ‘In Flanders Fields’ has
‘InFlanders has been used toto provide an
an example of
of the
the mood
of the first years of
ofthefirst of the War. In the interpretation of the poem has
In fact, the has changed from
being read by people during the War
War as pro-war poetry, along the lines of Brooke’s war
Brooke's war
sonnets, to being read as anti-war poetry similar to Owen’s.
Owen's. Read McCrae’s
McCrae's poem
provided in and answer the
in the Unit and the following questions:
questions:
a)
a) Compare themood
the mood inthefirst
in the first two
two stanzas of
of the sonnet with that in
the third. Can you explain the changes in
Can you in the
the appreciation of this
poem?
b) Has thepoetical
b) the poetical form of the poem, a sonnet, anything to
of the to do with the
the poem asa
first vision of the as a pro-war one?
c) Who
Who is the
the speaker in
in this poem?
d)
d) What does the speaker want his listeners to do?
hislisteners do?
e) Taking the
the readings of Brooke’s and
of Brooke's and Owen’s
Owen's poems as as a guideline,
could you
you provide a comparative critical analysis of this sonnet?
2.
2. Explain in your own the analysis made by
own words the by Joan Montgomery Byles of of Rose
Macaulay’s
Macaulay's ‘Picnic’, providing your own
own examples from the
the poem. Would you agree, in
general, with her view on
on women writers’ response to
to the First World War?
3.4. Key
Key terms:
Death
Disillusion
Direct Speech
Georgian poetry
Home Front
Literary changes
New
New poetics
Propaganda
Shell shock
Simile
Trenches
War poetry
War
Women and war writing
andwarwriting
4. BIBLIOGRAPHY
BEAUMAN, Nicola. 1983.

1983. AA Very
Very Great
Grent Profession: The
The Woman’s 1914-1939. London:
iVoman's Novel 1914-1939.
Virago. 31
31
UNIT 3
UNIT3 and War:
“Disillusion as
as Never Told
intheOld Days”
”
BRITTAIN, Vera. 1994.

1994. Testament of of Youth:
South: In An Autobiographical
Autobiographical Study of of the
the Years
Years 11900-
900-
11925.
925. London: Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics.
CALDER, Angua, Roger DAY DAY and
and Graham MARTIN. 1991. 1991. Literature in the Modern World: World:
ñnylishness. Milton Keynes: The
Englishness. The Open University Press.
CARDINAL, Agnes, Dorothy GOLDMAN and Judith HATTAWAY, eds. 1995.
andJudith 1995. Women
Women Writers
Writers
and War. New
rind the Great War. New York: Twayne Publishers.
Publishers.
—1999.
1999. Women’s
IVomen's Writing
IVritinp on
on the
the First World
World War.War. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
DAY, Gary and Brian DOCHERTY, eds. 1995. 1995. British
british Poetry 11900-50: Aspects of Tradition.
9OO-ISO: Aspect:s Erudition.
London: St. Martin’s Press.
St.Martin's
FURNBANK, P.N. and and Arnold KETTLE. 1975. 1975. ‘Modernism and and itsOrigins.
its Origins. Units 4-5’ Milton
Keynes: The
The Open University Press.
GILBERT, Sandra and Susan GUBAR. 1988. 1988. No No Man’s
Ann’s Land.
Lund. The
the War
Our ofof the
the Words.
Words. Volume
Volume 1:1:
Sexchnnpes. New
Sexchanges. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
—1989
1989 No Man’s
Ann’s Land.
Lund. Volume
Volume 2:2: Letters from the Front. New
from the New Haven and London: Yale
University Press.
—1997.
1997. The
The Norton Anthology of Literature by
ofLiterature by Women:
Women: The
The Tradition ñnp/ish. New
Erudition in English. New York andand
London: Norton.
HART-DAVIS, Rupert.
Rupert. 1983.
1983. Siegfried Sassoon. The War War Poems. London: Faber & & Faber.
MARLOW, Joyce, ed. 1999.
1999. The
The Virago
Simpo Book
&oo/c of of Women
iVomen and War. London: Virago.
rind the Great War.
REILLY, C. (ed.) 1982.
1982. Scars
Scnrs upon mymy Heart: Women’s
lVomen's Poetry and
rind Verse
Verse of the First World
ofthe World War.
War.
London: Virago.
SMITH, Angela K. ed.ed. 2000. Women’s
lVomen's Writing
lVrifinp of thethe First World War. Manchester: Manchester
World War.
University Press.
STALLWORTHY, John. Ed. 1994. 1994. Wilfred
Wilfred Owen: The War Poems. London: Chatto &
The War & Windus.
STEAD, C.
C. K.
K. 1967.
1967. The
The New
New Poetic: Yeats
Yeats to Eliot. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
to Eliot.
TYLEE, Claire. 1990.
1990. The
The Great War
lVnr and
rind Women’s
lVomen's Consciousness: /mnpesImages of of Militarism and
rind
Womanhood
lVomnnhood in inWomen’s
lVomen's Writings, 97 4-64. New
iJrritinps, 71914-64. New York: Macmillan.
Virginia. 1991.
WOOLF, Virginia. 199 1. Three Guineas. London: The The Hogarth Press.
Web Sites
Web
- Rupert Brooke: http://www.english.emory.edu/LostPoets/Brooke.html
The Wilfred Owen Multimedia Digital Archive: http://www.hcu.ox.ac.uk/jtap/
- The
The Wilfred Owen Association: http://www.wilfredowen.org.uk/home
- The
- John McCrae In Flanders Fields: http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/mccrae.html
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/-wldciv/world civ reader/world civ_reader_2/mccrae.html
- Introduction to First World War
War Poetry: http://www.oucs.ex.ac.uk/ltg/projects/jatp/tutorials/intro/
- Oxford virtual seminars: http://info.ox.ac.uk/jtap/
- Voice of the Shuttle: “The rest is silence”: Lost Poets of the Great War. http://vos.ucsb.edu/browse.asp?id=19
- BBC
BBC resources: http://www.bbc.co.uk/search/?q=ww1
http://www.bbc.co.uk/search/?q=ww1
The Great War
- The War National archives: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/greatwar/
http://www.nationaIarchives.gov.uk/education/greaMar/
32
32
UNIT44 «Life is a The Novel in the
a Luminous Halo»: The the c20, Sons and Lovers
IV
UNIT IV
«Life is aa Luminous Halo»:
in the Twentieth Century, Sons
The Novel in
The Sons and toners
Lovers
Programme
1.
1. PRESENTATION:
PRESENTATION: Social Consciousness arrated: D.H. Lawrence's New
New Other
in Context
in
2. TEXT ANALYSIS:
2.1.
2.1. Reality is
is in the The Poetics of Narrative
the Word: The
2.2. Discovering Newness and Otherness:
Otherness: D.H. Lawrence's Sons and
nod Lovers
Lover:S
3.
3. ACTIVITIES
4. BIBLIOGRAPHY
4.BIBLIOGRAPHY
Learning outcomes
- To
To analyze changing concepts in the relationship between the the sexes.
- To
To discern the strategies through which contemporary literature dealt with social
issues such as class (working class in particular) or sexuality.
sexuality.
- To
To pay
pay attention to the influence of morality and
and the popular literary market on the the
development of the novel form
ofthe
- To
To be
be aware of the interaction between censorship and
ofthe and literature.
literature.
- To
To ponder the
the importance of psychoanalysis in
ofpsychoanalysis in narrative construction andand character
building.
building.
- To
To examine Sons and losers as representative text of tlllS
rind Lovers tllls specific time and
and spirit.
spirit.
1.
1. PRESENTATION:
Social Consciousness Narrated: D.H. Lawrence's New
New Other In
In Context
Of all the
Of the writers of the c20, D.H. Lawrence was was the
the most impassioned and persistent in seeking to
diagnose some ofof thepsychic
the psychic dangers besetting his society and
and the potential sources of strength with which to to
combat them. Thus, his position within the literary scene may
may be
be plotted easily enough. Besides this crucial aspect,
we can
we can perceive, in the work of of D.H. Lawrence, the
the evolution of another trait:
trait: his
his novels flee from material
realism. They do so
realism. not in order to convey consciousness or intensity,
sonotinorder intensity, as
as is the
the case with Virginia Woolf
Woolf or James
orJames
and the
Joyce, but to explore the poverty of reality and the enormous power of of art, of
of perspectivism, andand of form. In the
following extract D.H. Lawrence criticises material realism, and and exposes what novels should explore, namely,
misery:
II hate Bennett's resignation.

resignation. Tragedy ought really to be
bea a great kick at misery. But
But Anna oftheFive
of the Five
Towns seems like an
an acceptance -so does all the
the modern stuff
stuff since Flaubert.
(Letter to A.W. McLeod,6
McLeod, 6 October 1912)
This is proof
proof of Lawrence's revulsion of the French Realist tradition. Although he also criticises the
the Realism of
of the
the
Russian novelists, his indebtedness to their more spiritual Realism is shown in
inaa letter to
to Catherine Carswell of22
December 1916:
...
.. don't thinkI
think I would belittle the
the Russians. They have meant an enormous
amount tome;
to me; Turgenev, Tolstoi, Dostoievski -mattered almost more than
anything, and
andII thought them thegreatest
the greatest writers of all time.
For Lawrence, then, the literary ideal to be

be pursued is not
not material realism, buta
but a psychic ideal. By
By that, he
he means
an inner, intangible,
intangible, relaxed but strong integrity and As early as 1914, D.H. Lawrence protested against «the
and unity. As
old-fashioned human element» and and declared:
declared:
I I don't so much care about what thewoman
the woman feels -in the
the ordinary usage of the word.
That presumes an ego to to feel with.I
with. I only care about what thewoman
the woman is -what she IS-
IS-
inhumanly, physiologically, materially...
materially...
(in Aldous Huxley 1932: 198)
11
Notions such as thethe 'old stable ego' of character disappear and

and so does the traditional unity and
and linearity of
of
the plot. Lawrence was
the was thus calling into question the belief
belief in the ego's stability. In this respect he
stability. In he continued his
letter in the
the following terms: «Tell Arnold Bennett that all rules of construction hold good only for novels which
fornovels
are copies of other novels.» Thus, in
arecopies in what is probably one
one of hisbest
his best works, Women in Love (1920),
(1920), the characters
are caught in in all their disjointed wholeness; andand the indecisive episodic movement, theabrupt
the abrupt shifts in the
the story
present the novel itself asas achieving the same kind of disjointed unity as do characters.
do the characters.
Both characterisation andand the novel's structure seem to to reveal Lawrence's personal style, yetyet it is more
The abrupt transitions in the
than that. The the plot, the
the calculated disjointedness of plot and
and character, and
and the organic
kind of unity are common tomuchto much writing of the period, andand have an affinity with the
the modes of
of organisation of
T.S. Eliot's Love Song of1.
o/l. Alfred Prufrock oror of James Joyce's Ulysses. However, if was a European writer,
if Joyce wasa
the French Naturalists and
heir to both the and the Symbolists, Lawrence was very English, much closer in spirit and and in his
his
of thenovel
view of the novel toaa George Eliot than toaa Flaubert. As As much asareHenry
as are Henry Fielding or George Eliot, he he is the
the
novelist as moralist, or the moralist as novelist. The The question of morality and and the novel should not be
underestimated. TheThe c19
cl9 role of the novel took over the c18, one one which saw in the novel mainlya
in thenovel mainly a vehicle for
moral instruction, as social allegory, along with all the the variations that this role implied. The
The eighteenth waswas the
century of the novel of sensibility, where sensibility stood mainly for social manners and ethics. Among the the
greatest examples of the eighteenth century novel stand Samuel Richardson's novels, combining the
of the the then much
imitated graphic realism of its epistolary form withawith a strong moral message. Richardson (1689-1761) is in some
the father of the
ways thefather the British novel, along with Daniel Defoe (1660-1731), Laurence Sterne (1713-68) and and Henry
Fielding (1707-1754).
(1707-1754). Both Henry James and Thomas Hardy, who who representa
represent a turning point into modernism, are are
separated from this first wave ofBritish
of British novelists by
by the Romantic period in literature, which dominated thethe end of
of
the eighteenth and
the and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries with the Gothic novel. Perhaps the the most famous of of
this novelistic genre is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818).
(1818).
This period moves away from the the social realism of Richardson's novels of ‘sensibility’ and towardsa
‘sensibility’ and towards a
psychological ‘sensationalism’, where thesocial
the social psyche turns inwards and projects itself on to a Gothic landscape
on toa
to find its expression.
expression. This change is partly due due to an
an increasing disillusion with the Enlightenment or Age Age of
had failed to produce the
Reason, that had the goods it promised, as evidenced by by the French and American revolutions at
the end
the end of the
the cl8.
c18. The
The Gothic novel offers, equally,
equally,a a form of of literary escapism from social disillusion and the
and the
idea of literature as
as entertainment, the latter still prevails and
and is perhaps better understood in twenty-first-century
film industry, from which we
terms as the Hollywood filrri we mostly expect little more thana
than a thrill. Yet
Yet there is something
very important about the Gothic novel and and Romanticism in in general: it legitimised the individual as the subject of
literature —it
–it could be said to pre-empt psychoanalysis- and and pushed thethe boundaries of the novelistic form. The The
not last long into the c19.
Gothic novel would notlast cl9. Even if did not
if it did not produce great work of literature, the
ofliterature, the Gothic novel
would begin to to redefine what we we understand reality to be be byby questioning the relationship between the the individual
and the world. It
and the doors for new
lt opened the new ways of of writing, and, more importantly it did did so
so because the public
demanded it. Despite the literary —even
–even moral- revolution the publisher's claw was was still firmly on on the writer's pen.
The rights of individual fancy, taste, opinion and

The and belief
belief to go
go each its own
own way
way and
and pursue each its own
own
subjective course of development had prevailed [so far], with readers of novels, so far as to allow their heroes and and
heroines the prerogative of an an interest enhanced by the the very fact of their isolation. The
The effects of this and
and other
cognate characteristics of the the romanticism which had long held the field had had begun to to show themselves in in
imaginative literature at large by by an
an increased monotony, by occasional self-satire, by the
self-satire, by the weakening of of poetic
forms and by thepredominance
the predominance of of lyric over dramatic or epic treatment of literacy themes (Ward and and Trent 2000a:
3).
JaneAusten's first novel Northanger Abbey (written in 1798, but published in 1817) is isa a very good
example oftheterminus
of the terminus at at which theGothic
the Gothic novel hadhad arrived, as well asa
as a new
new point of departure for the novel in
the nineteenth century. She writes a farce of the Gothic novel by
She writesa by making funfun of
of its literary conventions:
conventions:aa naive
heroine prone toto romantic fantasies,
fantasies,a a castle,
castle,a a mystery. Yet, Austen turns the farce into the serious purpose of
character development and moral catharsis,
catharsis, as the heroine's self-deception gradually turns into revelation and
as the and
comic resolution -i.e.
-i.e.a a happy ending. Hers are generally comedies of
aregenerally of manners that revert to the social sensibility
of the
of the eighteenth century novel while using the psychological complexities which Romanticism had made
available. Yet
available. Yet we
we must not not forget that Austen's novels had had to sell, and was the entertainment of
and their goal was ofaa still
socially narrow literary circle: the
the increasingly leisured middle classes who who were interested mostly in in themselves.
Considering the development of the novel as an artistic literary genre in

of the in its own the turn of the
own right at the
twentieth century, D.H. Lawrence has has alsoa
also a clear literary continuity with Hardy's less systematised and and more
poetic conception of the novel; Lawrence shares the deep sense pervading Hardy's work ofman's of man's life as
as one
one with
its environment in nature. However, while Hardy was preoccupied witha with a rural world in in decline, Lawrence was
by the industrial and
preoccupied by and urban modem
modern world, and how it was
and how was transforming the human condition. As As will
be shown below, this runs steadily through his
be his novel The
The Rainbow (1915). Little by by little, the
the main characters of
out from a life bounded by therhythms
this novel move outfroma the rhythms ofof the
the traditional farmer's year into more modern worlds:
they attend the local high school, then they go
go to London 'into
'intoa a big
big shop' or to study art, toa
to a working-class town
22
school, later toa

to a teachers' training college, and
and finally toa
to a fairly large house inthenew,
in the new, red-brick part of Beldover
(<<a by the
(Sta villa built by the widow ofthelate
of the late colliery manager»):
manager»): «Out into the world meant out into the world.»
outinto
the main character almost always originates from

\ In Lawrence's fiction, the fromaa partial or mechanical existence and
and
arrives at an
an organic wholeness; thus, for Lawrence, the
the novel appears asa
as a religious art form in can
in which he can
speak of
of and tothe
to the whole man.
This movement in the main character's search for the

in themain the subconscious powers of of mankind is original to
The quality of Lawrence's interest in life and
Lawrence. The and in the powers of
in the of mankind justifies his
his claim: «Primarily
«PrimarilyII
amaa passionately religious man». With theclarity
am the clarity of
of the
the great artist he
he goes straight on,
on, in the
the same sentence, to
make clear how
howa a struggle against difficulties,
difficulties,a a struggle indeed to overcome weakness, is integral to his work:
My novels must be written from thedepth

My the depth of my my religious experience. ThatII must keep
to becauseI
to because I can only work like that. And And my my Cockneyism and commonness are only
areonly
the deep feeling doesn't find its way
when thedeep way out, and and a a sort of
of jeer comes instead, andand
sentimentality, and
and purplism.
(Letter to Edward Garnett, 22 22 April 1914)
1914)
Lawrence was was much else besidesa
besides a moralist:
moralist: wewe think of him him mainly asa as a novelist, but
but he
he is equally
influential (if not as
(if not as highly regarded) as asaa poet and
andaa writer of novellas and and short stories. AsAsa a poet it can
can bebe
observed how:
traditional inspiration gives place, even before 1941, toa to a progressively freer verse style, to to the
the
new, looser
new, looser kinds
kinds of
of transition
transition and
and unity
unity ... and
and totoa a related
related overriding concern for the essential,
for the
individual reality of living things ... The
The Preface which Lawrence wrote for the the 1927 edition of
his poems shows himhim clearly as one
one who, from thepoint
the point of view oftheperiod,
of the period, should be seen in in
relation to Bergson, to Imagism (although it is an an Imagism taken to new new and
and transforming
depths), and
and in general to the new
new sense, both of life and and of
of technique, which had entered English
poetry.
(Holloway 1983: 96-71)
96—71)
He was
He was also
alsoaa writer of brilliant travel books andaand a literary critic, and
and his
his superb Studies in Classic
American Literature (1924) is particularly noteworthy.
noteworthy. His
His eight plays have never received much attention at all,
however, and three were published only in in the 1960s. Lawrence had this to say on the
say on the subject:
subject: «I always say, my
my
motto is, ‘Art for my
my sake’», meaning that he he would becomea
become a master through the struggle to become master of
He was, in this sense, self-absorbed, as shown in
himself. He inaa letter he
he wrote regarding the effects of
of the
the First World
War in
War England and Europe, which he inevitably turns towards himself:
inEngland
I I will not
not live any
any more inthis
in this time... as
as far asI
as I possibly can,I
can, I will stand outside this
time, I will live my
time,I my life, and
and if possible, be
ifpossible, be happy, though thethe whole world slides in horror down
into the bottomless pit...What does it matter about that seething scrimmage of of mankind inin
Europe?
(Letter to Lady Ottoline Morrell,7
Morrell, 7 February 1916)
Lawrence believed that industrialised Western culture was was dehumanising because it emphasised
intellectual attributes to the
the exclusion of natural or physical instincts. He thought, however, that this culture was
instincts. He was in
decline and
and that humanity would soon evolve into intoaa new
new awareness of itself as being a part of namre.
as beinga nature. In this
he wrote:
respect he
It our being cut

lt is our off that is our
cutoffthat our ailment, and
and out of this ailment everything bad
bad
arises. I wishI
arises.I wish I saw
sawaa little clearer how
how youyou get over this cut-offness... Myself:
II suffer badly from being so cutcut off. But
But what is one
one to
to do?.. One
One has
has no
no real
human relations -that is soso devastating.
devastating.
(Letter to T. Burrow,3
Burrow, 3 August 1927)
Above all, it is necessary to recognise that Lawrence's deep sense of how how modern man
man may
may become cutcut
off from theproper
offfrom the proper springs of his vitality is not
nota a calm and magisterial diagnosis of weakness in others, buta
inothers, but a brave
and persevering response to the challenge of his own
and own predicament:
predicament:
We're rather like Jonahs running away from the the place we
we belong... So
So I I am
am
making up my my mind toreturn summer.1I
to return to England during the course of the summer.
the most living clue to life is in
really think that the in us
us Englishmen in
in England,
and the great mistake we
and we make is not
not uniting together in the strength of this
real living clue -religious in the
the most vital sense.
(Letter to R.P. Barlow, 30
30 March 1922)
33
One aspect of this 'blood consciousness' would be an acceptance of the need for sexual fulfilment:
\ One fulfilment: «We
«We can
can go
go
wrong in our minds,» he
inourminds,» he wrote, «but what theblood
the blood feels, and
and believes, and
and says, is always true». His
His three great
novels, Sons and Lovers (1913), The The Rainbow (1915) and and Women in Love (1921) concern the consequences
and instead emphasise thepower
oftrying to deny humanity's union with nature and the power ofsexuality.
of sexuality.
David Herbert Lawrence was born at Eastwood in Nottinghamshire, in

inNottinghamshire, in 1885, the fourth of five children of
his wife Lydia Beardsall.
coal miner Arthur Lawrence and hiswife Beardsall. His
His parents' marriage was
was unhappy and thechildren
the children
were brought upup to see
see exclusively their mother's point of view: this struggle between his his father and
and his mother
lies at the
the heart of Sons and Lovers.
Lovers. His
His father was
was practically illiterate, and
and often drunk, but possessed an
extraordinarily vivid comprehension of of natural life and
and living; his
his mother, ofa
of a somewhat higher social class, waswas
intellectually and
and spiritually refined, high-minded, 'cut out', as as Lawrence was to to write years later, «to play a
«to playa
superior role in the god-damned bourgeoisie».
bourgeoisie». The
The unhappiness of their marriage killed something in the father.
in the
The children were caught up
The up in
in the clash between their parents.
In Sons and Lovers,

In Lovers, Lawrence is, apparently, on on the mother's side. Later in life, Lawrence felt he
he had
had
treated his father too
too harshly in this novel. In his later novels, he
he went on toto depict men
men like his father as heroic
figures. He made them symbols of
figures. He the dark, instinctual,
of the instinctual, but
but potent side of life that opposes the dry intellectualism
and industrial mechanisation of modern life. Is this later acknowledged view on thefather
and the father figure interwoven in
in the
narrative fabric of does
Sons and Lovers?
Delicate health meant that D.H. Lawrence stayed close to his mother. He was often ill and
He was and absent from school,
by other boys for
bullied by his delicacy. He
forhisdelicacy. He won
wona a scholarship to Nottingham High School and in in 1901. he left
1901. When heleft
school at
at the age
age of fifteen he
he found work as asaa clerk at Haywood's Surgical Garments factory in Nottingham. He He
hated the work, not getting on his fellow workers, and
on with his he suffered his first major bout of
and whilst working there he
his convalescence he
pneumonia. During hisconvalescence he met
met Jessie Chambers who
who becamea
became a close friend andand mentor. By By 1906
1906 he
had saved the £20
£20 fee to enable him
him to take upa
up a teacher-training scholarship at Nottingham University.
University. In 1908,
he became an assistant master at Davidson Road Elementary School in
he in Croydon atata a salary of £95
£95 a a year, but
but he
he
was lonely and
was and unhappy there. TheThe following year Jessie Chambers sent Lawrence's poetry to the editor of the
Review, Ford Madox Hueffer, who
English Review, who began publishing Lawrence's work and and gave himhim the
the opportunity to
meet other young writers such as Ezra Pound.
Ford Madox Hueffer also helped Lawrence tohave

to have hisfirst
his first novel, TheThe White
Mite Peacock (1911), published.
After the death of Lawrence's mother in
in 1910, he became ill
1910, he ill andand waswas advised to give up
up teaching. The
The next year
marked Lawrence's break with Jessie Chambers.
2. TEXT ANALYSIS
in the
2.1. Reality is in the Word: The Poetics of Narrative
It
lt is useful to look at Lawrence's fiction by by dividing it into three different moments or phases. The
orphases. The first
phase could be termed the the ‘personal’
‘personal’ phase and
and it covers roughly the period from the the year he started writing
(1909) until 1912. The
The White
Mite Peacock inaugurates the modern novel of creative autobiography, and and in it Lawrence
first presents the theme that will dominate his his later works: the mechanisms at work in the relationship between
intherelationship
men and women. This novel was
men was followed by by The
The Trespasser (1912) and and Sons and Lovers.
Lovers. Regarding thethe male-
female interaction Lawrence believed, almost to the end of his his life,
life,a a woman in love isa
inlove is a negative influence onon the
man she loves, destroying his personality, and
man and absorbing his
his being into herher own. He
He believed this conflict came
from civilised women having become the the desperate antagonist of men, drawing from them their greatest
possession, masculinity, and and in turn feminising them and and bringing them under the the control of herher will. The
The
following quote illustrates this vision andand isa
is a sentence from hisnovel
his novel Aarons Rod Rod (1922): «Women are are the
the very
hottest hell once they get
get the start of
of you: There's nothing they won't do do to you. Especially if they love you.»
ifthey
Another theme that appears in Lawrence's writings is the the contest betweena
between a super-civilised manman and
and an
an
inarticulate down-to-earth man, towin
to win thelove
the love ofa
of a woman. Inthis
In this respect it must be said that Lawrence deplored
the dualism of the modern person: the setting up up of dividing barriers between mind andbody,
and body, and
and brain and
and blood;
he protested against what he considered the grey idea of making thebody
he the body prisoner of the mind: «l «1 have always
inferred that sex
sex meant blood-sympathy and blood-contact. Technically this is so. But But as
asa a matter of fact, nearly all
modern sex is a pure matter of nerves, cold and
sexisa bloodless».
and bloodless».
As Sons and Lovers shows, another topic is

