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The Untempered Spaces of Mina Loy

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The Untempered Spaces of Mina Loy COUNTING BODIES: THE UNTEMPERED SPACES OF MINA LOY JACINTA KELLY A thesis submitted to the University of New South Wales in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy 2014 PLEASE TYPE THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES Thesis/Dissertation Sheet Surname or Family name: Kelly First name: Jacinta Other name/s: Abbreviation for degree as given in the University calendar: PhD School: Arts and Media Faculty: Arts and Social Sciences Title: Counting bodies: the untempered spaces of Mina Loy Abstract 350 words maximum: (PLEASE TYPE) This dissertation takes as its starting point the centrality of Mina Loy to modernism, and argues that the modernist conceptualisation of movement, inextricable from the work of philosopher Henri Bergson, sits at the heart of her work and significance. It contributes not only to existing Loy scholarship, but also to criticism that examines Bergson’s impact on literary modernism. Loy scholars frequently acknowledge Bergson’s influence on Loy’s work; yet, little has been done to probe the effects of this influence. I propose that a key component of Bergson’s importance to Loy lies in the connections he draws between movement and free will. My approach to Loy’s work in terms of mobility enables a reading of the complex and ostensibly contradictory facets of her work. In order to demonstrate these connections, I consider a range of Loy’s poetry, prose, essays and inventions from across her career, both published and unpublished. My examination of Loy’s manuscripts alongside her published texts reveals the persistence of her interest in embodied movement and its interconnection with technology, space and temporality. Firstly, I argue that Loy’s early engagement with Bergson, and his insistence on flux over spatiality and stasis, offers a productive counterpoint to the limits imposed by both the domestic home and the static, inert female body of Futurism. Further, this engagement radically inflects the way in which Loy experiments with language and text. She produces texts that deliberately dismantle their own limits by spilling into their own margins or by complicating the ready distinction between poetic space and the external world of its poet. Next I examine how she deploys mobility to trouble the inherent limits of the organic body, the temporal body, the machine-body and the atomic body, and therefore how she navigates the rapidly changing technosphere of the early twentieth century. This dissertation thus also makes a contribution to the recent inquiries of New Modernist Studies, in particular, the role of embodiment, gender, and technology in literary production. Declaration relating to disposition of project thesis/dissertation I hereby grant to the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all property rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstracts International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). 11/04/2015 …………………………………………………………… ……………………………………..……………… ……….……………………...…….… Signature Witness Date The University recognises that there may be exceptional circumstances requiring restrictions on copying or conditions on use. Requests for restriction for a period of up to 2 years must be made in writing. Requests for a longer period of restriction may be considered in exceptional circumstances and require the approval of the Dean of Graduate Research. FOR OFFICE USE ONLY Date of completion of requirements for Award: THIS SHEET IS TO BE GLUED TO THE INSIDE FRONT COVER OF THE THESIS ORIGINALITY STATEMENT ‘I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.’ Signed …………………………………………….............. Date 11/04/2015……………………………................... COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ‘I hereby grant the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all proprietary rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstract International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). I have either used no substantial portions of copyright material in my thesis or I have obtained permission to use copyright material; where permission has not been granted I have applied/will apply for a partial restriction of the digital copy of my thesis or dissertation.' Signed ............................................................. ............ Date 11/04/2015…………………………….................. AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT ‘I certify that the Library deposit digital copy is a direct equivalent of the final officially approved version of my thesis. No emendation of content has occurred and if there are any minor variations in formatting, they are the result of the conversion to digital format.’ Signed.............................................................................. Date 11/04/2015……………………………................. i Abstract This dissertation takes as its starting point the centrality of Mina Loy to modernism, and argues that the modernist conceptualisation of movement, inextricable from the work of philosopher Henri Bergson, sits at the heart of her work and significance. It contributes not only to existing Loy scholarship, but also to criticism that examines Bergson’s impact on literary modernism. Loy scholars frequently acknowledge Bergson’s influence on Loy’s work; yet, little has been done to probe the effects of this influence. I propose that a key component of Bergson’s importance to Loy lies in the connections he draws between movement and free will. My approach to Loy’s work in terms of mobility enables a reading of the complex and ostensibly contradictory facets of her work. In order to demonstrate these connections, I consider a range of Loy’s poetry, prose, essays and inventions from across her career, both published and unpublished. My examination of Loy’s manuscripts alongside her published texts reveals the persistence of her interest in embodied movement and its interconnection with technology, space and temporality. Firstly, I argue that Loy’s early engagement with Bergson, and his insistence on flux over spatiality and stasis, offers a productive counterpoint to the limits imposed by both the domestic home and the static, inert female body of Futurism. Further, this engagement radically inflects the way in which Loy experiments with language and text. She produces texts that deliberately dismantle their own limits by spilling into their own margins or by complicating the ready distinction between poetic space and the external world of its poet. Next I examine how she deploys mobility to trouble the inherent limits of the organic body, the temporal body, the machine-body and the atomic body, and therefore how she navigates the rapidly changing technosphere of the early twentieth century. This dissertation thus also makes a contribution to the recent inquiries of New Modernist Studies, in particular, the role of embodiment, gender, and technology in literary production. ii Contents Abstract i Acknowledgements iv Relevant papers arising from the PhD v A note on manuscripts vi Introduction 2 Chapter One: Drafting a Lunar Baedeker: The Conquering of Space 31 1.1“Because she hoped Victoria would die”: Virtuous angels 36 and artistic pursuit 1.2 Bergson and parameters of mathematical space 43 1.3 Marinetti and Futurist dynamism 57 Chapter Two: “Absolute Demolition: Testing the Limits of Extension 64 2.1 Contemporaneous Feminisms 68 2.2 “Feminist Manifesto” and the spatiality of language 78 2.3 Bodily space/ bodies in space: The domestic house 90 Chapter Three: Evolution and the Body in Time 112 3.1 Static atoms: “Sunlight Somnambulist” 115 3.2 The irritant, materiality, and élan vital 117 3.3 Insel: “To interfere with time” 127 3.4 “Mother I am”: Time and the splitting body” 128 3.5 Decay, detritus, and art 137 Chapter Four: Manipulating Bodies, or, The Woman that Ticks 147 4.1 Modernism’s machines 152 iii 4.2 The mechanical artist 171 4.3 The marionette and the body beyond prosthesis 175 Chapter Five: “Dynamic Decomposition”: The Atomic Body 185 5.1 Atomic Space, unstable matter: The early twentieth century 189 5.2 The atomic irritant 194 5.3 Insel: Radium and spatial disintegration 203 5.4 The atomic text: “Mother Earth” 210 Conclusion 221 Works Cited 227 Appendices 247 iv Acknowledgements I would firstly like to thank my supervisor, Associate Professor Brigitta Olubas, and my co-supervisor, Associate Professor Elizabeth McMahon, from whom I have learnt so much during my time at UNSW. I am very grateful for Brigitta’s attention to detail, particularly when reading my penultimate drafts, and for her patience in teaching me the value of independent research.
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