As isa a determined antagonism towards the
the figure of the 'father' and
and
any imposed authority.
against any authority. This is probably brought to the surface by
by his need to
to overcome hisworking-class
his working-class
background and also shows hisknowledge
his knowledge of His father represented, quite literally, his
of psychoanalysis. His his working-
class background. Lawrence suffered greatly for his social background which made him afraid of rejection in the
literary circles of the
the time. The
The rejection of the
the father in terms of favouring his mother (from
(fromaa somehow middle
class) could
class) could be
be read
read in
in these
these terms.
terms.
44
AA final theme, linked to the previous one, is the

the degradation of the man
man who
who abhors his
his own
own potentialities.
Lawrence was not not an advocate of animalism, he did not idealise the the morals of the farmyard, but his aim was to
aim was
return to the primal energy of Eden before human consciousness became stained by by the sense of sin, and
and before
man became 'womanised':
man 'womanised': hence hishis religion of the body, his worship of of life in and in all its aspects. He
in itself and He
wrote:
For man, as
For as for flower, beast and the supreme triumph is to
and bird, the to be
be most vividly, most perfectly alive.
the unborn and the
Whatever theunborn the dead may
may know, they cannot know thebeauty,
the beauty, the marvel of of being alive in
the flesh. The
The dead may
may look after the
the afterwards. But
But the magnificent here and now of life in
and now the flesh is
in the
and ours alone, and
ours, and and ours only for
fora a time.
(Apocalypse, 1931)
Beneath all these themes lies the the dark subterranean world of of the
the subconscious battling with the modern
world, its fellows and
and itself. Sons and Lovers is, together with Joyce'sA
Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as
as aa Young Man
Man
(1916), the most notable autobiographical fiction and and one
one of
of the
the most famous English novels of the twentieth
century. Published in
century. in 1913,
1913, it tells the
the story of the Morel family and, in particular, of Paul Morel. Gertrude and and her
husband Walter Morel live in inaa village in the north of England. Gertrude is clever and and competent. Walter, an
uneducated coal miner, drinks his money away and and is often violent. Divided by
by class, the
the two
two do not understand
do not
each other, and
and both Gertrude and Walter are are bitterly unhappy. Gertrude pours all her
her love and
and ambition into her
her
four children and, in particular, her
her eldest child, William. William prepares to marryaa very superficial girl, against
his mother's wishes. Then tragedy occurs; William falls ill and
hismother's and dies. With William gone, Gertrude's love andand hopes
are pinned on Paul, who
who is talented and
and artistic:
artistic:
'The tailor can

can make it right,' she
she said, smoothing her hand over his
his shoulder. 'It's beautiful stuff.
I I never could find in my
my heart to let your father wear thetrousers,
the trousers, and
and very gladI
glad I am
am now.' And
And
as she smoothed herher hand over the silk collar she
she thought of her eldest son. But
But this son was
son was
living enough inside the clothes.
clothes. She his back to
She passed her hand down hisback to feel him. He
He was
was alive
and hers. The
and The other was
was dead.
He went outto
He out to dinner several times in his
his evening suit that had
had been William's.
William's. Each
his mother's heart was
time his was firm with pride and
and joy.
joy. He
He was
was started now. The
The studs she
she and
and the
had bought for William were in his shirt front; he
children had he wore one of of William's dress shirts.
But he
But he had
had an His face was
an elegant figure. His was rough, but warm-looking and rather pleasing. He He did
did
not look particularlya
not particularly a gentleman, but she thought he
he looked quitea
quite a man.
(Sons and
and Lovers,
Lovers, 1913 [1995]: 255)
At fourteen Paul finds

At findsa a job
job in nearby Nottingham.
Nottingham. HeHe makes friends witha with a high-minded girl called
Miriam. From nownow onon thestory
the story concerns Paul's conflict between hislove
his love for
for his mother and hisneed
his need toto grow up
and gain sexual experience.
experience. Gertrude is jealous
jealous of Miriam;a
Miriam; a kind of warwar starts for Paul's love. Time passes. He He
longs to leave home butfeels
but feels he
he cannot leave his mother. Eventually he sleeps with Miriam, but therelationship
the relationship is
unsuccessful. Paul embarks on another relationship with an earthier woman called Clara. With herhe
unsuccessful. her he discovers
«the enormous power ofpassion».
of passion». But
But Paul realises that Clara is not
not his
his soul mate. Meanwhile, Gertrude dies of
his mother gone, Paul, now
cancer. With hismother now twenty-three, is grief-stricken. He
He feels
feelsa a strong pull towards death. The
The
life urge in him proves stronger, though, and
inhim and he
he sets off towards the
the «golden lights of the the city», to begin life anew.
the literary genre of the Bildungsroman,a

Sons and Lovers can be classified in the Bildungsroman, a German word meaning
'development novel'. Narratives such as James Joyce'sA
Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as
as aa Young Man
Man and Sons and
are Bildungsroman, that is, novels that trace the development and growth of
Lovers areBildungsroman, of the
the main character. Much of of
the time, the main character of such
the suchaa tale, like Paul indoes
in Sons and Lovers,
Lovers, will grow up tobe
to be an artist, and
and the
the story
of the
reveals all of the psychological and
and social developments that prepare the hero or heroine for his or her her life's
calling.
Bildungsroman heroes are often overly sensitive and and melancholy. Paul certainly has has these traits, but
but he
he
expresses a sincere liking for living. «It is morning again, and
also expressesa and she
she is still here...»
here... » wrote D.H. Lawrence of his
ofhis
mortally ill mother to
toaa friend. «I
«I look at my
my mother and think ‘O –is this what life brings us to?’ You
‘O Heaven —isthis You see
see
had a devilish married life, for nearly forty years —and
mother has hada –and this is the
the conclusion- nono relief.» At
At the
the time,
Lawrence was in in the
the painful process of writing does Sons and Lovers,
Lovers, not exactly an an autobiography but aa
Bildungsroman type of novel where Lawrence fictionalized part of himself as Paul Morel and hismother,
his mother, Gertrude
Morel.
His main character, Paul, is caught in

in the lawrencian man-woman labyrinth which in this case takes the
inthis
ofaa pseudo
form of pseudo Oedipal situation and, asasaa son-lover, hehe cannot bring fulfilment to himself
himself and
and risk to lose his
for love of his mother. In striving for relationships with women Paul is
masculinity for isa a split being, seeking spiritual
attachment in Miriam and physical attachment in in Clara. This inability to function as an an integrated man
man is, as
as has
has
been said above, seen by
by Lawrence as the sterility of
asthesterility of today's industrialised society.
society.
55
\ Frustration seems thekeynote

the keynote of this personal phase. In the next literary period Lawrence will seek
seekaa solution
to his disappointment.
In 1912, Lawrence met Frieda Weekley, nee vonvon Richthofen, the wife of aa professor who
who had
had taught
him. She was six years older than Lawrence and had three children.
She was children. She
She found her marriage dull and had had
and had had
several affairs.
affairs. She and Lawrence eloped and
She and and were married in
in 1914.
At this time the

At the mood in Lawrence's fiction changes, it evolves and
inLawrence's we can
and we can distinguish now
now the beginning
ofaa second literary moment. It could be called «Emotional adjustment to the modern era» and
and that covers, roughly
the years 1913-20. and Frieda's marriage was
1913-20. Lawrence's and was stormy and theWar
the War years were very unhappy for them.
forthem.
Lawrence, opposed to to theWar,

the War, was twice called up up for military service but declared unfit because it was
was
discovered that he he had
had tuberculosis.
tuberculosis. Frieda's German nationality and and Lawrence's outspoken criticisms of thethe War
War
led to their being suspected as spies by
led to by their neighbours. At
At the outbreak of the First World WarWar theauthorities,
the authorities,
too, became concerned that Fried was wasaa spy. The
The couple settled at Zennor, inin Cornwall, and
and local people reported
that the Lawrences were using the clothes on on their washing line to send coded messages to to German U-boats. After
searching their cottage, thethe authorities forced them to to leave the area within three days. Their situation was
was not
not
helped byby the fact that Lawrence began to to have ideas that appeared close to Fascism (after thethe First World War
War
Lawrence began to to believe that society needed to to be reorganised under one superhuman leader) and he was
and he was also
anti-Semitic. The novels containing this theme, Aaron's
anti-Semitic. The Aaron’s Rod, Kangaroo (1923) and The Plumed
{7923) and Plumed Serpent (1926),
are
are all nowadays considered failures.
failures. He
He caught influenza during the pandemic in November 1918,
inNovember and once again
1918, and
early died. It was
was not
not untila
until a year later that he
he was
was fit enough toleave
to leave England.
was a very confused rebel. He

D.H. Lawrence wasa He felt that society made people lifeless and and that
and unreal, and
the class system was
was pernicious.
pernicious. Lawrence believed in the 'life force', in nature, its beauty and
and its power. He
He also
believed passionately in man's natural instincts; he
he believed that sexual feeling betweena
between a man
man and woman waswas
natural and
and should be celebrated.
celebrated.
\ D.H. Lawrence waswas the

the first novelist in Western culture to attempt to explore sexuality seriously and
and frankly.
Sexuality,
Sexuality, already present in the writings of what we we have called his first period, is the
the theme dominating this
second phase of his writing.
of hiswriting.
The
The Rainbow (1915) comprises the first halfhalf ofaa story that will be
be carried on
on in the other half
half Women in
Love (1920). The
The Rainbow isisa a family chronicle, abounding inin superb passages of broad realism in the nineteenth-
the novel, Thomas Hardy's novels. However, its story traces essentially the changing
century English tradition of the
patterns of psychic relationships, as England is evolving from therural
the rural to the
the urban.
\ D.H. Lawrence's is the the first novel to trace the influence of the social revolution of the past hundred years on
on
of individuals.
the passionate life of individuals.
Regarding human relationships, Lawrence ignores the set of rules of the late nineteenth-century English
and offersa
novel, and offers a series of novels where basic sexual relationships are examined. OfOf course, at the
the time, explicit
allusion to sex
sex or sexual intercourse was
was considered obscene and literary works were scrutinised by by the censor.
The very year it was
The was published, 1915, The
The Rainbow was seized by by the police and
and declared obscene. Later attempts
to explore in fiction the
the complexities of human sexual behaviour were to to follow the same fate. This was
was the case,
for instance, of Radclyffe Hall's lesbian novel The
The Well of Loneliness (1928).
ofLoneliness (1928).
The
The Rainbow is Lawrence's version ofa of a social saga, spanning three generations of the Brangwen family.
The women characters in this novel remain memorable as
The they strive to express their feelings. The
asthey The most important
character in The
The Rainbow is Ursula, who
who represents the modern woman as imagined by Lawrence. Ursula is utterly
asimagined
dispossessed of spirit and
and totally exploratory in the flesh. Her
Her search becomes momentarily homosexual in in her
her
adoration of Winifred Ingred,
Ingred,aa mannish New
New Woman (see Unit 1) and and later she
she becomes pregnant by by Skrebensky,
aa Polish officer in thethe British Army. Skrebensky is presented in in the novel as the weak manman lacking in values,
indicative of the
the time. Ursula loses her
her baby, but during convalescence she sees the rainbow in in thesky;
the sky; it stands as
a a promise ofaa possible re-adjustment of human values to wholeness. The The story concludes with the
the struggle of the
two sisters, Ursula and Gudrun, to
two to liberate themselyes from thestifling
the stifling pressures of Edwardian English society.
This is how
how The has been seen by
The Rainbow hasbeen by critic John Holloway:
Thus The Rainbow registers howhowa a wider, looser, more complex, more ambitious pattern of life
and recognizes also that the archaic springs of strength could no
came in; and no longer meet its needs. Most of of
to write after The
what Lawrence was towrite The Rainbow conducts the search, in fictional terms, for
fora a new
new source
in fact, saw
of vitality. What Lawrence, in himself as discovering was
saw himself was that in any
any individual there is
isa a unique
66
and inexpugnable source of vitality lying deep in

and the psyche; and
inthepsyche; and his concern with the intimacies of sex is
best seen asa
as a derivative from this belief,a
belief, a conviction simply that in sex
sex the central psychic forces can
can
most abundantly flow and and most easily and
and naturally assume their uninsistent yet powerful kind ofof control.
of his outstanding later work may
Much ofhis may be seen as an exploring of the essential difference between the the
sham strength of those whowho lack this kind of integration, and the essential reality of those who
and the who have it.
Particularly is this true of the
the short stories:
stories: for example, St Mawr, The Captain's Doll, TheThe Fox, Sun, The
The
and the Gipsy.
Virgin and
(Holloway 1983: 96)
Women in Love seeks the fulfilment of the promise foreseen by

by Ursula in
in the rainbow. The
The novel begins
where The Rainbow leaves off and and features the Brangwen sisters, Ursula and
and Gudrun, as they try
try to forge new
new
types of liberated personal relationships. Because the
the men
men they choose are
are trying to do
do the same thing, the results
are problematic and
are and often disturbing.
and readers regard this as

Many critics and his ideas are matched with
as Lawrence's finest novel, where his
passages of superb writing. The
The locations combine urban Bohemia witha
with a symbolic climax inin the
the icy snow caps of
icysnow
the Alps. In the five years that have elapsed between The Rainbow and Women in Love, Lawrence's conception of
inLove,
Ursula has been altered byby the
the personality his wife Frieda. In Women in Love Ursula and and her sister Gudrun are
are
now emancipated women. Ursula becomes involved with Rupert Birking,a
now Birking, a young inspector of schools, and and
Crich a wealthy man. Ursula and
Gudrun with Gerald Cricha and Rupert find fulfilment in marriage but Gudrun and and Gerald
and further apart until, in the
break further and the Alps, he
he disappears skiing away only to
to die
die from exposure. Gerald
Crich represents the epitome of the industrial tycoon whowho glorifies the
the machine, and
and the
the machine-god rails him.
His strength is mechanical, lacking the emotional depth necessary for genuine human relationships. Thus, his his
death symbolises the suicidal path that the modern mechanical man man is following. In the following excerpt
excerptaa
disapproval of the modern world, seen as too mechanical, can be read:
The men
The men were satisfied to belong to to the
the great and
and wonderful machine, even whilst it
destroyed them. It waswas what they wanted. It was the
lt was the highest that man
man had
had produced, the most
wonderful and superhuman. They were exalted by by belonging to this great and and superhuman
system which was beyond feeling or reason, something really godlike. Their hearts died within
them, but their souls were satisfied. It was
was what they wanted. Otherwise Gerald could never have
done what he did. He He was
was just ahead of them ingiving
ofthem in giving them what they wanted, this participation
in
ina a great and
and perfect system that subjected life to to pure mathematical principles. It wasa a sort of
lt was
freedom, the sort they really wanted. It was the
lt was the first great step in undoing, the first great phase of
chaos, the substitution of the
the mechanical principle for the the organic, the destruction of the organic
purpose, the organic unity, and the subordination of every organic unit to the great mechanical
and the
was pure organic disintegration and
purpose. It was organisation. This is the
and pure mechanical organisation. the first
and finest state of
and of chaos.
(Women in Love, 1920)
inLove, 1920)
Rupert Birkin, on on the other hand, stands as Lawrence's alter ego. Rupert feels feelsa a deep repulsion against the
entire mechanical folly of modern society. Rupert and Ursula's successful marriage is achieved only after
Ursulrelinquishes her advanced views; after aftera a monumental opposition she realises that she she must capitulate her
her
modern womanhood in order to come tocome
inorder to come toterms
to terms with the
the great male god in Rupert Birkin. Women in
inRupert Love
inLove
find a publisher in America or
could not finda or Britain, and
and did
did not
not do
do soso until 1920 and 1921 respectively.
respectively. When it was
was
finally published it was
was perceived as obscene and and one critic in particular reviewed it under the the headline ‘A
‘A Book
the Police Should Burn’.
thePolice
Many critics and

and readers regard these as Lawrence's finest novels, where hisideas
his ideas are matched with
passages of superb writing. D.H. Lawrence became an icon of the sexual liberation movement started in the the 1960s.
1960s.
Yet, from thethe 1970s onwards the the feminist movement became very wary as to the
as to the actual sexual emancipation
Lawrence's Women in Love,a
Love, a cult, brought for women. Feminism came totheconclusion
to the conclusion that Lawrence's liberal
approach toto sex was
was only apparent for in reality these supposedly liberated women were, in fact, submitting to the
male desire. This viewpoint created an an interesting on
on going literary debate which, from what hasbeen
has been said up
up to
now, seems pertinent to be be considered here: Should our appreciation of literature as be subjected to its author
as art be
political, social, moral, etc, perspective?
political,
From this moment (around 1920) until Lawrence's death in 1930

1930aa third literary phase can be identified.
identified. It is time
for the 'mystic prophet’. After all the
‘mystic prophet’. the hardships they had
had gone through during the Great War, finally in 1919,
and Lawrence left for Italy. They were always on the
Frieda and the move around theworld
the world and always short of money.
Lawrence felt alienated from hisown
his own country: «the thought of England is entirely repugnant» he wrote inin 1921.
1921.
? HeHe never really abandoned this position and as a fleeting and

and never returned except asa and dissatisfied visitor.
visitor. Apart
from the
the difficulties experienced during the War
War years his working class background played an important role in
this decision for he
he always felt alienated froma
from a strongly hierarchical social system such as the
the British one.
77
Lawrence felt that reality provoked in him dissatisfaction, exasperation and

in him and disgust, and
and his feelings are
echoed by
by the
the words oftheLawrentian
of the Lawrentian hero, Mellors, of his novel, Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928):
(1928).’
When I feel the

WhenI the human world is doomed, has doomed itself by by its own
own mingy
then I feel the
beastliness, thenI the colonies aren't afar enough. TheThe moon wouldn't be far enough,
because even there you
you could look back and see the earth, dirty, beastly, unsavoury among all the
seetheearth, the
stars: made foul by
by men. ThenI
Then I feel I've swallowed gall, and and it's eating my
my inside out, and
and
nowhere's far enough away. But whenII get
getaa turn,I
turn, I forget it all again.
(Lady Chatterley's Lover,
Lover, 1928)
Other novels such as Aaron's Rod

Rod appeared witha
with a new
new subject matter influenced by
by Nietzsche's theories
(see Unit 1). AA year later, his
his Australian novel, Kangaroo,
Kangaroo, was
was published. Frieda and
and Lawrence travelled to
Ceylon, Australia, the
the United States and
and also to Mexico where he wrote The Plumed Serpent (1926) along with
The Plumed
many short stories and
and poems.
In 1923, Frieda returned to England and Lawrence joined her later. He was
later. He was miserable in England so, in
1924, they returned to Mexico where Lawrence hoped to to set up
up his ideal commune, theRananim
the Rananim commune. The
idea did not work. Lawrence fell ill, ill, so
so they returned to Italy, finally settling near Florence. Lawrence had become
interested in painting and, in 1929, an exhibition of his work was held in in London, which Frieda attended alone as
he was too ill
he was ill toto travel. The
The police confiscated thirteen of the
the pictures as obscene.
Lawrence's writing was was revolutionary in that it stressed thethe importance of feelings. The The plot was
was
important for
for the light that it threw on the
the inner events in
inaa character. The
The individual, according to Lawrence, has
been divided in his completeness by by the use of the mind tocompel
to compel nature to his own
own purposes. Lawrence's travels
were a feverish attempt to find in more primitive men
werea men the wholeness and balance lost by
by civilisation.
civilisation.
\ Lawrence's narrative style is often highly poetic. The The intensity he

he uses in
in portraying the godgod he
he worshipped,
'life itself,' has
has led
led some critics to
to perceive him
him along the mystic literary tradition.
tradition. Lawrence's preoccupation for
portraying his passion for life, 'natural' life, led
led to
to most of his novels being banned for
ofhisnovels fora a time. This force is genuine
and original in English literature and
and and Lawrence's newnew approach toto what should be told in inaa novel seems toto be
his literary appeal and
behind hisliterary why he
and the reason why he became such an icon in the 1960s.
Lady Chatterley’s was banned for over thirty years in England and in
Chatterley ’s Lover was The novel tries to
in America. The to
offer a solution to the burdens and constrictions of modern life. Lady Chatterley’s
offera Chatterley ’s Lover is Lawrence's most
controversial novel, and
and perhaps the first serious work ofof literature to explore hum
hum sexuality in explicit detail.
When it was
was finally published in Britain in 1960, the British publishers of the novel, Penguin, were prosecuted by by
the Home Office for
for obscenity. The
The prosecuting counsel posed thenotorious
the notorious question to the jury:
jury: «Is it
ita a book you
would wish your wife or your servants to read?» Penguin won won and publication was
was resumed. Lady Chatterley’s
Chatterley ’s
Lover features some ofof Lawrence's most lyrical and
and poetic prose style alongside the theme of of class conflict: the
conflict: the
story of an
an English noblewoman, Constance Chatterley, who who finds love and
and sexual fulfilment with her husband's
game keeper Mellors.
Some feminist critics now

now claim this and
and other novels andand short stories by
by Lawrence to
to be deeply
misogynistic; part of their argument is that Lawrence suggests women will reach true fulfilment only by
misogynistic; by
submitting themselves to men. Lawrence exposes the self-assertive determination oneone human being to dominate
another (particularly men
men as dominating women), and even hislife-long
his life-long companion Frieda complained of this:
ofthis:
Frieda says
saysII am
am antediluvian in my
my positive attitude.I
attitude. I do
do thinkaa woman must yield some sort of
precedence toaa man...I
man... I do
do think men
men must go ahead absolutely in front of their women, without turning
to ask for permission or approval from their women. Consequently the
round to the women must follow as it
were unquestioningly.
(Letter to Katherine Mansfield, December 1918)
1918)
Lawrence wanted sex to be the

sex to the source of the pure central fire of
of life. Clifford, Lord Chatterley and
and
Constance's husband, is impotent; his impotence is symbolic of modern mechanical man, and hisgrowing
his growing concern
with business isisa a lust for power, while his
his wife is expanding her nature through the warmth and tenderness of
sensual love. Ina
In a familiar Lawrentian symbolism, Mellors, the gamekeeper, is the the dark, sensual, full man
man set
against the blond, sterile, incomplete Clifford.
Clifford.
was essentially
Life, for Lawrence, was essentiallya a mystery, and was not to be
and was be comprehended or or explained in terms of
reason and
and logic, for that was
was the way
way to kill it. It could be experienced only byby direct intuition, transmitted only
by touch; and
by and the value of people, for Lawrence, consisted in the extent to which mystery resided in them, how how far
they were conscious of mystery both in and in
in themselves and in others, and
and to what lengths they were prepared to gogo top
to
8
fulfil their passions.

passions. Since the mystery is killed byby the
the analysing, scientific intellect, it obviously flourishes most
strongly where thethe analysing, scientific intellect is least powerful (in Mellors, gamekeeper in in the
the forest), at the
the
instinctual levels of life, in
in sexual relationships, in the experience of death, and and in the impulsive, non-rational
existence of animals and
and nature.
In general, Lawrence detested every appearance of professionalism and

and as
asaa writer he
he endeavoured to
to
retain the mark of the amateur. He
of the He thus preferred aa basic dynamic style, passionate and
and energetic, to a a
sophisticated and
and elaborate one.
The characteristic of his fiction can

\ The can be
be summarised as follows: while the formal attributes of his novels are not
of his
unusual, except for their lyricism and
and symbolism, the experimental quality lies in an an unprecedented search not for
the outward manifestations but for the inner reality, the
the poetical quality of’felt
of 'felt experience'. Lawrence's endeavour
was above all how
was how to
to express emotion and feelings, asas they exist far below the
the surface of gesture andand are always
linked to bodily sensations.
sensations. Lawrence waswas primarily interested not
not in the
the social man, butinthat
but in that part of man
man that is
submerged and never seen, the unconscious, subjected to consciousness. This accounts for for the difficulty readers
may experience on
may on first reading Lawrence: they have todeduce
to deduce emotion from gesture.
Iflf Lawrence is one of the

one of the greatest English writers of the century it is largely because art feeds upon the
the
tensions in the artist as
as well as on
on their resolution; and the tensions hinted at by
and the by the
the above quotations are what help
to give Lawrence's characters their rich and and flexible complexity andand their astonishing vitality. Aside from this,
there is
isa a recurrent tendency for the action of the books to to become progressively divorced from what is most
seriously at issue in them, and to degenerate into intoa a kind of
of slow moving and
and wooden intrigue (Holloway 1983:
99).
In 1929 Lawrence, who

who by
by then was
was dying, moved tothesouth
to the south of France. There he wrotea
wrote a commentary
the Book ofRevelation,A
on theBook pocalypse. Itlt was
ofRevelation, Apocalypse. was his
his final religious statement. After his death Aldous Huxley wrote
one of the best essays on
of the on D.H. Lawrence:
Lawrence:
To be with Lawrence was

To was aa kind of of adventure, aa voyage of of discovery into newness and
otherness... He
otherness... He looked at things with the the eyes, so it seemed, ofaa man
man who
who had
had been on thebrink
the brink of death
and to whom, ashe
and as he emerges from the the darkness, the world reveals itself as as unfathomably beautiful and and
mysterious... A walk with him
mysterious...A him in the country was
in the wasaa walk through that marvellously rich and and significant
landscape which is at at once the
the background and the the principal personage of all hishis novels. He
He seemed to to
know, by personal experience, what it was was like to be
bea a tree ora
or a daisy ora
or a breaking wave or or even the
the
mysterious moon itself. He He could get
get inside the skin of an an animal and tell you
you in
in the
the most convincing
how it felt and
detail how and how, dimly, inhumanly, it thought.
(Introduction to The
The Letters of D.H. Lawrence,
ofD.H. Lawrence, 1932)
Lawrence died of tuberculosis France, in March 1930. He

He was
was buried there and
and later, in
in 1935,
1935, his ashes
to Taos, New
were removed toTaos, New Mexico. The
The obituaries were largely hostile.
Lovers
2.2. Discovering Newness and Otherness: D.H. Lawrence's Sons and Potters
It is useful to start this section by by reading how

how Lawrence himself
himself described his novel. What follows is part
of a letter written by
ofa by Lawrence tohisfriend
to his friend and
and patron Edward Garnett on on 14
14 November 1912:
AA woman ofcharacter
of character and
and refinement goes into thethe lower class and
and has
has no
no satisfaction in
her own
her own life ... AsAs her
her sons grow up,sheselects
up, she selects them asas lovers —first
–first the
the eldest, then the second...
But when they come tomanhood,
But to manhood, they can't love, because their mother is the the strongest power in in
their lives, and
and holds them... As As soon as the
the young men
men come into contact with women there isa is a
split. William gives himself toa to a superficial woman andhis
and his mother holds his his soul. But
But the
the split
him because he doesn't know where he is. (Paul) getsa
kills him gets a woman who fights for his soul
(Miriam) —fights
–fights his mother. The The son loves the mother —all –all the sons hate and
and are jealous
jealous of the
father... The son
father... The son decides to leave his soul in his mother's hands, and and like his elder brother, go
go for
passion (Clara). Then thesplitthe split begins to tell again. But
But almost unconsciously, the mother realises
what is thethe matter and
and begins to die. TheThe son
son leaves his mistress, attends to his mother dying. He He is
left in
in the
the end
end naked of everything, with thedrift
ofeverything, the drift towards death.
This summary of of thenovel,

the novel, written byby Lawrence himself, draws attention to the the relationship between
mother and son. Other female characters,
characters, such as Miriam or
or Clara are reduced, in this account, to mere symbolic
only a secondary function in the main mother-son relationship.
characters with onlya relationship. As
As Lance St St John Butler notes
about this letter in his
his York Notes:
Further, it is
isa a Paul-centred view of the novel only after beinga
of the being a Mrs
Mrs Morel-centred view. This
can be taken as evidence that Lawrence saw his his novel as
asaa study of the Oedipus complex. This
psychological term was was being employed by Sigmund Freud, the father of modern psychology, at at about
99
the same time as Sons and Lovers was was being written. Itlt refers to Freud's theory that all children are more
or less affected by
or by sexually-based feelings about their parents: particularly, boys will always have some
form ofof desire for the
the mother and jealousy of the father. Clearly in Sons and Lovers Paul is very close
indeed to an incestuous relationship with hismother.
his mother.
(St
(St John Butler 1980: 45)
It is worth pointing out that when Lawrence says MrsMrs Morel selects her her sons 'as lovers', he
he does not mean
it literally.
literally. Lawrence is notnot writing about incest, but
but abouta
about a powerful emotional connection.
connection. Initially, Sons and
was rejected by
Lovers was by Heinemann and Lawrence wrote tohisto his friend Edward Garnett:
Curse theblasted,
the blasted, jelly-boned swines, the slimy, the belly-wriggling invertebrates, the
miserable sodding rutters, thethe flaming sods, the sniveling, dribbling, dithering, palsied, pulse-less
lot that make up England today. They've got the white of egg egg in and their spunk is
in their veins and
it's a marvel they can breed.
that watery it'sa
his rage, he
In all his he had
had clearly not
not foreseen the huge obstacles to publishing yet to come. Sons and Lovers
best exemplifies the Lawrentian idea of the modem situation of of man
man andand woman. It also presents the loneliness of
the individual, the
the lack of communication, thesplit
the split between one's self
self and
and the self
self of others, the notion of harmony
and balance, the moral sickness in England, andand the necessity for
fora a new
new conception of life.
Regarding its style, Sons and Lovers presentsa

presents a combination of realistic description and
and poetic images: the
realism is strongest in the first half
half of the novel, where the the narrator describes the Morel family's day-to-day
existence.
existence. Lawrence's poetry comes totheforefront
to the forefront in his descriptions of nature, where, for example, vivid sunsets
and blazing rosebushes stand out against darkening skies. The
and The poetic segments of Sons and Lovers seem tomake to make
the common lives of
thecommon of its characters miraculous andand heroic. Sons and Lovers isisa a masterpiece of technical brilliance
as Virginia Woolfnoted
as Woolf noted at the
the time of its publication:
publication:
One never catches Lawrence —this

One –this is one of his
one of his most remarkable qualities- 'arranging.'
Words, scenes flow as fast and
and direct as if he merely traced them witha
if he with a free rapid hand on sheet
after sheet. Not
Nota a sentence seems thought about twice; nota not a word added for its effect on the
on the
architecture of the phrase. There is nono arrangement that makes us say: 'Look at at this. This scene,
this dialogue has the meaning of of thebook
the book hidden in in it.' One
One ofof the
the curious qualities of Sons and
Lovers is that one
one feels unrest,a
unrest, a little quiver and
and shimmer in his page, as if
inhispage, if it were composed of of
separate gleaming objects, by
by no
no means content to stand still and and bebe looked at.
(Wool£, 'Notes on on D.H. Lawrence', 1948)
Sons and Lovers is set in the the British Midlands at thethe turn of the nineteenth century. This is isa a highly
industrialised region in in central England. Factories, coal pits andand ugly terrace houses are abundant. Yet, Robin
Hood's Sherwood Forest is close by by the busy industrial city of Nottingham, where Paul works, andand the River Trent
swirls its way
way from thecity
the city through the wide-open country hills andand valleys. Sons and Lovers constantly contrasts
the sensuous, natural environment with that of the the cold, drab monuments ofindustrial
of industrial town and city life. In
In Sons
and Lovers the the well-to-do families and
and the poor families each live in thethe valley ironically designated for them:
for the well-to-do and
Bestwood forthewell-to-do and slums of 'Hell Row' forthepoor.
of'Hell for the poor.
When Lawrence was was growing up,up, few members of the working class in Great Britain had
oftheworking had much chance of
lifting themselves out of poverty. Many were illiterate and and were treated byby the upper classes as little more than
beasts of burden (such was
was the case with Lawrence's father, Arthur). One to better oneself was
One of the only ways tobetter was to
be bright and
be and ambitious enough toearn
to earn scholarships to grammar school andand university, as Lawrence himself did.
One could easily tell what class an
One to by
an individual belonged to by his
his speech. Notice in does
Sons and Lovers that Walter
Morel speaks ininaa local dialect, whereas hiswife
his wife Gertrude speaks
speaksaa crisp refined English.
The working class had

The had suffered humiliation and and sub-human living conditions for years but, finally, some
workers began to to rebel. They started unions to improve their status, and and socialism,
socialism,a a system calling for public
ownership of industry and
and land, became increasingly popular. The The relationship between Lawrence's parents, Lydia
and Arthur, as did that between Gertrude and and WaIter Morel, reveals the gulfgulf separating the lower and middle
classes. Arthur, and
classes. and most miners (also called colliers), hours a day, exposed to
colliers), worked twelve hoursa to grave dangers and
and
unhealthy working conditions. Miners' lives revolved around the the colliery and the pub, where after
and the an exhausting
alter an
the men could forget their troubles witha
day's work themen with a pint or more of beer: alcoholism wasa
ofbeer: was a serious problem in the
inthe
mining community. Arthur Lawrence drank heavily, and and the tragic effect of an
an alcoholic father onon his family is
painstakingly depicted in does
Sons and Lovers.
Lovers. Lawrence's mother, Lydia, differed markedly from her her uneducated,
easygoing husband. SheShe came froma
from a lower-middle-class family that had had suffered anan economic decline. Lydia's
father was
was humiliated byby their fall in social status, and
and this shame was transferred to his daughter.
One of the most important aspects of does

One Sons and Lovers,
Lovers, therefore, is Lawrence's treatment of class. He
He is
an author who
an who can
can write with authority about class issues since, as
as has
has been shown above, class conflict was
was at the
the
10
10
UNIT 4
heart of his family background.

background. His depiction of working-class conditions in this coal mining community at the
atthe
turn of the century is accurate and
and moving as
as well as novel and authoritative, as ER.
ER. Leavis pointed out in his
in his
essay 'D.H. Lawrence and Human Existence:'
To be
To be born, with that genius,
genius,aa miner's son at Eastwood in the eighteen eighties it is as
intheeighteen as if Destiny,
having given him
him the genius, had
had arranged also that he he should bebe enabled to to develop it to
to the
the utmost and
use it for
qualified to use the purposes for
for the was meant. Iflf hehe had
for which it was had not
not been born into the working-class
he could not have known working-class life from theinside.
he the inside. As
As it was
was he
he enjoyed advantages thata
that a writer
middle-class born could not have had: the positive experience and andaa freedom both from illusions and and from
the debilitating sense of ignorance.
thedebilitating On the other hand, gifted as he
ignorance. On he was, there was
was nothing to to prevent his
getting to know life at other social levels.
(F.R. Leavis, ‘D.H. Lawrence and Human Existence’, 1951) 1951)
The contrast between city and

The the lack of harmony between man
and nature parallels the man and society. Man Man is soso
satisfied with his
his social, political and
and economic achievements in the twentieth century that he
in the he seems to to have los
los
the basic instincts and
thebasic and violence of the animal in But when thepressure
in him. But the pressure of the social community is unbearable,
man escapes quickly to the boundary of
man of civilisation,
civilisation, towards nature, to obey therules
the rules of the 'spirit' and the flesh.
and the
Lawrence presents nature as asaa kind of
of mother comforting people when they feel alone and and as strangers in inaa hostile
The physical location in the novel is extremely important, since it representsa
world. The represents a moral situation, too. The The
dualism city/nature, or factory/country, represents another modem dualism the the natural man
man versus the social or
industrialised man.
The novel opens witha

The with a description of the setting, but
but it is really an
an account of howhow civilisation and
and
financial ambition devour nature. Throughout the the novel unconquered nature stands for for freedom, instinct andand
purity. Consider at
at this point the similarity of the
the descriptions of nature in some passages of the novel. Nature
and communion of
allows passion and the souls, as
ofthesouls, and Clara 'go
as when Paul and to the river, following their instinct.
'go down' totheriver,
There, Paul starts talking in dialect, like his
his father, very much as
asaa primitive man
man acting through instinct. Nature
involves peace and
and relaxation, even for Mrs Morel (as
forMrs in Chapter Two) whereas industrialisation, on
(asinChapter on the
the contrary,
means slavery and
and restraint (as in Chapter Five).
Industrial society is man's creation and has turned against him, making man
and it has man lose his identity as
asaa natural
creature.
creature.
Lawrence proposes that, in order to overcome theopposition

the opposition social man
man versus natural man,a
man, a rediscovery
man through the flesh is needed. For him, the greatest obstacle to achieving this was
of man was the
the spirit, which confines
the spontaneous flame in the mind is the
in man. For Lawrence themind the prison of the body, not the other way
way around, so they
present themselves as antagonistic forces. This confrontation is epitomised by by the tensions between Mr Mr and Mrs
Mrs
Morel: she represents the ideas, hehe represents the senses. There is no no balance and
and no
no communication between
them: «His nature was
was purely sensuous, andand she strove to make him moral, religious. SheShe tried to force him
him to face
He could not endure it —it
things. He –it drove him
him out of his
his mind»
(Sons and
and Lovers 1913 [1995]: 14).
14).
who choose real life over intellectual social life break the rules of society and
Those who and become outcasts, asas
did Walter Morel in
did Sons and Lovers.
inSons Lovers. As
As modern manman searches fora
for a life devoid of dangers, he
he sets limits on
on his
liberty to control and his animal dimension in
and master his in an attempt to destroy it completely. For Lawrence, though,
completely. For
these limitations on
on the animal dimension should be rebalanced; his ideal reality is isa a harmonious balance between
the social and
thesocial and the natural man, complementary because we we are social beings. Dorothy Van Van Ghent has
has this to say
say of
Mr Morel as
Mr asaa ‘natural man’:
In Sons andand Lovers,

Lovers, only in
in Morel himself, brutalized and
and spiritually maimed as he is, does the
ashe the
of selfhood remain intact; and, this is the
germ ofselfhood the correlative proposition in Lawrence, in him only does the
in him
biological life force have simple, unequivocal assertion. Morel wants to to live, byby hook or
or crook, while his
his
sons want todie.
to die. To
To live is to
to obey
obeyaa rhythm involving more than conscious attitudes and and involving more
–involving all nature;a
than human beings —involving nature; a rhythm indifferent to the
the greediness of reason, indifferent to
idiosyncrasies of culture andand idealism. The
The image associated with Morel is that of the the coal pits, where he
and from which he ascends at
descends daily and atnight and tired. It
night blackened and lt is
isa a symbol of
of rhythmic descent
and ascent, like
and likea a sexual rhythm, or
or like the
the rhythm ofof sleep and
and awaking or or of
of death and
and life. True, the
in the coal pits reverses the natural use
work inthecoal use of the hours of light and
and dark and is an an economic distortion.
(Dorothy Van
Van Ghent, 'On Sons and Lovers', 1953)
we have seen, two

There are, we two ways tolook
to look at
at Walter Morel's failure to be
beaa good husband, father and
and family
You can see him
breadwinner. You him as
asaa man
man broken by an uncaring, brutal industrial system and an overly demanding
11
11
You can
wife. You can also see Walter as his own worst enemy, inviting self-destruction through drink and
ashisown and irresponsibility.
The end
The the story is somewhat ambiguous: Paul has been searching for light throughout his life, but
end of the but as
as
his mother dies he
his he is slowly turning towards darkness. Now
Now that he
he is alone, he
he must rely on
on his own
own possibilities,
on his
on his own
own body and mind in perfect union. The
inperfect The choice is either to look for protection and join the forces of
and join
darkness, the monster of social man man or defy the monster and find the true reality of his his being. He
He acts with
the first time in
resolution for the in his
his life, and
and is prepared to begin anew, with hishis hands closed into fists like
likea a
newborn baby.
The first social nucleus, the family, lacks balance because there is no
The no balance between manman and wife. The
The
lack of communication and thedegradation
the degradation reaches the point of physical violence, which could well beabe a first step
annihilation. The
to human annihilation. The couple's relationship is incomplete because there is no no completeness within each
member. ToTo feel stronger, to feel that she the situation, Mrs
she dominates the Mrs Morel tempts the children to her side andand
to hate their father. Paradoxically, though, she is conscious of the 'idea' of
teaches them tohate of the
the family (Chapter Four).
The Mrs Morel and her

The relationship between Mrs her children is also very poignant: she loves what she
she can
can make of
of
them, not what they are. She possessive.
She is very possessive.
As to the relationships between Paul and women, they are similarly incomplete and
As and unsatisfactory. The
The
the spirit and
mind, the the body arerepresented
and the are represented by
by three separate women. The spirit and the mind may
and the may exist as long
do not interfere with the
as they do the expression of the body and arefully
are fully integrated in it:
For Christianity the flesh receives its sanction and

For and purpose from fromaa life of the spirit which is
of the
eternal and transcendent. For
and transcendent. For Lawrence thelife
the life of
of the
the spirit has
has its justification in enriching and
and glorifying
the life of
of the
the flesh of which it is in any case an
in any an epiphenomenon.
(G.
(G. Hough, The Dark Sun)
Many authors have noted how, structurally, Sons and Lovers moves rhythmically in the treatment of
different characters' relationships: first that of Walter and
and Gertrude Morel, then Paul and
and hismother,
his mother, later Paul and
and
Miriam, and finally that of Paul and Clara:
Sons and Lovers moves along aa structural pattern determined by by the nature of its human
relationships. AA wave-rhythm distinguishes, in beat and and counterbeat, the major involvements of the
characters: those of Walter and Gertrude Morel, Paul and and his
his mother, Paul and Miriam, and Paul and and
Clara. In each of these relationships, separate episodes focus —in –in dramatically enacted dialogue,
description, and
and action —aspects
–aspects of each character- interconnection. Each event is isa a successive wave, and
the movement of
the the relationship is the
of therelationship the full tide which is its consummation. After that consummation,
there are wavelike returns to the achieved tension in that relationship,
relationship, but
but now
now each wave showsshowsaa
diminishing strength and
and intensity. The reader of Sons and Lovers soon comes toanticipate
intensity. The to anticipate the rhythmic
returns and himself attuned to the Lawrencean mode. He
and finds himself He doesn't ask
ask for the conventional climactic
development.
(Betsky, 'Rhythm and Theme: D.H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers',
Lovers', 1953)
The three women referred to above as representing the mind, the

The the spirit, and
and the
the body, are Gertrude Morel,
respectively. The
Miriam, and Clara respectively. The first impression we we have ofof Gertrude Morel is that of a a middle-class,
and intellectually alert character. The
determined and The impression grows stronger when she is compared toherhusband,
sheis to her husband,
aa working class, uncultivated, careless man. Immediately, the reader perceives that theirs (Mr (Mr and Mrs Morel's) is
and Mrs
a a confrontation between herher mind andand hisinstincts,
his instincts, which is likely to cause many problems. Gertrude Morel
married her husband because she could not do and she
do better and she admired in him everything she did not have; at
in him at the
same time, she to change him
she wanted tochange him and make him more like her, although he he would notlet
not let her. As
As the
the following
passage testifies, Morel and hiswife
his wife have had one of of their many arguments. He He resents what he considers her
accusations:
accusations:
'I'll may
may yer
yer pay
pay for this,' he
he said, pushing back his his chair in desperation.
desperation. He
He bustled andand got
washed, then went determinedly upstairs. Presently he he came down dressed, and with a big bundle in
and witha inaa
blue-checked, enormous handkerchief.
'And now,' he he said, 'You'll see me again when youdo.'
see me you do.' 'It'll bebe beforeI
before I want to,' she and
she replied; and
he marched outofthehouse
at that he out of the house with hisbundle...
his bundle...
When she went down tothecoal-place
shewent to the coal-place at the
the end
end of the
the garden, however, she felt something
the door. So
behind the So she
she looked. And
And there in the dark laylay the
the big blue bundle. She She sat on
ona a piece of coal-
in front of the bundle and laughed.
laughed. Every time she saw saw it, so
so fat and
and yetyet so
so ignominious, slunk into its
corner in the dark, with its ends flopping like dejected ears from theknots, the knots, sheshe laughed again. She was
She was
relieved.
(Sons and
and Lovers 1913 [1995]: 44)
12
12
They cannot accept each other for the the way

way they are. Mrs
Mrs Morel isisa a divided being, presented asa
as a broken
entity, because she is
isa a woman,a
woman, a wife andaand a mother. AsAsaa wife she admits her failure, asa
as a woman she still feel
shestill
some passion for Walter, andand asa
as a mother she
she is selfish and
and unnatural:
unnatural: "She hada
had a great belief
belief in him, the more
was unaware of
because he was of hisown
his own powers. There was was so much tocome
to come outofhim.
out of him. Life for her
her was
was rich with
promise. She was to see herself
She was herself fulfilled.» (236)
Miriam represents the spirit. Miriam Leivers, Paul's teenage friend and and sweetheart, was
was modelled after
Lawrence's own
own young love, Jessie Chambers. When Lawrence was was working on Sons and Lovers (1910-12),
(1910-12), Jessie
Chambers contributed many specific details, since the novel was was so closely based on their ownown difficult, intimate
relationship. There are
relationship. are documents proving that some passages of the novel were written in Jessie's own own
handwriting (they appear in in the final work much expanded by Lawrence) and some comments by Jessie on on
Lawrence's own
own work. These are known as
areknown the 'Miriam Papers’,
asthe'Miriam Papers', first analysed by
by Harry T. Moore inhisbook
in his book D.H.
Lawrence: The Man
Lawrence. Man andand His Works (1969), and
and are, in fact, documents relating to thethe original of'Miriam'
of 'Miriam' (Jessie
Chambers) and toher
to her involvement with thewriting
the writing of Sons and Lovers.
Lovers. It is clear from these papers that, although
Jessie often protests that Lawrence is changing thethe past in writing his novel, the basic plot, many incidents and and
many details, at least of the
the Miriam sections, are
are true to Jessie's memory. The fact that Lawrence was able to
incorporate Jessie's own
own writings into the novel, in some cases without change, proves the point.
From a critical point of view the

Froma the ’Miriam
'Miriam Papers’
Papers' providea
provide a warning:
warning: Jessie never realised that fiction is
isa a
different kind of
of writing from history or biography. This is why
why it is important to distinguish autobiography asasaa
and the autobiographical details that can
genre and can be
be trace ina
in a fictional writing such
suchaa Sons and Lovers.
Lovers.
the beginning, Miriam Leivers is described asa

From the as a 'romantic heroine’
heroine' and
and the reader gets
getsa a picture ofa
of a
shy, religious, dreamy, intense, spiritual girl. The
The ordinary is too
too ugly for her. Paul, being equally sensitive, enjoys
for what it is on
life for on earth. Mrs
Mrs Morel believes that Miriam is not not an
an «ordinary woman, who
who can leave me
canleave me my
my share
in him. She
She wants toto absorb him
him till there is nothing left of
of him, even for himself. HeHe will never bea
be a man
man on hishis
own two
own two feet —she
–she will suck him
him up»
up» (193). Nature, represented by by Willey Farm, links them: «So was in
«So it was in this
atmosphere of of subtle intimacy, this meeting in in their common feelings for something in in nature that their love
started». Miriam is idealistic also in the area of love. First, she as God's sacrificed victim: «But Lord, if
she feels as if it is
Thy will thatI
Thy that I should love him, make me me love him- as
as Christ would, whowho died for the souls of men», and later on on
she
she will make an an ultimately romantic gesture: letting Paul go with Clara, for she she believes in the untouchable bond
that links her
her to Paul. She
She tells herself in Chapter Twelve:
Iflf hehe must go,

go,letlet him
him go and have hisfill-something
go and his fill-something big and
and intense, he
he called it. AtAt any
any rate,
he had
when he had gotit,
got it, hehe would not
not want it- that hehe said himself; he
he would want theother
the other thing that sheshe
could give him. He He would want tobe to be owned, so he could work. It
so that he lt seemed toher
to heraa bitter thing that he
he
go, but she
must go,but could let him
shecould him go
go into an
an inn fora
for a glass of whisky, so she could let him
him gogo toto Clara, so
long as it was
was something that would satisfy satisfya a need in him, and leave him
inhim, him free for herself to possess.
(Sons and Lovers 1913
1913 [1995]: 318)
Miriam does not react to herher secondary role and

and submits to Paul's dominance.
dominance. There areare two sides at war
war
in Miriam: her love of Paul More!'and her resistance to her her sexual feelings towards him. HerHer mother taught her
that sex
sex is one of the
one of the burdens ofof marriage, and
and although she does not want tobelieve
to believe it, she
she cannot help but listen
has shaped her life. When Miriam finally gives in to Paul (in Chapter Eleven), she does so in
to the woman who hasshaped inaa
spirit of
of self-sacrifice that disappoints both of them:
She
She would submit, religiously, to the
the sacrifice. He should have her. And
sacrifice. He And at the
the thought her whole
itself involuntarily, hard, as if
body clenched itself if against something; but Life forced her through this gate of
suffering, too, and
and she
she would submit. At At any
any rate, it would give him
him what he wanted, which was her her
deepest wish.
(Sons and Lovers 1913 [1995]: 284)
Miriam's inability to enjoy sex makes her her an

an incomplete person in in the
the Lawrentian world, where sex sex asas
Lover, hasa
well as spirituality is necessary to an individual's fulfilment. Clifford Chatterley, in Lady Chatterleys Lover, has a
similar response to Miriam's towards sex: «No, the the intimacy was
was deeper, more personal than that. And And sex was
sex was
merely an accident, or an an adjunct, one the curious obsolete, organic processes which persisted in its own
one of the own
clownishness, but waswas not really necessary.» However, spirit is not not everything for Paul. He He is looking for fora a
different kind of relationship, and
and so
so lets Miriam know (309). Their love isais a failure. The realisation of their failure
failure. The
to them during Easter time:
comes tothem
It mad with restlessness.

lt made him mad restlessness. She
She saw
saw this, and been a
and wished bitterly that Miriam had beena
woman who could take this newnew life of
of his, and He fought against his mother almost
and leave her the roots. He
as he fought against Miriam.
13
13
It wasa a week before he

lt was he went again to Willey Farm. Miriam had suffered
suffereda a great deal, and
and was
was
afraid to see himhim again. Was
Was she now to endure the ignominy of hisabandoning
she now his abandoning her? That would only be
superficial and
and temporary. He He would come back. She his soul. But
She held the keys to his But meanwhile, howhow he
would torture her her with hisbattle
his battle against her. She
She shrank from it.
(Sons and Lovers 1913
1913 [1995]: 222)
At spring time they feel queer, awkward and

At and uneasy, and
and it is quite fitting because spring symbolises mating
and development while they are always stagnant in their ideal love.
Lawrence completed the novel in in 1913, his mother's death and

1913, while mourning hismother's yet another female
and under yet
influence, that of the
the independent and
and sensuous Frieda von
von Richthofen Weekley, his
his future wife. Much of Frieda's
ofFrieda's
can be
personality can be seen inin the passionate Clara Dawes, Paul Morel's other love. Jessie felt that her
her portrayal as
unflattering. She
Miriam was unflattering. off all ties with Lawrence and even wrote her own
She broke offall own version of the relationship
in order to vindicate herself.
herself.
Clara stands for thethe body, the senses, the flesh that Miriam seems to to lack. She
She is presented as heavy,
and defiant. She
blonde, and She strikes the
the reader as beinga
being a modern woman, owner ofherself
of herself and
and of her destiny. Clara is
depicted asasaa new
new twentieth-century woman. She She is
isa a feminist before it was
was fashionable.
fashionable. Determined to to be
independent, she leaves her husband, earns her own own living, and has an
and has an extramarital affair with Paul. Clara can be be
viewed asas representative of the many post-Victorian women who rebelled against the traditional image of of woman
as the'weaker
as the 'weaker sex.' Clara is extraordinarily intelligent, with a good critical mind. But
intelligent, witha But Lawrence gives little
demonstration of this aspect of her personality, since the story concentrates on on her physical attractiveness to Paul.
Nevertheless, since sheshe left her
her husband, nothing seems tohaveto have happened toher
to her in terms of love and
interms and affection.
affection. In
aa way, she is like
likea a dead flower (Sons and and Lovers 1913 [1995]: 295). Paul thinks that flowers are there to be be
enjoyed. Their ownown beauty entitles people to to pick them and and appreciate them. Curiously, Gertrude Morel and
Miriam are also frequently connected to
arealso to flowers in the novel: in Chapter Seven, Gertrude can hardly believe that
some beautiful flowers have come out in her garden, Miriam, every time she picks flowers, seems to
outinhergarden, to devour them,
to smell the life out
tosmell out of
of them, just as she
she wants toto do
do with Paul. The
The rose bush Miriam shows toPaul
to Paul eerily signifies
relationship. That Miriam is intensely loving and
their relationship. and warm towards the the beautiful, white roses and
and that Paul feels
strangely 'imprisoned' by by them symbolises their feelings for each other and and toward sex the other. Miriam
sex with the
would devote herself
herself to Paul, whowho would feel smothered by by her intensity.
intensity. Mark Spilka noted in in 1955 the
1955 that the
women in Sons and Lovers are
inSons are frequently identified with flowers and and gardening (Miriam tends to smother flowers
with her religious adoration, while Mr Mr Morel nurtures them to become healthy and and strong):
As these thoughts indicate, flowers are the most important of the 'vital forces' in Sons and
As
Lovers. The
Lovers. The novel is saturated with their presence, and
and Paul andand his three sweethearts are judged,
judged, again
and again, by
and by their attitude toward them, or
or more accurately, by by their relations with them. The
The 'lad-and-
girl' affair between Paul and Miriam, for example, is isa a virtual communion between thetwo
the two lovers and
and the
flowers they both admire.
(Spilka, 'How toPick
to Pick Flowers', 1955)
1955)
Following this flower symbolism, Clara is like likea a beautiful flower that has has become forgotten:
forgotten: she
she is there
both for someone tohave
to have her
her and tohave herself. In spite of the
to have someone herself. the loathing and
and contempt she feels for men,
the reader senses that she
the she is not
not cut
cut out to be
out to be alone. Her
Her detachment and self self containment are extraordinarily
attractive to Paul. She
She is like
likea a goddess in possession of the ultimate secret of
inpossession ofa a body, ofaa human relationship.
relationship. Full
of a life to
ofa to be
be expressed, she is linked to Paul in inaa non-spiritual way. In Chapter Twelve Clara and and Paul make love
and their relationship reaches its high point in their sexual fulfilment.
and By having hisbody
fulfilment. By his body near she seems to to come
to life again, and
back to and as she
she wants someone who who needs her she starts to to move back towards her husband, Baxter.
Clara notices whywhy Paul cannot be hers completely, how how there is something she cannot reach: «She felt as as if
if
something almost tangible fastened her to him; yet yet he seemed so easy in in his
his graceful, indolent movement, so so
detached as he tied upup the
the too-heavy flower branches to their stakes, that she to shriek in her helplessness»
she wanted toshriek
(387).
Besides, the special tie between Miriam and Paul is something which Clara will never have. She She is honest
enough toto admit it and
and even to to push him
him back toto Miriam. Lacking that particular quality, she she can just feel
can just
resurrected, alive again, by by havinga
having a man. Paul, in return, loves the woman butdoes
but does not feel consecrated to her:
«But it was not Clara. It
was not was something that happened because of her, but it was
lt was was not
not her. They were scarcely any any
nearer each other. It was
was asas if had been blind agents ofaa great force» (422). There is no
if they had no unity between thetwo
the two
selves: Lawrence seems tobe to be saying that it is no
no use
use being available for sex, as is Clara, if
if there is no
no communion
of the souls, too. As
ofthesouls, As Paul watches Clara swim in the sea, he
inthesea, he thinks to himself, «'She's lost likea
like a grain of sand inin
the beach —justa
the –just a concentrated speck blown along,a
along, a tiny white foam-bubble, almost nothing among themorning.
the morning.
Why does she absorb me?'» (358).
Why
14
14
UNIT 4
The fulfilment of one's personality is achieved when thesenses

The the inner self. Iflf no
the senses express the reality of the no
tenderness governs or accompanies the the flesh, then, Lawrence says, we we go
go back toour
to our animal nature andand the human
instinct is lost. That is what happens in the relationship between Paul and Clara: they lack full understanding.
in the
Clara and get together again. He
and Baxter Dawes gettogether He needs her nownow for him to
for him to come back to to life, to
to regain his lost
manhood, and she knows it. She
sheknows has not
She has not been able to reach into thethe deepest part of Paul, and
and now
now with Baxter she
has the chance of of being accepted as asaa whole woman, in in such
suchaa way
way as she has never been with Paul. The The only
to whom Paul has ever felt himself
woman towhom himself given up up is his
his mother. Sometimes he feels he he is not
not entire, for
foraa
mother cannot replace sexual love. However, as asaa whole, his
his mother is his
his comfort, his peace, the warmth of of
childhood, the steadiness, the the person whowho understands him him perfectly well and who is always beside him. It is for
and who for
hima a very easy way
him way of loving for
for him: pleasant and and without complexities,
complexities, rewarding and satisfying.
satisfying. Of
Of course, it
is not
nota a completely fulfilling love, butbut it is far
far better than those hehe receives from either Miriam or or Clara. When
Mrs. Morel dies, Paul's emptiness seems total. «She was theonly the only thing that held him
him up, himself, amid all this.
And she
And was gone, intermingled herself. He
she was He wanted her her to
to touch him, have himhim alongside with her. But But no,
no, he he
not give in... He
would notgive He would nottake
not take that direction, to the
the darkness, to follow her» (420). When Paul kisses his
dead mother, he he feels emotions he he had
had never experienced from her: cold and and harsh, unreceptive and and loveless. HeHe
to let his
does not want tolet his mother go from hislife.
his life. As
As much asPaul
as Paul wants hismother
his mother to be with him, he decides that
tobe
he cannot follow his
he his mother. Even though her her spirit will guide him
him if he allows it to, but
ifhe but he
he decides to break away
from her. He He knows he must separate himself
himself from her her tobecomea
to become a man
man ofhisown
of his own instinct and
and will. At
At the
the end
end of of
the novel Paul walks away from the
the the dark, uninhabited country fields and and towards thethe bright city lights. Some
readers see this act as as Paul's walking away from death and and towards life. Paul has been both blessed and and cursed
with such an extraordinary mother.
3. ACTIVITIES
3.
3.1. Test yourself

1. What is new
new in
in D.H. Lawrence's fiction?
How many phases could be
2. How be drawn inLawrence's
in Lawrence's writing?
33.. What means for Lawrence thedistinction
forLawrence the distinction between 'mechanical man' and 'natural man'?
4. Why has Lawrence been accused of misogynistic attitudes?
4.Why
3.2. Overview questions

11.. Compare Mrs Morel's respective feelings for Miriam and for Clara.
forClara.
22.. What arethemany
are the many different symbolisms evoked by flowers? How
How dodo flowers figure differently in the
the fates of
of
the various characters?
the
33.. Discuss briefly Sons and Lovers asaa Bildungsroman.
3.3. Explore
1. The
The sentences below have been quoted from Chapter Ten, the final chapter of Sons and Lovers. Lovers. Read them, gogo
to the novel and
to and place both sentences in context, explaining why why Paul's life had
had fallen into pieces and
and who
who is that
'her' he
he is not
not going toto follow. What do you think Paul is going to
doyouthink to do next with his
his life?:
a) 'Paul's life had
a) had fallen to pieces'.
b) 'He
b) not take that direction, to the
'He would nottake the darkness, to follow her'.
2. Writeaa short essay (450 words) comparing D.H. Lawrence's life to
2. to that of his character Paul paying particular
attention to the fictionalization of facts that make possible the building of Paul asaa fictional character.
character.
Key terms
3.4. Key
Bildungsroman
Censorship
City
Machine
Nature
Perspectivism
Poetic language
Science
Sex
Sex
Sexuality
- Women
- Working Class
4. BIBLIOGRAPHY
4.
15
15
UNIT 4
CALLOW, Philip. 1975. Son Son and

and Lover.’
Lover: The
The Young D.H. Lawrence.
Lawrence. New
New York: Stein and
and Day.
DRAPER, R.P. 1969. Profiles in Literature.’
Literature: D.H. Lawrence. Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Lawrence. London: Routledge&
FARR, Judith, ed. 1970.
1970. Twentieth Century Interpretations of Sons and Lovers. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
NJ: Prentice-
Hall.
HOLLOWAY, John. 1991. 'The Literary Scene' in From James toEliot.
to Eliot. The
The Pelican Guide to English Literature
toEnglish
Vol.
Vol. 7, edited by
by Boris Ford. London: Penguin.
TEDLOCK, E.W. Jr., ed. ed. 1965. D.H. Lawrence and Sons and Lovers. NewNew York: New
New York University Press.
Web Sites
Web
- D. H. Lawrence resources at
D. H. at The
The University of Nottingham http://mss.library.nottingham.ac.ukldhl
http://mss.library.nottingham.ac.ukldhl_home.html
home.html
- D.
D. H.
H. Lawrence index page http://web.ukonline.co.uklrananim/lawrence/
- D. H. Lawrence page http://www.cswnet.com/-erin/lawrence.htm 210
D. H. 210
16
16
UNIT 5
UNIT5 Of The
Tales Of The City: Virginia
Virginia Woolf’s
Wool[’s Modernist Geographies Of The Mind
Ot!The Mind
UNIT V
Tales Of The
The City:
Virginia Woolf's
Virgizzia Woolf’s Modernist Geographies Of The Mind
0£ The Mizzd
Programme
1.
1. PRESENTATION: Women andModernism
and Modernism
1.1.
1.1. Introducing to Virginia Woolf
Woolf
1.2. The Bloomsbury Group and Bloomsbury Aesthetics
1.2. The
2. TEXT ANALYSIS:
2.1. AA Room
Room of Own and
One’s Own
ofOne's and Other Essays
2.2. Mrs.
Mr:s. Dalloway and the Woman's
and the Woman’s Sentence
3. ACTIVITIES
3.ACTIVITIES
4. BIBLIOGRAPHY
4.BIBLIOGRAPHY
Learning
Learning outcomes
outcomes
- To
To discern that Woolfs
Woolf’s work isa
is a response toto a society that witnessed multiple and
and
profound changes, social and and political convulsions,
convulsions, and
and literal debates in which she
she
was an active participant and
was and a reference to her
her contemporaries.
- To
To become gender-conscious in in order to
to understand that Woolfs
Woolf’s commitment to to the
the
women's struggle, what today is is called Woolfs
Woolf’s feminism, is
is intrinsically Linked to
to her
artistic output.
- To
To analyse Woolfs
Woolf’s complex use of of language andand narrative techniques and and her
experimental approach to to fiction as
as part of new modernist aesthetics she, among
of the new
others, pronounced.
- To
To understand the the importance of of the city and the visual effect of language in
and the
modernism and Woolf’s work.
1. PRESENTATION: WOMEN AND MODERNISM

1.PRESENTATION:WOMENANDMODERNISM
The period between 1910 and 1940 is one
The one in which the attitude towards art in general and and
literature in particular changes radically. The argument over what deserves to
radically. The to be represented andand the
right way
way to to represent it was
was atat the
the centre of of the literally innovations of of the period. After the War, this
argument was was won
won bybyaa group of of male, middle-class writers (among them Ford Madox Ford, T.E.
Hulme, Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot) who who advocated an art that would avoid the personal, the emotional,
and the mundane. The
and The success of of these writers meant thata that a particular kind of modernism became
accepted as the most important and and significant art of its time. The The poet T.S.
T.S.Eliot wasa a key
Eliot was key figure in this
process of of becoming through his his theories on on impersonality and and of the objective correlative which were
extremely influential
influential during the 1920s and 1930s, the period when modernism became institutionalised
and codified.
and codified. The
The Eliotean model was, in fact, just but but one the many approaches regarding the writing
one of the
produced in this period. Women writers experimented with form and and content as as did male writers,
writers, yet
yet
way of experimentation, the means by
their way by which they experimented and and the goals they expected to to
achieve through this experimentation were different from those of of male writers.
writers.
Male writers approached literary modernism in the the belief that art should convey
conveyaa ‘transcendent’
reality that lay outside particular social and and ideological
ideological systems. As As aa matter of of fact this view on
modernism produced an exclusive and and discriminatory form of of writing that accentuated
accentuated the dichotomy
high art/low art. Forms of of writing outside modernist aesthetics were considered as low art;
consequently,
consequently, the so-called popular fiction which, not surprisingly, was being produced by aa
surprisingly, was
considerable number of women writers,
ofwomen writers, was
was undervalued and and catalogued as asaa product to bebe consumed
by the masses. In this respect some feminist critics,
by themasses. critics, such as Sandra Gilbert and and Susan Gubar suggest
that a major motive forwhat
thata for what was
was understood as modernism,
modernism, with its exclusions and was
and discriminations, was
aa reaction against the rise of literary women. However, if, as as said before, women writers approached
modernism differently from the way way men
men diddid they did
did not escape the the élitism attributed to their male
counterparts. Woolf’s novels, H.D.’s (Hilda Doolittle) sequence Pilgrimage participate of the
counterparts. Virginia Woolf's the
modernist aesthetics (self-reflexiveness, ambiguity,
ambiguity, fragmentation of form, among other) and and produced
difficult literary works that could hardly be be seen as popular pieces of writing.
Modernism art maintained its avant-garde position by defining itself mass culture and hence against traditional forms of female writing and reading
such as the popular romance. Yet it posed a problem for the woman writer of the period, who saw herself from between a form of art whose very novelty
opened up an arena where the woman writer might be able to find her own voice, on the one hand, and the rejection of mass culture (and, by implication,
of the feminine) on the other. How did women writers deal with this apparent contradiction?
11
UNIT 5
UNIT5 Of The
Tales Of The City: Virginia Woolf’s
Ot!The
Some tensions produced the woman writer by by this dilemma were explored in an an early story by
by
Katherine Mansfield,
Mansfield, 'The
‘The Tiredness of of Rosabel'
Rosabel’ (I908).
(1908). This story concerns the daydreams and
romantic fantasies of an
an overworked shop assistant,
assistant, and
and its particularly interesting as
as an
an example ofof
how
how Katherine Mansfield in particular;
particular; and
and women writers of the
the period at large, aligns herself both with
high art
art and
and with mass culture.
At the
At the beginning of
of the story we
we are
are placed at
ataa critical distance from popular romance. Coming
home on the bus, the central character Rosabel watches with distaste another girl reading
on thebus, readingaa popular
novel. She
She criticises the
the way
way in which the girls is <<mouthing thewords
the words in
ina a way
way that RosabeI
Rosabel detested,
licking her and thumb each time that she
her first finger and she turned the page>> (Mansfield 1984: 17). Popular
romance is thus connected with vulgarity and and the
the body, and
and is apparently condemned.
As the
As the story continues,
continues, pointed contrasts are made impoverished realities of her her life.
life. Romance
is thus shown as dangerous because it covers over the real (economic and and sexual) causes of of Rosabel’s
Rosabel's
we find that it powerfully affirms the
dream, we the value ofof the life of
of the
the female body, and
and indeed celebrates it.
Rosabel’s
Rosabel's dream world offers her her light, warmth, colour, andand sexual pleasure:
pleasure:
Harry took her home, and came in with her for
inwith just one
forjust one moment. The fire was
was out
out in the
the drawing
but the sleepy maid waited for
room butthesleepy her in
forher her boudoir. She
inher She took off her cloak, dismissed the servant, and
offher and
went over to the fireplace, and
and stood peeling offher
off her gloves; the firelight shone on her
her hair.
Harry came across the room andcaught
and caught her in his arms; ‘Rosabel, Rosabel, Rosabel!’...
in his Rosabel!’…
(Mansfield 1984:20)
Mansfield’s
Mansfield's text thus discloses the wayway in which popular romance, while denying some needs,
speaks powerfully to other female needs, pleasures, and and desires. The
The text points in two
two directions andand
dramatises the dilemma in which Mansfield finds herself as as aa woman writer of the
the period. On the other
On the
hand she is pulled towardsa
towards a ‘masculine’ writing position that foregrounds such qualities as as authority
and autonomy, and
and the opportunities offered by
and the by it. The
The solution to this dilemma, discovered by Mansfield
herself and
and other women writers of the the period,
period,aa solution to bebe considered as an
considered as an achievement forit
for it was
was
truly new
new and
and avant-garde,
avant-garde, is to
to push modernism tothelimit
to the limit and
and attempt to
to deconstruct this opposition.
That is, women modernists tried to to incorporate into their writing what they felt constituted their
femininity. In this sense, women writers of the
femininity. the period challenged the claim of of impersonality defended by
the male writers,
the writers, turned to
to personal experience,
experience, and
and in their writings they made
madeaa journey in search of ofaa
self that, as we shall see, was
as we was perceived asas multiple and
and fragmented.
Central to the rise of modernism and its questioning of reality as as portrayed inin Victorian and
and
the development of
Edwardian fiction is the the late nineteenth century. Of
of science in the Of particular importance
was the appearance of
was ofaa new
new medical branch called sexology. TheThe works of the German Krafft-Ebing,
of the Krafft-Ebing,
and the
and the British Edward Carpenter andand Havelock Ellis exposed, sometimes against the intention of the the
authors, the existence of of female sexuality and
and female sexual desire. This meant that the the younger
generation of the women that would start writing after the
of women, thewomen the end the First World War, stressed
end of the
not just the
the need forfor constitutional reform, but also that fora
for a much greater personal and and sexual
emancipation for women.
emancipation forwomen.
The great turning point was
was marked by Freud’s
Freud's theories onon the unconscious.
unconscious. Freud’s
Freud's work first
became available in translation in 1909 and his theory of the unconscious (that is, the
histheory the fact that in the
the
development of the human psyche there are certain episodes which, while repressed,
ofthe repressed, are still contained
in what he called the
the ‘unconscious’, and
and that these repressed events affect the the way
way wewe consciously
perceive reality) constituted
constitutedaa break from current ideas of
of an
an essential,
essential, immutable,
immutable, unified self.
The modern self is perceived as multiple and fragmented because there is always an inherent part of the self that by its very definition remains
unknown, but no less effective for the perception of ‘who I am’.
are the issues raised by

What aretheissues the modernist woman writer? There are
by the are five main characteristics
to be
be found in the
the writings produced by women in this period. The The first refers to subjectivity and
and gender
identity. Women tended towards the split, fragmented,
fragmented, dispersed,
dispersed, and
and alienated subject because they
felt split within an
an external,
external, male-dominated world; there was, on on the
the one
one hand, anan external public vision
of her
her self, and
and on the other, an
on the an internal private self different from cultural prescription.
prescription. That is they
perceived aa self that stood against the liberal humanist view of ofaa subject asas fixed, autonomous,
conscious, rational,
rational, unified, and
and unifying.
The second characteristic has

The has to do
do with history and
and myth and thedissolution
the dissolution of time: that is, in
their fiction past, present and
and future intermingle;
intermingle; there is no
no chronology to
to be followed,
followed, just the
the path ofof
involuntary memory as asaa sound,a
sound, a smell, may
may transport us
us elsewhere.
elsewhere.
The third places great emphasis on the

The the city: modernist women write about urban places, about
the city (as, for example, in Mrs
their experience within the Mrs Dalloway) because the
the city is perceived as
as
offering new and as
new possibilities and as an
an unreal fragmentation. Other authors explore the new on
new visions on
22
UNIT 5
UNIT5 Of The
Ot!The
sexuality (it is notorious the case of

of Radclyffe Hall, and was also addressed by other authors such as
and was
Vita Sackville-West and
and Violet Trefusis).
Trefusis).
The final characteristic is their alliance to stream of

The of consciousness: MayMay Sinclair,
Sinclair, when
reviewing the early volumes of of Pilgrimage in 1918, noted that the
the novel centred onon the mental process,
that is, on
on the
the thoughts, responses and
and interior emotional experiences of
ofaa single central character; that
it sometimes shifted point of view among several key key figures, and
and that there were interior monologues
that contrasted heavily with the
the silence outside of the character. Some modernist women are Djuna
areDjuna
Barnes, Gertrude Stein, H.D., Virginia Woolf, Dorothy Richardson,
Richardson, Katherine Mansfield and and Jean Rhys.
Of these authors, wewe shall concentrate in the
the following sections on of Virginia Woolf.
on the work ofVirginia
1.1. Woolf
1.1. Introducing to Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf is
isa a major figure in the
the Modernist movement. SheShe made significant contributions
in the
the development of
of the
the novel and
and in the
the writing of essays. Given the
the amount ofmaterial,
of material, her
her diaries
and letters collected in several volumes, the biographies she
and she has
has inspired and
and thousands of of critical
works that have focused on on her persona and
and work, it requires effort to establish
establishaa complete and
and fixed
picture of this woman of letters.
ofletters.
Indeed, she has been seen in many different and contradictory ways: as a privileged woman out of touch with working class women; as a socialist
working for the struggle of working class women; as an oppressed woman whose mental instability made her an insecure, fragile and weak person; as a
strong and ironical persona whose witty commentaries could slice one into pieces; as having suffered an oppressive Victorian upbringing; as, quite the
opposite, having had a liberal and privileged Victorian upbringing; as having been sexually abused as a child by her stepbrother; as happily married; as
unhappily married; as a lesbian; as courageous.
Why are there so many points of views on Virginia Woolf?
From these views and the one

and others, the one fact that seems clear is that Virginia Woolf was wasaa complex and
paradoxical woman whose unconventional personality is difficult to to pin
pin down. Adeline Virginia Stephen
was born on
was on 25
25 January 1882 in London. Her beautiful mother, Julia Prinsep Duckworth Stephen, had had
three children (George, Stella and
and Gerald) froma
from a previous marriage toto the barrister,
barrister, Herbert Duckworth.
Virginia Woolf inherited her
her mother’s
mother's looks and
and Julia would be the
the inspiration
inspiration for Mrs
Mrs Ramsay in Toto the
the
Lighthouse.
Lighthouse. Leslie Stephen, her father, was
was alsoa
also a widower, previously married to the daughter of of the
novelist William Makepeace Thackeray. From this marriage he had had aa daughter, Laura, who who was
was
mentally handicapped.
handicapped. In addition to Virginia,
Virginia, Julia and
and Leslie Stephen had three other children:
children:
Vanessa, Thoby and Adrian. All All eight children lived with her parents and
andaa number of of servants at
at 22
22
Hyde Park Gate, Kensington, in London. In In Moments of Being, a compilation of her memoirs edited by
ofBeing,a by
Jeanne Schulkind in 1976, Woolf wrote:
Who was
Who wasII then? Adeline Virginia Stephen, the second daughter of Leslie and and Julia Prinsep
25thh January 1882, descended from
Stephen, born on 25' fromaa great many people, some famous, others obscure;
into a large connection, born not of
born intoa of rich parents, butbut of well-to-do parents, born into
intoaa very
communicative, literate, letter writing, visiting, articulate,
articulate, late nineteenth century world.
(Woolf
(Woolf 1985: 65)
The Stephen family belonged to

The to the upper-middle class that produced most of of the
the influential
influential
thinkers and the day. The
and artists of the The greatest writers and
and politicians of the
the time, among them Henry
James and
and Thomas Hardy, were frequent visitors to Hyde Park Gate. OnOn her mother’s
mother's side, the
the famous
Victorian photographer,
photographer, J. Margaret Cameron, was
was Virginia Woolf's
Woolf’s great-aunt.
great-aunt.
Ïn 1926 Virginia Woolf and the painter, art critic and personal friend, Roger Fry, contributed an introduction to Cameron’s Victorian Photographs of
Famous Men and Fair Women.
Julia Stephen was

was mostly
mostlyaa devoted wife and
and self-sacrificing mother who who also worked very hard
for the less privileged members of
for of society. Her
Her premature death in 1895 prompted Virginia's Virginia’s first
nervous breakdown. Leslie Stephen wasa was a distinguished critic,
critic, biographer and
and philosopher. Although he he
was never the genius he wanted to
was to be,
be, he was
was nevertheless one one of
of the most influential
influential figures in the
the
literary world in late Victorian England. He was the first editor of the
He was the Dictionary of National Biography (an (an
on-going publication
publication that nowadays includes an an entry onon Virginia Woolf) an an author ofof the History of of
English Thought in in the
the Eighteenth Century. Asaa young man
Century. As man Leslie Stephen abandoned
abandonedaa promising
career asa
as a Cambridge don because he declared that he he had
had never believed in the the literal truth of the
the
Bible. He wasaa liberal thinker and
He was and aa passionate advocate of of his
his views, some of which, such as his
ofwhich, his
agnosticism, were highly controversial in those days. He
agnosticism, He had an extensive library open freely to his
had an
children.
children. Virginia Woolf, working her way
way through this library,
library, became acquainted witha with a large number of of
English and
and classical works.
33
UNIT 5
UNIT5 Of The
Ot!The
The intellectual ambience at Hyde Park Gate was a significant importance for the development of Woolf as a writer. During the summers her family
spent their long holidays at Talland house in St Ives, Cornwall. Both London and St Ives played an important role as the settings of most of Woolf’s works.
In To the Lighthouse (1927), St Ives serves as the background of the novel although it is actually placed on the Isle of Skye, in Scotland. Mrs
Dalloway(1925) is set in London and, as we shall discuss in the section dedicated to the study of this novel, the city plays an important part in the
development of the novel.
Despite his
his alluring public life, which Virginia Woolf would always held in in high steem, Leslie
Stephen was, in the the private worlds of
of the Stephen family, anan emotional bully and
andaa domestic tyrant, as
as
Virginia Woolf recalls in herher memoirs, ‘a Sketch of the Past’. After the
of the the death of
of her mother, Virginia
Woolf’s half-sister,
Woolf's half-sister, Stella, took over the
the running of
of the household as well asas Julia’s
Julia's role as
as the
the provider
for Leslie’s
for Leslie's demands forfor sympathy and emotional support. Stella married in 1897 and died of peritonitis
on her
on her return from her honeymoon. The The household duties and
and the burden of of coping with her father fell
on the
on the painter-to-be, Vanessa, the
the eldest Stephen sibling.
Leslie Stephen died in 1904 and Virginia had had aa second nervous breakdown. During this second
breakdown Vanessa decided to to move and
and took the Stephen family to 46 46 Gordon Square, Bloomsbury.
Bloomsbury.
The neighbourhood
The neighbourhood chosen was was not
not one of the most respectable;
of the old friend of the
respectable; many oldfriend the family,
including Henry James, criticised
criticised the
the way
way of life of the Stephen children.
of the As it turned out, the
children. As the idea was
was
an excellent one, fortheir
an for their new
new home allowed the four siblings to overcome thegloomy
the gloomy atmosphere that
surrounded them after the
the death of Woolf’s mother:
ofWoolf's
Her death, on the 5thth May, 1895, begana

on the5 began a period of Oriental gloom.
(Woolf 1985: 40)
For all Virginia Woolf had free access to to her father’s library ata
her father's at a time when many girls of herher
class were discouraged from reading, she she never had
hadaa proper education and and she was never allowed out
she was
of the house tostudy.
to study. She
She always felt this as
as aa void in her
her development and it became, especially in her her
two most overtly feminist essays,
two essays,AA Room of One’s Own
ofOne's Own (1929) andand Three Guineas (1938),
(1938),aa gendered
trope highlighting the
the educational
educational privileges afforded to her brothers andand her other male peers, whowho had
had
been given the opportunity to read at at Cambridge. Yet, in October 1897, Virginia Woolf, attended classes
in Greek and history at King’s
King's College, London. SheShe received tuition from Dr George Warr in 1898. Later
that year, Walter Pater’s
Pater's sister,
sister, Clara Pater, taught her Latin. In 1902 she resumed her her Greek studies
and started private classes with Janet Case.
and
These classes continued in the following year but were interrupted in 1904 after her father’s death. She continued studying Greek on her own,
translating, reading and re-reading the poets, philosophers, and dramatists. Greek became the main subject of two essays, ‘The Perfect Language’ and
‘On Not Knowing Greek’.
Her elder brother, Thoby, left public school in 1899 and went up toTrinity
to Trinity College, Cambridge.
Greek was
was also important because it was
wasa a subject she
she could share with Thoby, who
who also brought to
Hyde Park Gate thethe atmosphere ofof undergraduate life in Cambridge. It was
was there that Thoby made
friends with Leonard Woolf, Clive Bell (who married Vanessa in 1907), Saxon Sydney-Turner, Lytton
Strachey, and
and Maynard Keynes. They comprised the embryo of what came tobe
ofwhat to be called the
the ‘Bloomsbury
Group’.
At the end
end of 1904 Virginia Woolf started writing reviews fro
fro the Manchester Guardian and and in
1905 she started reviewing for for the Times Literary Supplement.
Supplement. In
In 1906, aftera
after a trip to
to Greece, Thoby
died of typhoid fever. HeHe had the ‘Thursday evenings’ meetings forhis
had started the for his Cambridge friends. The
The
arrangement waswas continued by Vanessa and then, after Vanessa's
Vanessa’s marriage, by by Virginia and
and Adrian
when they moved to29 to 29 Fitzroy Square. Woolf was
was to
to move again in 1911,
1911,aa year before sheshe married
Leonard Woolf atSt
at St Pancras Registry Office on
on 10
10 August 1912. From then onwards theWoolfs
the Woolfs rented
aa small house near Lewes in Sussex. Her sister Vanessa rented nearby Charleston Farmhouse in 1916;
in 1919, the Woolfs bought Monks House in Rodmell. This was wasaa small, weather-boarded house which
they used mainly during the summer holidays until they were bombed outoftheir
out of their flat in Mecklenburg
Square in 1940. Monks House then became their home until Virginia Woolf's Woolf’s death. SheShe drowned
herself in the
the nearby River Ouse.
In 1908 Virginia Woolf started writing her her first novel, The
The Voyage Out
Out (1915). Originally to be
be
called Melymbrosia,
Melymbrosia, the novel was was finished in 1913, but was
was not published until 1915 (by(by Duckworth
Duckworth&&
Co), as
as she suffered a third bout of
she suffereda of deep depression and
and debilitating
debilitating headaches after her
her marriage. The
The
Voyage Out is, at at first sight, rather conventional
conventional in form and was well received by
and was by critics.
critics. Her
Her second
novel, if anything more conventional,
conventional, was
was Night and
and Day, also published by by Duckworth,
Duckworth, in 1919.
Leonard and
and Virginia Woolf had, in 1917, bought
boughtaa small printing press in order to take up
up
printings as
as aa hobby and as therapy for
for Virginia .. By
By now
now they were living in Richmond, south-west
44
UNIT 5
UNIT5 Of The
Ot!The
London, and
and the ‘Hogarth Press’ was
was named after their house. The
The first publication in the
the Woolf's
Woolf’s
Hogarth Press was
was Two
Two Stories, witha
with a story by of them: ‘The Mark on theWall’
by each of the Wall’ by and
by Virginia and
‘Three Jews’ by Leonard.
The Woolfs continued hand printings until 1932. During these years they became publishers rather than mere printers. Around 1922 the Hogarth Press
had become a business publishing the works of other modern writers including Katherine Mansfield, T.S. Elliot, Maxim Gorky and E.M. Forster.
From 1921 foraa few

1921 onwards, except for few limited editions,
editions, Woolf always published with the Hogarth
Press. This same year she published her first collection of short stories,
stories, Monday
Monday ororTuesday, most of of
experimental in nature. In 1922 she published Jacob’s Room an
them experimental an ironic tribute to her
her brother,
brother,
and her first experimental novel. In 1924, the couple moved to52
Thoby, and to 52 Tavistocl Square, in London
an dinthe
din the following year, 1925, Mrs
Mrs Dalloway was
was published, followed in 1927 by To the the Lighthouse,
Lighthouse,
and
and The
The Waves in 1931. These three novels are generally considered to be be her greatest contribution
contribution to
Modernism.
Her involvement with the

the aristocratic novelist and
and poet, Vita Sackville-West, led to Orlando:
Orlando:AA
Biography (1928), aa subversive fictional account inspired by Vita’s life and
by Vita's and ancestry atat Knole, near
Sevenoaks in Kent. The
The story spans four centuries of the history of England. The
The central character is
isa a
sixteen-year-old aristocratic poet, Orlando, who, in 1600, becomes thefavourite
the favourite of Elizabeth I. During
the reign of Charless II Orlando changes sex and Lady Orlando continues down thecenturies,
the centuries, finally
the poem she
able to finish the she started when aa young man. Two Two talks given at at women's
women’s colleges at
Cambridge in 1928 led to A Room of
led toA One’s Own
ofOne's Own (1929), aa discussion of women's
women’s writing and
and its
historical,
historical, economic and social underpinning.
underpinning.
The 1930s was

The was an unhappy time forthe
for the Woolfs as the
the deaths of
of friends and
and the
the prospect of war
of war
increasingly overshadowed the the decade. Virginia wrote aa fictional biography of of Elizabeth Barret
Browning’s
Browning's dog dog entitled Flush in 1933. In 1937 she published The The Years, perhaps her her most overtly
political fictional work.A
work. A best-seller in America, the novel was
wasaa long and
and painful exercise in writing. It is
often read alongside Three Guineas (1938), in ina a sense,
sense,aa successor to
toAA Room of One’s Own
ofOne's Own although
it is more revolutionary in its view. The The essay deals extensively with the relationship between war,
masculinity,
masculinity, andand women's
women’s education and and employment.
employment. In In 1940 she wrotea
wrote a biography of of her friend
Roger Fry. On On 28
28 March 1941
1941 she killed herself while she was in the
she was the last revision of her
her final novel
Between the Acts posthumously published by Leonard Woolf.
theActs
1.2. The Bloomsbury Group and Bloomsbury Aest?tetics

1.2. The Aesthetics
It has
has already been pointed out that when theStephen the Stephen children moved to46 to 46 Gordon Square in
1904, Thoby started to organise meetings on Thursdays attheir at their house. The The people whowho used to to attend
included many of of his friends at Cambridge such as the
hisfriends the novelist E.M. Forster, the the literary journalist
Desmond MacCarthy and his his wife, the the art critics Roger Fry Fry (also aa painter) and and Clive Bell, the the
biographer and and essayist Lytton Strachey, the painter Duncan Grant, the political writer and and publishers
Leonard Woolf, the economist John Maynard Keynes, and and Saxon Sidney-Turner, among other. The The
Stephen sisters, Vi Virginia and and Vanessa, and and their brother Adrian also attended the meetings.
Although it is doubtful that these people would agree to be described as a generational group, they have come to be collectively known as the
‘Bloomsbury Group’. The meetings became one of the most important an important centre of Other people such as Katherine Mansfield, T.S. Eliot, David
Garnett, James Strachey, and, later on, Vita Sackville-West and her husband Harold Nicolson, attended the meetings.
As said before, these meetings were continued by Adrian, Vanessa and Virginia after Thoby's
As Thoby’s
death. If there is anything that would join the the group together it waswas their refusal to compromise with their
Victorian upbringing. The group was
upbringing. The was liberal in its attitudes and allowed a free range to
and alloweda to blasphemy and
bawdiness;
bawdiness;aa variety of sexualities prevailed.
At first Virginia Woolf was
At was unimpressed and and rather sceptical
sceptical towards what she saw saw as aa
pretentious bunch of of male students. Later on, however, their discussion topics attracted her her attention
as she
and, as she described in herher memoir ‘Old Bloomsbury’,
Bloomsbury’, even though she did did not
not dare to to participate,
participate, she
she
rather enjoyed the mode of discussion and
ofdiscussion and the earnestness of of these young men men in pursuit of topics such
as ‘beauty’, ‘good’ and
and ‘reality’:
‘reality’:
It filled me
me with wonder to to watch those who
who were finally left in the argument piling
in the
stone upon stone, cautiously,
cautiously, accurately, long after it had
had completely soared above my my sight. But
But
if one could not say anything, one
if one one could listen. One
One hadhad glimpses of something miraculous
happening high up up in the air. Often we
in the we could be still sitting in
ina a circle at two
two or three in the
morning. Still Saxon would be taking his pipe from hismouth
his mouth as
as if
if to speak, and
and putting it back
again without having spoken. At At last, rumpling his
his hair back, he
he would pronounce very shortly
some absolute final summing up.The
up. The marvellous edifice waswas complete, one
one could stumble offto
off to
5
UNIT 5
UNIT5 Of The
Virginia Woolf’s
Ot!The Mind
bed feeling that something very important had

bedfeeling had happened. It had
had been proved that beauty was
was —or
–or
was not- forII have never been quite sure which —part
beauty was –part of
ofaa picture.
(Woolf
(Woolf 1985: 190)
In the
the long run Woolf would gain gainaa group of who were, at
of friends who at the same time, the the fellow
students she
she had
had been denied. From themeeting
the meeting she also learned
learnedaa method of analysis that would very
ofanalysis
much influence her her writing and
and her
her thought. Although Thoby himself did not, some of of the
the male
attendees toto these ‘Thursday evenings’ —Fry, –Fry, MacCarthy, andand Forster of the older generation, Strachey,
Leonard Woolf and Keynes of of the
the younger- belonged to to the
the Cambridge Conversazione Society, or
The society was
Apostles. The wasaa very exclusive and and thus elitist group. There were never more than six six or
seven members atone at one time, although those who who had
had belonged to to the
the Society always remained linked to
it. The Society started as
it. The as an
an undergraduate discussion club in 1820 and slowly developed into intoaa semi-
secret group mainly preoccupied with the development of of the
the intellect.
intellect. Plato andand the German
philosopher,
philosopher, Immanuel Kant, were haunting presences in the the Society G.E. MooreMooreaa classicist became
the most influential
the influential thinker among the the members. In particular,
particular, his
his work Principia Ethica (1903)
influenced the views of of the members of the society. Andrew McNeillie in the
of the the chapter dedicated to
‘Bloomsbury’ in thethe Cambridge Companion toVirginia
to Virginia Woolf (2000) hashas very accurately summarised the the
main points of Moore’s
Moore's argument in his his Principia in the
the following way:
(i) Intrinsic
Intrinsic goodness
goodness is an unanalysable concept and the
an unanalysable the word
word 'good', when used
’good’, when used
in this way,
in this way, to to meana
mean a thing
thing 'good in itself, is indefinable, like thethe colour yellow;
yellow; (ii) that
that
instead of one thing, the
one thing, the Utilitarians'
Utilitarians' concept of 'pleasure' being good in
’pleasure' being itself, there
in itself, there is
isa a
plurality of
plurality of things
things that
that are,
are, and the most
and the most valuable
valuable ofof these
these are
are states of mind involving
of mind involving either
the pleasures
the pleasures of humanhuman intercourse... or the enjoyment
or the enjoyment of of beautiful
beautiful objects; (iii) that
that the
the
rightness of an action derives from the character of its consequences; (iv) Moore's version
rightness of an action derives from the character of its consequences; (iv) Moore's version
of idealism —that–that when
when we we calla
call a state of
of things
things 'ideal' we
we always
always mean
mean toassert
to assert not
not only
that it is good in
that itself, but
initself, but that
that it is good
good in itself in
initself ina a much
much higher
higher degree than
than many
many other
things.
things.
(Roe and Sellers 2000:
2000: 12-13)
In different forms, these strands of

of Moore's argument can be traced in Woolf's
Woolf’s writing. For
For
instance, in The
The Voyage OutOut Richard Dalloway reads: «Good, then, is indefinable» from the «black
of philosophy» that Helena Ambrose is reading.
volume ofphilosophy»
Moore's method of analysis is behind Woolf's

ofanalysis Woolf’s description of their meetings as «piling stone upon
stone» the arguments and her final ironic comments ofnotbeing
herfinal of not being sure which one
one is the
the conclusion of
of the
discussion.
discussion.
The interesting
The interesting aspect here is to
to be
be aware that what is important is not
not so
so much toarrive
to arrive at
ataa
definite conclusion,
conclusion, but the method employed. The
The journey is important, not the
the arrival.
arrival.
As we
II As we shall discuss later, in
in many ofWoolf inA A Room Of One’s
of Woolf essays, certainly in One ’s Own the
Own,, the
argument is built on the basis of Moore's principle.
on the principle. What elements dodo we
we encounter in Woolf
Woolf’s
s
writing to
writing to support this
this argument?
Moore’s
Moore's radical philosophy appealed to to Bloomsbury for for its rationalism,
rationalism, and
and its elevation of
aesthetic life, claiming, as we have seen, that «the most valuable states of mind are
as we those we
arethose we associate
the contemplation
with the contemplation of of beauty, love andand truth» to use use Quentin Bell’s
Bell's words. InIna a sense, Moore’s
Moore's
rationalism,
rationalism, his optimistic view of of human nature and and his
his willingness to question received notions, as as well
as his idea of emotions appropriate to specific objects, were so strongly associated with Bloomsbury’s
as Bloomsbury's
own set
own of ideals that the
setof the connection between the the philosopher andand the Group seems natural.
It is through Moore, if wewe agree with Philip Rieff’sRieff's point of view, that thethe Bloomsbury Group
became interested in psychoanalysis and and Freud’s
Freud's work. In Rieff’s
Rieff's view, Moore opens the the path into
Freud in his
his last chapter ofof Principia Ethica. Frankness and and as introspection
introspection in matters of of sexuality were
hallmarks of the Bloomsbury Group. In this sense, the group's group’s interest onon ‘the new
new psychology’, as as
psychoanalysis was was then referred to, comes as as no surprise.
surprise. Yet, as
as Maynard Keynes pointed out later,
the view of
the of this set
set towards the unconscious,
unconscious, sexuality,
sexuality, and
and neurosis was was ‘intellectually pre-Freudian’.
Even if an an ambivalent one, the interest in Freud’s Freud's theories led several peripheral members of of
Bloomsbury to to play an
an important role in the
the foundation of the British Psychological
Psychological Society. Among them
was Adrian Stephen, who
was who abandoned his studies in medieval law to
hisstudies to become, together with his wife
Karen Costelloe Stephen, one one of
of the first analysts of
of the Society.
James Strachey,
Strachey, younger brother of Lytton Strachey, and the translators
and his wife Alix, became thetranslators
of Freud’s
Freud's work into English. In 1924 James became chief editor of the the Standard Edition and and together
with Ernest Jones he approached the the Woolfs to to have the
the Edition published by by the Hogarth Press. TheThe
66
UNIT 5
UNIT5 Of The
Ot!The
Woolfs eagerly undertook the project. About this enterprise Leonard Woolf declared in in his
his memoir: «I«I
am, I think not unreasonably,
am,I unreasonably, rather proud of having in
ofhaving in 1914 recognised and
and understood the greatness of Freud and
the importance of what he was doing at
theimportance the time when this way
atthetime way by
by no
no means common».
However, thethe admiration of Freud and and his work seemed tobe
hiswork to be at an intellectual and
atan and theoretical
theoretical
level only. It is true, as Jan Ellen Goldstein has
as Jan has pointed out, that it never occurred to Leonard or to
or to
Virginia herself to seek thethe help of
of this new
new method as regards Virginia's
Virginia’s nervous breakdowns. On On the
contrary:
contrary: Virginia continued with the ‘rest cures’ prescribed by by conventional psychiatrists. Woolf's
Woolf’s own
own
attitude towards Freud’s
Freud's psychoanalysis seems tobe to be an ambivalent one. If, as did Leonard, she
as did she could
see
see the potential of Freud’s
Freud's theories, especially those related to the the unconscious and and its relationship to
Literature,
Literature, for her own illness,
her own illness, she
she still distrusted the the search of of psychoanalysis for for some kind of
repressed inner conflict. Although she she allowed her artistic mind to to play with the
the idea of of unknown
territories in her
her mind, she
she seemed unable to to allow herself to think of her own mind as unknowable. The
her own The
conflicts she
she identifies in her own life are, then, external,
her own external, conscious ones between, for for instance, critical
and creative thought. In any
and any case, Woolf was was farfrom
far from being completely indifferent to psychology and and
the new
new science of of psychoanalysis.
As we
IN As we shall see
see later on, Woolf met Freud relatively late, in
on, Woolf in 1939, when he
he arrived in London.
his theories, particularly in relation to the unconscious and
However, histheories, and the development of the human
of thehuman
psyche, played an important role in her narrative andand in many arguments presented in her essays.
Nonetheless,
Nonetheless, asas Mc
Mc Neillie argues, in order to understand Woolf's
Woolf’s oeuvre in all her
her multiple
aspects, one
one has
has to consider other authors and who were ofgreat
and thinkers who of great interest to the
the writer.
writer. Among
them were people such as thethe anthropologist Jane Ellen Harrison and
and Walter Pater. In Woolf's
Woolf’s diaries
and
and letters she
she mentions meeting thethe anthropologist and
and in A A Room of One’s Own
ofOne's Own she describes
Harrison in captivated terms:
AA bent figure, formidable yet humble, with her great forehead and
and her shabby dress
–could it be
—could be the
the famous scholar, could it be
be JH
JH herself?
(Norton 2000: 2161)
2161)
Harrison’s
Harrison's pioneering work impressed Woolf greatly and and was
was the
the inspirational
inspirational force behind
Woolf’s constant search of
Woolf's of the past (for its implication
implication in the
the present and
and the future) and
and her
her scepticañ
view on History.
2.
2. TEXT ANALYSIS:
2.1.
2.1.AA Room
Room of One’s Own
o/One's Ou›n and
and Other Essays
The study of
of Virginia Woolf's
Woolf’s essays has often been neglected in favour of of her fictional
fictional writings.
writings.
At best they have been used as complementary information to enhance the
At the view ofofaa particular point in
her
her novels. Even Woolf herself did not pay pay much attention to her
her essays, as as can
can bebe inferred from the
relative silence on
on them in her
her diaries. Furthermore,
Furthermore, many ofherliterary
of her literary reviews for
for The
The Times Literary
Supplement were published anonymously.
anonymously. TheThe apparently capricious nature of the essays, published
here and
and there, onon many topics andand in many different styles, has
has led to a number of
led toa of heterogeneous
collections starting in 1925 which the first collection,
collection, The
The Common Reader, was was published.
published.
Leonard Woolf's
Woolf’s four-volume Collected Essays (1966-67),
(1966-67), still a a selection in spite of the the
comprehensive title of the edition, provided the first glimpse of
of the of the magnitude andand importance of Woolf’s
of Woolf's
material. After Leonard Woolf's
Woolf’s death in 1969 several selections of non-fiction volumes were edited,
including Books and Portraits (1977) andand Michèle
Michéle Barret's Women and Writing (1979). Andrew McNeille
andWriting
in 1986 started his edition of Woolf's
WooIf’s essays, The
The Essays of of Virginia Woolf. The
The first three volumes of of
the six
the volumes that were to
sixvolumes to constitute his edition were published between 1986 and 1988. The The fourth
as yet, last volume was
and, as was published in 1994. TheThe two
two final volumes are yet to
are yet to come. McNeille's
masterly editions provide
provideaa fully annotated chronological
chronological order allowing the study of of the essays asasaa
whole, enabling critics to
to discern their significance to the
the full and
and also their relationship to her her better-
known works. In relatively recent years publications such as Rachel Bowlby's Bowlby'sAA Woman’s
Woman's Essays
and The
(1992) and The Crowed Dance of Modem Life (1993) provide an
ofModem an approach toato a selection of Woolf's
Woolf’s
essays that, although, by far less comprehensive than McNeille's edition,
by far edition, still constitutes aa good
reference to discerning the significance of Virginia Woolf's
Woolf’s essay writing.
writing.
The difficulties encountered in producing

The producingaa final and
and satisfactory compilation of Woolf's
Woolf’s essay~
essay-
is not
not in accord with the immense importance that Woolf's
Woolf’s critical writing had
had during her lifetime.
lifetime. It must
be stressed that Woolf was was aa regular contributor to, among other journals, The The Times Literary
Supplement
Supp/ement and that T.S. Eliot regarded her as 'the centre of the Iiterarv
literarv life of
of London.' The
The reasons
behind Woolf's
Woolf’s apparent disdain for
for her essay writing might be
be found in the
the fact that most of
of her essays
heressays
77
UNIT 5
UNIT5 Of The
Ot!The
were commissioned and therefore written for money. In this sense, according to
Inthis to Bloomsbury aesthetics,
aesthetics,
they could hardly be
be seen as artistic endeavours.
endeavours.
Critical studies on
on Woolf's
Woolf’s oeuvre are starting to reconsider the importance of Woolf’s essays
of Woolf's
not only in relation to the
notonly the engrossing quality of their subject matter, but also to the experimental
experimental form in
which they were written. This being so, so, it is impossible to establish
establishaa clear line between the
the aesthetic
pleasure provided by by her novels and
and that provided by many of her essays. Woolf herself was
ofheressays. was hesitant
the aesthetic value of
about the of essay writing and
and in essays such as 'The Modem Essay' (1922) she she writes:
The principle which controls it [the essay] is simply that it should give pleasure; the desire which
The
impels us when we take it from the the shelf pleasure. Everything in
shelf is simply to receive pleasure. in an essay must be
subdued tothat
to that end. It should lay us undera
under a spell with its first word, and we
we should only wake, refreshed,
with its last. In the interval we
In the we may
may pass through the most various experiences of amusement, surprise,
interest, indignation;... but
but we
we must never be roused. The
The essay must lap us about and
lapus and draw its curtains
across the world.
(Bowlby 1992: 40)
As can
As can be
be seen in this quotation, Woolf discusses the nature of the essay not
not in relation to their
informative or persuasive nature, but in terms of of aesthetics which are precisely «the features expected
to go
to go with literature» (Bowlby 1992: xi). In
In this sense, Woolf wrote most of
of her essays with this pleasure
heressays
principle in sight.
Woof’s
Al Woof s essays are not devoid of the the experimental quality of her novels. It could be said that she
she
took Montaigne literally when he he coined the term for the genre that he
for the he initiated, essai, to
to try.
Certainly this quality is found ininA A Room of Own and it may
One’s Own
ofOne's may bebe the
the reason why
why it is often
mistaken for
foraa work of fiction. Why
offiction. Why does Woolf
Woolf experiment with her writing in the essays?
The length of the essays also varies, ranging from the

The the short literally reviews she
she wrote forfor
journals, whose length was was determined by the medium in which they were published, to book-length
inwhich
pieces such asA as A Room of One’s Own
ofOne's and Three Guineas. Many of
Own and of thelonger
the longer essays dealt with
authors, from the past whowho became subjects of essays from different sources —a –a new the
new edition of the
works, a new
works,a new biography,
biography,aa memoir,
memoir,aa collection of letters. In these essays she could feel more at ease
atease
because she had more room anda and a greater perspective. Her
Her writings about literary history show that sheshe
preferred certain periods, such as c1assical Greece, the Elizabethan period, eighteenth century
literature, the Romantics, or nineteenth-century Russian fiction.
literature, the fiction. Authors she
she favoured were Daniel
Defoe, James Boswell, Laurence Sterne, Jane Austen, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Thomas De Quincey,
George Eliot, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Christina Rossetti, George Meredith,
Meredith, George Gissing, Henry
James, Thomas Hardy, and and Joseph Conrad. They are often mentioned in her
areoften her non-fictional writings.
non-fictional writings.
Her vast range of reading allowed her to theorise on contemporary fiction and on issues related to literature, such as the literary market, patronage
and audience, and modem forms of literature. She also had a strong inclination towards certain themes that recur in her essays, such as essay writing
itself, painting, women's lives, biography, memoirs, and letters.
However, the
the scope of
of the
the essays was was not
not limited to the
the literary world and
and many ofthem
of them were
inspired by
by seemingly unimportant events, such as an evening drive or by by more important concerns,
such as illness, laughter or reading itself.
itself. Woolf meditates about
aboutaa wide rage of architecture,
of topics: architecture,
houses, street life, opera, travel, shops, flying,
flying, cinema, and
and radio, to name but butaa few. Some of these
ofthese
woman-like, banal and
topics, woman-like, and unimportant as they may may seem, conform to to her to find a mode
her endeavour tofinda
of expression that would encapsulate what she saw
ofexpression saw as thetask
the task of the artist: the recording of
artist: the of reality.
reality.
Essays such as 'Modem Fiction' (1919) or 'Mr Bennett and and Mrs
Mrs Brown' (1924) argue against
traditional forms of
traditional of fiction writing defended by her her contemporary,
contemporary, albeit an an older, generation of writers
such as H.G. Wells (1866-1946),
(1866-1946), Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) and and John Galsworthy (1867-1933) whom
she calls «materialists» (Norton 2000: 2149). These writers, while apparently innovative in the
shecalls the themes
chosen forfor their novels, were too too closely concerned with realism and, as as aa consequence, left the the
conventional form offiction-writing
of fiction-writing unchanged. By Byaa static approach to to the
the traditional
traditional structure of fiction,
Woolf argues in 'Modern Fiction',
Fiction', these writers are
are unable to to portray reality because they bypass 'life'
for Woolf, is not
which, for not «a«a series of gig lamps symmetrically arranged» but but «a luminous halo,
halo,aa semi-
transparent envelope surrounding
surrounding us from the beginning of of consciousness to to the end» (Norton 2000:
2150). According to to Woolf fiction must reflect reality by by obstructing flan ordinary mind on an ordinary
day» (Norton 2000: 2150). If the the writer dares to
to do so,
so, he or
or she will be
be confronted with thethe fact that
«the mind receives aa myriad of of impressions, trivial, fantastic, evanescent or
impressions, trivial, or engraved with the the
sharpness of of steel» (Norton 2000: 2150). By By breaking the traditional structure of the the novel, that is, by
by
the writer from the obligation of providing aa coherent plot structured in corre1
freeing the corre1ative
ative chapters,
88
UNIT 5
UNIT5 Of The
Ot!The
Woolf hopes that thethe narrative will show «the essential thing» comprising «the proper stuff of fiction»
(Norton 2000: 2153). This is precisely what, in Woolf's
Woolf’s view, younger writers,
writers, members of of her own
herown
generation, are
generation, are doing. Commenting on James Joyce's The The Portrait of an Artist as
an Adist asaa Young Man
Man (1916)
and, particularly referring to the
the episodes of
of his
his Ulysses that were being published in thethe Little Review,
she
she propounds that thethe modem novel should be: «concerned at at all costs to reveal the flickering of that
innermost flame which flashes its messages through the brain» (Norton 2000: 2151). In In short, then, the
the
modem writer is interested not so so much in the
the outside world of
of appearances,
appearances, but in the «dark places of
inthe of
psychology» (Norton 2000: 2152), that is in those emotions and and feelings which, although difficult to to
express, form as much part of reality as as the
the straightforward world of of appearances portrayed in in the
realist novel.
For
For Woolf it is the
the duty of
of the writer to present in the
the novel those moments when reality cannot
be straightforwardly explained and and that have thus been silenced by by the traditional novel. As
As aa
consequence,
consequence, the form of of the novel and
and the use
use of language must also change so as to to be able to
provide the reader with that moment of intense emotion that comes when he
ofintense he or she perceives
orshe perceivesaa flash of
significance seeming togo
to go beyond words.
and every thought is as

Every feeling and as much part of reality as is the
the outside world, and
and because the perception
the observer, the writer must experiment with words and forms, never being
of the outside world is mediated by the
afraid of breaking away from theoldstructure
the old structure of the novel or the grammatical structure of the
the sentence.
In ‘Mr
‘Mr Bennett and
and Mrs
Mrs Brown’, published five years later, she
she takes this argument further.
further.
Arnold Bennett's assertion that there was
was no
no good novelist at the
the time because they were «unable to to
create characters that are
are real, true and
and convincing» prompted one of of Woolf's
Woolf’s most famous and
intriguing statements: «in
«in or about December, 1910, human character changed» (Woolf 1992: 70). The The
puzzling question here is what happened in the
the year 1910 that was
was so
so significant as
as to change 'human
‘human
character'.
character’.
The most immediate historical relevance of

The of this date, alluded to byby Woolf herself in The
The Years
as
asaa turning point, is the
the death of
of King Edward VII(he
VII (he died in May). His death marked the the end of
of the
the
Edwardian era and
and the beginning ofof the Georgian. In
In literary terms, and
and according to Woolf's
Woolf’s essay, this
implied the end the Edwardian narrative and
end of the the possibility of aa new
and the new form of
of narrative,
narrative, started by
by
Henry James andand Joseph Conrad in thethe late nineteenth century (see Unit
Unit11 and
and Unit 2), and
and taken up by
generation, the latter termed in Woolf's
the younger generation, Woolf’s essay as thethe Georgian writers (see Unit 3). They
included, in her
her view, writers such as D.H, Lawrence (see Unit 4), 4), James Joyce, Lytton Strachey, E.M.
Forster (see Unit 2) and
and T.S. Eliot.
Some critics have argued that this year, 1910, saw

saw the opening of
of Roger Fry's strongly criticised
criticised
exhibition
exhibition of Post-Impressionist paintings,
paintings,aa term coined by Fry himself. The
The show entitled 'Manet
‘Manet andand
The Post-Impressionists’, with aa follow-up exhibition two
The two years later, introduced Cézanne, Gauguin,
Signac and Van Gogh tothepublic
and Van to the public in London: it also included works by such contemporary artists as as
Picasso, Matisse, and
and Derain. The
The most widely criticised feature of the exhibition was the
exhibition was the shocking
impact of
of the spectacular colours used in the
the paintings,
paintings, viewed by the
the outraged critics as
as a a primitivistic
and unnatural use
and use of colour.
These exhibitions mark the defining moment of avant-garde aesthetics. Following the second exhibition Clive Bell propounded his theory of the
‘Significant Form’ which referred to the ability of a piece of art to «stir our aesthetic emotions» (Bell 1914: 7). Does Virginia Woolf achieve to stir our
imagination? How?
February of of the same year is also significant in the

the personal life of
of Virginia Woolf because, as as
Phyllis Rose has
has pointed out what has come tobe to be known as the‘Dreadnought
the ‘Dreadnought hoax’. ForFor this ‘massive
practical joke’ Woolf, as as described by Quentin Bell in his his Biography ofof Virginia Woolf, blackened her
face, dressed inina a caftan and
andaa turban, and wore a beard and
and worea andaa moustache toimpersonate
to impersonate the Emperor
of Abyssinia. Her
of Her colleagues impersonated the Emperor’sEmperor's entourage and and aa delegation of British
The group went as faras
diplomats. The far as to
to mock-inspect H.M.S. Dreadnought,
Dreadnought, the most important warship
in the
the British Royal Navy of that time. They were received with honours by the
ofthat the Captain and
and crew of the
ofthe
ship who, fooled by by their very good impersonation, showed theparty
the party the
the secret areas of of the ship. Cole
could not let it stop there: hehe alerted the
the press. The
The Daily Mirror printed the
the story, witha
with a picture of the
the
group. Rose has
has argued that the the event is significant beyond the
the amusing anecdote because it supposed
the acting out of Virginia Woolf's
theacting Woolf’s ‘own rebellion against paternal authority’.
The challenge to paternal authority was most subversive not only because the joke struck at one of the foundations of the patriarchal culture of war,
but also because it disestablished socially assigned sexual roles and taken-for-granted racial attitudes at a time, 1910, when suffrage movement activism
was at its peak, culminating in ‘Black Friday’ when a demonstration ended in violent police repression.
99
UNIT 5
UNIT5 Of The
Ot!The
Following the argument of‘Mr

of ‘Mr Bennett and
and Mrs
Mrs Brown’ it has
has toto be
be said that Woolf was
was referring
to all these events at the same time, making apparent with the
atthe the multiple referents combined in one
one single
sentence the variety of ‘realities’
‘realities’ that are
are true, convincing and significant, depending on the
and significant, the eye of
of the
the
beholder. She
She now
now puts the stress on on the
the different angles from whicha
which a real character cancan be
be rendered.
Introducing the character of
Introducing the of Mrs
Mrs Brown, whom she has met onaa train,
shehasmeton train, she demonstrated that «Mrs
she demonstrated
Brown can be treated in an an infinite variety of ways, according to the age, country and and temperament of of
the writer» (Woolf 1992: 75).
thewriter»
Broadly speaking, the essays by Virginia Woolf mentioned in in this Unit could bebe divided into
those strictly dealing with literature andand those dealing with what today could be be termed feminist issues.
Again, it is difficult to
to establish
establishaa clear dividing line between these twotwo major themes, which were, in any any
case, major preoccupations for for the writer.
writer. If it is true that ‘Modern Fiction’ andand ‘Mr
‘Mr Bennett and
and Mrs
Mrs
Brown’ should be be seen as Modernist statements by byaa Modernist writer,
writer, it is no
no less significant to infer
that in these texts thethe writer shows
showsaa great interest in thethe relation between women's
women’s own
own perception of
reality and
and literature.
literature. On the other hand, what are
On the are already today classic feminist textbooks such as
AA Room of One’s Own
ofOne's Own oror Three Guineas cannot be considered without acknowledgeing Woolf's Woolf’s
Modernist aesthetics.
aesthetics.
Indeed the language and and the structure of ofA A Room of One’s Own
ofOne's Own participate in those exploratory
forms ascribed by Woolf to to modern fiction. InIna a most unconventional manner theessay
the essay begins witha
with a
«But» placing anan interrogation
interrogation mark on thethe subject of of «women andand fiction» (Norton 2000: 2153), the
main theme discussed in the the text, while, at the
the same time, it asserts the need formaking
for making problematic
those traditional views on the
the subject that are
are held as as universal truths.
‘But’ in this text carries with it the

the awareness of
of the multiple layers that constitute meaning, disturbing all
for granted about women and
those motions taken forgranted about fiction.
andabout fiction. Does this intriguing start stir our
our emotions?
By
By simultaneously implying doubt and
and assertiveness, the
the starting ‘but’ puts the reader right from
the first page in the
the the questioning frame of
of mind needed when exploring the subject of the essay. The The
aim, then, of this ‘but’ is to
to introduce the unsettling aspect ofof the uncertainties of language and and
knowledge, and
and to
to confront the reader with the discomfiting uneasiness that comes when s(he is asked
to re-evaluate preconceived
tore-evaluate preconceived ideas.
AA few
few lines down Woolf pushes this uneasiness further and and ponders about the the possible
meanings that ‘women and fiction’ might have. In In doing so she
she trespasses on on another line of the the
traditional conventions. She
traditional She confesses that sheshe will never be able to «fulfil what is… the first duty of
is... the ofaa
lecturer» (Norton 2000: 2153) because, instead of providing
providingaa «nugget ofof pure truth to wrap up between
the pages of
the of your notebooks and
and keep on the the mantelpiece forfor ever» (Norton 2000: 2153-54), she she will
display a most unconventional discursive practice based on her
displaya her opinion that «a«a woman must have
money andandaa room ofherown
of her own is she
she is to
to write fiction» (Norton 2000: 2154).
This ‘minor point’ triggers offa

off a vortex of rather complex, and
and highly contemporary issues on
on gender, class,
and the
and the writing of fiction hidden in
in theapparent
the apparent simplicity of Woolfi
Woolf’s
s style in
inA A Room of One’s Own.
ofOne’s
Already, the irony and

and witticism present in thethe text can
can be observed. The
be observed. The reassuring action of
jotting down some notes of of ‘pure truth’ froma
from a lecture, in thethe way
way wewe all do
do when attending such an an
event, is mocked by the very fact that those notes will remain forever
by thevery for ever ‘on the mantelpiece’.
‘onthe mantelpiece’. Once more,
the ambiguity in Woolf's
Woolf’s words maymay not pass unnoticed. If at
notpass at first sight these words appear to to mean that
this ‘pure truth’ will indeed be
be preserved, it might also be be the case that the the notes are placed onon the
mantelpiece and
and are never looked at at again; in this latter circumstance,
circumstance, she she is showing the
the pointlessness
Woolf’s method is redolent of the discussions she
of ever writing them. Woolf's she witnessed on on “Thursday
evening’ in Bloomsbury.
Bloomsbury. By an expository argument of
By an of how
how she arrived at the the conclusion about money
andaa room in connection with writing and
and and women, it is expected that the the reader will actively engage in
the argument, participating
the participating intellectually, rather than simply being
beingaa mere and passive recipient of some
preconceived
preconceived andand opinionated assumptions.
assumptions. TheThe most interesting aspect of of the essay is, perhaps, its
suggestive quality, calling for as
as many different responses as it has has readers.
There have been numerous debates about the many topics in the book. If anything can be said for
Ifanything for certain about
A A Room ofOne’s
of One’s Own, it is that for those who
who search the text looking for readily available answers the
forreadily the essay will
beaa disappointment. Instead, an
be an exploration of the material conditions, psychological, as well as the historical
constraints encountered by by women writer, is found in this work. In theprocess,
inthis the process, these very same topics will also be
be
explored in How does Woolfachieve
in relation to men,. How Woolf achieve this suggestive quality?
10
10
UNIT 5
UNIT5 Of The
Ot!The
In order to be
be on
onaa level with her
her audience and to allow the intellectual rhapsody to
and to to take place,
Woolf puts into practice
practiceaa device that constituted another breaking of of the conventions on
on essay writing.
writing.
In ‘The Modern Essay’ she she argued that: «Almost all essays begin witha with a capital I» (Woolf 1992: 6).The
6). The
authoritative quality given to this ‘I’ of the ‘expert’ impedes any communication: instead, it precipitates
of the precipitatesaa
drowsy hedonism where the the reader isisa a mesmerised sleeper for for the duration of the
the text. In
InA A Room of of
One’s
One's Own
Own this ‘I’ is totally abandoned and its identity demystified.
demystified. In the the text Woolf refuses to use
use the
traditional phallocentric discourse by criticising
traditional the narcissistic ‘I’ in men’s
criticising the men's writing:
ButI I am
But am bored!...
bored!... Because of the dominance of
of the the letter ‘I’ and
oftheletter the aridity, which, like
and the
the giant beech tree, it casts within its shade. Nothing will grow there.
the
(Norton 2000: 2206)
The phallic shadow prevents the text from providing pleasure to the ‘I’ that is bored and
The and that is,
as we
as we are
are told in the
the opening lines ofA of A Room of One’s Own, «only
ofOne's «onlyaa convenient term for for somebody
who has
who has no real being» (Norton 2000: 2154). On On aa deeper level the
the ‘I’ who
who has
has no no real existence is notnot
portrayed asa
as a celebratory ‘I’ asas some critics have claimed to see see in it the
the determination on on formation of of
aa women's
women’s society. TheThe ‘I’ who
who has
has nono real existence is anan inquiring ‘I’ trying to solve the enigma ofthe of the
«true nature of woman andthe
and the true nature of of fiction» (Norton 2000: 2154). The The inclusion ofa of a different ‘I’
in the
the discourse challenges the notion of the unified homogeneous identity held by by patriarchal
discourse. Precisely by
discourse. by confronting the ‘I’ (who bores me) me) with an
an ‘I’ that (as yet) hashas no
no real existence
(Norton 2000: 2154) the very notion of identity is displaced.
Woolf’s
Woolf s argumentative process is notnota a vindication of the formation ofaa women's
women’s society that would function
outside the social realm in
in which she
she is arguing. Rather, she attempts to redesign the ‘I’ at
at present caged within
patriarchal discourse, the ‘I’ she
she perceives as an
an impediment for communication and hence for
forcommunication artistic production.
forartistic production.
How does this principle work?
How
It is important at this point to highlight the

the fact that Woolf starts challenging
challengingaa monolithic notion
of identity precisely byby posing, right from the beginning ofof her essay, the question of
of the possibility of an
an
‘unknown’ ‘I’. The statement of
‘I’. The of the existence of this ‘unknown’ ‘I’ is given withina
within a textual context in
which ‘I’ seems obsessively present. In the the opening lines of
ofA A Room of One’s Own, ‘I’
ofOne's ’\’ is scattered in
sentences and and intermingled with other pronouns such as ‘you’ and and ‘they’. Suddenly, when themeaning
the meaning
of the title ‘women and fiction’ is being pondered, the rhythm is changed, by the appearance of
ofthetitle ofaa series
of sentences containing solely the the first person singular pronoun:
when I began to
But whenI to consider the subject in this last way, which seemed
he most interesting,
interesting,I I soon saw that it had
had one
one fatal drawback.I
drawback. I should never be
able to come toa to a conclusion. II should never be able to fulfil what is, I I
understand, the first duty ofaa lecturer.
(Norton 2000: 2153, emphasis added)
This use
use ofof the pronoun reaches its peak in ina a single sentence where it appears three times: «I
am going to do
am do whatI
what I can
can to
to show you
you how
howII arrived at this opinion about the room and the the money»
(Norton 2000: 2154, emphasis added). The The reader is surprised when, once caught up in ina a web
web formed
by the
the pronoun 'I', the narrative states that this 'I'
’I', the 'I’ 'has
’has nono real existence'.
existence'.
This technique works in two two ways. First, it prepares the reader to be be able to sense the the
claustrophobic presence of of the ‘I’ whose shadow impedes growth. Second, it marks thetextual
the textual tension
emerging when thetraditional
the traditional texture of essay writing is about to
to be torn apart, by Woolf’s introducing
by Woolf's introducingaa
fictional account into the the text. When this new new emergent 'I' burst forth in the the text Woolf's
Woolf’s voice
disappears: «Here then was
disappears: wasII (call me
me Mary Beton, Mary Seton, Mary Carmichael or or by any
any name youyou
please —it
–it is not
not a a matter of
of importance)» (Norton 2000: 2154) and the new
and the new subjectivity drifts into
intoaa
fictitious world: «what II am am about to to describe has
has no
no existence; Oxbridge is an an invention;
invention; soso is
Fernham» (Norton 2000: 2154).
By
By diminishing the importance of of the name of the narrator 'I',
ofthenarrator 'I', Woolf is minimising the importance
of an
of an authoritarian
authoritarian voice in the
the text. Yet, at the
the same time, she
she insists upon
uponaa name, 'Mary Beton, Mary
Seton, Mary Carmichael' resolved by the end end of
of the essay into «Mary Beton» (Norton 2000: 2209).
Precisely at this point of naming, the reader understands that the the textual voice is that ofa
of a woman,a
woman, a vital
piece of
of information in the
the subsequent development of Woolf’s argument.
ofWoolf's
one allocated to women by

Moreover, Woolf is attempting to assemble an identity other than the one by
patriarchal
patriarchal society. In this context, it is not
not by
by chance that the
the name of that ‘I’ is ‘Mary’. In Western
ofthat
Christian culture the
the name ‘Mary’ is immediately associated with the Virgin. This name, repeated three
11
UNIT 5
UNIT5 Of The
Ot!The
times (Mary Beton, Mary Seton, Mary Carmichael),

Carmichael), marks the the point of departure forWoolf's
for Woolf’s examination
of female identity and
of the production of writing.
and the writing. As
As is already known, the
the appearance of the Virgin in the
ofthe the
literature of the
the Middle Ages, particularly in the
the Romance period, meant the the idealisation
idealisation of women in ina a
process where women's voices were silent and and their attributes reduced to to those ofof selfless nurturers
and inspirers of men. Apparently insignificant, the
and the allusion to the
the figure of the
the Virgin through the motif of
the narrator's name is, therefore,
therefore, of great importance. It is, indeed,
indeed,aa fundamental point entirely devoted
to unsettling the
to the Establishment, represented in the the text by the male audience hiding behind the curtains.
by the curtains.
In this manner the subtle game Woolf is about to play

ploy starts. As
As can
‹an be inferred from what has been said so far, the text constantly
‹onstontly
asks for the participation
participation of the reader, counting
‹ousting on his or her awareness of and and alel1ness
alell ness to the snares
snores of language, along with the
dangers of preconceived
pre‹on‹eived notions about the world, and
and taken-for-granted beliefs and
and truths. It could
‹ould be
be said thot
that Woolf is the first advocate
for the 'reader-response'
‘reader-response’ theory in her desire to establish
establisha a shared,
shored, common
‹ommon ground for communication
‹ommuni‹otion between reader and and writer.
A A Room of One’s Own

ofOne's was the
Own was the final version of two
two lecturers delivered by the female
by the writer at the
Oxford colleges of Newnham and and Girton in October 1928. In In the course of
of six
six sections and
and using, asas
has
has been already discussed,a
discussed, a novelistic approach,
approach, she
she covered the topics she
she understands:
understands: the subject
and fiction. Once her
of women andfiction. hypothesis about the money and
herhypothesis and theroom
the room in each of
of the
the sections has
has
been stated, Woolf analyses topics such as the the contrast between male and female writing,
writing, university
colleges andand the banning ofof women from public spaces in section one; the effect of poverty on on the
writing of fiction, or
or anger in men
men and
and its effect onon artistic production in section two; the obvious but but
women’s exclusion from history in contrast with the obsessive presence of
previously unstudied women's of women
in fiction written by
by men, is analysed in section three.
Here, she
she introduces
introducesaa fictional character who
who serves as an an example to to speculate about never-
acknowledged women writers. The
acknowledged The story of Judith Shakespeare also allows the writer to ponder about
the relationship between gender and genius, thus prompting the main line of thought for
the for the following
section. Genius needs material conditions and and social recognition;
recognition; most importantly,
importantly, though, genius
needs
needsaa tradition
tradition from which toto learn the
the craft and
and to master it. Woolf traces in section four,a
four, a woman's
woman’s
literary tradition and
and is confronted with the fact that it is notnot anan easy task. Again anger comes to the
cornes to
foreground when she she analyses its detrimental effect in her
her criticism of Charlotte Brontë whowho «had more
genius than Jane Austen» but but whose rage made her writing «deformed and
herwriting and twisted» (Norton 2000:
2190). Because Jane Austen was was able to sustain an an artistic integrity by
by freeing herself from this anger,
Woolf compares her genius as an
hergenius an artist to
to that of Shakespeare (Norton 2000: 2189).
It strikes the
the reader in this section that most of the women writers from the
of the the sixteenth to thethe
nineteenth century mentioned by Woolf were in one way or
one way or another eccentrics,
eccentrics, in the
the literal sense of
of the
the
world. This section also suggests that thethe genres are
are gendered and and that the
the novel is young enough as
to allow the voices of
to of women tobe
to be inscribed in it. The arrival of the
it. The the professional writer, the
professional woman writer, the
woman who who self-consciously thought of of herself asas aa writer and who wittingly (if sometimes very
and who
tentatively) entered the public domain of of cultural production through publication for payment (Aphra
Behn was
was thefirst)
the first) marked
markedaa turning point in women's
women’s literary history:
history: «Thus, towards the end end ofof the
eighteenth century
centuryaa change came about which, ififII were rewriting history,
history, II should...
should… think of greater
importance than the Crusades or or the
the Wars of the Roses. The
ofthe The middle-class woman began to to write»
(Norton 2000: 2188).
In the
the next chapter Woolf's
Woolf’s quest is to
to finda
find a position in language suitable for women, one that
to express what Woolf sees as their different artistic creativity:
allows them toexpress creativity:
Iflf Chloe likes Olivia and Mary Carmichael knows

and Mary knows how
how toexpress
to express it
it she will
she will
light
lighta a torch in that vast chamber where nobody hasyetbeen.
has yet been.
(Norton 2000: 2198)
(Norton 2000: 2198)
In order to write this experience Mary Carmichael will have to to finda
find a language that has
has never
been used before. TheThe quotation above seems toimply
to imply that the
the position in language forwhich
for which Woolf is
searching is
isa a ‘lesbian’ one, an an inference reinforced by
by her
her reference to Sir Sir Chartres Biron, presiding
over Radclyffe Hall’s for her
Hall's trial for her lesbian novel The
The Well of
of Loneliness.
Loneliness. YetYet the interesting
interesting point here is
that Mary Carmichael will be be breaking the silence of history.
history. Woolf points out that the the structure of
language, as
as transpires in some books, has has served men
men «out of own needs fortheir
of their own for their own
own uses».
Women, as Woolf asserts in ‘Women and and Fiction’ (1929), should twist the shape of the sentence and
and the structure of
language. Language ought to serve the woman writer to express «her thought without crushing or distorting it» (Woolf 1979:
48). This is the tenement of Virginia Woolf’s
Woolf's modernist aesthetics.
However, language cannot just be be invented. Time and experimentation are needed. It is also
important to refer toa
to a network of
of writers who
who might have experienced
experienced the same needs and noticed the
12
UNIT 5
UNIT5 Of The
Virginia Woolf’s
Ot!The Mind
same flaws in language. In this respect, tradition is isa a prerequisite,

prerequisite, so
so that any
any current generation ofof
writers may
may learn from their predecessors and and also become aa source of of knowledge for
for further
generations. As
generations. As Woolf stated in
ina a letter to
to the
the editor of the
the New
New Statesman, the presence of ofaa tradition
was fundamental forShakespeare's
was for Shakespeare’s writing:
The conditions which made it possible for

The foraa Shakespeare to exist are
are
he
that he shall have had predecessors in his
his art, shall make one of a
oneof a group where
art is freely discussed and
and practised, and
and shall himself
himself have theutmost
the utmost freedom
of action and
ofaction and experience.
(The New
New Statesman, October 16,
16, 1920)
These conditions, to Woolf, coincided forwomen

conditions, according toWoolf, for women writers in Sappho's Lesbos and then
never again. Since women writers' encounter with language is difficult,
difficult, and
and language is perceived as
as
deficient when trying to express anan experience felt as different, «it is useless to go
as different, go to the great men
men
writers for help».
Women need a tradition of their own to turn to when approaching the task of writing. Woolf exhorts women to «think back through our
mothers». Women need to be able to express experience «as a woman». Women need to be able to express experience «as a woman». A
Room of One’s Own is the first attempt in English literature to establish this tradition.
Woolf believes that women's writing is essentially different from men's writing.
writing. Having said this,
to state what is specific to women's writing and
to and how
how women achieve this type of of writing poses
posesaa problem
for her. As
forher. As she
she herself argues:
AA woman's writing is always feminine; it cannot help being feminine; at its best
it is most feminine: the only difficulty lies in defining what we
we mean by feminine.
(TLS 1717 October, 1918. Reprinted 17 October, 1968)
In the
the context ofof these words her her apparently contradictory warning, «It is fatal forfor anyone who
who
writes to think of their sex. It is fatal to
to be
be a a man
man or
or woman pure and
and simple» (Woolf 1979: 48), becomes
significant.
significant. Seemingly, Woolf is hesitant about her her conviction relating to the
the differences between
women's and men’s writing. She
men's writing. She is aware ofthe
of the dangers of
of such
suchaa postulate, can tacitly imply
postulate, which can implyaa
sense ofof biological determinism.
determinism. She She perceives that patriarchy has has used biologically determined
theories to defend andand toto justify the
the ideological
ideological superiority of men
men over women. For For this reason she
she
places great emphasis on rejecting determinism.
determinism. By of ‘feminine’ she
By questioning the meaning of‘feminine’ she is hinting
the possibly at the possibly that, in fact, femininity might be
at the beaa matter of
of representation.
Woolf encourages women to to write because it is only by by writing that aa new

new economy ofof
representation other than that made through the repression of the feminine can
can be Women’s
be developed. Women's
representation, if achieved ‘unconsciously’, will escape the
the economy of of sameness that forms the
the
foundations of
of patriarchal
patriarchal writing.
Onene of the
O the most outstanding andand shocking ideas Woolf Woolf presents in inA A Room ofOne’s
of One’s OwnOwn is
found in
in the
the last chapter when she says that the ideal state of mind in
shesays in which toto produce artart is an
an
androgynous one:
If one
If is a man, still the
one isa the woman part of his brain must have effect; and and a a woman
also must have intercourse with the the man
man in her…
in her. .. Perhaps aa mind that is purely
any more thana
masculine cannot create, any than a mind that is purely feminine.
(Norton 2000: 2205)
Woolf’s account of
Woolf's of the androgynous mind repudiates the idea of of rejecting the
the feminine,
feminine, since it
is important to the relationship
relationship between women and and fiction that androgyny be proposed as the ideal
state of mind in which toto produce art. Furthermore,
Furthermore, she she explicitly expresses her fear that androgyny can,
eventually,
eventually, be to man, as is the
be equated to the case witFreud's
wit Freud’s theory of of bisexuality.
bisexuality. In this sense she states
«It would bebeaa thousand pities if women wrote like men, or or lived like men, or or looked like men» (Norton
2000: 2200).
Women androgyny does not come from a desire to be a man. Woolf’s androgyny is a claim for further knowledge. The most unsettling
aspect of Woolf’s androgynous ideal from a patriarchal perspective is the acknowledgement of the two different sexes it conveys. What
differences will the androgynous mind bring to the text?
If the
the artist's
artist’s aim
aim is to
to portray she
she cannot afford to ignore the various perspectives from which
this reality can
can be
be observed. TheThe artist, rather than restricting herself to one
one sex, should througha
through a state
of mind that is androgynous enhance her her knowledge:
13
UNIT 5
UNIT5 Of The
Virginia Woolf’s
Ot!The Mind
Ought not
not education to bring out and the differences rather than the similarities?
and fortify the
For we
For we have too
too much likeness as it is, and
and if an
an explorer should come back and bring word of of
other sexes looking through the branches of other trees at other skies, nothing would be of of
greater service to humanity.
(Norton 2000: 2200)
The androgynous mind has as its central and

The and most revolutionary declaration
declaration the
the avowal ofaof a
form of writing that will be
ofwriting be unconsciously feminine. SuchSuchaa form of writing will create
ofwriting createaa text characterised
by
byaa ‘suggestive quality’. The
The number of critical readings inspired by
ofcritical byA A Room of One’s Own
ofOne's Own accounts for for
its unique quality. Both the structure of Woolf's
Woolf’s essay and the the distinctive uses of of language it displays
suppose aa breakthrough.
breakthrough. As As Showalter argues, though for for different reasons, the text is executed
through «repetition, exaggeration, parody, whimsy, and
«repetition, exaggeration, and multiple viewpoint» (Showalter 1978: 282).
Woolf’s use
Woolf's use of language farfrom
far from being
beingaa fault, as
as Showalter claims, enhances precisely the the subversive
quality of the
the essay. Through her her experimentation with language Woolf is searching for foraa form of
of writing
capable ofof encompassing thethe ‘real’ world when it is perceived from different angles.
Mrs. Dalloway and

2.2. JIEzs. the Womazz's
azzd the Woman’s Sentence
Sezztezzce
Mr
Mr Dalloway was was published in 1925 and received much critical acclaim; it has has now
now become
becomeaa
‘classic’. As
Asa a novel it broke with the pattern of the
the novel established at that time. It is
isa a different novel in
themes, style andand method of of writing, an
an exploration in new techniques, shifting continuously from one
new techniques, one
character to another, from past to present, from one one subject matter toaa different one.
However, and
and as you maymay have realised, thethe plot of Mrs
Mrs Dalloway is quite simple: one
one day
day in
June in London, Clarissa Dalloway is planning
planningaa party for
for the evening; Peter Walsh, her oldold suitor,
returns to England after five years in India; at the
the end the day, Sally Seton, another old
end of the old friend, shows
up unexpectedly at
at the party; the
the ex-soldier Septimus Warren Smith kills himself.
The plot is revealed not by

The byaa narrator, nor
nor by
bya a main character,
‹hora‹ter, but by
by several individual consciousnesses;
‹ons‹iousnesses; it is as
as if WooIf
Woolf did not want
cont
tto
fl settle down to
toaa specific
spe‹ifi‹ line of narration butijust wanted to
U›twanted to fly over the
the characters,
‹hora‹ters, giving clues
‹lues for the
the reader to guess what is going on.
She
fhe shows the
the reader reality from many different perspectives. How
How is the
the story constructed?
‹onstru‹ted?
When a character starts thinking about one

Whena one issue, he she does not
he or she finish with it completely,
notfinish completely,
but it is forgotten and
and continued in the
the thoughts of
of another character. This happens frequently,
frequently, for
example, with the remembrances of of the
the summer that seems tobe
to be themost
the most important moment in the the
lives of Mrs
Mrs Dalloway, Peter Walsh, and
and Sally.
for this novel, universal characters as

Virginia Woolf designed, for can be
as can be seen when sheshe locates
them in the
the streets and
and parks of
of London. On On the other hand, they are neither plain characters nor
heroes nor heroines; they are types: the the housewife,
housewife, the madman, the the politician, the doctor, etc.
politician, the
one of
Furthermore, one of the main features in their presentation is that all through the book they «Are
frequently split between at
at least two
two times or two places andand always questioning their ability to
to know
one another or themselves» (Bowlby 1988: 127).
They are also the alibi to

arealso to present 'reality'
’reality' through very different individual consciousnesses. One One
of the linking characters in this 'web'
of ’web' is Sir
Sir William Bradshaw, aa friend of the the Dalloways and and also
Septimus's doctor. This metaphorical 'web' is made up up of invisible threads that connect all of
ofinvisible of those
characters,
characters, otherwise unconnected (literally and and figuratively), into aa common circle of experience,
experience,
regardless of their class. There are
are several examples of of how the invisible threads join but, probably, the
how the
clearest example occurs at at the end. Here, Clarissa Dalloway hears at at the party about Septimus's
madness and death, and and she
she notices that sheshe feels 'like
’like him'.
him’. This suggests an an alignment between
two characters througha
these two through a moment of epiphany. At this moment Clarissa stands side-by-side with
ofepiphany.
Septimus; this is just what Woolf wanted to to communicate when she she started the
the novel. As
As she
she wrote in
her
her diary:
14
14 October 1922 —Mrs–Mrs Dalloway has has branched into and I adumbrate
intoaa book; andI
here a study of
herea of insanity and the world seen by
and suicide; the by the
the sane and
and the insane
side by
by side- something like that. Septimus Smith? is thata name?
that a good name?
(from AA Writer's Diary)
14
UNIT 5
UNIT5 Of The
Ot!The
Woolf wrote «Mrs Dalloway has branched into intoaa book» because she had written before about
Mr and Mrs
Mr and Mrs Dalloway, and
and about Clarissa in particular in some short stories (the first was
was entitled 'Mrs
Dalloway in Bond Street',
Street', published in 1923) and the novel, The
and in the The Voyage Out, where Clarissa appears
as
asaa minor character. In previous writings Woolf had presented the couple in ina a harsher light than she did
she did
in Mrs
Mrs Dalloway.
Dalloway. Similarly Richard Dalloway hadhad appeared as asaa domineering andand pompous personality
and Clarissa as
and superficial. But
as dependent and superficial. But while these character's characteristics remain in Mrs Mrs
Dalloway, two generally appear much more reasonable and
Dalloway, the two and likeable.
likeable.
one first takes the book and reads the title Mrs
When onefirst Mrs Dalloway, one may
Dalloway, one may assume that the
the story
will be
be about the life of
of Clarissa Dalloway, as as happens for for example, in Jane Eyre, where thethe title
corresponds exactly to the plot of the
the novel. But
But in this case, our expectations are unfulfilled.
unfulfilled.
In fo‹t
fact the reader questions why
why this title and
and not others such
su‹h as 'the party' or 'one day
day in the life of London' or 'Peter Walsh',
Welsh', or The
The
Hours, the title she
she actually gave to it whilst writing the novel. Why
Why did she change
‹honge the title from The Hours to Mrs Mrs Dalloway before
Before
publication?
It might be an
an irony,
irony,aa device Virginia Woolf uses to
to break the traditional pattern. It might also be
be
the writer provides
that the providesaa clue for
for the understanding of
of the novel, because Clarissa is thethe character who
who
links all the
the ideas she
she wanted to to convey and is the
the one who closes the narrative circle. As
one who As Woolf
commented in her her diary: «In
«In this book
bookII have almost too many ideas.»
Irony is also used when criticising the

the social system, asas she
she uses irony as asaa way
way to keep her
her
out of
anger out of the
the narration. Barret writes that in Mrs
Mrs Dalloway: «Feminist issues are usually raised in an an
oblique manner. They arise through conversation,
conversation, through characterization, and and are
are frequently
presented with humour and irony» (Barret 1987: 24). It is noticeable,
noticeable, for instance, howhow Virginia Woolf
prevents herself from getting angry. Instead it is thethe character of
of Sally who
who «suddenly lost her her temper,
flared up
up and
and told Hugh that hehe represented all that was
was most detestable in in British in middle-class life.
She
She told him she considered him
him she him responsible forfor the state of 'those poor girls in Piccadilly' —Hugh,
–Hugh, the
the
perfect gentleman, poor Hugh!» (Woolf 1976: 80). This technique allows her to criticise society without
interrupting the narration,
interrupting the narration, in contrast, for example, to to lane Eyre, where the the narration is suddenly
interrupted
interrupted by
byaa long feminist discourse.
discourse.
The framework of
The of the
the novel could bebe placed in what Julia Kristeva has
has called 'linear (historical)
time': one
time’: one day
day in the
the life of
of London, in the
the life of
of several people, the day
day Clarissa Dalloway is going to
give a party. The
givea The hours pass one one after the
the other. Big
Big Ben
Ben strikes one
one hour after the
the other. The
The words
come in ina a sequence. But coexisting with this linear time, other times can can be
be identified,
identified, what Kristeva
calls 'woman's
’woman's time', made up up of cyclical time and
ofcyclical and eternal time. During that day
day in June 1923, another
day of
day of the past is constantly being re-lived by by some of the characters (Clarissa,
of thecharacters (Clarissa, Sally and
and Peter
remember
rememberaa summer of their youth, Septimus the
oftheir the death of
of Evans, his
his comrade, during the war). Cyclical
the past is repeated continuously,
time occurs when thepast continuously, made 'present' all along the day.
Another beautiful example of the 'invisible thread' also connecting the use
of the use of
of time and
and
consciousness remains in the the importance attached to event like the
the appearance of
ofaa car, an
an aeroplane
writing in the
the sky, or the
the sound ofan
of an ambulance:
ambulance: all these and
and other elements are presented repeatedly,
repeatedly,
cyclically,
cyclically, through different individual
individual consciousnesses.
On
On the other hand, the death of of Septimus is not
not an
an end
end in itself;
itself; in
ina a way
way he
he is present in the
the
party, so
so he
he has
has not
not died. He
He has
has not finished, but
but he
he seems tobe
to be eternalised by by the very fact that his
situation is told at the
the party and
and Mrs
Mrs Dalloway internalises his death. He
He has
has entered into monumental
time, or as
as Clarissa thinks during the epiphanic ending:
Death was
Death was defiance.
defiance. Death
Death was
was anan attempt toto communicate, people
people feeling
feeling the
the
impossibility of reaching
impossibility reaching the
the centre
centre which,
which, mystically,
mystically, evaded
evaded them;
them; closeness drew apart;
rapture faded; one
rapture was alone. There
one was There was
was an embrace indeath.
in death.
(Woolf
(Woolf 1976:
1976: 196)
196)
Woolf in Mrs
Mrs Dalloway shows interest in what is one one of the features of Modernism: the
of the the
experimentation with temporality.
temporality.
In Mrs Dalloway are found all of the features of Modernism: the use of stream of consciousness
Mrs Oolloiray ‹ons‹iousness techniques, fluid characterisations
‹hors‹terisstions and
and
Iexplorations
?xyIflrstionsof subjectivity,
su*i«ti•it , aas well as the depiction of aspects
swell ssye‹ts of modernity: the centrality
‹entrslity of the city
‹ity as metropolis and
and an
an uneasy
awareness of 'historically'. What effects have these techniques on the narrative?
15
15
UNIT 5
UNIT5 Of The
Virginia Woolf’s
Ot!The Mind
The setting is
isa a warm day
day in June 1923, and
and this technique echoes Joyce's Blooms day (which,
in Ulysses, was
was 16
16 June 1922). However, Woolf goes beyond Ulysses in that she she records the thoughts
and remembrances of
and ofaa number of consciousness: those of
ofconsciousness: of Septimus, Lucrezia,
Lucrezia, Clarissa,
Clarissa, Miss Kilman,
Elizabeth,
Elizabeth, Peter and
and Sally among others (whilst Joyce focused primarily on on Leopold Bloom's
consciousness).
Hillis Miller in 'Mrs

’Mrs Dalloway:
Dalloway: Repetition as
as the Raising of the Dead'
Dead’ (1982) shows thenew
the new and
complex means and and methods used by Woolf in her her narrative. Repetition andand the function of the the
omniscient narrator areare the
the significant aspects of of narrative.
of this type of The omniscient narrator can
narrative. The can
move from mind to to mind and relate to thethe reader the thoughts and
and feelings of any
any character.
character. Time, as
we saw
we saw above, is used in ina a unique manner: the
the narrator relating the
the story after the
the event has happened
using the present tense: «Which moves forward toward the future by way ofa
by way of a recapitulation or repetition
repetition
the past» (Miller 1982: 170). This repetition is achieved by relating first the
of the the mind ofone
of one character and
and
then the mind of of another.
another. In addition, one
one character can
can relate what heIshe
he/she thinks to what another
character is thinking.
According to to Millet, there comes atthis

at this point
pointaa «general mind», unity as
as evidenced in common
images throughout the narrative (Miller 1982: 173). As As aa mode of transportation from one
oftransportation one mind toto
another, Woolf uses external objects for for example, the aeroplane writinga
writing a brand name, Kreemo, in the
the
sky as «a
sky as «a man
man of transition» (Miller,
of transition» (Miller, 172). By
By repetition events from the past that are
are brought up
up in many
minds, as
as was
was for
for example, the summer when Clarissa met met Richard Dalloway (remembered by Sally,
Peter, Richard and
and Clarissa metmet Richard Dalloway (remembered by Sally, Peter, Richard and and Clarissa),
Clarissa),
Woolf permits her narrator to remove, according to Miller, the the «usual boundaries between mind and
world» (Miller 1982: 169).
By going deeply into each mind, there isa

IB By is a point when themind
the mind ofone
of one character and of all
and the minds ofall
character and of all characters become one. Why
and the minds of Why is Woolf
Woolf soso interested in the minds of the
of the
characters?
There are
are several reasons whywhy Woolf wanted the
the reader to enter people’s
people's consciousnesses. It
was firstly because she wanted to
was to demonstrate thata
that a myriad of
of events, some apparently meaningless,
meaningless,
can
can actually affect people’s
people's lives tremendously.
tremendously. Secondly it was
was because,
because, as did
did Joyce in Ulysses,
Ulysses, she
she
to portray as
wanted to as closely as
as possible the workings of
of the mind thorougha
thorough a minute description
description of how
how
the characters think about their world and
the and not, as
as in the
the traditional novel, through an
an edited, thematic
and coherent version or reality.
and As Woolf wrote to painter Jacques Raverat, it is «precisely the task of
reality. As
go beyond the
the writer to go the ‘formal railway line of sentence’ and
and to show how people ‘feel oror think or
dream… all over the place’».
dream...
@ Once
0n‹e the minute description of the
the workings of the
the mind is written, it is the
the task of the
the reader to
to decide
de‹ide what
shot is important and
and what is
unimportant, and thus not the task of the
and thus the writer to
to narrate only that An example of this is again the Kreemo
thot that is important. An 7reemo episode
when the reader may
thereader may asl ‘is the
the writing in the
the sky
sky important?’ ‘Is ita a metaphor?’ ‘Is it merely trivial?’ This is left to the
the reader to decide.
de‹ide.
Finally,
Finally, Woolf wanted the the reader to enter people's consciousnesses so that the the reader might get
aa sense of of what madness feels like: the the unrelated thoughts are very much like thethe unrelated thoughts
'normal'
'normal’ people think all the the time, soso remarking the fact that the
the dividing line between madness and
normality is quite fine. For
For all these reasons Woolf wrote MrsMrs Dalloway
Da//oway as an experimental exercise of
for her as discussed above, the task of the writer, to
what was, forher to narrate reality as the mind perceived it,
as the
and not
and not asas the
the conventions of fiction required.
offiction required.
are the
These, then, are the reasons forsuch
for such writing. But
But how
how is it achieved? It is not an easy task for
not an for
writer, as
the writer, the recording of the workings of
as the of the mind may
may produce
produceaa very slow, even boring, text. The
The
technique receives many names and and there are different variations,
variations, such as stream of of consciousness
and interior monologue. According to
and to David Lodge (1992) there are two two staple techniques for for
representing consciousness in prose fiction:
One
One is interior monologue, in in which thegrammatical
the grammatical subject of the discourse is
an
an 'I', and we,
'I’, and we, asas it were, overhear the character verbalising his or her thoughts as they
occur: TheThe other method, called 'free indirect style' (...) renders thought as reported
speech (in (in the third person, past tense) but but keeps to
to the
the kind of vocabulary that is
appropriate to the character, and and deletes some of of the
the lags, like 'she thought', 'she
wondered', 'she asked herselfherself’ etc. thata
that a more formal narrative style would require. This
gives the illusion of intimate access to aa character's mind, but without totally
surrendering authorial participation in the discourse.
16
UNIT 5
UNIT5 Of The
Virginia Woolf’s
Ot!The Mind
(Lodge 1992:
1992: 43)
Woolf chooses thethe latter, and what Lodge calls 'authorial
latter, and 'authorial participation
participation in the
the discourse' refers to
the traditional
the traditional omniscient narrator mentioned by Miller above. Lodge is saying that in the the case of
of the
the
interior monologue, what happens is that the the reader feels asas if there were some kind of headphone
plugged into the
the character's mind: what wewe hear is thus the first person narrator. In thethe case ofWoolf.
of Woolf. or
of the 'free indirect style',
style', what happens is that there is isa a narrator conveying these thoughts for for the
reader, but acting almost as if the
the narrator were not there.
notthere.
Woolf called herher technique the 'tunnelling process' by by which she created 'caves' behind her
characters,
characters, not only caves of of events, but caves that also contained the character's fears, memories,
and fantasies. She
dreams, and She then proceeded to to dig
dig connections between the the different characters’
characters'
respective caves in order to show how we relate to each other as as human beings. Remember that The The
Hours later became Mrs Dalloway:
30
30 August 19231923II have no time to describe mymy plans.I
plans. I should say
sayaa good deal about The
The
Hours, and my discovery:
and my discovery: how
howII dig out beautiful caves behind my my characters:
characters:II think that gives
exactly whatI
what I want; humanity, humour, depth. The The idea is that the caves shall connect andand each
come todaylight
to daylight at the present moment.
15
15 October 1923 —Ittook
–It took me
meaa year's groping to discover whatI
what I call my
my tunnelling process,
by whichII tell the
by the past by
by instalments, asI
as I have need of
of it. This is my
my prime discovery so far.
If it took her a year to search for the appropriate technique, it took her two further years to put it into practice in Mrs Dalloway. As you
can see Woolf appears in this way both as a literary critic, which she was, and a very prominent one for, as already mentioned, T.S. Eliot
said of her she was «the centre of the literary life of London» (Barret 1979: 2) and as a writer who experiments and then practises her
theories on writing. What does Virginia Woolf want to explore in the novel?
The theme of
The of insanity was
was close to Woolf's
Woolf’s past andand present. She was plagued by manic-
She was
depressive illness and
and she
she suffered nervous breakdowns throughout her life. life. Suicide had
had often occupied
her mind. In 1944 she committed suicide, leaving
leavingaa note explaining that sheshe no
no longer wanted toto live.
Woolf originally planned lo Io have Clarissa die or commit suicide at the end end of the novel, yet finally
she did not want this ending forClarissa.
decided that she for Clarissa. By the end
By the the novel, however, Clarissa is so
end of the so
close to Septimus that in ina a way
way she
she dies with him, for
for these two
two characters have been connected
throughout the novel.
The world of
The of madness is clearly represented by Septimus, the distinguisheddistinguished soldier,
soldier, slowly
being killed by the lingering effects of the
by the the war: he
he is suffering from what waswas later known as shell-shock
syndrome, an an illness that affected many First World War War veterans.
veterans. Shell-shock syndrome produced in
its sufferers insistent, almost real-life,
real-life, memories of the warm and
ofthewarm andaa total loss of feeling. Septimus feels
he
he is living in an
an ongoing warwar and for having sun
and feels guilt for sun hoed it when so so many have died. Moreover,
he
he worries that the the war
war «taught him
him not to care» when his superior officer,
hissuperior officer, Evans, was
was killed. He
He wants
to die
to too. As
dietoo. As with many other First World War War veterans,
veterans, Septimus,
Septimus,aa 'winner' and and 'survivor' of the
the war,
enjoys none of of its benefits. His
His Italian wife, Lucrezia,
Lucrezia, is miserable with his madness and thedoctors,
the doctors, DrDr
Holmes and Sir William Bradshaw, in
SirWilliam ina a very critical portrait of those that Woolf herself had
had known, are
unhelpful.
Paralleling the life of

Paralleling the of Septimus is that of Clarissa,
Clarissa, aa rich housewife (her husband Richard
Dalloway isisa a moderately successful MP)
MP) and web of people that surrounds her: her
and the web her friends Peter
Walsh and Sally Seton (who attends the party now now as
as aa married woman, Lady Rosseter),
Rosseter), Clarissa's
daughter Elizabeth, Miss Kilman, whowho is Elizabeth's teacher, and
and acquaintances such as Lady Bruton
and Sir
and William Bradshaw. Clarissa tries to keep thoughts of
SirWilliam of death at
at bay by focusing on
on her party. She
She
day thinking about the past, about her old
spends all day old suitor Peter (who became so so discouraged by
Clarissa's refusal to marry him that he
he travelled widely, recently having settled in India and
and in an
an affair
with a married woman) and
witha and her best friend Sally (who kissed her on
herbest on the mouth in what is now
now a a classic
passage ofof lesbian avowal). After many years all three meet at the party and
attheparty and they have thetime
the time toto go
go
the choices they have made in life.
over the
Again,
Âgoin, as was the case
was the ‹ose of Septimus, Clarissa
larisso appears
oppeors to be
fiea a privileged,
priyileged, wealthy
weolthy woman, yet she enjoys
yetshe en|oys none of the
the personal security
se‹urity
and
and satisfaction that
that her social
so‹iaI position appears
oppears to bestow.
The greatest fear, however,

The however, is thethe atrophy of
of the heart, such as that shown by by Sir William
SirWilliam
Bradshaw, who
who makes it his job toto make sure «these unsocial impulses...
his job impulses... are
are held in control»…
control»... In order
to achieve this he
he secluded the lunatics and
and forbade them from having children.
children. Sir William lightly brings
17
UNIT 5
UNIT5 Of The
Ot!The
the news of
the of Septimus’ suicide to Clarissa's party, bridging these twotwo and
and connecting them through
death. This is precisely what Woolf wanted to to convey with her novel: the
the world of
of the 'sane' and the
’sane' and the
'insane' side by
by side, in order to show that the
the dividing line between the
the two worlds is very fine:
19
19 June 1923
1923II want toto give life and
and death, sanity and and insanity; to criticize the
insanity;I I want to the social
system, and
and to show it at
at work at its most intense (…)
atits AmI I writing The
(.. .) Am The Hours from deep emotion?
Of
Of course the mad
mad part tries meme so
so much, makes my my mind squirt so that I can
so badly thatI can hardly face
spending the
the next weeks at it…
atit. But to
.. But to get
get further. Have I the
further. Have1 the power ofconveying
of conveying the
the true reality?
«I want toto give life and

and death, sanity and
and insanity».
insanity». This is achieved,
achieved, asas has
has been argued
throughout, through the alignment of
throughout, of Clarissa with Septimus. This phrase is immediately followed by by the
words «I want to to criticize the
the social system and to show it at
and to at work at
at its most intense»,
intense»,aa reference to
the post-war trauma of of English people who, five years after the
the war, were still discouraged andand plagued
by doubt andand the memory ofthedestruction
of the destruction of an
an entire generation.
generation. AsAs Peter Walsh, an an outsider,
reflects: «Those five years, 1918 to to 1923 had been, he he suspected,
suspected, somehow very important. People
looked different.
different. Newspapers seemed different and and morals and and manners had changed». Even the the
language is beginning to die: Clarissa says young people «could not talk... The The enormous resources of of
the English language, the power it bestows, after all, of of communicating feelings...
feelings… was
was not
not for them.
They would solidify young.»
If the past is skilfully presented, so is the past's

post's traumatic history powerfully connected
‹onne‹ted to the present time.
This criticism of the

the social system also denounces the the existence of newnew legislation that wants to
to
do away with all those that do do not comply with the 'norm'.
’norm’. Political issues are embedded within the the
narrative: emigration, imperialism,
narrative: emigration, imperialism, government party struggles.
struggles. Septimus is destroyed by the realities of
the war, while society in general is in denial of the repercussions. Lady Brutton's proposal of
the of forcing
surplus women (so many men having been killed in war
(somany war there was was an
an unusual number of of women:
spinsters, as they were dismissively called at the
spinsters, as the time, and
and widows) to to emigrate and
and to populate the
are presented as cruel and
colonies, are and satirised. The political proposal of
satirised. The of Sir William Bradshaw, who
SirWilliam who turns
Septimus into
intoaa ‘case’ to be
be transformed into
intoaa provision in
ina a Bill,
Bill, is presented merely as dangerous.
dangerous.
One
One would think that in order to ‘critize the
the social system’ Woolf would have wanted serenity
and distance, yet next question is «Am
and «Am II writing The
The Hours [Mrs Dalloway]
Dalloway} from deep emotion?» This is
so
so because Woolf believed that, in order to convey ‘reality’ she
she needed towrite
to write from her
her body and from
her
her mind, to write against the heart. This is why
why there is so
so much pain in the
the following sentence of of the
quotation: «Of
«Of course the mad
mad part tries meme so
so much, makes my my mind squirt soso badly thatI
that I can
can hardly
face spending the next weeks atit.»
at it.» The
The pain of
of recollection was
was too
too strong, Woolf suffered
sufferedaa serious
breakdown after writing the
the novel because emotionally she she had
had invested too much in it:it: indeed Leonard
Woolf, her husband, and
and close friends compared her her periods of insanity toa
to a manic depression quite
similar to the
the episodes experienced by Septimus.
Many critics describe Septimus as Clarissa’s

Clarissa's Doppelganger,
Doppelganger, that is, thethe alternate persona,
persona,aa
darker, more internal personality compared toClarissa's
to Clarissa's very social and
and singular outlook. Woolf's
Woolf’s use
use of
the Doppelganger,
Doppelganger, Septimus, portrays
portraysa a side to Clarissa’s
Clarissa's personality that becomes absorbed by fear
and broken down by
and by society as as a side of society that has
as well asa has failed to survive the War.
The doubling portrays the polarity of the self and

Thedoufiling and exposes the positive-negative relationship inherent in humanity. It also illustrates
the opposite phases of the idea of life. What is the reason behind this doubling?
The critic Deborah Guth believes that Clarissa achieves

The achievesaa final vision through «three prominent
frameworks: the romantic, the pagan, and and the Christian»
Christian» (Guth 1990: 36). Through these frameworks
Clarissa’s
Clarissa's character is able to evolve through her imaginative devices. She She can
can substitute herself for
Septimus’ death without actually being aa victim. Clarissa’s
Clarissa's use
use of «imaginative self-evasion»
self-evasion» (Guth
1990: 41) keeps her her from actually having to confront the reality of Septimus’ madness because she
does not
not allow him
him to enter her life on
on a a personal level. Similarly, thethe critic Suzette Henke compares
Clarissa's party toa
to a communion similar to the the Catholic Mass, culminating in a a celebration of life.
Septimus'
Septimus’ suicide is likened toa
to a sacrifice that is offered, bringing
bringingaa renewed sense of of life’s
life's value. Henke
notes the use of contrast within the
use of the text: the
the satirical and the
satirical and the tragic; political power and artistic
creativeness;
creativeness; death andand life; evil and
and good; public demands and and individual
individual preservation;
preservation; patriarchal
patriarchal
dominance and maternal love; homosexuality and and androgyny; possessiveness and and privacy. Henke
claims that «Mrs Dalloway offersa
offers a scathing indictment of the British class system and andaa strong critique
of patriarchy» (Guth 1990: 125).
18
UNIT 5
UNIT5 Of The
Virginia Woolf’s
Ot!The Mind
The novel's closing scene draws together its main arguments,

arguments, as Clarissa withdraws from the
party to think about the death ofofaa former soldier she
she has
has never met, but with whom she feels an
shefeels an affinity:
affinity:
«A
«A thing there waswas that mattered;
mattered;aa thing, wreathed about with chatter,
chatter, defaced, obscured in her own
her own
life,
life, let drop every day
day in corruption,
corruption, lies, chatter:
chatter: This he had
had preserved».
preserved».
3. ACTIVITIES
3. ACTIVITIES
3. 1. Test yourself
3.1.
1.
1. What are the main aspects of
arethemain of the modernist aesthetics?
2. How
How dodo women contribute to these aesthetics?
3. Is Virginia Woolf
Woolf modernist in in her essay writing?
4. Briefly explain the importance of of the
the Bloomsbury Group in in Virginia Woolfs
Woolf’s
modernism.
5. What aspects of
5.What Woolf’s background are
of Virginia Woolfs important forher
areimportant for her literature?
is the importance of
6. What istheimportance of tradition for the
the modernist woman writer?
7. What istherole
is the role of London inMrs
in Mrs Dalloway?
DallowayP
8. How are
8.How are characters linked in MrsMrs Dalloway?
Dallomny?
9. What istherelationship
9.What is the relationship between Septimus and and Clarissa in Mrs
Mrs Dalloway?
Dnllomny?
3.2. Overview questions
1.
1. Explain the importance of
of the fictional character of
of Judith Shakespeare in
in A
A Room
Room
of One’s Own.
ofOne’s One.
2. Find examples in
2.Find in Mrs
Mr:S Dalloway of how 'the invisible thread' links characters of
ofhow of the
novel otherwise unconnected.
unconnected.
3.
3. Define 'stream ofof consciousness'. Give your own
own examples from the
the text to
illustrate your answer.
3.3. Explore
1.
1. Read the the following extract fromA from A Room ofOne's
of One's OwnOwn andand answer the the questions
below:
The title women andfiction
The and fiction might mean, and you might meant it to to mean, women andwhat
and what
they are like, or and the fiction that they write; or it might mean women and
or it might mean women andthe the
andthe
fiction that is written about them; or it might that somehow all three are inextricably mixed together and
and
you want me
you me toconsider
to consider them inthat
in that light.
a) Try to
a) Try to locate the
the chapter to
to which this quotation belongs so that you
you can put it in
can put in
context.
b) Briefly explain how

how Woolf
Woolf approaches thethe subject in the text, taking into account
the
the main themes of the different sections into which the
ofthe text is divided.
thetext
c) What is the relation between money, the

istherelation the space intended by Woolf, and
and fictional
writing?
d) Are
Are there any
any other important constraints that prevent women from freely
approaching the
the art of fiction?
artoffiction?
2. Read thefirst
the first four lines of Mrs
Mr:S Dalloway and
and analyse the type ofof narrator(s) in the
the
novel. Use
Use these four sentences to to explain Woolfs
Woolf’s narrative technique.
technique.
3. Read the
the following extract from Charlotte Bronte's novel Shirley, published in
in
1849,
1849, and
and then answer the questions below:
thequestions
19
UNIT 5
UNIT5 Of The
Virginia Woolf’s
Ot!The Mind
Iflf men
men could see us as we
we really are, they would bea
be a little amazed; but thecleverest,
the cleverest, the
the
acutest men
men are often under an illusion about women: they do do nor read them ininaa true light: they
misapprehend them, both for for good and evil: their good woman isa is a queer thing, half
half doll, half
half
angel: their bad bad woman almost always
alwaysaa fiend.
a) Would you say

say that in view of
of these words Woolf
Woolf found in
in Charlotte Brontë that
much-needed literary ancestor?
b) How
How do you relate Bronte's words with Woolfs
do you Woolf’s works?
3.4. Key
Key terms
-— Ambiguity
-— Class
- Doppelganger
- Experimentalism
- Fragmentation
- Gender
- Genre
- High art
art
- Interior monologue
- Low
Low art
art
- Modernism
- Race
- Se1f-renexiveness
Se 1f-renexiveness
4. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Elizabeth. 1983. ‘Narrative Structure(s) and

ABEL. Elizabeth. and Female Development:
Development: The
The Case of Mrs Dalloway,’ The
ofMrs The
Voyage In.Fictions
In: Fictions ofFemale
of Female Development.
Development. Eds. Elizabeth
ABEL, Marianne HIRSCH and Elizabeth LANGLAND. Hanover, NH:
andElizabeth NH: University Press of New
New England, 161-85.
161 -85.
BARRET, Michèle (ed.). 1979. Virginia Woolf
Woolfonon Women
Wonnen and Writing. The Women's Press.
Writing. London: The
BEER, Gillian. 1996.
1996. Virginia Woolf: The
The Common Ground.
Ground. Essays by Gillian Beer.
Beer. Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press.
BEKER, Mirslav. 1972. 'London asaa Principle of Structure in Mrs
Mrs Dalloway.’
Dalloway.' Modern Fiction Studies 18: 375-85.
BOWLBY, Rachel 1988. Virginia Woolf. Destinations. Oxford. Basil Blackwell.
Woolf. Feminist Destinations.
GAM8RELL, Alice. 1997. Women Modernism, and
Wonnen Intellectuals, Modernism, and Difference.’
Difference: Transatlantic Culture (1919-1945).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
GRIFFIN, Gabrielle (ed.). 1994, Difference in View:
View. Women Modernism. London and New
Wonnen and Modernism. New York: Taylor and
and
Francis.
Francis.
GUTH, Deborah. 'Rituals of Self-Deception: Clarissa Dalloway's
Dalloway’s Final Moment of Vision. ‘Twentieth Century
ofVision.
Literature: A Scholarl
Literature.A Scholarly and Critical Journal 36:
y and 36:11 (1990): 35-42.
JENSEN, Emily. 1983. 'Clarissa Dalloway's Respectable Suicide: Virginia Woolf: Woolf.A A Feminist Slant.
Slant. Ed.
Ed. Jane
MARCUS. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. 162-179.
162-179.
LEE, Hermione. 1996.
1996. Virginia Woolf. London: Chatto
Chatto&& Windus.
Hillis. 1986. 'Mrs
MILLER, J. Hillis. Dalloway: Repetition as the Raising of the Dead.' Fiction and
’Mrs Dalloway. Repetition: Seven
and Repetition.
Novels. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1982.
English Novels. 1982.
MINOW-PINKEY, Makiko. 1987. 1987. Virginia Woolf and the
Woolfand Problem oftheSubject.
theProblem of the Subject: Feminine Writing in in the Major
Novels. Sussex: The
Novels. The Harvester Press.
MOI, Toril. 1985. Sexual Textual Politics.
Politics. Feminist Literary Theory. Routledge.
Theory. London. Routledge.
ROE, Sue. andand Susan SELLERS (ed.). 2000. The The Cambridge Companion to to Virginia Woolf. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
WANG, Ban. 1992.
1992. “I” on
on the Run: Crisis of Identity in Mrs
Mrs Dalloway.’
Dalloway.' Modem Fiction Studies 38: 177·91.
177 91.
Web sites
Web
- Virginia
Virginia Woolf
Woolf Web:
Web: Part
Part of the
the Orlando Project.
Project. Provides
Provides reliable
reliable information and
and links to
to most
most of
of
Virginia Woolfi
Virginia Woolf’s web pages
s web pages
http://orlando.jp.org/vww/
http://orlando.jp.org/vww/
20
20
UNIT 5
UNIT5 Of The
Virginia Woolf’s
Ot!The Mind
- Women's history: British Women Novelists 1910s-1960s

http://homepages.primex.co.uk/-lesleyah/wmwrtrs.htm
http://homepages.primex.co.uk/-1es1eyah/wmwrtrs.htm
21
21

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UNIT ONE: “The Discourse Between or the Need to“Make

ortheNeed to “Make It New”: Literature in an

To confront fields of knowledge such as political and philosophical

1.1. The Crisis of Victorian Positivism

the22ndnd Reform Act, Gladstone was

the notions of liberty and

anda a proposal for

The Irish Literary Revival produced an exceptionally strong body of

Land reform in Ireland had

The Ulster Volunteer Force acted as

WarII broke out on

seats, constitutional nationalism had

The English government sent the first of

Despite voices strongly opposing the Treaty,a

IN Oscar Wilde’s The

During this time, much of the attention of the

UNIT22 will explore the literary consequences of

The need forraw

Several reasons forthe

In this period, this

Technological developments, such

1.2. The Interpretation

The belief that species were immutable had

Darwinism did did not

take into account that if Darwinism implies an on the traditional

perspective could, strictly

Perhaps more interesting,

Furthermore, repetition obeys

The ambiguity and flexibility implied by this theory allowed the

There were others interested in the

structuralism (Derrida) among many others. In literature his

As can be seen in the preceeding paragraphs, language stops being

Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, which, significantly, was going to be

the mind and its influence on the representation of reality is provided

Because ‘reality’ is shaped according toa to a mind’s

Moreover, because of these unconscious drives the subject can

mind that, because it is not conscious, cannot be controlled by the

1.3. The New

This period also witnessed developments inin concepts of

AA much more optimistic point of view comes froma

Freud in 1925 published

the field of knowledge that assumed special relevance in relation to sex

The literature of sexology of

The term ‘New Woman’ was born in

Feminism in the period between the wars engaged in learning the

Oscar Wilde’s play

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) grew up in Dublin, where his parents, Sir

After Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated in

In 1891, shortly after publication

The play consists ofa

Filled with wit and

The play was

Jack: Between seven and and eight thousand a year.

the comic techniques Wilde employs we

The play has

The clearest example of

Gender roles are

3.1. Test yourself

3.2. Overview questions: